Every week we spotlight the various characters, phrases, objects or events that eventually became notable parts of comic lore. Not major stuff like "the first appearance of Superman," but rather, "the first time someone said, 'Avengers Assemble!'" or "the first appearance of Batman's giant penny" or "the first appearance of Alfred Pennyworth" or "the first time Spider-Man's face was shown half-Spidey/half-Peter." Stuff like that. Here is an archive of all the When We First Met features so far! Check 'em out!

Today we look at the first appearances of three notable right hand men - Black Widow's Ivan, Ra's Al Ghul's Ubu and Deathstroke's Major Wintergreen.

First up we have Ivan Petrovitch, who will likely get his own Abandoned an' Forsaked some time in the future, as writers seem to mess around with him all the time. He debuted in the beginning of Black Widow's solo feature in Amazing Adventures #1 by Gary Friedrich, John Buscema and John Verpoorten. In the story, the Black Widow is compelled to action when she realizes that her maid's son is in big trouble (he owes some money to some bad folks)...

Next is good ol' reliable Ubu (well, the first of many right hand men known as Ubu - they have a tendency of dying off frequently), who made his first appearance along with Ra's Al Ghul himself in Batman #232, by Denny O'Neil, Neal Adams and Dick Giordano...

Finally, we have Major William Randolph Wintergreen, who, like Ubu, first showed up in the same issue as the fellow he serves, Deathstroke the Terminator, in New Teen Titans #2 by Marv Wolfman, George Perez and Romeo Tanghal...

If there is any part of comic book history you'd like when it debuted, let me know at bcronin@comicbookresources.com