Thomas Edison

A fictionalized version of the real-world American inventor Thomas Edison, appearing in DC comics contexts ranging from humor digests to more fantastical settings, drawing on his historical identity as a pioneering figure in electricity and invention.

Few figures from the real world have found such an eclectic afterlife in comics as Thomas Edison, who made his four-color debut all the way back in 1926 — deep in the Platinum Age — courtesy of creator James Trembath in the pages of Judge. Over a remarkable span stretching nearly nine decades, this legendary inventor has turned up across a wonderfully varied shelf of DC publications, from the classic digest pages of Jughead's Double Digest to the strange, ambitious world of Dial H, where he shares adventures with singular characters like Nelson Jent, Manteau, and the cosmic Ex Nihilo. It's a small but fascinatingly wide-ranging presence that speaks to comics' long love affair with history's giants — and makes Edison one of the more surprising figures to track across a collector's long boxes.