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Other DC Universe topics Obscure DCU Characters - Round III |
| Author | Topic: Obscure DCU Characters - Round III |
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Hellstone
Member |
posted December 21, 2000 05:04 AM
Greetings, dear poster. You have stumbled of a very special thread, namely "Obscure DC Characters, Round III" which is a follow up to the immensely popular "geek" topics "Obscure DC Characters Questions" (can be found at http://dcboards.warnerbros.com/files/Forum94/HTML/005094.html ) and "Obscure DC Characters, Round II" ( http://dcboards.warnerbros.com/files/Forum94/HTML/003249.html ) where DC experts such as Rich Morrisey, D.R. Black, John Moores, outpost2, and more than anyone else, the one and only Mikishawm (John Wells) have helped us clear out the whats, hows, and whys, of some of the more forgotten (but not necessarily forgettable) inhabitants of the DC Universe. Lately, on the Round II thread, questions have increased such rapidly (mainly thanks to outpost2) that we felt obliged to start a new one. If you know something about these characters, feel free to share you knowledge with us. Mikishawm is our number one answerman so far, but I think even he could be a bit overwhelmed (if not stumped) by the sheer number of questions asked. We all gotta help. If you want to see the ones that HAVE been answered, go to the two earlier threads. Here are the ones that have not yet been answered: 152. the Inferior Five Let the fun begin. But first, a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all of you. /ola |
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Hellstone
Member |
posted December 21, 2000 05:09 AM
And we'll start right away with Outpost2's biography of number 191: CRIMSON AVENGER II (clipped - see Round II) /ola |
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Hellstone
Member |
posted December 21, 2000 05:19 AM
Here is my own biography of 230: ULTRA THE MULTI-ALIEN: PERSONAL DATA: Alter Ego: Ace Arn HISTORY: Although it has never been determined exactly when the adventures of the hero known as Ultra, the Multi-Alien take place, it is said to be part of our near future. At that time, Earth has successfully navigated the solar system and developed a business in shuttling tourists between its planets. During one such routine trip to Jupiter, pilot Captain Ace Arn's ship was caught in the magnetic field of a comet. After successfully evacuating the ship, Arn found himself trapped in the cockpit and unable to avoid crashing into an asteroid. To Arn's surprise, he survived the crash and learned the asteroid was hollow, serving as the secret base for an interstellar criminal organization led by the scientific genius Zobra. The solar system the asteroid orbited was in fact a synthetic one, consisting of four worlds - Ulla, Laroo, Trago, and Raagin, each populated by a different dominant race. One member from each world were part of Zobra's criminal gang. Zobra had invented a weapon that would transform whomever it was fired at into a duplicate of the being firing the weapon. Each of Zobra's four alien lieutenants was armed with one such weapon, allowing Zobra to complete his plans to blackmail the four planets. (Even earlier, an invasion force of Laroonians had used Zobra's weapon to try and take over Earth, but had been thwarted by the Earth heroes known as Stars and S.T.R.I.P.E. and Young Justice.) While gloating over his plan, Zobra accidentally unleashed a poisonous gas which killed him. The four surviving gang members each raced to the asteroid to gain control of the blackmail plans, each hoping to rule the group. Into this mess, Arn's spaceship crashed. He found the blackmail plans and tried to decipher the alien writing. As he emerged from the lab, the four aliens fired at him at precisely the same moment, thereby transforming Arn into a freakish multi-being, a conglomeration of the four races. Using the powers he gained from the transformation, Arn defeated the four, then used their superior intellect to repair his ship, and returned to Earth.On Earth he began a successful crimefighting career, opposing villains such as Doctor Dynamo and the Pied Piper of Pluto, using as his alias an anagram formed of the names of the alien worlds - "Ultra". While his heroic acts were highly regarded by the public, Ultra was constantly remembered of what he had sacrificed for it: his humanity and the love of his girlfriend Bonnie, who believed that Arn had died in the accident that transformed him into Ultra. Arn devoted much of his time finding a cure for his transformation. During a battle with Doctor Dynamo, Ultra discovered that a part of the criminal's technology, called the "DeMoleculizer", could restore his true form. However, Arn had to regain his Ultra form to defeat Dynamo, during which time the villain managed to destroy the DeMoleculizer, again trapping Arn in his inhuman form. This event led Ultra to conduct a series of experiments to duplicate the effects of the DeMoleculizer. After many disappointments, Arn was finally successful, building a "Hyper-Converter" allowing him to revert from Ultra to human at will. Arn returned to his hometown of Dalesville, and was happily returned with Bonnie, explaining that he was rescued from a remote asteroid by Ultra. However, Bonnie had already begun to suspect that Ultra was really Arn. After this "happy ending", Ultra the Multi-Alien continued to successfully combat evil throughout the solar system. Ultra was last seen sitting in a Space Taxi, together with fellow adventurers Space Ranger and Space Cabby, which would indicate that the he was active in the 22nd century, the era of the latter two. However, he also stated that he was working for the Space Museum at the time, which confuses things since the Museum was founded in the 25th century. Ultra has also been seen in visions of the future event known as "Kingdom Come", suggesting that the adventures of Ultra take place circa twenty years from now. Whether this is really Ultra's time period, or if this was a glimpse of a possible future that will not be, or even if he has been displaced in time, remains to be seen. After all, Hypertime is not that a reliable state of reality. POWERS AND ABILITIES: Ultra's body comprises of four alien beings, each with an individual ability which, when combined, makes him a formidable force for justice. His upper left side has magnetic abilities that allow him to repel or attract objects. His upper right side has incredible strength, equal to that of several humans, and invulnerability. His lower left side is composed of solid energy which can generate bolts of pure energy. The lower right side gives him the ability to fly. To this you can add an increased level of intelligence, combining the brains of the four races. Ultra can also keep his super-energy channeled from one quadrant of his body to another, or contain an injury or poison to one quarter of his being. Ultra's Hyper-Converter Belt allows him to change from Arn to Ultra and back again, as often as he wants to, without any known side-effects. (Ultra, the Multi-Alien was created by Dave Wood and Lee Elias and first appeared in Mystery In Space #103 (November, 1965)) /ola |
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Hellstone
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posted December 21, 2000 05:27 AM
As for the Green Arrow-related characters, I really think it's better to point you towards Scott McCullar's Green Arrow Compendium at http://www.fgi.net/~grnarrow/ga2.html. There you can find biographies of: 198. Green Arrows of the World ( http://www.fgi.net/~grnarrow/whoswho/GAOTW_Bio.html )212. Miss Arrowette ( http://www.fgi.net/~grnarrow/whoswho/MissArrowette_Bio.html ) and 233. Xeen Arrow ( http://www.fgi.net/~grnarrow/whoswho/XeenArrow_Bio.html ) /ola |
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Hellstone
Member |
posted December 21, 2000 05:27 AM
The Green Arrows of the World THE UNOFFICIAL GREEN ARROWS OF THE WORLD BIOGRAPHY TEAM DATA Archers: Green Arrow (USA), Speedy(USA), Ace Archer (Japan), Bowman from Britain (UK),
Phantom of France (France), Bowman of the Bush (Jungles of Malaya, Africa, India),
Emerald Bowman (India), Troubador (Spain), Archer of the Alps (Switzerland),
Verde Flecha (Green Arrow of Mexico), and the Archer of Arabia (Saudi Arabia)
Group Affiliation: Green Arrows of the World (International Delegation of Masked Archers) HISTORY Unknown to many in the early years of Green Arrow's adventures, he inspired a group of archers internationally with his daring adventures and search for justice so that they decided to follow by example and become heroes in their own countries all across the world. The influence was strong on this group of archers. Some donned outfits and methods simliar to Green Arrow and Speedy. Green Arrow and Speedy invited these archers to a historical convention in America. The sponsored event was the International Delegaton of Masked Archers, but the general public unofficially called the group of archers, "the Green Arrows of the World" because of the influence that Ollie had over them. These Archers of the World gathered together at their one and only convention to discuss crime fighting techniques and demonstrate their different trick arrows that they had developed in order to help them fight crime. During the convention, a crook named Limehouse Larkin mugged Scotland Yard's Bowman of Britain and stole his outfit. Disguised as the Battling Bowman of Britian, Larkin went into the convention to even a score with Green Arrow. This was the only way he figured he could get close. Once there, he tried to convince Green Arrow to try out the "Big Ben" Arrow. It was actually a ticking time bomb. Seeing a forged wanted poster and deducing that the Bowman of Britain was a fraud, Green Arrow along with the other Archers of the World helped nab Larkin while demonstrating their techniques. Eventually, the real Bowman of Britain surfaced and the convention went on... THE ARCHERS (other than Green Arrow & Speedy)... Bowman of the Bush Phantom of France Ace Archer of Japan Verde Flecha* (Green Arrow of Mexico) Archer of Arabia* Grüner Pfeil* Troubador* Emerald Bowman* Bowman of Britain *Unofficial name given by the fans. The original names of some of these heroes were never given in the issue. NOTES In the original issue of ADVENTURE COMICS #250, the Green Arrows of the World all wore a dull green outfits. It was the DC DIGEST #23 in which the colorist popped on some vibrant and differing colors to each bowman that really set them apart. THOSE color schemes in the reprint issue is what is being portrayed here. LIST OF APPEARANCES Green Arrows of the World appeared in: |
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Hellstone
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posted December 21, 2000 05:27 AM
Miss Arrowette THE UNOFFICIAL MISS ARROWETTE I (Bonnie King-Jones) BIOGRAPHY PERSONAL DATA Alter Ego: Bonnie King-Jones (formely her maiden name was Bonnie King) HISTORY When young Bonne King was a young girl, her mother, Millie, got her into training with archery and stood over her every minute. The years of training eventually lead high school student Bonnie King into the Olympics where she won a Bronze Medal. Unfortunately for Bonnie, her mother was really ticked at her. She had her heart set on Bonnie winning Gold... So Bonnie became even more upset with her mother and decided to give up archery which she figured she has wasted her entire life with. She moved out and never spoke to Millie again. Bonnie had nothing else going for her. She was on her own in Star City and found out about Green Arrow and Speedy and how they made archery count for something more important than medals. She was inspired by the Green Arrow and Speedy and went overboard in her usual way. She made herself an outfit and became Miss Arrowette. She went out to give them assistance when she could in a handful of adventures. She participated in her role as Miss Arrowette assisting the Battling Bowmen in a few occassions about the time when Green Arrow had joined the JLA. Her methods were clumsy though and she wasn't cut out to be the hero she needed to be. She also happened to be a crimefighter too vain to wear a mask. Like Green Arrow and Speedy, she carried some of her own "trick arrows" which included unbelievable gadgets such as the Mascara Arrow, the Lotion Arrow, the Powder Puff Arrow. It was also at this time when she met Bernell Jones, a newspaper reporter who had recognized her from the Olympics. He viewed her as a "star". Bonnie nicknamed him "Bowstring" because he was, well, skinny as a bowstring.. briefly become her sidekick. Bonnie wanted "bowstring's" help in the publicity department because he was a writer for a local Star City tabloid newspaper. After a few adventures, Green Arrow and Speedy did not need her assistance. She retired just before Oliver Queen took a leave of absence with Hal Jordan from the JLA. Her career was very brief lasting less than a year before she could catch her first crook on her own. It seems that the teenager acquired a painful condition of carpal tunnel in her wrists that made it too painful to continue to shoot arrows. She had to quit her temp job as a secretary and convinced "Bowstring" to marry her. Almost a year later, Bonnie gave birth to a daughter named Cissie. When Cissie had turned five, Bowstring Jones ate some bad shellfish and dropped dead. But very soon afterward, Hal Jordan from Evergreen Insurance awarded her settlement money to make up for his death. This seemed to make up for everything and Bonnie would never have to work again. This was the path in which she began training her daughter to take on a bigger role. To become the second Arrowette. For the next several years, she would see that Cissie would engage in lessons of archery, judo, kick-boxing, gymnastics, ballet, drame, voice and beauty-pagent charm... Bonnie had turned into the mother she despised. Her pride hurt, she was quickly forgotten by many people. She decided to raise her daughter to replace her. She lived her life through her daughter and became an overbearing mother. The new Arrowette (the "Miss" has been dropped) is a young girls almost the same age as Bart Allen... otherwise known as Impulse. Bonnie is the mentor/trainer/coach/promoter/public relationist who uses a hidden microphone to talk to the young Arrowette as she fights crime. Bonnie has been accused of child endangerment and forgetting that she is the new Arrowette's mother first. Bonnie depends on the new Arrowette and pushes her to a point of emotional abuse and danger forcing this child to finish first. The "old" Arrowette lives through the new adventures of her daughter. The "old" ex-Miss Arrowette has become an overweight, chain-smoking, two-faced and spiteful woman. Mercury Max turned her over to child wellfare so Bonnie hired the best super-hero lawyer there is, Jean Loring. Bonnie lost and was put under psychiatric observation. Her daughter, was sent to the Elias School, a boarding school for girls in Western Pennsylvania. Her daughter still has a sense of innocence about her that is refreshing. Her daughter has recently joined the teen group Young Justice as one of its youngest members. She has continued to dive into the role as the new Arrowette in her abscence to be even better than her mom, Bonnie. Even with her custody troubles, Bonnie still tries to keep tabs on her daughter's activities. SPECIAL POWERS AND WEAPONS Miss Arrowette was an above average archer. Now she relies on communication and public relation skills to help her daughter's career as the new Arrowette. Bonnie is now a deceitful double talking communicator. NOTES Miss Arrowette was not the first "female Green Arrow" inspired hero though she is the most memorable. Earlier, there was another female archer who wore a disguise similiar to Green Arrow who went by the name of Queen Arrow. Miss Arrowette's brief career actually lasted longer than this other female archer. Both Queen Arrow and Miss Arrowette were inspired by Green Arrow. Bonnie King also dated Oliver Queen briefly (original JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #7 - Oct. Nov. 1961). Also, please check out The Arrowette History, Conspiracy, and Commentary Report that looks at the possibilities that Arrowette may be the biological illegitimate daughter of Oliver Queen in this ever controversial topic. "The plans I've got for Cissie at this point don't really bring her into the Green Arrow realm (actually, I'm rather pleased, because not one person has gotten 100% correct what's going to be happening with her.) With that said, I've read the fan postulations that her father is Oliver Queen and I gotta say, it seems quite convincing to me." -Peter David LIST OF APPEARANCES Miss Arrowette/Bonnie King-Jones has appeared in: |
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Hellstone
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posted December 21, 2000 05:27 AM
Xeen Arrow THE UNOFFICIAL XEEN ARROW BIOGRAPHY PERSONAL DATA Alter Ego: Unknown HISTORY From out of nowhere Mysterious Giant Arrows land in the city which is home to Green Arrow and Speedy. These giant arrows as tall as 25 story buildings begin landing in different parts of the area. It is up to the Ace Archers to determine where they are from and investigate if this is a precursor to an alien invasion. The Battling Bowmen head over to the Observatroy and with the aid of a cosmo radar telescope, they learn that some mysterious giant alien is firing them from space. The two bowmen then go and investigate a giant arrow where they are mysteriously teleported to another dimension... Dimension Zero. Green Arrow and Speedy find themselves in another dimension which is not to unlike Gulliver's Travels in which they find themselves as tall as mice. There, they find a parallel planet in which the giant archer, Xeen Arrow, is an imitation of Earth's Green Arrow. Speedy and Green Arrow assist Xeen Arrow as the Giant Archer as he battles his own dimesional foes. Eventually, as Xeen Arrow returns to his version of the Arrow Cave, he dons his civilian guise as a scientist. There, Green Arrow and Speedy reveal themselves and their predicament. Xeen Arrow lets Earth's Archers know that a comet has caused a dimensional gap in which arrows from the giant's dimension crossed over into Earth's dimension. With only a few seconds left before the comet closes the gap, Xeen Arrow fires one of his giant arrows back through the rift and returns Green Arrow and Speedy back to our Earth. Once home, Oliver Queen and Roy Harper store their giant arrow the size of a B-52 they returned on into the Trophy Room of the Arrowcave. Years later, Green Arrow reveals this story why sitting back all night with Black Canary. She laughs and doesn't believe him. Oliver Queen would state it was his first adventure into outer space. She would laugh and tell him that it was a great tall tale and that he should be a writer. He says it did happen but then gives in an says "Okay...Okay" as if he was pulling her leg and then he moved on to tell another story. SPECIAL POWERS AND WEAPONS Xeen Arrow is a well respected scientist from his dimension and the equivalent of Green Arrow in his realm. He is an expert archer and uses his own version of trick arrows. These aliens also speek a sort of mental language through telepathy. NOTES This was one of the first two part Green Arrow tales. Also, in DC SPECIAL BLUE RIBBON SPECIAL #23, there is a framing story leading readers to believe that this tale was the imaginative creation of Oliver Queen to tell a "tall tale" to his girlfriend the Black Canary. It was dismissed as a joke. This story then remains as a fictional story in the imagination of Oliver Queen before the Crisis of Infinite Earths but has now been revealed in Mark Waid's THE KINGDOM #2 as being a divergent hypertimeline. LIST OF APPEARANCES Xeen Arrow appeared in: |
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Hellstone
Member |
posted December 21, 2000 05:27 AM
Queen Arrow THE UNOFFICIAL QUEEN ARROW BIOGRAPHY PERSONAL DATA Alter Ego: Diana DareOccupation: Socialite/Sleep Walking Adventurer Marital Status: Single Known Relatives: Everet Dare (father) Group Affiliation: None Base of Operations: Star City Current Status: Retired crime fighter Height: 5'6" Weight: 125 lbs. Eyes: Brown Hair: Strawberry Blond First Appearance: Adventure Comics #241 (1957) HISTORY Diana Dare is the daughter of Star City millionaire Everet Dare. She is an amateur archer and a horse back rider. Young Diana was also a great admirer of the Green Arrow and his partner Speedy following many of their exploits during their early years. She had set up a special trophy room containing trick arrows that were one time shot from the bows of the two archers. She was one of their greatest fans. One evening, Diana went to bed and then she began to slept walk. During the sleep walk, she donned a special green costume equipped with the Battling Bowmen's trick arrows. She entered the streets as a new crimefighter inspired by Green Arrow and Speedy. Strangely, young Diana Dare did not realize she was sleep walking and had no clue she was the Queen Arrow. She even followed her heroics for the short time in the press. The two Battling Bowmen would cross paths with her and find that she was quite capable of taking on the vermin of the city herself. She helped Green Arrow capture a couple of criminals, revealed her name as "Queen Arrow", and then ran off into the night. As the press was printing their headlines, the Emerald Archer and his partner Speedy looked for clues to figure out who she was. They examined the arrows fired by Queen Arrow and realized that they were arrows they themselves fired long ago. Oliver Queen knew that Diana Dare was a fan and had one of the greatest collection of arrows in the area and so the two archers went to her father's estate where she lived. Once arriving, they found Diana sleep walking as her father was trying to wake her. Upon investigating, Green Arrow came across a rare Javiro Ceremonial Arrow. Everett Dare acknowledged that earlier Green Arrow realized that this arrow was painted with a strange potion that causes loss of will power, sleep walking, and that it made her become the Queen Arrow in the trance. Green Arrow went to the Arrow Car and made an antidote for Diana Dare at the agreement of her father. Later when she awoke, Diana was happy to see who the archers at her home and asked if they knew who she was. Green Arrow replied that it was a secret and that Queen Arrow was retired. SPECIAL POWERS AND WEAPONS The Queen Arrow was an amateur archer who used the trick arrows of Green Arrow and Speedy. She is also an expert horse back rider and an acrobat. NOTES This is the first female inspired archer after Green Arrow. She predates "Miss Arrowette" by three years. LIST OF APPEARANCES Queen Arrow has appeared in: |
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taz_19632000
Member |
posted December 21, 2000 06:33 AM
How about (#235) Ultraa from the 1970s? |
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the4thpip
Member |
posted December 21, 2000 06:57 AM
Ultraa? That was one of the first DC Comics I read... All I really remember is that he was the only superpowered being on Earth Prime (our Earth, Julie Schwartz made a cameo in the story). The Justice League was mystriously pulled into our world just as Earth Prime's first super villain appears (some kind of robot thingie that looked like a psychedelic lamp). Ultraa is convinced that his presence on a super power free world will create more and more villains, so he leaves his home and follows the JL to Earth 1. He showed up in a later story with the Royal Flush gang. I might have to look up his origin and how that turned out. |
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the4thpip
Member |
posted December 23, 2000 09:00 AM
some more info on Ultraa: He was born on a planet that, very much like Krypton, exploded (I think, or imploded or fell into the sun or something). In this case, the entire population of the planet was saved in big arks, in cryogenic sleep. A sentient super computer watched over them. Both the super computer and one baby were ejected and sent to earth (I think the systems were failing). The baby landed in Australia and was raised by Aborigines, the computer crashed in Antarctica and was driven mad by decades of loneliness. When a pilot crashed in Antarctica, he, the computer and parts of the wreckage fused into a malicious entity. Meanwhile, Ultraa's youth is pretty much like Clark Kent's, just that you have to replace "Kansas" with "Australian Outback" and "Ma and Pa Kent" with "Aborigines in thongs". Ultraa is so fast he can run on water, pretty much invulnerable and super strong. His one weakness is ultra sound. The JLA and Ultraa defeat the robot (Maxitron?) by disguising Superman as Ultraa and vice versa, so when they get attacked with red sunlight and ultra sound respectively, they are not affected. Story by Gerry Conway. Art by George Tuska. |
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Eduardo
Member |
posted December 23, 2000 05:06 PM
Some time ago, I asked Miki about Blackwing over in the Batman Boards, and he posted this bio in response. (It can be found in the famous "Mikishawn, I think I known who you are" in the Batman Boards). So 187 is done. Once upon a time, there was a world where costumed men and women dressed in colorful costumes took to the streets and fought crime. The heroes flourished in the 1940s but their numbers had dwindled by the 1970s. Their hair had turned gray and one of the greatest of their generation -- The Batman -- had died (1978’s ADVENTURE COMICS # 462). A relative handful of heroes --including the Huntress, daughter of the Dark Knight -- stood poised to replace them. ************* It’s one thing to read about crime in the newspaper but it’s quite another to experience it first hand. Such was the case with Charles Bullock, a young African American lawyer recently added to the roster of Gotham City’s Cranston, Grayson and Wayne in 1981 (WONDER WOMAN # 281-284, by Paul Levitz, Joe Staton and Steve Mitchell). When a super-villain named Karnage attacked the law offices in search of senior partner Arthur Cranston, Bullock rushed forward to oppose the intruder only to be swatted away like a fly (# 286-287, by Levitz, Staton and Bruce Patterson). Karnage was soon brought to justice by The Huntress (secretly Helena Wayne, another partner in the firm) and Arthur Cranston tried to assure Charles that he had nothing to be ashamed of. “You’re a lawyer,” he said, “not a bouncer.” The young man was not appeased, however. “I have some heavy thinking to do ... about the way Karnage’s attack is going to CHANGE my life” (WW # 289). Digging through the firm’s library, Charles found “a fairly complete file on The Huntress in the clippings. Good. I wonder if it has everything I NEED ...” (WW # 290, by Levitz, Staton and Mike DeCarlo). Levitz’s plans for Charles Bullock were never realized and it fell to his successor, Joey Cavalieri, to resolve the subplot in the latter half of 1982. The “Huntress”episode in WW # 297 opened with Charles witnessing a pair of hoods harrassing a local grocer. “What can we do about it ?” the old man asked. “We’re too small to fight them. In the old days, there was The Batman, God rest his soul. He was there to PROTECT people like us. Saw to it slime like that didn’t get into the neighborhood. But now, who STANDS up for people like us ? What can we do ... ?” For Charles Bullock, it was a call to arms. The following evening, a bat-scalloped shadow fell over the thugs, momentarily stopping them -- and a concealed Huntress -- in their tracks. The source of the shadow was a man in a variation of The Batman’s costume -- light blue replacing the gray, a more stylized bat chest emblem and utility belt, yellow bands around his wrists and calves and a sharply arched yellow-tipped face mask that evoked bat-ears in silhouette. His dark blue cape functioned as a hang-glider. “Stand back!” he commanded. “NONE may threaten the people of this city while Blackwing stands!” Unhappily, Blackwing was grounded almost immediately when one of the thugs partially shredded his cape/glider. The would-be hero was beaten into unconsciousness and unmasked. Watching from a distance, the Huntress recognized Charles instantly (WW # 297, art by Staton and Sal Trapani). Blackwing was presented to the mastermind behind the gang, a snake charmer of sorts named the Boa. The Huntress crashed the party and was left to the mercies of a boa constrictor as the villains made their exit. Blackwing, who’d been feigning unconsciousness, used a dagger to slash the serpent and free the Huntress (WW # 298-299, art by Staton and Frank McLaughlin). “I was a top notch lawyer,” he explained, “but that only gave me a ring-side seat as I watched criminals slide through the revolving door of justice. I felt the need to do something MORE -- something lasting! My hero had always been The Batman. The heart of this town nearly quit beating altogether when he died. But then The Huntress swung into action -- and I knew in my guts that if SHE could do it -- I could, too!” (WW # 298) “Maybe it was stupid but I became Blackwing to be that symbol for people again ... to restore their pride in Gotham ... and SPUR them to take charge of this city once more. I tried to THINK the way The Batman would. I had the presence of mind to keep my miniature tape recorder in my utility belt running ever since I was kidnapped.” “Evidence!” The Huntress exclaimed. “Good work, Charley. We’ll nail them YET. You would’ve made The Batman very proud, Charley. You’ve certainly made ME proud.” The daughter of The Batman captured the Boa and his gang that night (WW # 299) but Charles never took to the sky as Blackwing again. And, yet, history may yet see the Bullock name enshrined as a costumed hero. A Gotham youngster named Charlie Bullock, possibly a namesake cousin of Charles, had crossed paths with Wildcat three years earlier on a late winter’s evening in 1979. Charlie proved to be a natural fighter and helped the Justice Society member take down a quartet of muggers. Wildcat realized that kids like Charlie could achieve great things with a little positive reinforcement. Pulling off his mask, Ted Grant introduced himself to Charlie and decided, in that moment, that he would leave his JSA responsibilities to become a mentor to any of the youth in Gotham that he could help. Announcing his leave of absence, Ted noted that “SOMEONE’s gotta start worrying where the NEXT generation of super-heroes is coming from”(ADVENTURE COMICS # 464, by Levitz and Staton). Will Charlie Bullock return as the Blackwing of the current DC Universe ? Only time -- and future issues of JSA -- will tell. |
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Mikishawm
Member |
posted December 23, 2000 07:21 PM
Eduardo, you're truly a saint! Many thanks -- and Happy Holidays to you and everyone on the boards! Once the hubbub of the season is behind me, I'm hoping to check in with short takes on a bunch of these characters. In the meantime, here's a partial rerun from Obscure Heroes, Part One. I included a second half when I submitted it to the stillborn COMIC READER revival this summer. Hope you like it! A secret war was being waged against the Earth and the only two people who could stop it were from a planet hundreds of light years away. The Criminal Alliance of the World -- C.A.W. -- was scouring the globe in search of the scientific secrets of the ancients -- and their treasures. In 1965, the organization had discovered an Egyptian statue in the form of a dog that was designed by the priests of Sebek to be far more. It was also capable of short range teleportation, something which C.A.W. used “to loot the underground tomb of Ramses.” The villains abducted laborers to steal the riches, erected an invisible force field that was deadly to the touch and preyed on native superstitions by wearing the heads of animals. C.A.W. was unaware that there was a twin to the Dog of Sebek, one capable of long range teleportation that activated each time the short range unit was used. In a fateful development, the second dog was on display in the Midway City Museum and unwittingly transported curator Shiera Hall to C.A.W.’s Egyptian site. Trailing Shiera via the radiation given off in the exchange, her husband, the Thanagarian police officer Hawkman, trailed her to Valley of the Crocodile, fought off a band of Crocodile-Men and rescued Shiera. Her appearance had alerted C.A.W. to the existence of the other teleporter and the couple made a desperate flight out of the stronghold hoping to beat the agents to Midway City. In the process, the local Dog of Sebek was broken and its American duplicate suffered an identical injury (HAWKMAN (first series) # 7, by Gardner Fox and Murphy Anderson). Now deemed worthless by C.A.W., the fragments of the Dogs of Sebek proved to be a breakthrough when Hawkman and Hawkgirl delivered them to Thanagar. Within a few years, the planet’s scientists had solved the secret of teleportation and the technology was eventually shared with the Justice League of America (JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA # 78). By August of that year, the Central Intelligence Bureau had taken an active role in thwarting the growing threat of C.A.W. With the Atom already on a case for the CIA (THE ATOM # 21), they sought an alliance with the Tiny Titan’s close friends, Hawkman and Hawkgirl. The Hawks learned that C.A.W. was keeping other foreign agents under surveillance, waiting for them to steal government secrets and then hijacking that data for themselves. After running a gauntlet of super-weapons (including a multi-outlet dart gun and a unit that fired “guided propellers” as “sharp as razor blades”), the heroes brought the local C.A.W. agents into custody and their method of smuggling the stolen secrets was exposed (HAWKMAN # 10). Within months, C.A.W. had set their sights on the ultimate lost secret -- a legendary “computer” that contained all knowledge on Earth, something of a primitive version of Thanagar’s Absorbascon. The data was contained in a bronze “talking head” and it was activated by a small lamp. The two pieces had been stolen centuries ago from the scientific enclave known as the Nine Unknowns. In 1966, their successors had learned that the head and the lamp had finally been located and were going to be stolen again -- by C.A.W. A representative of the enclave was dispatched to Midway City to solicit the aid of the Hawks’ Absorbascon in tracking the artifacts. Unfortunately, C.A.W. feared the heroes’ interference and arranged for an attack of their own that would keep them in Midway City. By now, the C.A.W. agents had put secrecy behind them, proudly displaying their affiliation in matching red and black costumes with a golden, razor-edged C.A.W. emblem on their chest that doubled as a weapon. This time, their high-tech armada included a gun with anti-gravity discharges, a “bubble gun” whose output ate through anything it touched, a “particlizer” that flooded its victim with enough radiation to create an explosion and a “protonic amplifier.” No threat was enough to defeat Hawkman and Hawkgirl and they finally succeeded in uniting the talking head and the lamp before the Nine Unknowns. The scientists detected a radioactive aura surrounding the couple, however, and suspecting that C.A.W. would use it to locate their base, caused the energy to dissipate. In fact, the radiation had been the closest C.A.W. had come to a death-ray, one that “takes time to permeate the human body.” At the activation of an electronic signal, the aura would kill its victim. The unwitting Hawks had cheated death! (HAWKMAN # 14) Furious at their latest failure, an international triad of C.A.W. leaders vowed that “someday -- somehow -- somewhere -- CAW will find a way to smash Hawkman and Hawkgirl!” There is no truth to the rumor that C.A.W. was behind Hawkman’s post-Invasion! DC continuity. SECRET AGENT WOMAN April 30, 1940: “At 3 P.M. yesterday, an attack by a fanatical easterner on the President was attempted. G-Men have been called in.” The assassination attempt on Franklin Roosevelt had, in fact, been the third strike on a world leader in the span of little more than a month. Manhattan socialite Carter Hall was mulling on the events of the day while attending a concert when he suddenly found himself in the midst of the mystery. A young blonde in the crowded hallway suddenly found herself attacked by a glassy-eyed man from the Middle East wielding a nasty-looking blade. Hall swung into action, decking the would-be assassin and, displaying his knowledge of antiquities, identifying the weapon as a khanjur. Impressed by her rescuer’s scholarship, the woman slipped a card into his pocket: IONE CRAIG A hand written invitation added: “Why not call tonight ?” After piquing Carter’s interest with the card, Ione insisted that he not “get further mixed up in this terrible affair!”Identifying herself as a federal agent, she revealed that she was headed for Araby to invesigate the revival of the 11th Century Sect of Assassins. “Even now they plan a world-wide murder plot to kill those in authority in all countries and set up their own rulers.” Predictably, the young woman’s protests only encouraged Carter Hall to follow her, flying behind her ship from New York to Cairo. Head in hand, Ione seemed to dread her mission. “I wish I had someone to turn to ...” On cue, the Hawkman landed on her hotel room balcony and introduced himself as her bodyguard. Ione immediately pulled out a map to Alamut, the so-called “City of Assassins” and asked the Hawk to confirm its location while she arranged for an air raid. While Hawkman infiltrated Alamut, Ione was kidnapped by the Sect and brought to the city in chains. Raiding the meal hall, the Hawk snatched a scimitar and dived into the wave of assassins fighting, we’re told, “with the power of ten men.” Flinging the F.B.I. agent over his shoulder, Hawkman wrapped up the mission by bringing down the leader of the Sect with his slingshot. “The deadly missile flys (sic) true and Hassan Ibn Sabah sinks to the floor ... dead.” Gardner Fox and Sheldon Moldoff picked up in FLASH COMICS # 6 where they’d left off in # 5. Observing that “my wings are not working properly,” Hawkman was forced to land with Ione in the middle of the desert. Without the F.B.I. agent’s additional weight, the Hawk briefly took to the sky again to determine their whereabouts. Predictably, Ione was gone when he returned, abducted this time by slavers. A rescue attempt went awry and, with his wings unreliable, Hawkman was taken prisoner, too. A fellow captive identified himself as Major Brent, the only survivor of an army unit decimated by Sheba, the self-described “Queen of the Desert.” Finally solving his flight problem (“Ah. The adjustor fan needs a minor correction.”), Hawkman escaped, roused the nearby army battalion and returned in time to rescue Brent and Ione from serving as the main course for lions in Sheba’s arena. With all of the Desert Queen’s forces watching the festivities, her army was caught off when the calvary’s tanks rolled in. The woman who’d vowed “to free Araby from the hated white people” found herself a prisoner of the men she despised. With FLASH # 7, Carter’s fiancee Shiera Sanders was back in her proper role as the strip’s female lead. Ione Craig never appeared again and, given the fact that she spent most of the two issues in chains and cheesecake shots, one might well assume that she was drummed out of the F.B.I. Or, to play devil’s advocate, rather than speculate on Ione Craig’s lack of qualifications for the job, maybe we should be asking just how gullible Carter Hall really was. Consider the facts. Carter met an agent of the F.B.I. who ... ... was assigned to seek out a cult but was unfamiliar with their weapon of choice. ... revealed her status as an operative to a stranger and provided him with details on her mission -- while encouraging him not to get involved. ... didn’t question either Hawkman’s subsequent offer of help or his familiarity with the case. ... seemed incapable of defending herself against a succession of attackers. Carter himself wondered, “If they know Ione Craig is a secret agent, why send her to Araby ? The assassins will only kill her.” Rather than following through on the suspicious chain of events, he allowed his male defense mechanisms to kick in. In the largely uncharted territory of the mystery-man, Carter and Shiera still had much to learn about keeping a secret. In the Hawkman’s second case, Shiera had gone so far as to reveal his true name to terrorist Alexander the Great -- and arrange a meal with the madman in the hope of negotiating a settlement! Alexander, who had threatened to crush the entire eastern seaboard, was captured by the Hawk and left for the authorities (FLASH COMICS # 2). One can only imagine what he told them. A month later, Carter himself revealed his secrets to a quintet of kidnapped scientists, including college pal Dick Blendon. The grateful men assured Hawkman that they’d keep the truth to themselves (FLASH COMICS # 3). But did they ? Another point of curiosity was the unusual malfunction of Hawkman’s wings while flying across the desert with Ione. Up to that point, the only man with the technology to ground the Hawk was Alexander, who’d demonstrated the effects of his mass-enhancing ray in FLASH # 2. Were the wings actually weakened by an out-of-synch fan, as Hawkman believed, or was Ione secretly disabling them with a device derived from Alexander’s weapon so that the hero would discover Sheba’s army ? It’s a matter of record that, by November of 1940, the F.B.I. had files on Hawkman and several of his contemporaries. Further, the agency regarded them as trustworthy enough to solicit their aid in spearheading an assault against Nazi Germany (DC SPECIAL # 29). On November 26, J. Edgar Hoover himself requested that Hawkman and the newly-minted Justice Society of America track down Fritz Klaver and his ring of saboteurs (ALL-STAR COMICS # 4). In any event, the Silver Age Hawkman crossed paths with government agents himself in 1965 when he went up against C.A.W. in HAWKMAN # 10. The C.I.A. agent known only as Blondie was everything that Ione Craig was not -- observant, resourceful and more than capable of holding her own in a fight. And she should have been. When the case was over, she unmasked herself as Shayera Thal. Hawkgirl had tried to put one over on her husband but he’d known it was her all along. There’s just no fooling those extraterrestrial police detectives. |
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Sk8maven
Member |
posted December 28, 2000 10:14 AM
Whatever happened to the Silver Age Rose and Thorn? (No relation, as far as I know, to the Golden Age victim/villainess who was Jade and Obsidian's mother!) |
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QuimbyEra
Member |
posted December 28, 2000 10:29 AM
Originally posted by Sk8maven: Whatever happened to the Silver Age Rose and Thorn? (No relation, as far as I know, to the Golden Age victim/villainess who was Jade and Obsidian's mother!) The silver age Thorn began her career about 8 years ago on the current DC timeline. She was really Rose Forrest, the shy daughter of a Metropolis cop Phil Forrest. When she was a young girl she experience a trauma which has never been explained. As a result she developed a split personality. At times, she would become a more agressive woman. Once, while the agressive personality was in charge, she discovered a secret passage in her family brownstone which led to an abandoned costume shop. In it she found a costume and weapons which were created by costumer Albert Talbot in a scheme to outfit a woman as a super-criminal. Now, it was never explained who that woman was or exactly how long ago the costume was created, but perhaps it was created in the 1940s. Perhaps Albert Talbot had known the golden age super-villain called the Thorn and had created the new costume and weapons for her shortly before she was "cured" [see INFINITY INC issues & a recent GREEN LANTERN issue] The costume sat in the costume shop until found by Rose Forrest. When Rose's father Phil was killed by the criminal syndicate known as The 100, she retreated into the other personality, donned the costume and became the Thorn. She waged war against The 100, even getting help from Superman. Rose was never aware of her activities as the Thorn and thought she suffered from unexplained blackouts. Afterwards, she retired. The Thorn returned to crimefighting after the Crisis, when the 100 resurfaced as the 1000. She was wearing a different costume and a knee brace from some untold injury. She teamed up with Booster Gold against Minddancer, Shockwave & other super-villains. Since then she has returned to active duty on a number of occasions whenever things in Metropolis got out of hand, particularly when Warworld came to Metropolis and right after Superman's death. She has recently appeared in the SUPERMAN books again. |
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the4thpip
Member |
posted December 30, 2000 10:16 AM
Does anyone remember a story in which Dick Grayson and Duela Dent assumed new identities to infiltrate a criminal organisation? Her costume had a playing card pattern... Anyone remember their names and gimmicks? |
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Eduardo
Member |
posted December 30, 2000 01:01 PM
This info I picked it from a Titans site. I don´t remember the url, right now, so I will look for it and post it later, so credit goes were its deserved. The Card Queen: DETECTIVE COMICS issues # 481-483 Written by Ryan Hardin (RHa3720137@aol.com) ! When BATMAN FAMILY was cancelled due to the DC Implosion of the late 1970s, those new BATMAN FAMILY stories that were scheduled to come out were published in DETECTIVE COMICS from issues # 480-500 as sort of "bonus" stories. In DETECTIVE COMICS issues # 481-483, Duela Dent appeared in yet another costumed guise, one that has been almost completely overlooked in retrospects of her history and career. These issues all featured a "Robin Story" with Duela Dent along as "The Card Queen". She wore a red and gold costume and a wig of long brown hair. The costume kinda looked like a genie's but with a skirt. In the story, there was a villain who ran an organization called the Pseudo-Supermen who were, of course, out to take over the world. In order to do that, the world's most powerful super-heroes had to be taken down first. Duela was a memme ber of this organization, no less than the master villain's second in command. Robin learns the true identitity of the Card Queen early on but we readers have to wait until the conclusion of the story ( in issue # 483) to find out who she really is...Duela Dent. And she was employed as a secret government operative by the CBI to infiltrate the group. After she succeeded in that, she somehow contacted Robin for help and left clues for him to figure her identity and join her in her adventure. |
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the4thpip
Member |
posted December 30, 2000 02:15 PM
Thanks Eduardo, that was quick! But does my memory deceive me when I think Robin took on a new ID in that story, too? |
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Mikishawm
Member |
posted December 30, 2000 03:31 PM
Robin didn't take a new identity in the story but he DID wear several reader-designed costumes over the course if 'TEC # 481. Now, a few more entries: The two-page story entitled “Whirlwind” (by Steve Skeates and Sal Amendola from TEEN TITANS # 30) represented one of a handful of picture and text stories that DC experimented with in the early 1970s that ranged from shorts (as in Challengers of the Unknown and Aquaman episodes in SUPER DC GIANT # S-25 and S-26) to longer pieces featuring Adam Strange (STRANGE ADVENTURES # 226). ********Tornado. It was a word that threw fear into the hearts of Midwesterners like Wally West. Even Wally couldn’t have imagined the cyclone that struck the Blue Valley First National Bank in the late summer of 1970. It was more of a whirlwind, really, one that slowly began to dissolve within the bank itself and reveal a human center. The man within had white-flecked black hair and wore a red-black domino mask, a long-sleeved purple turtleneck and orange gloves. While his left hand operated a red chestplate, his right held a gun. The gunman hadn’t anticipated the arrival of Kid Flash and reactivated his cyclonic field to make a quick escape. The teenage speedster managed to thrust his fist into the whirlwind “but he threw the punch at the wrong angle, and there was no time for a second attempt. He was caught by the swirling air and thrown back into a wall.” “But the damage had already been done. His poorly aimed punch had hit the machinery instead of the man and the device was now beginning to malfunction. The tornado that carried the man suddenly smashed into a pillar, money spilled all over the bank floor. The the whirling air mass began to weave all over, and finally crashed through the northeast wall, and pieces of glass from the large bank door flew in all directions.” “The miniature tornado was last seen speeding off across the ocean. Speculation is that the man in its center ultimately drowned at sea. It has never been learned who he was. Nor what type of device he used to create this whirlwind.” Given the fact that Blue Valley was in Nebraska, the cyclonic man must have travelling at an incredible velocity to reach the ocean so swiftly. The incident remains classified in Teen Titans files as unsolved. The Space Rangers are mentioned in HISTORY OF THE DC UNIVERSE in this paragraph: “A young orphan boy was found in the Command D bunker of Space Planeteer Headquarters by Gen. Horatio Tomorrow. Young Tommy Tomorrow would grow up to be the greatest Planeteer of all. The Planeteers were the prime peacekeeping armed forces of the future. The Space Rangers became the future policemen.” It appears that the text was referring to the Planeteers as “space rangers” but the phrase was capitalized and preceded a picture of Space Ranger, who was a solo operator. The Marvel Family got together for a reunion in 1946 (MARVEL FAMILY # 2). Captain Marvel was there as was Captain Marvel, Jr., Mary Marvel, the Lieutenant Marvels and Uncle Marvel. Not in attendance were Black Adam (R.I.P.), Freckles Marvel and one other -- Hoppy the Marvel Bunny. Created by Chad Grothkopf, Hoppy had debuted in Fawcett’s FUNNY ANIMALS # 1 (dated December, 1942). Like many real life kids who followed Captain Marvel’s adventures, Animalville resident Hoppy couldn’t resist trying the “Shazam” magic word for himself after a bully set his sights on his girlfriend Millie. And, sure enough, it worked. Captain Marvel Bunny had a healthy eleven year run and his adventures ceased only when Fawcett acquiesced to DC’s wishes and stopped published Marvel Family stories. In addition to FUNNY ANIMALS # 1-83 (missing only # 49-54), Hoppy also had fifteen issues of his own title (1945-1947)and a single episode in 1948’s MASTER COMICS # 91. Charlton Comics bought the rights to a number of Fawcett properties
and, as noted by Roy Thomas in 1964’s ALTER EGO # 7, they “used a number
of old Marvel Bunny strips as secondary features in ATOMIC MOUSE COMICS.
Charlton changed his magic word to ‘Alizam,’ his costume to blue (without
the lightning-bolt insignia), and his name to Hoppy the MAGIC Bunny, and
they were in business. And nobody sued, either.” In this form, Hoppy
appeared in FUNNY ANIMALS # 84-88 and ATOMIC MOUSE # 14-15. Years later, in his first crack at writing the adventures of Captain Marvel and company, Roy Thomas had Mister Mind and Mister Mxyzptlk join forces. In DC COMICS PRESENTS # 34 (1981; art by Rich Buckler and Dick Giordano), the magical imp thrust Superman and Captain Marvel into a dimension of funny animals, “magically trading them for two of the locals.” The locals in question, to no one’s surprise, were Hoppy and Millie. The two bunnies were hauled off by the police of Earth-S for disturbing the peace and Hoppy, taking advantage of the fact that his girl friend had fainted, flew into action. Learning that King Kull was attacking the Marvels at the United Nations, Marvel Bunny obliquely recalled the events of MARVEL FAMILY # 28, noting that “I can’t BEAR the thought of that nice Mary Marvel in peril.” Thanks to the departure of a disenchanted Mxyzptlk, the magical spell that had enabled Kull to triumph was gone and Captain Marvel Bunny succeeded where Mary and Junior had failed. After shaking hands with Superman, Marvel Bunny flew back to his home dimension with Millie in tow. “What about Hoppy ?” she asked. “I’ll, er, come back for him later.” As editor, Thomas checked in on Hoppy one more time in late 1985’s continuation of the Captain Carrot series, THE OZ-WONDERLAND WARS # 2 (with art by E. Nelson Bridwell, Joey Cavalieri and Carol Lay) . Attempting to locate his foe Captain Carrot, the Nome King Roquat magically summoned an assortment of fictional rabbits to an underground lair -- including Millie and Hoppy. Slipping behind a stalagmite, Hoppy returned in costume, proclaiming that “I have within me ALL the power of Salamander, Hogules, Antlers, Zebreus, Abalone and Monkury!” The initial rivalry between Marvel Bunny and Captain Carrot soon faded in battle and Cap put his hand on Hoppy’s shoulder. “What do you say we MOP UP the last of them TOGETHER ?” Disgusted with the outcome, Roquat moaned that “bringing these BLASTED BUNNIES together is the most HARE-BRAINED IDEA I’ve ever come up with. I wish I’d never thought of it!” In an instant, all the rabbits returned to their places of origin. With the creation of a new, oh-so- serious DC Universe in the wake of CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS, Hoppy seemed destined to spend eternity in comic book limbo (as in 1990’s ANIMAL MAN # 25). Instead, after being glimpsed in an alternate reality in 1997’s POWER OF SHAZAM! # 27, the Marvel Bunny made a full-fledged return in POS # 29 (by Jerry Ordway, Pete Krause and Dick Giordano). At a birthday party for himself and his sister Mary, Billy Batson had run afoul of a magician while he trying to figure out how the Great Carlini had pulled a cartoon rabbit out of his hat. As Carlini threatened him, Billy called out “Shazam!” and awoke with his hands around the ears of “a rabbit, dressed like a Captain Marvel.” Cap had unwittingly been transported to a world of cartoon animals and transformed a rabbit into a super-hero simultaneously. Hoppy, who discovered that the Marvel Family magic prevented his girlfriend Millie from recognizing him, explained that an evil trio of animals “abduct the citizens of Animalville for Sorcero, then take them up to this hole in the sky ... where a hand pulls them through, so that a bunch of monsters -- like YOU -- can terrorize them. And then when it’s over, the citizens --predominantly bunnies, wander around in shock for days after.” The two Marvels tracked the mystery back to a human magician named Sorcero, who had gained access to an other-dimensional portal that could be accessed through his top hat. The magician’s assistant, Hans Carlini, had forced his mentor through the portal and exiled him to the world of funny animals. "He taps that wand -- my old wand, on the hat as a signal to send a bunny through the interdimensional portal for him to pluck out of the hat,” Sorcero explained. “The tapping causes me extreme pain, you see -- I’ll do ANYTHING to make it stop, so he gets his rabbits.” Alerted that the sky portal was burning, Cap realized that the lightning from his transformation had ignited the top hat. Sorcero admitted that the destruction of the hat would end Carlini’s reign of terror but that Cap would be stranded if he didn’t leave immediately. Switching identities, Billy slid through the flaming gateway with a boost from the newest Marvel. Waking up in his bed, Billy was assured by Mary that he’d only had a dream. “Look,” she insisted. “I SAW Carlini jolted backwards, breaking his wand, when the lightning hit the first time ... then you said the word again a second later. Lucky thing too, or he’d have seen the transformation.” “But what if time passed differently there ? A SECOND for YOU could have lasted HOURS for me. It COULD’VE happened, Mary. It SEEMED real.” Slapping her brother over the head with a pillow, Mary repeated, “It was a dream, bonehead!” Somewhere, looking up as a flickering hole in the sky blinked out, a flying rabbit in a red and gold costume made a vow. “Your memory will live on in the good deeds I’ll perform ... as Hoppy the Marvel Bunny!” You can’t keep a good hare down. |
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T5
Member |
posted December 30, 2000 06:47 PM
Vartox and Terra Man, are 2 of my favs in the Superman rogues gallery, the last time I saw Terra Man was SUPERMAN #46, any new sightings? And what about Vartox? Plus...what happened to Butcher? He had his own mini-series and turned up in THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD mini-series... then what? |
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Mikishawm
Member |
posted December 31, 2000 06:21 PM
Settle back in those chairs, pardners. This here's gonna be a long one. On a steamy summer day in 1888 Arizona, the editor of the Cripple Creek Courier had a decision to make. In the end Rufus Matlock decided to kill the story, explaining to his daughter Gail that he didn’t want to risk having “our newspaper become the laughingstock of the whole world. No, daughter. Even if the people of Cripple Creek won’t ever FORGET what they saw ... the rest of the world will NEVER hear about it.” It had all begun one day earlier with Sheriff Cooper’s capture of bank robber Jess Manning. The outlaw had been escorted to a jail cell but Cooper had reckoned without Manning’s offspring. Young Toby had turned ten years old only months earlier on February 25 but he was already a chip off the old block, stealing a gun and slipping it to his Pa during the night. “Yore gonna be a first-class outlaw someday, son,” his proud father told him as they rode off on horseback. “I feel it in muh bones.” Back in Cripple Creek, the news of Manning’s escape had been eclipsed by reports of an unidentified flying object and the sight of a flying young reporter named Clark Kent who’d just saved Rufus Matlock from being trampled by a horse. Taking refuge in the sky, the 20th Century hero known as Superboy wondered how his plan had gone so wrong. After a series of potentially fatal blunders in his own time period, the Boy of Steel had exiled himself to the past, convinced that his inability to change history would act as a failsafe. Oblivious to all this, a pair of stagecoach drivers were riding towards town when they stopped to pick up a little boy that they assumed had been lost in the desert. Pulling a pistol from behind his back, Toby Manning demanded, “Throw down the strongbox, gents -- PRONTO -- or I’ll plug both of ya fulla LEAD!” With the box alongside him, Toby fired his gun into the air and “sent the frightened horses sprinting away.” “It sure does a man good to see his only kin followin’ in his father’s footsteps,” Jess told him. “It was EASY, Pa. I looked them men square in the eye, like yuh told me.” “Now thet yuh’ve got your FIRST hold-up under yore belt, Toby, it won’t be long ‘fore Jess Manning and son is the most famous -- an’ best -- outlaw team in the west.” Jess’ satisfaction proved short-lived as a shadow fell over the outlaws and the gold coins they’d just stolen began rising into the air toward a large metallic disk. Aboard the craft was an blue-fleshed, pointy-eared extraterrestrial being with a green mohawk whose reptilian qualities extended to his eyes and the scales on his skin. He’d been forced to make an emergency landing on Earth to find pymbaxr (“common shale to us”)that would recharge his proto-engine and took advantage of the visit to indulge his passion for galactic currency samples. In his own way, the Collector was as much an outlaw as the Mannings, “breaking the laws of many planets to amass his 'collection'.” Jess Manning had no intention of letting anyone take away his gold and began firing his pistol as Toby cheered, “Attaway, Pa! Yuh WINGED him!” The Collector was outraged and fired back via a star-like energy unit he wore as a necklace. Horrified, the alien realized he’d sent a lethal “overdose of solar-power” rather than the intended stun force. Involuntarily, the alien and Manning were joined by “the death-link ... an extraordinary power which enabled the spaceman to telepathically scan the mind of a fatally stricken person in his last moments of life.” In a heartbeat, the space-bandit learned of Jess’ hopes and dreams for Toby. The dying Jess could do no more than scrawl a small circle in the sand around a bullet. The Collector “was not a killer by nature” and, looking at the devastated Toby, silently promised to “take his father’s place ... adopt the orphan and make him my apprentice ... teach him the super-skills ... arm him with my ultra-weapons. But -- I cannot expect the yoith to accept me, knowing I killed his father. With this hypnotic grid, I’ll ERASE that incident from his memory ... substitute a story of my own.” Blaming the incident on Sheriff Cooper, the Collector took his protegé aboard. Before his departure, the space-bandit went on a test run in Cripple Creek “to determine whether my proto-cannon has been properly charged.” The arrival of Superboy saved the town from damage and, for good measure, the Boy of Steel tossed the flying disk back into outer space. Watching as it hurtled away, Superboy decided that the invader had “taught me a valuable lesson I could benefit from in my own time. Even though there will always be a minimal chance my super-powers will backfire in a crisis, the risk must be weighed against the maximum benefits to be gained. So ... 20th Century -- here comes Superboy back to stay -- for good!” Deep in space, the Collector put his hand on Toby Manning’s shoulder and proclaimed that “when you reach manhood, I predict you will become an even GREATER interstellar outlaw than I. You will be the offspring I never had.” The alien quickly set about augmenting his adoptive son’s human body for the rigors of space, implanting “a miniature oxygenator-thermostat” in his right lung that would "enable (him) to breathe and be comfortable in the vacuum of space and on any unearthly planet.” The Collector “never forgot his adoptive apprentice was still deeply ingrained with the culture of Earth’s Old West,” dressing him in clothes of the period that eventually grew to include his trademark yellow shirt, green cape and brown pants and hat. When he was old enough, the young man also grew a thick mustache. Early on, the bandit trained him in the use of an energi-lasso, which Toby promptly used to capture a young Arguvian Space-Steed, a winged white horse that was as comfortable in the vacuum of space as Toby. “By the time it is a full-grown stallion,” the space-bandit said of the newly-christened Nova, “the boy will be a man -- a man of Earth ... Terra-Man.” Terra-Man eventually put together an impressive arsenal thematically tied to the Old West. His “chewing tobacco” created sophisticated illusions (SUPERMAN # 249) and seemed to have bestowed a degree of telekinesis on him (# 259 and ACTION # 469). His cigars, when exhaled, gave off smoke that strangled their victim (# 249) and, when inhaled, transformed Toby into a smoky wraith (# 259). His gun fired bullets that enlarged into missile shells (# 249), released atomic energy when they struck their target (# 250) or gave off sonic waves (ACTION # 468) . Also in his possession was a power-amplification glove (SUPERMAN # 250), parasitic tumbleweeds (ACTION # 511, 557) and strangulation devices including “a capsule of concentrated gravita-gold”concealed in his tooth that smothered its victim in a gold aura (# 250) and an enlarging bandana (ACTION # 426). “By a paradox of space-travel, time slows down while traveling near the speed of light,” a caption explained. “Thus, while Toby has aged 20 years in two decades of space-flight -- 100 years have gone by on Earth.” Occasionally monitoring events on his home planet, Toby had caught a glimpse of Superman and may have recognized the stranger who sent him and the Collector hurtling from Earth. Someday, that insult would have to be dealt with. There was a greater debt to be paid first, though, one that came due after Toby finally completed his first solo theft on behalf of the Collector. The space-bandit was effusive in his praise and Toby observed that “my REAL father had similar words ... long ago, back on Earth ... the day YOU KILLED HIM!” Drawing his gun in an instant, Terra-Man fired a lethal atomic bullet into the Collector. Toby admitted to the dying alien that his memories HAD been erased but his father’s dying message had resonated in his mind. “At first I was too young to understand its meaning. Not until I grew older did I realize that my father had scrawled a rough diagram of your ship -- with a bullet, the symbol of death -- planted into it. He was naming his killer for me. I bided my time ... waited till you taught me everything you knew. All these years, you never suspected you were training your OWN MURDERER!” With the Collector’s death, Toby was free to return “to my own world ... to carry on as Pa wanted me to. And my first job will be to destroy the leading symbol of law and justice on Earth ... Superman” (1972’s SUPERMAN # 249, by Cary Bates, Dick Dillin and Neal Adams, with supplementary material from 1981’s NEW ADVENTURES OF SUPERBOY # 23, by Bates, Kurt Schaffenberger and Dave Hunt). True to his word, Terra-Man struck at Earth, fabricating an old-style stagecoach robbery in the streets of Metropolis to call out Superman. A fireworks display spelled out his intention: “Earth isn’t big enough for the two of us, Superman! By sundown tomorrow you will be dead!” The Man of Steel was having troubles of his own, thanks to a recurring Kryptonian condition that caused his powers to backfire. Refusing to shirk his responsibility, Superman agreed to the challenge, evading each of Terra’s attacks in circuitous methods to compensate for his malfunctioning abilities. The Man of Steel finally managed to jam his foe’s gun barrel and knock him out but he didn’t have a clue as to the villain’s origins (SUPERMAN # 249, by Bates, Curt Swan and Murphy Anderson). Terra-Man had anticipated defeat and spent a short period of time in prison as a means of experiencing what his father had in the 19th Century. Appalled by the conditions, Toby concluded that “now that I’ve seen prison life, I swear never to let anyone put me behind bars again.” With that, he whistled for Nova and the steed beat its wings until it sucked the wall out of its master’s cell. After fending off an attack by Superman, they took took refuge in the Collector’s cloaked spacecraft, in orbit above Earth. Tapping into the space vessel’s super- scientific arsenal, Terra-Man fashioned a branding iron that he used to put his stamp on his foe’s forehead. “It’s called hyper-aging, Superman. Every time you use a super-power, you’ll grow older ... at a super-fast rate.” During their clash, however, Superman had spotted a weakness of Terra, noting that he had momentarily had trouble breathing. Discovering the oxygen unit that had been implanted long ago, the Man of Steel learned that a Metropolis man named John P. Alstrom, through unusual circumstances,. was exhaling a gas that coincidentally clogged the device. While Superman reversed the hyper-aging effect by refusing to use his powers, John Alstrom happened to come into close proximity with Terra, weakening him long enough for the Man of Steel to capture him (SUPERMAN # 250, by Bates, Swan and Anderson). Bates and editor Julius Schwartz clearly had high hopes for Terra-Man, featuring him in consecutive issues of Superman and even taking the unusual step of featuring his origin in a separate solo story -- inked by 1970s fan-favorite Neal Adams, no less. Reaction was mixed, though, with one reader pointing out in issue # 254’s letter column that the whole concept reminded him of the Golden Age’s Shining Knight, also a man out of time with a winged white horse. In response, E. Nelson Bridwell argued, “That’s like saying that because Superman is from another planet, he’s the same as the octopoid Martians in H.G. Wells’ WAR OF THE WORLDS,” pointing out that “Sir Justin was a Knight of the Round Table who was frozen in a glacier for over 1,500 years, while Toby Manning was a Western outlaw’s son raised on another world.” Still, the villain’s next two escapades (1972’s SUPERMAN # 259 and 1973’s ACTION # 426, both by Bates, Swan and Anderson) came without cover appearances. In the former, Terra-Man escaped prison thanks to a special “TM” brand on his arm that enabled him to mentally transport the entire facility -- minus his bunk -- to the desert. Taking advantage of the Man of Steel’s current liability, a Captain Marvel-esque link with a young boy and his lynx, Terra hoped to finally get the upper hand. Instead, the Man of Steel traced the kidnapped boy to the Collector’s invisible spacecraft and used its technology to resolve his problem. In ACTION # 426, Toby abandoned his usual Western parlance to manipulate a group of anti-space fanatics, who viewed Earth’s expeditions to the Moon as unnatural. With their help, he gathered several moon rocks and and encouraged the Lunatics to destroy them, unwittingly arming a super-bomb that Superman’s touch would trigger. Terra-Man’s uncharacteristically docile surrender tipped off the Man of Steel that something was amiss and he disposed of the bomb before it could explode. Terra-Man followed up with an elaborate plot designed to stage his conflict with Superman in a setting that gave him something of a home advantage -- a scientifically recreated western town populated by several of the Man of Steel’s closest friends. He demanded that Superman participate in a series of gun duels for the life of those mesmerized friends, with each of his bullets keyed to the heartbeat of one of them. Incredibly, Terra had actually successfully captured -- and briefly brainwashed -- Superman at the beginning of the affair, not realizing that Clark Kent was his alter-ego. The Man of Steel secretly used heat-vision to alter the bullets suffiently to slow down (rather than stop) the hearts of his friends. When it was Clark Kent’s turn to “die,” Superman awakened the corpses, startling Terra long enough for Clark to covertly defeat him (1974’s SUPERMAN # 278, by Bates, Swan and Bob Oksner). The hostage angle remained an attractive one to Terra-Man and he again forced Superman to do his bidding in late 1976 by concealing deadly cosmomite bombs throughout Metropolis. Using technology that Earth’s filmmakers wouldn’t perfect for years, Terra-Man inserted himself into old movies and pre-empted TV broadcasts in an elaborate publicity campaign to convince the country “to watch my brand-spankin’ new TV show ... tomorrow night at nine, right here on WGBS-TV!” Despite WGBS’ best efforts, “The Adventures of Terra-Man” were indeed broadcast live with special guest-star Superman, who appeared to have disarmed and captured the rogue in the cliffhanger ending (ACTION # 468). Off camera, the Man of Steel let Terra go rather than risk the detonation of the bombs -- and the incident was caught on film by an amateur photographer, unaware that Superman was acting under duress. Despite the crushing decline in public confidence, the Last Son of Krypton resumed his role in Terra-Man’s TV series -- and seemed to pay for it with his life at the end of the second episode (ACTION # 469). The entire scheme had been a ploy designed by Terra-Man to transform Superman into his duplicate. Rising from his grave in the guise of his enemy, the Man of Steel was forced to defend himself from attacks by Green Lantern and the Flash as he attempted to understand the purpose behind his metamorphosis. Within hours, “Terra Man” had the answers he was seeking -- including the secret of the Western bandit’s super-science. A strangely familiar flying disk teleported “Terra” aboard and he found himself confronted by a gun-wielding alien. “Feigning IGNORANCE will do you no good, MURDERER! You pretend not to RECOGNIZE my blue skin or my hooded brow ? Could you so easily forget the race of the space-pirate who RAISED you -- the mentor who taught you the ultra-technology that powers your weapons -- the one you so brutally SHOT DOWN after he passed on all his knowledge -- the man who is -- MY BROTHER!” If ever there a moment for Superman to gasp, “Great Scott,”this was it! The Collector’s brother didn’t want Terra-Man to die quickly, however. Teleporting his captive to freedom, he vowed to “hunt you down like a savage beast ... thrill to the chase ... and the kill!” As the entire city of Metropolis watched, Superman (yep, Superman) flew onto the scene, engaging the alien in combat and nearly bringing him to justice. At the climactic moment, both Superman and the alien were confronted in the sky by Terra-Man, who announced that “I’m gonna give you BOTH a six-gun ticket ‘cross the Great Divide!” Watching the villain’s moment of triumph, a policeman suddenly went berserk, shrieking, “Nobody’s gonna steal MY reputation -- NOBODY!” Transforming himself into the REAL Terra-Man, he rocketed into the sky only to be decked by his double. It seems that Superman had revealed his identity crisis to Green Lantern and the Flash, who drafted Superman actor Gregory Reed to stand in for the Man of Steel while they used their powers to create the illusion of his super-powers. Pointing his finger at Terra-Man, the still-altered Superman snarled, “And NOW, ‘pardner’ --you’ve got THREE seconds to change me back into Superman -- or I’ll dump you in the same space-prison with that alien!” A caption added that “it takes only TWO seconds for the jittery Terra-Man, using his ultra-technology to comply” (ACTION # 470, by Bates, Swan and Tex Blaisdell). Late in 1979, word reached Terra-Man that famed 19th Century outlaw Butch Cassidy had been discovered alive, supposedly having been in suspended animation since 1909. Anxious to meet a kindred spirit, Toby rushed to Gotham City , where Butch -- and his partner, the Penguin -- were making the rounds on the talk-show circuit. He arrived just in time to witness Batman dismissing the claims (“I’ve READ it before ... in a comic strip!”) and promptly lassoed the Dark Knight. Terra was a bit disgruntled to learn that Butch WAS a fake but he agreed to work with the Penguin. Through a combination of Terra-Man’s atomic bullets and the Penguin’s evidently-Kryptonite-tinged hypnotic umbrella, they even managed to briefly convince Superman that he was the Sundance Kid. “Butch’s” insistence that “he ain’t Sundance” gave Superman the time he needed to shake off the effect and shoot the guns off of Terra’s holster (WORLD’S FINEST # 261, by Denny O’Neil, Rich Buckler and Dick Giordano). In 1982, Terra-Man decided to pool his own super-science with that of Lex Luthor’s. They’d met previously, once during a mass escape orchestrated by Mister Xavier (1976’s SUPERMAN # 299) and again when Luthor had faked a reformation 1980’s ACTION # 511) but this was the first time they’d actually worked together (SUPERMAN SPECTACULAR # 1, by Bob Rozakis & Paul Kupperberg, Adrian Gonzales and Vince Colletta). Terra had learned that Kryptonite could kill Superman and, using a sensor-device on his six-gun, he’d found a nugget in deep space. Informing Luthor of his discovery, he suggested they form an alliance to lure their joint enemy into a deathtrap. With first hand knowledge of Lex’s duplicitous nature (ACTION # 511), Terra announced that HE would hold onto the Kryptonite. The rock had a definite effect on the Man of Steel but not the one that his enemies had intended -- he split into two entities, Superman-Red and Superman-Blue. Luthor was horrified, cursing that “I didn’t count on your showing up with a hunk of faulty green Kryptonite!” “It was Kryptonite AWRIGHT -- my six-gun don’t make mistakes. But this heah rock was RED ...” “RED!?!” Yep, ignorant of the permutations of Kryptonite, Terra-Man had turned up Red K, which affected the Man of Steel in a different manner each time he encountered it but WASN’T lethal. Hoping to level the playing field, Luthor tore a rift in the dimensional fabric of space, allowing magic from a parallel world to leak through and enhance his and Terra-Man’s own strengths. Fortuitously, the dimensional tear corrected itself almost simultaneously with the pair of Supermen merging into a single being once more. Terra-Man and Luthor were soon returned to custody. The adventure inspired Terra-Man to add “a warp-opening device” to Nova and the flying horse teleported his master (rendered unconscious by Superman) to what the steed imagined was a safe port. Instead, Terra and Nova found themselves in a chaotic dimension that proved to be a bridge to a parallel Earth. This world, undoubtedly the one that Luthor had tapped into earlier, was governed by magic and its Terra-Man fired energy from his index finger while astride his flying (but non-winged) horse. The pair of Terra-Men conspired to bring Superman to the alternate Earth, convinced that their mastery of its magic would give them the upper hand. Thanks to his Justice League comrade Zatanna, Superman wasn’t quite a novice and soon discovered that he could fight back by using the sort of backwards spells that she and her father had perfected (1982’s SUPERMAN # 377, by Kupperberg, Swan and Hunt). Superman’s subsequent encounters were relatively minor ones. In 1980’s SUPERMAN: TERRA-MAN’S SKYWAY ROBBERY, a Super Sugar Crisp mini-comic (art by Gonzales and Colletta), Terra finally used GREEN Kryptonite (concealed in a cactus bomb) but had no more success than he did with the Red. 1984’s ACTION # 557 (by Kupperberg, Swan and Hunt) played up Terra’s growing frustration with his inability to defeat Superman and revealed that he’d created an entire town of automatons (including the Big Red S) so that he could actually pretend to kill him. Terra-Man made his final bow in 1986’s DC COMICS PRESENTS # 96 (by Dan Miskin & Gary Cohn, Joe Staton and Kurt Schaffenberger), wherein relatively new hero Blue Devil was drafted into defending Metropolis against Terra-Man while the Man of Steel took care of a related threat in outer space. As he’d done once before (ACTION # 511), Terra surrounded himself with a gang of aliens but the greater numbers weren’t enough to prevent defeat. By this point, the Superman series had fallen into disfavor with many fans, who regarded villains like Terra-Man as rather silly characters, unworthy of someone as powerful as the Last Son of Krypton. Paul Kupperberg had attempted to defend the character in SUPERMAN # 377, noting that “behind all that range-bum lingo, Terra-Man’s a product of a super-scientific alien culture” and easy to underestimate. Still, the character had become a symbol of the perceived flaws in the series and he was one of the many “barnacles” that John Byrne planned to remove in his 1986 revamp of the series. In comics, though, no one seems to go away forever and Terra-Man returned (sort of) in 1990’s SUPERMAN # 46 (by Jerry Ordway, Dan Jurgens and Dennis Janke). This time, Tobias Manning was a present-day environmentalist with the power to enforce his agenda. Beneath his long, gray Western-style coat, he wore padded, technologically-laced gray body armor that gave him great strength and enabled him to produce force blasts and generate tornadoes via a control pad on his left shoulder. At a showcase for a proposed Biosphere, Manning confronted the creator of the project, describing him as someone who “wants you to buy your safety from a future that your industries and power plants’re helping to create.” Superman fought Manning and his robotic Terra-Men (dressed like Western bandits) but the marauder disappeared into his teleportational cyclone. Terra-Man’s next outing, at “the Hell’s Gate Landfill not far from Metropolis” was no less confrontational despite Manning’s claim to have a benevolent motive. He’d “detected traces of radioactivity and some hazardous waste” at the site and demanded that the property be cleared so that he could use his technology to de-toxify the land. Security guards and Lexcorp scientists refused to leave and, as the ground began to shake and swirl, several were sucked under. Thanks to Superman’s efforts, nearly all of the men were rescued -- all save for a scientist nicknamed “Lucky.” Tobias Manning was now wanted for murder. Because of Manning’s southern drawl and “cowboy look,” Lois Lane and Clark Kent had initially overlooked Terra-Man’s connection to the East Coast. Research revealed that he “built the Lookout Peak chemical plant with four others ... Manning was the sole partner to be indicted for the chemical spills from their factory ten years ago. The town was so contaminated with dioxins that the Environmental Protection Agency had to step in. This other story details the EPA investigation that led to fines and prison time for Manning alone. His partners, however, all died WHILE Toby was in jail.” “Gee,” said Lois, “Is THAT suspicious, or what ?” Lois immediately began to suspect that Manning might be holed up at Lookout Peak and, without her fiance’s knowledge, she borrowed a containment suit and entered the town. Superman was close behind and the couple soon learned that Terra-Man was indeed in the area. Manning argued that he’d been partially responsible for poisoning Lookout Peak and “I MUST atone for it.” His procedure would convert the land into “inert materials -- dirt is once again just dirt.”He rejected Superman’s suggestion that the operation be turned over to the government, insisting that “they’ll study my process for years before implementing. And they’ve got a political agenda to serve -- and red tape to cut through. And from the vest, pardner, we don’t HAVE that long to wait.” Presented with evidence that the procedure was effective, the Man of Steel agreed to a truce. He would help Terra-Man implement an airborne detoxification of Lookout Peak in exchange for Lois’ safe passage and Manning’s surrender. True to his word, Toby didn’t resist arrest and requested, “Treat me square, Miss Lane -- I’m not a BAD guy.” For their part, Superman offered to have S.T.A.R. Labs monitor the once-contaminated land. Lois observed that “his trial alone should help raise public awareness of the toxic waste problem. Maybe there’s still a chance for all of the other places like Lookout Peak. Heck, maybe there’s even a chance for Lookout Peak”(SUPERMAN # 52, by Ordway, Kerry Gammill and Janke). Alerted by a series of eco-terrorist acts in 1994 (METROPOLIS S.C.U. # 1), Manning escaped from prison (# 2) and turned himself over to the Metropolis Special Crimes Unit with the offer of information on the mastermind. “If the government will place a moratorium on all acts of pollution, all fossil fuel consumption, I’ll tell you what you want to know.” Manning’s behavior only cemented the S.C.U.’s belief that Terra-Man was the person responsible and he was sent to a holding cell. Manning nearly escaped again only to have his commandeered helicopter brought to ground by Superman. Brought in for questioning again, Terra-Man finally divulged what he suspected. “I just want y’all to know that I could care less about people. I’m only telling you this because I don’t want him to hurt the animals.” The eco-terrorist was “the only true genius I’ve ever known. Dr. Noah Brazil. He was my professor in graduate school. I learned everything I know about ecology from him. He loves the Earth and he hates what’s happening to it. He loved American Indian culture -- he’d talk about how they used to live as one with the Earth. He used to draw a symbol. It meant a lot to him. Chamchaga.” “He told me legends and the like. About what would happen to the world if we didn’t straighten up and fly right. He told me once that he believed science would be the death of the planet. He trusted me, but he said that the other scientists were hopeless. Then one day, he told me about his crazy plan to save the planet.” “We had a falling out when I told him I’d taken a job with an oil company. He said I was worse than the rest of them. He was right, a’course. I never saw him again.” Brazil had been setting fires and “filling the atmosphere with soot. Ya know, carbon. Lightning turns the carbon into fullerenes. Then, when there’s enough fullerenes up there, he’ll send balloons carrying a nerve agent into the air.” He was, in effect, creating the legend of Chamchaga, in which “the bird wraps a dark sheath around the Earth, smothering everything on it so the Earth can begin again” (# 3). Still in custody, Manning accompanied the S.C.U. to Arizona, where they, U.S. Marshals and local authorities joined forces to flush out Doctor Brazil. The S.C.U. managed to prevent his toxic payload from rising into the sky and the nerve gas began to spread through Brazil’s biosphere. Grabbing a gas mask, Manning rushed into the facility to rescue his beloved mentor but he was too late. Doctor Noah Brazil was dead (# 4, by Cindy Goff, Pete Krause and Jose Marzan, Jr.). Late in 1995, Terra-Man was among those invited to a gathering of the demon Neron, who offered everyone in attendance their most fervent desire. For Manning, the fulfillment of his environmental goals wasn’t worth the price of his soul (UNDERWORLD UNLEASHED # 1). Today, he continues to serve out his sentence at Burnley Federal Penitentiary in Hazelwood Texas. Happy New Millennium, y'all! |
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outpost2
New Member |
posted January 02, 2001 12:25 PM
Finally completed and uploaded the "Obscure DCU Characters Archive", intended as a permanent backup of Rounds I, II, and III of this thread. There should be no further danger of losing the wealth of information accumulated thus far. If anyone has a better location where this material can be stored, please make suggestions. The link is: http://www.infiniteearths.org/dcu/obscurecharacters_files/obscuredcu.htm |
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the4thpip
Member |
posted January 02, 2001 12:35 PM
Oh, I finally realized why I thought Robin took on a new secret ID in that story with Duela... There was a villain (possibly called Raven) with a bird motif. I guess this was his only appearance? |
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Eduardo
Member |
posted January 02, 2001 02:20 PM
Excellent job, Outpost2. I would like to make a little recommendation, include the 'DC Hell' topic that Hellstone created some time ago. It is a good complement to the topics. |
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datalore
Member |
posted January 02, 2001 02:20 PM
I remember "the Raven" as being part of M.A.Z.E. (a Hydra/A.I.M. type organization for DC...sort of like C.A.W. or the 100. I wonder if any of these organizations are still around...) ...and he was a classmate of Dick Grayson's (but that's the best I've got to offer on this...and I don't even remember the Duela Dent appearance!) And since we are covering DETECTIVE COMICS... what of the Sino-Supermen? (And what hero inspired the Japanese government to think the U.S. did take their experiments?) |
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Eduardo
Member |
posted January 02, 2001 03:45 PM
Sorry to post again, but it is necesary. Outpost, I first congratulate you
just by looking superficially at your work. Now, after reading it, I must
say Double congratulationss. You took the work of looking into the links
that were posted and extract the pertinent info of them, for example the
Green Arrows of the world and others. You have done an excellent job.
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taz_19632000
Member |
posted January 02, 2001 09:48 PM
You know I think you could include the one site off the Batman boards as well. It seems like they would all go together anyway. But just so you know I thank-you for your time in posting this site and letting us know about its location. |
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Mikishawm
Member |
posted January 03, 2001 06:15 AM
Here's the scoop on Miss X (also posted on the JSA and WW boards), plus a few more details about who the first 20th Century costumed heroine of the DCU really was. At the beginning of mid-1940's ACTION COMICS # 26's story, Tex Thomson and Bob Daley revealed that their stereotypical black partner, Gargantua T. Potts, had joined the French army as a cook. He was replaced on the crimefighting front (in # 26-27 and 29-30) by Miss X, a mystery woman whose disguise consisted solely of black glasses. The latter three stories also featured District Attorney Maloney and his daughter Janice (or "Peggy", as she was called in # 29 and 30). Although there were no heavy-handed hints that Peggy was Miss X, the reader was clearly intended to assume they were one and the same. Tex seemed to make the connection himself in # 29 when he and Bob accompanied Peggy on a train trip to Washington, D.C. and encountered Miss X once they reached the city. In the final panel, Tex confided in Bob that "I think I know who she is." Only a few month's later, while sailing to Europe on a secret mission, Tex was declared dead after a bomb sank his vessel (ACTION # 33). The tragedy seems to have had a profound effect on Miss X, who apparently operated as much out of an attraction to Thomson as she did a desire to fight injustice. Unknown to anyone but Bob Daley, Tex had survived, dying his blonde hair black and taking the identity of Mister America to track down the saboteurs. Choosing not to immediately reveal his survival to the public, Tex holed up at Bob's apartment (# 33). By # 43, Tex's survival seemed to have become public knowledge and D.A. Maloney made his final appearance in the series save for a restrospective of the series in 1988’s SECRET ORIGINS # 29). Margaret Janice “Peggy” Maloney was nowhere to be seen, however. Miss X was gone for good. Exempting Rose Psychic, Wonder Woman was originally the TENTH costumed heroine in the DC Universe (if one uses the month that she showed up on Earth-Two). The wild card in the mix is Phantom Lady. Roy Thomas established in ALL-STAR SQUADRON # 41 that her decision to become a costumed heroine in the spring of 1941 inspired her cousin Ted to become Starman. Problem is, James Robinson’s STARMAN SECRET FILES # 1 has Sandra Knight talking about becoming a super-heroine in 1939 -- a period when even the Crimson Avenger and Sandman were barely getting off the ground. The story also places Flash and Green Lantern as active in 1939 (and various SECRET FILES timelines have backdated their debuts from 1939 and 1940 to 1938 and 1939, respectively). The timeline in the issue says that Starman debuted on Nov. 20, 1939 but didn’t go national with the Doctor Doog case until 1941. If all of this is accurate, then Phantom Lady evidently debuted in the latter half of 1939 rather than June of 1941. Here’s how things lined up originally (with the retroactively pre-1942 Liberty Belle also included). For the debut dates, I subtracted two months from the cover dates. 1940: May: Margaret Janice “Peggy” Maloney becomes Miss X (ACTION COMICS # 26). September: Abigail Mathilda Hunkel becomes the Red Tornado although the general public is unaware the costumed figure is a woman. 1941: January: USA, the Spirit of Old Glory debuts (FEATURE COMICS # 42). February: Susan Kent takes the persona of Bulletgirl (MASTER COMICS # 13). April: Shiera Sanders becomes Hawkgirl for the first time (ALL-STAR COMICS # 5). June: Sandra Knight becomes Phantom Lady (POLICE COMICS # 1), Carol Vance Martin becomes Wildfire (SMASH COMICS # 25) and Joan Dale becomes Miss America (MILITARY COMICS # 1; reaffirmed in SECRET ORIGINS # 26). September: Miss America begins wearing a red, white and blue costume (MILITARY # 1). October: Wonder Woman comes to America -- on Earth-Two anyway (ALL-STAR COMICS # 8 and SENSATION # 1). Fall: Libby Lawrence becomes Liberty Belle (ALL-STAR SQUADRON # 61). |
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zilch61
Member |
posted January 03, 2001 10:34 AM
Originally posted by Mikishawm: June: Sandra Knight becomes Phantom Lady (POLICE COMICS # 1), Carol Vance Martin becomes Wildfire (SMASH COMICS # 25) and Joan Dale becomes Miss America (MILITARY COMICS # 1; reaffirmed in SECRET ORIGINS # 26). I give Phantom Lady's pre-retcon origin as April '41, due to the headline on the newspaper she uses as a weapon ( a good resource for placing WWII heroes is The World War II Almanac, which gives a day-by-day account of what happened from 1933-1945. Roy was pretty good in placement of his backround data. ) There's no reason not to give her an April '39 date either... September: Miss America begins wearing a red, white and blue costume (MILITARY # 1). Joan Dale didnt start wearing the uniform until MILITARY # 3, I think. October: Wonder Woman comes to America -- on Earth-Two anyway (ALL-STAR COMICS # 8 and SENSATION # 1). I've always used the dates found in the first issue of SENSATION # 1... The date found on the newspaper in the Little Boy Blue strip is July 1, 1941, while the letter in the front of the comic is dated April '41 ( i think, its been a while since i looked at it... ), so that gives us a bracket in which to place the stories in that issue. I seem to remember that the SENSATION Wonder Woman story took place 3 weeks after the ALL STAR Wonder Woman story, so some place between March and June of '41 for the pre-Crisis WW, with June '42 for the post-ZH Golden Age WW. |
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datalore
Member |
posted January 03, 2001 11:58 AM
But does anyone have a picture of Miss X? Now that we've found her....let's make sure she doesn't get lost again! (All thanks to Mikishawm for his infinite knowledge, JSA Jim for sharing his fascination with the Red Tornado, John Ostrander for the Crimson Avenger story which recently got me thinking of this, Roy Thomas for getting me to love Golden Age comics, Hellstone, for this forum for thinking of stuff like this...and anyone else I might have missed that has the fascination of comics!) |
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datalore
Member |
posted January 03, 2001 12:51 PM
And to Beppo, MichaelBise and Von-El (just remembered I forgot to put you three in the last post...mea culpa) ...back to your regularly scheduled obscure DC Characters... |
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Inthe Shadow of Manhattan
New Member |
posted January 03, 2001 02:29 PM
I have a couple answers here. No. 194- Element Girl. In SANDMAN #19, entitled "The Sad Death of Element Girl" she was consigned to living alone, being a freak and an outcast. She ended the story by dying. No. 212- Miss Arrowette I believe that she has been affirmed as being the current Arrowette's mom in an issue of IMPULSE (the new Arrowette's first appearance). Miss Arrowette wanted her daughter to be the successful crimefighter/media darling that she never could and so pushed her into taking on the mantle of Arrowette and joining Young Justice. |
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Mikishawm
Member |
posted January 03, 2001 09:25 PM
Zilch, thanks for pinning down the time frames for Phantom Lady and Wonder Woman and for catching my Miss America typo. She began wearing her red, white and blue costume in MILITARY # 4 (which I double-checked last night). And I second everything that Datalore said! |
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outpost2
New Member |
posted January 03, 2001 10:27 PM
Eduardo & Taz -- Thanks. Good suggestions. I've downloaded the Hell and Batman threads and will archive them ASAP. |
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jasontoon
New Member |
posted January 05, 2001 01:07 PM
227. the Tarantula (Jerry Lewis) (Adventures of Jerry Lewis #84) Are the adventures of Jerry Lewis really considered canon at this point? I thought that he and Don Knotts perished at the hands of the Anti-Monitor's shadow demons and were subsequently revealed to be constructs of the Manhunters who never actually existed except in a "pocket universe" where everything was just like Earth-4 except, in this pocket universe, these guys were, like, really funny. |
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Mikishawm
Member |
posted January 06, 2001 02:10 PM
Just a short bio today ... The legendary Texas Rangers were well-represented in DC’s Western titles, from "Epics of the Texas Rangers” in ALL-AMERICAN WESTERN # 109, 110, 112-116, 118, 119, 121 and 125 (1949-1952) to Sam and Rick Wilson in the 1971 revival of ALL-STAR WESTERN (# 2-5). Overlapping a bit with “Epics” were the adventures of Captain Jeff Graham, the Roving Ranger, whose seven-issue run appeared in ALL STAR WESTERN # 58-61 and 63-65 (1951-1952) with art by Alex Toth, Jerry Grandinetti (# 64) and Irwin Hasen (# 65). Set in the late 1860s, the blonde Civil War veteran rode a horse named Fury throughout the state of Texas, reporting to a commanding officer named Major Hawks (seen in # 59, 60, 63 and 64). Among the villains that the Roving Ranger brought to justice were El Dorado, a costumed bandit who was revealed to have served under Graham during the war (# 59), the Robber Rangers and the Commander (# 60) and the Rio Kid and Laughin’ Joe Sully (# 61). With such a brief career, the Roving Ranger could easily have been forgotten in the passage of time. One child could not forget him, though, or ANY of the Old West heroes who had supplanted his beloved Justice Society of America in early 1951. Roy Thomas had been crushed when he opened his subscription copy of ALL-STAR COMICS # 58 to discover that it been completely revamped into ALL-STAR WESTERN. Nearly thirty-five years later, during the time-distorting events of the Crisis On Infinite Earths, Thomas revisited the heroes of ASW # 58, dropping the Trigger Twins, Don Caballero, Strong Bow and, yes, the Roving Ranger into a 1985 battle against the Ultra-Humanite (ALL-STAR SQUADRON # 54-55). The cameo proved to be Jeff Graham’s final bow though it was enough to entitle him to a brief entry in 1986’s WHO’S WHO # 19 (with art by Mike DeCarlo and Karl Kesel). |
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Mikishawm
Member |
posted January 07, 2001 03:22 PM
In another thread, Eduardo asked me to do bios on President Luthor's new Cabinet me |
