Father Time

Father Time is a classic allegorical figure — the personification of time itself, depicted as an aged man — appearing in editorial cartoons by Harry James Westerman in Life magazine. As a symbolic character, he represents the passage of time rather than a conventional comic-book hero or villain.

One of the oldest figures in the comic catalog, Father Time made his debut way back in 1907 — deep in the Platinum Age — courtesy of cartoonist Harry James Westerman in the pages of Life magazine. That's a pedigree few characters can match, and the fact that this iconic symbolic figure kept turning up in print across an extraordinary span stretching all the way to 2015 speaks to an enduring cultural resonance. Over the decades he's shared pages with the likes of Robin and Cupid, and his appearances stretch from Life all the way to the world of Batman/Superman — quite the range for a character born before superhero comics even existed. A true Platinum Age curiosity worth a second look for any collector with a taste for history.