Instruct: Given a question, retrieve passages that answer the question.
Query: When did DC comics first introduce the Guardians of the Universe?
The Guardians of the Universe are a fictional race of extraterrestrials appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics, commonly in association with Green Lantern. They first appeared in Green Lantern Vol. 2, Issue 1 (July 1960), and were created by John Broome and Gil Kane.[1] The Guardians of the Universe have been adapted to a number of films, television programs, and video games.
In September 2011, DC Comics relaunched their entire line of publications, dubbing the new publishing initiative as The New 52. The relaunch saw DC introduce same-day release of physical comics with digital platforms, as well as characters from the former WildStorm and Vertigo imprints being absorbed into a rebooted DC Universe. The intent was to publish 52 ongoing titles each month across the DC Universe. However, DC has also counted one-shots, miniseries and maxiseries in that number. In subsequent Septembers following the launch, DC has featured unique publishing initiatives to commemorate the relaunch. DC released a total of 93 ongoing titles across multiple "wave" releases, until June 2015, when it discontinued the "New 52" branding. To expand The New 52 universe, DC also released 22 one-shots, 17 miniseries and three maxiseries.
The second was a title published as part of DC Comic's The New 52. The premise of the book was similar to that of DC's original "Showcase" and "DC Comics Presents" series. It would introduce characters and concepts into the rebooted universe. The final issue of this series, #19, was published in April 2013.
In 2005, Grant Morrison's "Seven Soldiers" megaseries introduced a new character based on the original Guardian, Jake Jordan the Manhattan Guardian.
A second version of Yondu was first introduced into the Marvel Cinematic Universe in the 2014 Marvel Studios film "Guardians of the Galaxy", portrayed by Michael Rooker, where he is a space pirate leading one of the factions of "The Ravagers". He also appears in the film's 2017 sequel, "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2". After the release of the first film, Marvel Comics introduced a comic book version of the character to the Earth-616 comic book continuity.
Jack Kirby leaves Marvel Comics to work for rival DC Comics. At DC, he creates the Fourth World mythology, introducing many new characters to the DC Universe, most notably Darkseid.
During the "Rise of the Third Army" storyline, the First Lantern is introduced as a mysterious entity trapped by the Guardians of the Universe in the place known as the Chamber of Shadows millennia ago. However, in the present, the Guardians, seeking to destroy all the universal emotions, reopen the Chamber to combine his powers with their own flesh, thus creating the Third Army. However, the combined efforts of all the other corps against the Guardians end up weakening the First Lantern's prison, thus setting him free.
Wallace West is a fictional character in the DC Comics Universe. Originally introduced as a new interpretation of Wally West, as part of DC's The New 52 relaunch, the comic "DC Rebirth" #1 later established that he is, in fact, a new character of the same name, being Wally's cousin, both named after their great-grandfather. To avoid confusion, the character was renamed in later comics as Wallace West.
The Guardians of the Universe make a brief appearance in the Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe video game with Ganthet voiced by Michael McConnohie and two unnamed Guardians voiced by Christopher Corey Smith and Joe J. Thomas. In the story mode on the DC Universe part, they inform Green Lantern, Lex Luthor, and Catwoman about the merging of the universes when the hero and villains arrive on Oa. The Guardians of the Universe are featured in Green Lantern: Rise of the Manhunters. Like the comics, the Guardians of the Universe are responsible for creating the Manhunters some time before the creation of the Green Lantern Corps. The Guardians of the Universe make two cameo appearances in Injustice: Gods Among Us. During Green Lantern's Super Move, he transports himself and his enemy to OA and proceeds to attack his opponent with constructs in front of the central power battery, and The Guardians. In one of the final scenes of game, Green Lantern hands over his counterpart and Sinestro to the Guardians of the Universe to stand trial. The Guardians of the Universe appear as NPCs in Lego DC Super-Villains, with Ganthet voiced by Brian George.
Département Gamma is the main French covert ops organization in the DC Comics universe. Known operatives are Andre Chevard (Boy Commandos) founder and leader, Fleur-de-Lis (Global Guardians), Belphegor (Global Guardians), Tin, the Captain, the Professor, and Halfwolf.
Manhunter is the name given to several different fictional characters appearing in comic books published by DC Comics. They are depicted as superheroes, antiheroes, the Manhunters, and an entire race of androids created by the Guardians of the Universe as a forerunner to the Green Lantern Corps. None of these are to be confused with the better-known DC Comics superhero called the Martian Manhunter, who is sometimes addressed as "Manhunter".
Although Milestone comics were published through DC Comics, they did not take place in the DC Universe. The Milestone characters existed in a separate continuity that did not fall under DC Comics' direct editorial control (but DC still retained right of refusal to publish). It is worth noting that some DC characters such as Superman took part in the "Worlds Collide" crossover.
In "Wrath of The First Lantern", the First Lantern's origins are revealed as of being a mysterious explorer named Volthoom from a parallel world called Earth 15, brought to Oa by Krona's first attempt to uncover the origins of the universe. Taken before the Guardians of the Universe, Volthoom was shown to be able to harness the power of the Emotional Electromagnetic Spectrum to warp reality. As they scrambled to learn everything they could about the Emotional Spectrum they also try to copy his gifts using technology until they were finally able to create the original Lantern and Ring. However, over time Volthoom grew proud and when the Guardians considered sharing the power of the lights with the rest of the universe, Volthoom disagreed. He left the Guardians and began wreaking havoc across the universe, killing millions. The Manhunters are then created to stop the rampage, but he could not be destroyed. Instead, the Guardians imprisoned the First Lantern as well as their own emotions and wrote him out of their history. A number of Oans (who kept their emotions) remained behind to ensure that the First Lantern was kept imprisoned and became known as The Hidden Ones.
One of the key aspects of the Modern Age of Comic Books was that it was the beginning of big events. In 1984, Marvel Comics debuted the first large crossover, "Secret Wars," a storyline featuring the company's most prolific superheroes, which overlapped into a 12-issue limited series and many monthly comic books. A year later, DC Comics introduced its first large scale crossover, "Crisis on Infinite Earths," which had long-term effects on the "DC Universe" continuity.
Little Mermaid's first appearance in the canonical DC Universe, with the other members of the Global Guardians was in "DC Comics Presents" #46 (June 1982). She later took part in helping the Atlantean heroes in the "Crisis on Infinite Earths" cross-over. 
A Masters of the Universe comic book series was relaunched by DC Comics in 2012, first appearing as a series of digital comics. This was quickly followed by a six issue mini-series and all new revised origin issues for He-Man, Skeletor and Hordak. After a crossover mini-series with superheroes from the DC Comics universe in 2013, an ongoing series ran for 19 issues through 2014, before being replaced by the 'He-Man The Eternity War' 15 issue series in 2015/2016. This introduced a new back-story for He-man's sister She-ra (as Despara), Skeletor (as the half-Gar son of King Miro), Hordak, and the Snakemen; moving the storyline further along, with a new Horde invasion of Eternia and He-Man taking the Eternian throne, amongst other new developments. He-Man/ThunderCats, a crossover with another heroic 1980's action figure line, ThunderCats, was also produced for 6 issues in 2016-2017. The current DC Masters of the Universe property is a 6-part crossover series with DC Comics' .
A Masters of the Universe comic book series was relaunched by DC Comics in June 2012, first appearing as a series of digital comics. This was quickly followed by a six issue mini-series and all new revised origin issues for He-Man, Skeletor and Hordak. After a crossover mini-series with superheroes from the DC Comics universe in 2013, an ongoing series ran for 19 issues through 2014, before being replaced by the 'He-Man The Eternity War' 15 issue series in 2015/2016. This introduced a new back-story for He-man's sister She-ra (as Despara), Skeletor (as the half-Garn son of King Miro), Hordak, and the Snakemen; moving the storyline further along, with a new Horde invasion of Eternia and He-Man taking the Eternian throne, amongst other new developments. He-Man/ThunderCats, a crossover with another heroic 1980's action figure line, ThunderCats, was also produced for 6 issues in 2016-2017. The current DC Masters of the Universe property is a 6-part crossover series with DC Comics' .
Archie licensed their Red Circle characters to DC Comics in the early 1990s under the DC imprint Impact Comics, and then again from 2007 to 2011, when DC attempted to integrate them into the DC Universe. When this failed, the characters reverted to Archie Comics, which launched the imprint digitally. The company retired this in late 2014; the line was relaunched as the Dark Circle Comics imprint in 2015.
Guardian (James Jacob "Jim" Harper) is a DC Comics superhero, introduced in April 1942 by writer Joe Simon and artist Jack Kirby.
Ice is a separate character from Icemaiden, although the two are similar in appearance, group affiliation, and powers. When Icemaiden first appeared, she had blue skin and pointy ears, and was named Sigrid Nansen. When the character joined Justice League International, the comic book creators believed that her real name had never been given but were mistaken; it was revealed in the Global Guardians entry in "Who's Who in the DC Universe".
The "Crisis on Infinite Earths" removed Duncan's career as the Guardian, although he did appear briefly in his Guardian costume during the Crisis itself.
After DC's continuity altering crossover special "Crisis on Infinite Earths" (1985), DC editorial maintained for a number of years that no Kryptonians were to be depicted in comics aside from Superman, to reinforce his status as the last Kryptonian. This meant that characters like Supergirl and Power Girl were reimagined and Superman's Kryptonian canine Krypto became an ordinary house pet. However, writers of DC Comics still attempted to get around the no-Kryptonians rule by introducing "new" versions of Zod. Many of these were Zods of alternate universes. None persisted in DC continuity. After publishing its sequel to "Crisis on Infinite Earths", "Infinite Crisis" (2005), DC reintroduced the real General Zod in its 2006-2008 storyline "Superman: Last Son". For this, it brought on board writer Richard Donner, director of "Superman", the film which introduced Zod to the moviegoing public.
The first Zod to be introduced following "Crisis on Infinite Earths" was the Zod of a so-called "pocket universe" resembling the universe in which the comics took place; this allowed for a "Kryptonian" Zod to be introduced while maintaining Superman's status as the last of his race in the universe proper. This Zod came from a Krypton in a pocket universe, the universe itself having been created by the Time Trapper. Zod (along with companions Quex-Ul and Zaora) devastated the Earth of that universe following the death of its Superboy, despite the best efforts of a Supergirl created by that world's heroic Lex Luthor. Eventually, the survivors of this world managed to contact the Superman of the main universe to help them, and he was able to take away the powers of the three super-criminals with only Gold Kryptonite (since he was not from that universe, the Kryptonite of that reality would have no effect on him).
The first DC Universe Classics exclusive figure was announced at the 2008 New York Comic Con: Lobo. He was sold at the Mattel booth at the 2008 San Diego Comic Con, though some very limited quantities were offered on Mattel's online store. His inclusion in the line had been in question for quite some time, as DC Comics did not feel as though he was a character they would want in a mass market toy line, due to his persona in the comics.
In July 1982, He-Man and the Masters of the Universe would appear for the first time in the pages of DC Comics with "DC Comics Presents issue #47", in the story "From Eternia With Death", followed by a special insert comic in many DC's titles from November 1982, entitled "Fate is the Killer". In these first two DC MOTU stories, Superman ends up on Eternia, joining with He-Man to combat Skeletor and his minions. He-Man's original DC comic run finished up with a three issue mini-series at the start of 1983 (all written by Paul Kupperberg, with artwork by Curt Swan and George Tuska). These issues would introduce the Eternian Royal Family, most notably Prince Adam, and his transformation into He-Man into the series. This version of Adam, however, was originally depicted wearing a blue vest and portrayed as somewhat of a philanderer; rather than his later more wholesome pink-vest wearing character. Also unique to these issues, Adam transforms inside the 'Cavern of Power', instead of his more famous 'By the Power of Grayskull!' line. The Sorceress, now residing in the Cavern of Power, is still depicted wearing the Teela Snake Armour, and is often referred to as "The Goddess" throughout the series. Other entries into the Masters of the Universe mythos, such as Cringer as the alter-ego of Battle Cat, Zodac as a neutral cosmic enforcer, Stratos' as leader of his home world of Avion, and Adam's mother, Queen Marlena as an astronaut hailing from Earth, were all partly introduced in these early DC issues.
These international heroes would later appear in other issues of "Super Friends". However, it wasn't until "DC Comics Presents" #46 (June 1982) that they were introduced as a team, in a story in which they helped Superman to stop an evil Atlantean sorcerer named Thaumar Dhai. This is also considered to be these characters' first canonical appearance in the DC Universe.