A few years after that at DC in Metal Men they had a cameo by Batman & Robin showing them pounding some crooks and Robin commenting that they need to remember the moves they had used so they could be repeated on their TV show. And another in which Wonder Woman was protecting a shipment of DC comics to a newsstand so that just the kids who could be trusted would get them and not have them fall into the hands of crooks who would then learn what their secret IDs were, reading that at about the age of 8 or 9 I think I thought “oh %^&$# get real talk down to us why don't you?” For the first time.
Comics in the Golden Age were often right out there as far as characters knowing they were fictional, with the characters saying stuff like "The editors want me to thank you boys and girls for making this magazine such a hit," or "What do you readers think? Is this the end of that villain or will he come back to cause me trouble?" I remember Captain Marvel Jr telling Bulletman he came over from MASTER COMICS to lend a hand fighting Captain Nazi.
Add to that the many many stories that ended with Superman or Clark Kent winking at the reader in the last panel, and the fourth wall in comics has always been a suggestion rather than a law.
I've been calling that kind of thing the fifth wall.
The fourth wall being a case of an actor addressing or otherwise acknowledging the audience, the fifth wall would be mental: when a fictional character knows he's fictional.
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Add to that the many many stories that ended with Superman or Clark Kent winking at the reader in the last panel, and the fourth wall in comics has always been a suggestion rather than a law.
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The fourth wall being a case of an actor addressing or otherwise acknowledging the audience, the fifth wall would be mental: when a fictional character knows he's fictional.
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