Marty Baxter's world came crashing down when he learned that he had arthritis.
The young baseball star now found it "impossible ... to swing a bat"
and was absorbed in his problems as he sat in the stands watching the 1967
World Series that he'd otherwise have been playing in. Struck in the back
by a black sphere, Baxter leaped to his feet with a stunning discovery: "My
arthritis pain — gone! I feel like a new man — bursting with power!"
His euphoria lasted only a moment before resentment set in. The metal railing
in front of Marty crumpled between his fingers as he lunged from the stands.
"I'll make the sports world pay for what they did to me! I'm going to
smash DOWN the stadium!" To the astonished baseball players, he screamed,
"DOWN WITH ALL SPORTS!"
The transformation of Marty Baxter was not unique and the Justice Society
of America was soon summoned to investigate the case of the Smashing Sportsman and three other menaces around the globe. Wildcat and Robin, the newest member
of the JSA, were convinced that the Sportsman's next target would be Mexico's
Cortez Stadium, site of the upcoming Pan-American games and directly in the
path of Baxter's string of demolished arenas.
Sure enough, the Smashing Sportsman was there, now clad in a green body suit
with a triangular black design on his chest, stomach and back and matching
ebony boots that arched up to his thighs. The two heroes soon found themselves
outclassed. The Sportsman had lung power strong enough to blow all the water
out of a swimming pool and made the ground quake with the wave of his arm.
He spun Wildcat and Robin in circles — one in each hand — and sent
them flying. Though the heroes' punches had no effect on Baxter, his blows
eventually battered them into unconsciousness.
"Maybe I ought to take your places in the Justice Society. A trade like
they make in the major leagues. Me — for you two has-beens. Or maybe
I'll start my own gang. Whatever that black sphere was — it just about
made me invincible!"
The other members of the JSA met with similar results and, as they licked
their wounds, Johnny Thunder sent his Thunderbolt to battle the rogues. When
the pink lightning bolt returned declaring that "I've met my match,"
Johnny asked T-bolt to summon the Justice League for a fresh perspective.
The JLA, however, had just fallen victim to another quartet of black sphere-enhanced
villains.
Finally, the Thunderbolt used his magic to learn the marauders' secret: "The
black spheres came from a universe in which they evolved — in positive
time — to a peak, at which point they became the ultimate in super-intelligent
life. They then started to devolve rapidly — in negative time —
losing their intelligence. To escape their doom, they sought out another universe
still on positive time — ours — in order to maintain and even increase
their super-powers. Because time was short, they had to hurl themselves at
random into our universe, hoping at least some of them would make contact
with the highest of all life-forms — human beings — and be absorbed
into their bodies. But only four of them made the vital contact. The remainder
evidently perished."
While the spheres incubated, their hosts were induced into acting on their
darkest desires and becoming criminals. "Eventually, when the four alien
super-beings 'awaken,' THEY will be in full control of their human hosts"
(JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #55, by Gardner Fox, Mike Sekowsky and Sid Greene).
Robin offered a solution. He reasoned that there must be dozens, perhaps
hundreds, of black spheres that died on contact with Earth but which still
might possess a degree of radioactivity. Superman, Green Lantern, Flash and
Wonder Woman put their powers to the test and gathered enough residual radiation
to enhance four of their number with the negative energy — Hourman, Flash,
Green Lantern and Wonder Woman.
Superman escorted Hourman and Robin to the location of the Smashing Sportsman's
latest rampage, the ancient Colisseum of Rome. The Man of Steel quickly found
that he had his hands full with Hourman, who had succumbed to the negative
radiation's evil effects. The Man of the Hour's evil energy and strength was
quelled only after Superman and Robin unwittingly submerged him in the Tiber
River.
Each of the sub-teams found similar methods of defeating the black sphere-possessed
villains but it was Johnny Thunder who actually acted on one of the discoveries.
The alien-possessed humans were sensitive to, of all things, bad jokes and
were convulsed with laughter when Johnny turned up at the quartet's joint
hideout and delivered one groaner after another. While they roared, the Thunderbolt
"blasted the black spheres out of them — and without host bodies
to sustain their life — the aliens will quickly die."
While the JSA requested that no legal action be taken against the four ex-villains,
the Justice League made plans to use the knowledge they'd just acquired to
defeat their own four black sphere-generated menaces (JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA
#56).
Snafu
Created by Bob Rozakis, Snafu's name was based on a paraphrase of
the wartime expression "Situation Normal, All Fouled Up." He was
one Bartholomew Higgins, a man garbed in a garish costume and an assortment
of lights and noise-making mechanisms, all designed to disorient his victims.
He picked crowded areas like shopping centers and stadiums as his ideal targets.
Man-Bat defeated him in one of his first cases in New York City by drowning
out the sound effects with his bat-cry and closing his eyes to the lights,
using his sonar to follow him (BATMAN FAMILY #11, 1977).
On a return engagement, Snafu tried to counter Man-Bat's sonar with technological
enhancements but Kirk Langstrom's acute hearing came through and Higgins was
defeated again (BATMAN FAMILY #18-19, 1978).
Rozakis brought back Snafu for a final outing in HERO HOTLINE #3 (1989),
complete with a redesigned look by Stephen DeStefano and computer enhanced
color effects. This time, the villain was defeated when Voice-Over threw Snafu's
sound effects back at him.
Snake-Eyes Bentley
Written by Richard Meyer
Snake-Eyes Bentley had been sent to prison by Air Wave and District Attorney
Larry Jordan (whom the criminal did not know were the same man), but had decided
to use his time there wisely, learning much by working in the prison radio
shop that he hoped to turn into a rich pay-off and revenge.
He gathered together his old gang, and their first job was to go to the home
of Jordan, knocking him unconscious. Bentley replaced his telephone with a
special bomb that would go off when it rang. Jordan managed to escape before
anyone called, using a match to burn the ropes holding him.
Changing into his Air Wave guise, he found that the radio waves in the area
were being jammed, another part of Bentley's plan. The criminal needed to
pull a few hold-ups to get some cash before exacting his revenge on the hero.
Bentley and his men robbed a tollbooth, while Air Wave used the direction
finder in his helmet to triangulate where Bentley was from the jamming signal.
The signals took Air Wave toward the bridge, and he strode across it on the
telephone wires using his special skates. Unfortunately, one of the wires
broke, having been cut through by one of Bentley's men, who proceeded to knock
the hero out. Bentley suspended Air Wave under the bridge, by wires secured
to the track of the trolley that passed over the bridge regularly. Once it
did this time, the ropes would be cut and Air Wave would fall to his death
in the river far below.
Air Wave awoke as the trolley neared and was able to swing over to the main
support of the bridge, using the electromagnetic soles of his shoes to grip
the pylon. He freed himself from his bonds by cutting them with the sharp
flanges of his wire-riding skates, and headed back up top and launched himself
into Bentley's men.
Soon afterwards, Bentley was once again back in prison, this time with the
rest of his gang and a greater yen for revenge against Air Wave.
Appearances:
Detective Comics #88
Snapper Carr
Snapper Carr's betrayal of the Justice League in the pages of JLA
#77 may have been the most controversial act of Denny O'Neil's tenure on the
title. While developments such as the resignation of the Martian Manhunter,
the death of Larry Lance and the loss of Oliver Queen's fortune were bound
to have detractors, none involved the complete shift in attitude that Snapper's
actions did.
In the course of twenty-three pages, Snapper knocks out the Atom, helps imprison
Batman, impairs the nervous systems of the other Leaguers and exposes their
Secret Sanctuary to the Joker. A sardonic Atom quips, "When that kid
decides he doesn't like someone, he really goes all the way!" As a reader
in JLA #80's letter column observed, all of this was a bit hard to reconcile
with the Snapper who was reduced to tears at the prospect of the team's demise
(JLA #12, reprinted in #76).
Named an honorary member of the JLA for his help in defeating Starro (1960's
THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #28), Snapper Carr appeared in every episode through
1963's JLA #20. After entering college, his group participation slowed down
but he rarely missed more than three issues in succession. By the time Gardner
Fox left the series in1968, Snapper's beatnik patter was more than a little
dated. O'Neil used the character only in his first script (#66) before reviving
him for the fateful John Dough story.
Like Wonder Woman (now powerless) and the Martian Manhunter (deemed redundant
next to Superman), Snapper was apparently regarded by O'Neil as a character
who was contributing nothing unique or useful to the JLA. Aquaman, who seems
to have fallen into the same category, sat out virtually every issue of of
O'Neil's run save for #68. His absence would later be attributed to his search
for Mera, running in concurrent issues of AQUAMAN.
Though Snapper's betrayal seemed hard to believe, O'Neil provided a credible
motivation for his feelings. Ridiculed by his peers in college, Snapper "got
sick of being a nothing! I wanted to do something myself ...I wanted to find
out who I am." Steve Englehart built on this nicely in 1977's JLA #150,
providing a more complete picture of why the young man would do what he did.
The saga of Snapper Carr's reconciliation with the Justice League would play
out over the course of the 1970s. Deeply ashamed at what he'd done, he declined
an invitation to attend the League's 100th meeting (JLA #100) and later went
to elaborate lengths to alert the League to the threat of Anakronus rather
than simply using his signal device. "After everything that happened
between us, I didn't know if I still had the right to..." (#114).
By JLA #149 and 150, Snapper was destitute, unable to find a job — even
a humiliating position cashing in on his League status — but denied access
to welfare payments. Tempted by the Key, he attacked the JLA again, this time
as the Star-Tsar. Moved by Snapper's plight, the League resolved to help their
former mascot turn his life around. With the backing of the entire team, Lucas
Carr landed a scientific position at S.T.A.R. Labs (SUPERMAN FAMILY #189).
His subsequent appearances in JLA (#181 and 200) would be much more cordial.
The past decade has seen Snapper become a full-fledged super-hero as part
of the space-faring Blasters (1989's INVASION! #3). More recently, he's been
partnered with a heroic android from the 853rd Century in the pages of HOURMAN.
Like most DC characters, Snapper's history has been refined in the past decade
(primarily in JLA: YEAR ONE #3-12 and HOURMAN #16's reprise of JLA #77) but
his role as the man who betrayed the Justice League will always be a part
of his heritage.
A hallmark of Julius Schwartz's comic books of the 1960s and 1970s was his
commitment to keeping his series contemporary, whether it was adding an elevator
and telephone to the Batcave in 1964 or transferring Clark Kent to WGBS in
1970. With interest in the space program at an all-time high in 1969 thanks
to the July 20 moon landing, what could be more timely than establishing a
new location for the Justice League's headquarters — in orbit
above Earth?
Snapper Carr's exposure of the League's Secret Sanctuary to the Joker provided
the necessary motivation. Concluding that their security had been compromised,
the League resolved to establish a new base. (Mark Gruenwald later pointed
out in THE AMAZING WORLD OF DC COMICS #14 that some seven villains had discovered
the original headquarters prior to that issue. Evidently, the Joker was the
straw that broke the camel's back.)
JLA #78 introduced the League's now-famous satellite sanctuary, set in an
orbit 22,300 miles above the Earth and accessible through a teleportation
tube utilizing Thanagarian technology. The satellite became a fixture in JUSTICE
LEAGUE OF AMERICA and throughout the entire DC line well into the 1980s.
By that point, some had begun to express the sentiment that placing the JLA
in outer space put too much distance (figuratively and literally) between
them and the population they protected. Even the cover to JLA #78 seemed to
have anticipated the reaction. In a symbolic scene, the Vigilante had angrily
shouted, "I'm disgusted with you, Justice League! How can you quit Earth
at a time like this!"
Perhaps inevitably, the satellite met its end in 1984's JUSTICE LEAGUE OF
AMERICA #229 and 230, the victim of invaders from Mars. Effective with JUSTICE
LEAGUE OF AMERICA ANNUAL #2, the League formally abandoned the venerable headquarters
and moved to an abandoned factory in an ethnically diverse Detroit neighborhood.
Most of the damaged satellite fell out of orbit in 1985's CRISIS ON INFINITE
EARTHS #8 and JLA ANNUAL #3 with the rest following in 1986's JLA #251-252.
By contrast, the cave that served as the team's original Secret Sanctuary
has thrived in the years since its initial retirement. In 1972, the JLA conducted
their 100th meeting on the site (JLA #100) and ousted the Injustice Gang from
the cave in 1978 (#158). The League even reestablished their quarters there
on two separate occasions (JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #247 to JUSTICE LEAGUE
INTERNATIONAL #7 and JUSTICE LEAGUE AMERICA #56-62) and has loaned the base
to teams like the Doom Patrol (DOOM PATROL #21-62), the Legion of Super-Heroes
(LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES (fourth series) #89-100) and Young Justice (JLA: WORLD
WITHOUT GROWN-UPS #2 to YOUNG JUSTICE #19).
And yet, space still has its allure. With the installation of a Watchtower
on the moon in issue #4 of the current JLA series, the League once again has
an outpost in the heavens.
Sonik
To my knowledge, he made only two appearances in the 1985 run of WORLD'S
FINEST. Both were written by Joey Cavalieri so I assume he created the character.
Real name: William Parker, a black man who heads a boy's club in an unspecified
ghetto (but a very well-integrated ghetto with black, white and hispanic street
kids) He was also some sort of engineer specializing in sound although he
is never seen working for a stereo company or at any job related to this skill.
Sonik was a very earnest, "socially-relevant" though uncompelling
character. His two appearances are pretty low-profile and he largely refrained
from violence. His costume was a yellow and brown hip-hop,jacket-and-tights
affair that didn't look too good either.
Origin: Ridiculed by the street kids for his attempts to uplift the community,
Parker decides to create a super-hero persona to give the kids a different
role model from the thugs and hustlers they idolize. Parker idolized Edison
and decided to also focus on sound as the source of his powers, whipping up
some devices using common electronic parts (like a stereo speaker and Walkman.)
Powers: he had a sonic blaster that could shake things apart, a collapsible
mike that allowed him to eavesdrop on conversations from a distance, a set
of sound effects he could amplify and a "cloaking device" that allowed
him to muffle sounds so he could sneak up on people.
In his first appearance, he helps Batman and Superman capture a group of
gangsters (but only after first getting into Batman's way.) He also shows
up the resident bad-ass hood, impressing the kids who realize that a life
of crime isn't so attractive after all.
In his second appearance, a few months later, he helps Superman bodyguard
a thinly-disguised version of Michael Jackson after an unknown figure tries
to kill him. This story is noteworthy for the surprisingly sympathetic depiction
of the Michael Jackson-character and the embarassment that Batman suffers
when he prematurely accuses someone.Those who are sick of the Batman-as-God
character that appears in comics now should get WORLD'S FINEST #318 for that
one scene.
Son of Vulcan
Written by John Censullo
Real Name: John "Johnny" Mann
Charlton Appearances
Mysteries Of Unexplored Worlds #46 (May 65)
Mysteries Of Unexplored Worlds #46 (May 65) [3-page featurette, "The
Roman Gods On Mount Olympus"]
Mysteries Of Unexplored Worlds #47 (Jul 65)
Mysteries Of Unexplored Worlds #48 (Sep 65)
Son Of Vulcan #49 (Nov 65)
Son Of Vulcan #50 (Jan 66)
DC Appearances (Earth-4 only):
Crisis On Infinite Earths #12 (Mar 86)
History
MYSTERIES OF UNEXPLORED WORLDS #46 (May 1965) • "A Mighty Champion
Is Born! See How Johnny Mann Became The Son Of Vulcan"
Synopsis: John Mann, a newsman for World-Wide News Syndicate, is taken
off his Viet Nam assignment to cover the trouble on Cyprete. John is
known to his fellow reporters as "sensitive" and a "tragedy finder".
He is 5 foot 8 inches tall, 150 pounds, and in fairly good shape. His
right leg is artificial, a result of his combat days in Korea. John visits
the ruins of a temple, the great hall of Jupiter, that legend says was
the place where the Olympian gods met. He remarks that there have been
countless wars on this island, and now a civil war was brewing. He raises
his voice, asking the Olympians why they permit mankind to wage such
stupid wars, and commit crimes of violence and greed. Suddenly, the thunder
rolls and the heavens open. The rain is a deluge, and lightning hurtles
down at him as if directed by the gods themselves. Finally, a bolt strikes
John, leaving him laying near death.
A huge foot urgently prods the journalist back into the world of the living.
John opens his eyes to see what no modern man has ever before beheld —
the gods of Olympus! Jupiter asks how a mortal entered their hall, and
wonders if he's alive. Mars responds that he is. John stands before the
angry gods, who begin to interrogate him. Mars has great contempt for mortals,
so Vulcan asks to question the stranger. He inquires about the weapons
being used in the modern wars. John gives Vulcan the information he seeks,
then dares to ask the gods why they permit such violence. Jupiter is infuriated,
but the mortal is not frightened. He tells Jupiter that he will not be
silenced, and he will publish the follies of the gods, even if he must
die for it. Jupiter raises his sword and is about to smite the defiant
mortal, when Venus pleads for his life. Vulcan adds his pleas to that of
his sister, stating that the mortal is a courageous man. Jupiter agrees
to debate his fate in the council of the gods. Vulcan is assigned to argue
his case. While they walk, Vulcan notes that the human is lame just as
he is.
Before the assembled gods, Vulcan states that John Mann has proven his
courage in battle and has fought against the forces of evil. Instead of
punishing him, Vulcan believes they should aid the mortal in his battle
against crime. Mars argues that the gods did not create mankind's evil;
that he is the author of his own woes. John remarks that there are men
who have dedicated their lives to combating evil, while the gods stand
idly by. He states that he fights crime and evil by publishing the truth
about it, that he fought actively in Korea and was wounded badly more than
once, and he risked his life again in Viet Nam. He asks Mars if his own
courage has been put to the test, and boldly accuses the god of war of
being a coward. Jupiter calls an end to the proceedings. He proclaims that
he has made a decision. He states that the gods refuse to accept the blame
for mankind's pitiful plight, but that they will provide him help. Jupiter
asks the mortal if he will do his part if one of the gods sponsors him.
John agrees, but asks who will sponsor him. Vulcan steps forward and asks
that the human be his ward. Mars protests giving the human the power of
an immortal god. Jupiter agrees, allowing Vulcan to grant John some of
his powers so long as the cause is just.
As John leaves with his sponsor, Venus tells him that she is glad he has
been spared. Vulcan brings John to his workshop, where his most potent
weapons are stored. He devises armor and a shield, that will protect the
mortal from many of mankind's weapons. After John dons the magical armor,
Vulcan tells him that he will not be given any one weapon. All that he
sees before him will materialize in his hand when he asks for it. John
asks what good it will do, since he is not strong enough to wield the weapons.
Vulcan explains that it is within Venus' power to bestow vitality and strength,
to use when he combats evil. Venus points a wand at John Mann, proclaiming
him the Son of Vulcan.
Shortly, John is brought before Jupiter and the other immortals. Jupiter
tells the human that he must pledge to never misuse his powers. He also
states that these gifts may be withdrawn for good cause at any time, by
any god of his domain. They will watch over him, and ensure his compliance
with the conditions they have imposed. John says goodbye to Vulcan, promising
to not bring shame on his name. As the mortal prepares to return to Earth,
Mars tells him that his joy will be brief, and a longer time of grief lies
ahead.
Story: "He Stands Alone!"
Synopsis: Two groups on the island of Cyprete, the Preteons and the Cyclates,
have historically resolved their conflicts on the battlefield of the colosseum.
Johnny Mann investigates new hostilities between the two parties. He visits
General Ator of Cyclates, who is known to be a reasonable man. Johnny is
already aware that the natives of Cyprete believe that their island was
ruled long ago by the Giant Gladiator. Ator says that whenever the Giant
Gladiator has appeared, the people of the island have fought to gain his
favor. Some claim to have seen the Gladiator once again, thus the Cyclates
must defeat the Preteons in order to show they deserve to rule the island.
Johnny realizes that Ator isn't about to be swayed, so he decides to try
his arguments on the other end of the island.
When he arrives there, he beholds the Giant Gladiator! The Gladiator tells
the people that, in order to gain his favor, they must defeat the Cyclates
the next day on the battlefield of the colosseum. He warns them that if
they lose, they will forever be his slaves. Johnny transforms into Son
of Vulcan, and follows the behemoth into the confines of the colosseum.
The hero overhears a man calling himself Dr. Kong, who will claim the land
as his domain, and its people as his servants. Son of Vulcan bursts into
the room and demands that Kong tell the people the truth. The villain pulls
a lever and a trap door opens, dumping Son of Vulcan into a pit filled
with water. Hour after hour, far into the night, the hero battles a gigantic
octopus. Finally, as the first rays of morning filter down into the water,
the hero springs towards freedom above in one monumental gesture.
Son of Vulcan arrives just in time to hear the Giant Gladiator demand
a fight to the death between the two armies. The hero, who is still a stranger
to these people, pleads with General Ator to not believe the monster's
lies. Son of Vulcan engages the Gladiator in fierce battle. The hero finally
kills the monster by summoning the sword of Ulysses, which he plunges into
the creature's face mask. General Ator, believing that their sacred Giant
Gladiator must be avenged, orders his men to fire upon Son of Vulcan. Before
they can act, the hero pulls off the monster's helmet, revealing that it
is merely a robot. Son of Vulcan then spots Dr. Kong behind one of the
columns. Weakened by the collapse of the Gladiator, the column falls, apparently
killing the villain. Later, a disguised Kong swears to make Son of Vulcan
pay for thwarting his plans.
Story: "The Roman Gods On Mount Olympus"
Synopsis: Three-page supplement which gives information on Jupiter, Neptune,
Juno, Pluto, Minerva, Vulcan, Mars, Phoebus Apollo, Venus, Cupid, Mercury,
Saturn, Janus, Pan, Midas, and Atlas.
MYSTERIES OF UNEXPLORED WORLDS #47 (July 1965) • "The Golden Curse"
Synopsis: Leonard Lambie, a downtrodden professor of mythology at a small
eastern college, looks through his scrapbook of Son of Vulcan's exploits.
Lambie reads of the hero's battle with the Giant Gladiator, his last clash
against a giant sea creature, and a conflict that very day where he defeated
an oriental warlord and his army who threatened to destroy the civilized
world. The poor professor finds himself longing for power and gold. Later
that night, Jupiter orders Mars to retrieve Johnny Mann in his fiery chariot.
Vulcan and Venus witness the mortal's arrival. Johnny is brought before
Jupiter and a list of his achievements is read. Mars insists that the mortal
will misuse the gifts they have bestowed upon him, but Jupiter decides
he is worthy of their trust. He also reminds the human that he is still
on trial. After he is dismissed, Venus flirts with Johnny in an attempt
to make Mars jealous. Believing the mortal cannot be trusted with such
power, Mars travels to Earth and grants Leonard Lambie the golden gauntlets
of King Midas. Mars tells the human that anything he points at will turn
to gold, but omits the fact that each object will revert to its original
form in 48 hours. Lambie goes home and tries out the gauntlets, first on
a trash can, then on his nagging wife.
The next morning, Johnny is assigned to investigate the world gold shortage.
He tries to talk to Mr. Zoloto, the world's biggest dealer in gold, but
is forced away at gunpoint. As Johnny leaves Zoloto's Wall Street office,
Leonard Lambie arrives and requests a meeting. Lambie shows Zoloto that
he can change anything into gold. The two men come to an arrangement, but
after Lambie leaves, Zoloto has him followed. Johnny's instincts tell him
to trail Zoloto's thugs, and he is led right to the home of Leonard Lambie.
When he sees that the goons are carrying weapons, Johnny transforms into
the Son of Vulcan. The hero tries to stop the hoodlums, but he is turned
into gold by Lambie. Lambie, his wife, and Son of Vulcan are taken to Zoloto's
grotto, in an abandoned subway tunnel near his New York office. Unable
to move, Son of Vulcan telepathically tells Lambie that Zoloto will look
for an excuse to kill him. The hero, Mrs. Lambie, and other golden objects
taken from Lambie's home are placed on a conveyer belt which will melt
all the gold down to uniform ingots. As the hero's body enters the flames,
the gold begins to melt. However, being the son of the god of fire, the
flames cannot harm his physical form. He reverts back to flesh, then summons
a mighty mace. Son of Vulcan breaks out of the furnace and, as bullets
bounce off his armor, he removes Mrs. Lambie from the conveyer.
Zoloto tries to escape and flood the room with gas, but Lambie transforms
him into gold. He swears never to use the gauntlets again and discards
them. He then calls the police. After they arrive, Son of Vulcan explains
everything that has happened. Just as Leonard Lambie is being arrested
for the deaths of his wife and Zoloto, Esmerelda Lambie reverts back to
normal. Realizing the transformations are only temporary, the police release
the man to his angry wife. Later, Son of Vulcan brings the gauntlets back
to Olympus to Jupiter, but before he can accuse Mars, the god of war confesses.
He explains that he wished to embarrass the hero. His plan was to have
a weakling commit a crime. If the hero had hurt the weakling, he would
have been guilty of bullying. If, instead, he had allowed the man to go
unmolested, he would have been guilty of neglecting his duty. Either way,
the Son of Vulcan would have lost favor in Jupiter's eyes. Jupiter declares
that the hero has proven his worthiness once more, and that it is Mars
who has lost favor in his sight. Mars quietly vows to make the hero pay
for his shame.
MYSTERIES OF UNEXPLORED WORLDS #48 (September 1965) • "Fury Of The
War God"; "Part 2 The New Captain Tusk"; "Part 3 The Villain"
Synopsis: On Mount Olympus, Jupiter warns Mars that if he interferes in
the affairs of men again, he will be banished to Earth. In New York, Johnny
Mann is told by his boss that a fierce but good man named Captain Tusk
has a modern fleet of killer whaling ships around Antarctica, and only
400 miles away on the great ice shelf, three U.S. Navy meteorologists have
vanished. When Johnny is assigned to find the story there, he remarks that
he was planning on asking for an assignment to look into the riots in the
Near East where the mobs have been attacking the U.S. embassies. Meanwhile,
Mars tries to abide his father's wishes, but jealousy is in his heart.
He travels to Earth and listens in on two conspirators in the Near East.
Mars supplies the gold needed to hire hoodlums to demonstrate against the
Americans. Jupiter observes Mars' treachery and banishes him, limiting
his once mighty powers, and sending him hurtling through the sky. Mars
blames Son of Vulcan for his situation, and vows to make him pay.
By sheer chance, Mars lands in the Antarctic. The god of war encounters
Captain Tusk, binds him, and takes his place. Mars leaves Tusk and his
daughter, Sally, in the same ice cavern where the missing meteorologists
are trapped. He then baits a trap for Son of Vulcan. Still disguised as
Captain Tusk, Mars begins attacking ships and planes, then lures the hero
to the stranded humans. The villain then arrives himself and strikes. The
god of war punches the hero hard enough to stun him. When Son of Vulcan
recovers and follows his mysterious foe, Mars captures the hero and discloses
his true identity. The exiled god reveals his plan to discredit the hero
and Vulcan, enabling him to return to Olympus. He chains the Son of Vulcan
to the bow of his vessel and again attacks ships and aircraft, making it
appear at a distance that it is the hero that is leading the assault. Son
of Vulcan calls upon his adoptive father for the strength to break his
chains, but Jupiter forbids any interference by Vulcan in this tragic rivalry.
Jupiter then peers down and falls for Mars' deception, concluding that
Son of Vulcan is not worthy of their trust.
The Navy finally resorts to using special nuclear shells. Son of Vulcan
is certain he will be killed, but miraculously he survives the blast and
is freed from his chains. Mars flees to another of Captain Tusk's ships,
upon which he has imprisoned the once-stranded humans. He tries to fire
one final weapon at the approaching hero, but Sally interferes, causing
the projectile to hit the ship itself. Sally and her father are thrown
into the freezing water by the blast. Son of Vulcan only has time to save
Sally. To the hero's surprise, Mars, not wanting to be blamed for an innocent
mortal's death, saves Captain Tusk. Soon afterward, Johnny Mann interviews
the survivors. Tusk states that the last time he saw the stranger, he was
battling four killer whales. Johnny wonders if Mars perished in the frigid
ocean — or whether the god of war has survived and is banished to Earth
permanently, creating an ongoing threat which he must now guard against.
SON OF VULCAN #49 (November 1965) Story: "The Diamond Dancers"; "Part
II A Living Tomb"
Synopsis: Dr. Kong secretly takes photos in the vast Diamond Dealers Exchange
in New York, which holds great quantities of the best grade of diamonds.
He is posing as Changchin, the director and star of a musical which is
being presented right next door. After Kong leaves to develop the pictures,
John Mann arrives to cover the story of the two billion dollars worth of
diamonds that is currently at the Exchange. After he concludes his task,
the reporter decides to take a look at the Chinese performance next door.
John thinks he recognizes Kong as one of the performers, and tries to go
backstage using his press pass. When he is stopped by one of Kong's guards,
John slips behind a curtain and transforms into Son of Vulcan (wearing
all-new armor).
A few weeks earlier, Mars had survived his conflict with the killer whales
in the Antarctic, unearthed precious metals and diamonds, made his way
back to civilization, and established a new identity as Mr. Warren Masters.
He has now arrived in New York and has tracked Johnny Mann to The Chinese
Folly.
When the performance ends, Son of Vulcan confronts Dr. Kong. Kong strikes
the hero with a special sword, which jolts him with thousands of volts
of electricity, knocking him unconscious. Mars, in the guise of Warren
Masters, arrives and identifies Kong as the man that fought Son of Vulcan
on the island of Cyprete. Kong tries to strike the stranger with his sword,
but Mars easily destroys the weapon. Mars then informs Kong that he is
his new partner. When Kong tries to kill the unconscious hero, Mars stops
him, telling him that he will not allow murder to be committed. Instead,
Mars and Kong take the body to a construction site, burying Son of Vulcan
under the girder of a new skyscraper that is being erected. Mars then tells
Kong that he will assist him in the theft of the diamonds.
Son of Vulcan awakens, finding himself unable to move. The hero asks Vulcan
for help, but Jupiter has forbidden either him or Venus from assisting
the mortal further. Hoping Jupiter won't notice, Vulcan sends a ball of
fire from his magical forge down to Earth. The tiny flame ignites a vein
of coal near Son of Vulcan, weakening the rock enough for the hero to burst
free. Meanwhile, Jupiter observes Mars' new mischief and becomes even angrier
at the god of war. The hero reverts back to his guise as Johnny Mann and
returns to The Chinese Folly. As Mars breaks through the wall into the
vault of the Diamond Exchange, the reporter confronts Kong during his latest
performance. Johnny transforms back into Son of Vulcan and temporarily
halts Kong, then faces the man who the hero concludes is the god of war.
Mars uses tear gas to disable Son of Vulcan just long enough to take the
diamonds and seal the hero in the vault. He believes Jupiter will think
that the hero has misused his powers and looted the vault himself.
When Kong tries to claim his half of the plunder, he realizes that his
partner plans on cheating him. He persuades his accomplice to sit in a
special chair, which then traps Mars' wrists with iron bands. Meanwhile,
the hero pleads with Vulcan to keep him from being falsely accused of a
crime. Vulcan borrows King Midas' golden touch, which he transfers to his
adopted son. The hero changes the steel walls to soft gold, which he easily
breaks through. Son of Vulcan finds the trapped god of war, but he won't
free him until he catches Dr. Kong. Mars tells the hero that Kong is on
his way to a freighter in the harbor. Son of Vulcan finds Kong escaping
in a miniature submarine and disables it, leaving the villain to die in
the sinking craft. He then hurries back to Mars in order to free him before
the police start asking questions. However, the god of war is long gone,
leaving a message that he'll make the mortal pay some day.
SON OF VULCAN #50 (January 1966) • "The Second Trojan War"
Synopsis: As a reporter for World-Wide Correspondents, Johnny Mann had
been sent to Asia Minor to bring back a story on the recent misfortunes
of an American film company. Johnny interviews its director, A. J. Colosso,
who believes that the accidents that have befallen the cast and crew
of "Warrior
Against Troy" are being caused by someone not wanting the picture to
be filmed. He thinks it is the work of a rival film company which is
determined to destroy his chances for a comeback. Colosso then recounts
the story of the Trojan War.
Paris, the Trojan prince, carried off the fair Helen of Mycenae and thus
caused the terrible ten-year war between Troy and Greece. Many Greek kings
and heroes besieged Troy. Achilles eventually killed the great hero Hector,
Paris' brother. After years of harsh fighting, the Greeks tricked the Trojans
by leading them to believe that they had retreated, while leaving behind
a giant wooden horse. However, the horse was hollow and, later that night,
the Greeks emerged from their hiding place and killed the Trojans. The
city was burned to the ground on the orders of King Agamemnon.
Colosso remarks that his crew has come to Asia Minor to film the movie
near Hissarlik, site of the historical Troy. Suddenly, someone cries out
for help. It is Lisa Connors, who plays Helen in the movie. A runaway chariot
is heading right for her! Colosso runs to help, enabling Johnny to transform
into Son of Vulcan. The hero leaps to the girl's rescue, stopping the rampaging
steeds in their tracks. Son of Vulcan quickly learns how terribly vain
and spoiled the actress is. Colosso's troubles worsen when the actor playing
Achilles quits due to the danger. Needing an excuse that will enable him
to continue his news investigation, the hero volunteers to take the actor's
place. Observing the events on a hidden camera is Dr. Kong, who is furious
that his attempts to chase away the movie company have been foiled. Kong
assigns Adam Klink, an imperfect robot built by the villain, to rid him
of the hero.
A few hours later, as the day's filming ends, the robot causes a calamity
that threatens to crush Lisa Connors. When the hero saves the girl from
the impending doom, the bratty actress complains that he messed up her
hair. She tells Colosso that she'll leave the picture if the Son of Vulcan
isn't fired by the next day. Upon further investigation, Colosso and the
hero discover a footprint near the accident site, left behind by some type
of machine. That night, the robot kidnaps the girl, but it is just a ruse
which leads Johnny Mann into Dr. Kong's underground cavern. Kong confronts
the reporter and reveals that he knows of his dual identity. Before Johnny
is able to summon his powers, the robot knocks him out. He soon wakes up,
finding he has been bound and gagged. Since Johnny is unable to call on
his adoptive father, Kong feels safe revealing his plans of world domination.
The villain has built an anima-ray, which has the power to bring life to
inanimate objects, subject to his will. He has been carrying out his experiments
in this underground cavern, and was afraid that the movie company might
detect him.
After Kong leaves, Johnny is able to rub the gag off on the edge of his
robot guard. He transforms into Son of Vulcan, destroys the robot, and
flies off to search for the actress. He soon encounters the Trojan horse,
which has been animated by Kong's device. After trying different tactics,
he summons the mighty bow and flaming arrow of Hercules. After setting
the wooden monster ablaze, he rescues Lisa Connors from the belly of the
beast. Kong then animates a man-made stream into a malevolent wall of water,
which he calls his Scamander-Monster. Son of Vulcan manipulates the creature's
movements so that it strikes the evil doctor, vanquishing the villain and
destroying his anima-ray device.
CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS #12 (March 1986) • "Final Crisis"
Synopses: The heroes of Earth-4 join in the battle against the threat
of the Anti-Monitor.
Powers
Son of Vulcan could summon any weapon from Vulcan's arsenal on
Olympus. He was invulnerable to things like bullets. He had great strength.
He could fly. He once used telepathy to communicate with someone
Space Marshal
Real Name: Linc Wade
Appearances: RIMA, THE JUNGLE GIRL #7 (Apr-May 1975).
Linc Wade, LW-451, soldier of fortune and space prospector, toils in the
soil of deserted planetoid called Astra 41. When he hears a sound behind him,
Wade incorrectly believes it is a bushwhacker out to steal his claim. With
razor-sharp reflexes, Wade turns and fires his hi-velocity star gun, striking
the stranger with a force of 20,000 volts of raw electricity. The dying man
tells Wade he has been lost for days, and was only looking for some water.
He wasn't even carrying a gun. The man gives Wade a photo of his family, and
asks that Wade tell his wife that he tried for the kids. When the man dies,
Wade calls the Galaxy Consul Patrol to report the killing.
A short time later, somewhere in the Earth's solar system, at a quorum meeting
at the Galaxy Consul HQ, Wade faces sentencing. Because of the wars that ravaged
the solar system in the past, violence has been outlawed. The penalty for
illegal killing is death. However, because he voluntarily admitted his guilt,
Wade is given the opportunity to expiate his crime. He will be trained to
be a Space Marshal, on special assignment. His role will be to battle every
form of violence which may threaten the peace in the most remote reaches of
the galaxy. Wade gratefully accepts.
After many months of grueling training, Wade finally graduates. He is now
qualified to kill, but only to safeguard peace. In addition to his own self-control,
he will be monitored constantly, for he cannot be permitted to make even one
mistake. Two days later, at the launch pad, Wade is introduced to his Saturnian
deputy, Katto. Their first mission: to check out a disturbance on Asteroid
117, SM-33.
Space Rangers
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.
Episode #1 (part one) : The Space Voyagers are four young explorers named
Bartt, Armando, Melong, and Nolan. While roving the galaxy in their starship,
they detect a planet that looks inhabited. The ship hovers overhead while
the crew descends to the surface. The teens discover human footprints, which
they follow. They come across an old man who is being attacked by a large,
flying insect. After firing their weapons to distract the creature, they get
the old man to safety. He brings them to a marble mausoleum, where the teens
discover four dead figures. Upon closer examination, they realize the figures
look just like them!
Episode #1 (part two) : An alien creature, resembling a giant brain, contacts
the Space Voyagers telepathically, explaining that the figures they are observing
are just an illusion. The humans on the creature's own planet had perished
during a planetary famine, so it needs the Voyagers to repair it's machines.
The creature then wipes their memories of everything it had just explained,
then places a suggestion in their minds to travel to it's world. When the
teens arrive, the creature immobilizes them and grafts their human traits
onto it's machines. The machines rebel and turn on their master, destroying
it. The creature had not considered that the grafting process would also transfer
the human spirit of freedom into the machines.
Episode #2 (origin) : Four teenagers on a distant planetoid decide to leave
their world, so they go to the forbidden area and begin preparing a spaceship.
Bartt will be the commander, Armando will handle engineering, Melong will
be the navigator, and Nolan will be in charge of weapons. Bartt's mother arrives
with some of the other parents. She reminds them that it is forbidden to leave
their planetoid under any circumstances. For trespassing on the forbidden
site, the teens must answer to the Elders. When they are brought before the
Elders, the youths are reminded that many, many years earlier, their people
had lived on Earth. War, pollution, and famine were devastating the planet.
There was no hiding place, so their people exiled themselves, searching until
they discovered the asteroid that is now their home. The teens explain that
they need to choose their own lives. The Elders consider their words, and
agree. Soon after the Space Voyagers blast off into space, they receive an
SOS from a star cluster in C-416-038. The Voyagers save the inhabitants of
the planetoid Arctus, but are forced to leave immediately afterward when they
realize that contact with the natives would be deadly to them.
Episode #3 : The Space Voyagers set foot on a new planet, and are surprised
to find statues of themselves there. They are attacked and captured by a crowd
of humans, who all look exactly like they do. It is clear that this world
is not Earth, yet they see the ruins of Yankee Stadium. The Voyagers conclude
that they have landed on a parallel Earth. The natives tell them that they
won't be deceived by the teens. They claim the Space Voyagers first came to
their planet centuries earlier, and that the statues were built in their honor.
Then, an unexpected nuclear attack from an outer galactian invader devastated
their world. The alternate Voyagers' spaceship had been protected in it's
hanger, a mile below the planet's surface. These Voyagers had told the natives
that they would search outer space until they found a safe planet to recolonize.
They never returned. When the planet continued to deteriorate, the natives
blamed the Voyagers for their misery. Their forefathers insisted that everyone
fashion themselves in their enemy's image, the image of treachery. The teens
blast themselves free and, in the struggle, the natives collapse. The Voyagers
discover that the natives were actually living skeletons, wearing masks to
cover their rotting faces.
Episode #4 : The Space Voyagers land on an alien planet and encounter intelligent
ant-people. The creatures chase them, intending to use them for food. The
teens stumble into a huge glass-enclosed subterranean cavern filled with eggs.
When the eggs begin to hatch, the teens blast them. They run back to their
spaceship and escape.
Spanner's Galaxy
Written by Rich Meyer
Spanner's Galaxy was a six-issue limited
series by Nicola Cuti and Tom Mandrake.
For those who have never read the series,
a long, long time ago, the Kaborians arrived on Earth and brought the age
of chivalry to the then-primitive society. Over the years and centuries that
followed, the inhabitants of Earth lost touch with that part of their early
culture and eventually united the entire Milky Way Galaxy under a Confederation
of Free Worlds, in which trade and commerce flourished wildly. The Kaborians,
and their art of chivalry, were largely forgotten.
Polaris Spanner was born on the planet
Proxie, which was also known as Spanner's World, where his father Rigel ran
a jelly farm and did research. A jelly farm grows jellies, which are giant
amoeba-like creatures made of protoplasm, which is the basic building block
of most furniture a kitchen utensils of the time, and was stronger than plastic.
Spanner fell in one of the jelly pens
when two of his alien friends demonstrated how to "castle", disappearing
and leaving a pair of Kaborians in their place. His injuries were so severe
that the Kaborians castled back with him to their home planet so he could
get immediate medical treatment.
Spanner had just returned from a trip
to Star City with his father, where his father ran into some trouble purchasing
a "shek", which was a strange and unique weapon, and Spanner met
a young thief named Andromeda Jones. The Kaborians who castled in had actually
been the ones causing trouble for Spanner's father, as they had wanted to
purchase the shek, so that it could be buried with the warrior who had used
it.
After recuperating from his injuries,
Spanner stayed on Kabor and was taught ancient Kaborian combat techniques
that included the use of the shek as an offensive and defensive weapon (it
was could act as everything from a boomerang to a laser shield). He was also
taught the theory and practice of "castling", which was a means
of teleportation that could be used on objects and for travel. Castling involved
basically switching places with something else somewhere else. Spanner took
the vows to become a Kaborian Knight, and was prepared to go out into the
universe and bring the practice of chivalry with him.
After working on, and later taking a
partnership in the Medeusian freighter, The Persius, Spanner castled into
the midst of a group of bounty hunters (called "pounders") and
discovered that there was suddenly a very high price on his head, by the
President himself. Marcus Baka, a former magistrate on Proxie, was set up
as the head of the operation to capture Spanner. Meanwhile, Andromeda was
uniting her own guild of pounders, under the colorful name of The Bluestar,
and was planning to go after Spanner herself for the reward. Spanner had
become the most wanted man in the galaxy.
In the course of his travels to escape
his many pursuers, Spanner met up with a small furry and very resourceful
creature that was a Gadgeteer, which he nicknamed "Gadj". Gadgeteers
have the uncanny ability to put any devices together using whatever parts
and junk they have at hand and make them work. He also learned that the authorities
had released information that said that Spanner was carrying a plague infection
called The Hades Germ, a disease that could wipe out an entire planet in
the course of a few days. With the support of his family, Spanner finally
turned himself into the authorities, and he was confined, with Gadj to a
small asteroid for the protection of the rest of the galaxy.
After six months in his asteroid prison,
one of the Kaborians castled with Spanner, taking him back to the home world
he trained on. He was brought there for trial, for having violated the Kaborian
law, which states "no castler may castle to avoid jeopardy if it means
placing another castler in jeopardy." Spanner pleads guilty to avoid
having an old school friend die in combat to prove his innocence. His sentence
was to be served in yet another prison while wearing "the Mask of Nygug".
The mask was made of narconium, which prevent the force lines needed for
castling from passing into Spanner (everything else, air, light, sound, food,
etc. could pass through unabated). Before he could serve his Kaborian sentence,
a woman on a flying Kamado Dragon abducted Spanner. She turned out to be
one of his police interrogators, a woman named Tenna. Tenna had done some
research that proved Spanner had been framed, because the Hades Germ did
not exist.
Tenna returned his shek and she and Spanner
talked with Commander Richard Harris, who had been working under Baka in
the operation to find Spanner. He soon discovered that Baka himself had started
the entire situation. The former pounder had wanted the power gem in Spanner's
shek to use as a power source for a unique black hole weapon one of his compatriots
had developed, with which he hoped to hold the universe for ransom. Baka
and Spanner met in combat and Baka actually defeated Spanner, but was prevented
from killing him by Andromeda. Baka slew the young woman and took off with
the power gem from the shek.
Spanner became a hero in all corners
of the galaxy, and the President appointed Spanner and Gadj as his "Personal
Agents Extraordinary". Spanner's first job was to hunt down the newest
person on the most wanted list: Baka.
Appearances: Spanner's Galaxy #1-6, Who's
Who: The Definitive Directory of the DC Universe #21
Split
Split was a character that Wolfman originally intended to be a part
of the Titans. Hence he appears in the special card set for DC VS. MARVEL
that was painted by Julie Bell and pitted the Titans against the X-Men. His
primary ability was teleportation, and if I remember correctly, he was described
as kind of a sassy, prankster sort. To my understanding, he was later given
a different name.
Split (the same evil young red-haired man in a red, white and black jacket
as seen in the cards) was a member of a group called Team Hazard that appeared
in the early issues of STEEL. He was a wisecracking smart-alec with teleporting
abilities. He used his teleportation powers to transport members of Hazard's
Black Ops ( STEEL #6, 8, 0, 19, 25 and 27).
The Split Man
Profile by Bob Buethe
He made two STRANGE ADVENTURES appearances, of which I only have the second.
He was an adventurer archaeologist in the Indiana Jones mold, and had been
given a magic belt by a witch doctor. It allowed him to split into two identical
selves... one with a red aura, the other with a blue... who could communicate
telepathically. However, his two selves had to rejoin by sundown or both would
die. In the story I have, he used this power to lead a group of thieves in
South America on a wild goose chase while his other self delivered a valuable
artifact to a museum.
According to the Grand Comics Database:
The Split Man appeared in:
STRANGE ADVENTURES #166 (July 1964)
STRANGE ADVENTURES #203 (August 1967)
The Sponge Man (a.k.a. the Sponge)
Created by Arnold Drake and Bob Brown
PERSONAL DATA:
Alter Ego: Miklos
Occupation: Deep-sea sponge-diver
Known Relatives: None
Group Affiliation: None
Base of Operations: Florida, later at the bottom of the ocean
Height: (as Miklos) N/A (as Sponge Man) variable
Weight: (as Miklos) N/A (as Sponge Man) variable
Eyes: Blue
Hair: (as Miklos) black (as Sponge Man) none
Skin: (as Miklos) white (as Sponge Man) orange, sponge-like
First appearance: Challengers of the Unknown [1st series] #47 (Dec 1965-Jan
1966)
HISTORY:
Miklos was a deep-sea sponge-diver who lived a rather good life on the coast
of Florida. He earned enough money to live on, had a good apartment, and a
shy, continous flirt with Lisa, the girl next door.
One day Miklos came upon a spectacular find at the bottom of the ocean, a
strange sponge-like object, almost shaped like a man, rotted to a likewise
peculiar, green-hued rock. While examining the thing, a vicious moray eel
suddenly flashed by. Jerking aside, Miklos accidentally gashed his hand on
the jagged rock. At first Miklos dismissed the injury as "just a scratch",
but after bringing the strange sponge to the surface and carrying it home,
his hand had begun to throb intensely, his body ached, and he just wanted
a night's sleep.
When Miklos wakened the next morning, he was in for the shock of his life.
His injured hand had... changed. and not only his hand, he discovered. His
entire body had mutated into a freakish sponge-like being.
Knowing that the famous Challengers of the Unknown were in town testing diving
gear, the desperate Miklos sought them out, figuring that they may be the
only ones to help him. Arriving in Miklos' apartment, Prof Haley of the Challengers
examined his find, concluding that the "rock" was actually a meteor
possessing a freakish life-force that had been transmitted to Miklos through
the cut on his hand.
Miklos lowered his voice and explained that this was not all of it. He had
found out that by concentrating, he could now do strange things, absorbing
water just like a sponge. But not only water - energy and sound could apparently
be absorbed by his freakish body. Stunned, the Challs decided to take a sample
of the meteor and test it, promising Miklos to do their best to counteract
his condition.
What neither Miklos nor the Challengers were aware of, was that his next-door
neighbor, a sinister man named Stacy, had overheard the entire conversation
from the other side of the wall. When the Challs had left the building, Stacy
came over to Miklos and explained that he knew of a doctor who could help
him. Sadly, this doctor lived in another country and it would cost a fortune
bringing him here and setting up a lab for him. Miklos answered that he was
not a wealthy man and could not raise that kind of money. Stacy protested:
"With your special powers, you could take it! In your condition,
who would blame you?"
Miklos refused to steal to cure himself. But later that night, as the strange-looking
man restlessly prowled the streets, he was tormented by the fact that people
around him were repulsed by his appearance, even Lisa, the girl next door.
The next day, the Challengers discovered Miklos on the streets and gasped
in shock as the Sponge Man started to absorb all color in the area, leaving
a black and white world in his trail. Shortly afterwords all sound was absorbed
as well. Without functioning traffic lights, the traffic was stuck in a jam.
and without sound, the police were not reached by the burglar alarm of a nearby
bank, from which Stacy ran out with a big loot. the Challs attempted to stop
Stacy, but the Sponge Man then absorbed all their strength, leaving them unconscious.
Lying in the streets, the Challengers would have been killed by a driverless
truck, had they not been saved by Miklos. Miklos explained that he wished
them no harm but that Stacy and the stolen money was his only way to be cured.
The Challs of course realized that Stacy had tricked Miklos. After a wild
chase, they were able to approach him and let him catch a glimpse of Stacy's
police record, proving that Stacy was a cheap crook. As Miklos realized the
terrible truth of the revelation, his mind snapped. In a state of shock, he
left the Challs and Stacy behind him, wandering aimlessly, absorbing all water
in his path, and growing as he did.
Prof theorized that the Sponge Man would continue to drain the rivers, lakes,
and oceans. Ships would strand, populations would thirst while the creature
would grow bigger and bigger until he eventually would become bigger than
the Earth.
To ensure that the worst would not happen, the Challengers prepared a lake
with tranquilizing chemicals, in hope of putting the Sponge Man to sleep.
the Sponge Man absorbed the body of water, and the Challengers' plan had nearly
succeeded when a forest fire started near the lake. While the Challs evacuated
the area, the tranquilized Sponge Man was nearly consumed by the flames. Suddenly,
the cry of a child pierced his dulled mind. A frightened little girl was trapped
in the midst of the fire while the Challengers helplessly watched. But the
cry made the giant Sponge Man regain his senses. With a final effort, he lurched
to his feet and let the water of his body pour down on the flames and put
out the forest fire.
Once the water - and the sleeping potion - were expelled from his body, the
Sponge Man was reduced to normal size. the Challs offered peace and asked
him to come with them so they might find a cure for him. But the Sponge Man
refused.
"A cure? When? Next year? In ten years? Maybe never? and all that time,
where will I be... locked up in a laboratory cage... like a guinea pig? No,
thanks! I'm a freak! There's no place for me on land!"
With these words, Miklos jumped into the ocean, trading his old life for
a new one on the bottom of the sea, surrounded by sponges and marine life.
While the Challs would continue searching for a cure, it seemed as if the
Sponge Man had finally found peace.
(Challengers of the Unknown [1st series] #47)
Months later, that peace was disturbed when U.S. military forces began to
build an undersea defense system called "Fortess Fish Hook", a dome
with aqua-troops, submarines, missile launchers and more. To their assistance,
they had America's foremost underwater experts, the Sea Devils.
However, dynamiteers clearing the area for the installation were rather ruthless
and destroyed a huge region, killing all sea life in the area... and waking
the dormant Sponge Man. Stunned by the blast, the sinister sea thing regained
its feet and stared at the carnage about him, including all of his dead "friends".
Furiously, the Sponge Man once again started absorbing water into his swelling
body, and attacked the engineers, the military forces, and the Sea Devils
in a fit of rage.
After a quick battle, the Sponge Man captured the female Sea Devil Judy Watson,
but let her go since she somehow, deep in his dim memories, reminded Miklos
of the neighbor girl Lisa he had once been in love with. the Sponge Man turned
away leaving the Sea Devils behind him.
The Sea Devils had recognized the creature as the Sponge Man that the Challengers
had encountered months earlier, and they decided to get their assistance in
capturing the creature. the cooperation would not be frictionless, though.
the Challs still considered Miklos their friend and would not agree to hurt
him. the military and the Sea Devils, on the other hand, had only witnessed
the Sponge's destructive side and intended to do whatever was needed to stop
the monster. Furthermore, tension grew between the two teams as Judy Walton,
girlfriend of the Sea Devils' leader Dane Dorrance, started to show interest
in Ace Morgan of the Challengers.
Meanwhile, a meeting was being held in the secret HQ of the notorious criminal
organization known to the world as Scorpio. A "foreign power" had
paid Scorpio to sabotage "Fortress Fish Hook", but to their luck,
the Sponge Man was doing their work for them.
When the Sponge next appeared, attacking an army platform, the Challengers
tried to reason with their friend. the creature cried out: "No, you are not my friends! My friends are the fish of the sea! You humans killed
them... now I kill you!" With those words he attacked the Challs.
the Sea Devils joined the battle, but even the combined might of the two teams
was no match for the absorbing abilities of the Sponge. Drained of energy,
heat, color and sound, the heroes were almost defeated. Finally, they got
lucky as they were able to stun the Sponge with an electrical shock.
The Sponge Man was captured and contained in a plexi-glass cage. the military
was satisfied but the Challengers were disturbed. Was there no way they could
help Miklos?
Then, fate seemed to intervene. Appearing on the scene was Lisa, Miklos'
former neighbor, who claimed she would do anything she could to help him.
the Challs brought Lisa to meet Miklos, and as her soothing voice penetrated
his warped mind, the never-forgotten love that Miklos had for this girl jogged
his memory. He remembered his true self as Lisa told him that the Challengers
were his friends. If they could cure Miklos, he and Lisa could be together.
Miklos calmed down and agreed to cooperate.
But of course, this was not the end of it. As soon as Miklos and Lisa were
left alone, she let him out from his imprisonment, fooling him into believing
that the Challs were evil liars, then manipulated him into destroying the
military bases once again.
When the Challengers and the Sea Devils learned about the Sponge's escape,
they first quarreled about whose fault it was, then started fighting each
other, but when June admitted that she had deliberately flirted with Ace to
make Dane jealous, both teams calmed down and analyzed the situation. Realizing
that Lisa was the only one who could have let Miklos out of his cage, they
learned that she was, in fact - a Scorpio agent!
June made amends for her childish flirting games by making Lisa talk. Knowing
every female's weakness, she simply threatened Lisa with cutting off all her
hair, after which the hard-boiled villainess sang like a canary. Effective
torture, if not politically correct.
The heroes then attacked Scorpio's headquarters, defeating most of the criminals,
but were nonetheless unable to prevent their launching of a missile filled
with poisonous gas, in order to pollute the waters around the military sites.
However, the Sponge Man arrived on the scene, grown to gargantuan size after
absorbing loads and loads of water. Believing that the missile was aimed at
him, Miklos caught it and threw it back on the Scorpio HQ. the Challs and
the Sea Devils avoided being crushed by it, but the poisonous gas had started
leaking out, threatening the heroes, the villains, and the entire nearby town.
Hesitantingly, the Sponge Man decided to absorb the gas and save the humans,
but then, ironically, he started to transform back to human himself. Were
he now to absorb the gas, it could kill him when he had fully returned to
human, making him face an unbearable dilemma: "Why should I die now...
when I can really live again as Miklos?"
But as his common sense returned, Miklos realized that there was no question
about how he should act. With the last of his inhuman powers, he absorbed
all of the spreading poison. Then, finally completely human again, dived into
a water tank to contain it. Miklos found peace in death, knowing that he had
done the right thing.
When the press asked the Fortress' Admiral about the event, the military
man replied:
"Just say I was wrong about him... and that Miklos died a hero's death."
and Ace Morgan filled in:
"Miklos made up for all the harm he caused... like a sponge, he wiped
the slate clean.
(Challengers of the Unknown [1st series] #51)
As a footnote, Scorpio later returned to fight super-heroes such as the Green
Lantern Hal Jordan, and were partly responsible for Celia Forrestal becoming
the heroic Skyrocket, to avenge her parents killing at the hands of Scorpio.
(Power Company: Skyrocket #1). They would return even later to battle the
hero known as Thunderbolt (Peter Cannon, Thunderbolt #2-3, #7-12). Miklos'
neighbor Lisa could very well be identical to Scorpia, unit leader of the
Scorpio troops.
POWERS:
The Sponge Man had the uncanny ability to absorb virtally anything - liquid,
gas, energy (including light, heat, and kinetic energy), and sound - into
his body. He would grow in size and strength while doing it, and would also
adapt some of the traits of what he absorbed (i.e., absorbing colors would
make him colorful, absorbing heat would make him burning hot and his victims
freezing cold, etc).
Due to the oxygen he absorbed through his body, the Sponge Man could survive
underwater.
APPEARANCES:
Challengers of the Unknown [1st series] #47 (Dec 1965-Jan 1966)
"The Sinister Sponge"
Challengers of the Unknown [1st series] #51 (Aug-Sep 1966)
"Smash the Sponge Man... or Die"
Squire Shade was a lookalike for Hawkman foe, the Gentleman Ghost. He
was introduced in the dying days of the DC horror line as the first host in
GHOSTS. Is this the Golden Age Flash villain who's currently a semi-good
guy in STARMAN? He's another immortal character, and may well have been
a squire at one point. Squire Shade's FIRST appearance was in a DC digest.
A typical barbarian title by David Michelinie and Mike Vosburg in the mid-'70's,
distinguished only by a female lead character. It was set in the future, and
Starfire was the widow of a swordsman who'd taught her everything he knew.
Starfire was NOT the widow of Dagan (the swordsman). The two were never
married, but they were lovers before Dagan was tortured to death by Sookarooth's
men.
Here's the skinny; Starfire was raised since birth as a slave of the Mygorg.
Her mother was white and her father was "yellow" (it actually says
this in STARFIRE #1, but we can safely presume that Starfire's father was Asian-American).
Anyway, young Starfire's mixed heritage and beauty draws the attention of King
Sookarooth of the Mygorg. Instead of making her a slve like all the other humans,
Sookarooth has Starfire educated and raised with all the amenities of palace
life.
Upon turning 18, Starfire learns that this was because Sookarooth intended
for her to become his mate. Fleeing Castle Mollachon, Starfire heads for the
countryside, but is caught by Sookarooth's men. She is rescued from them by
Dagan, a warrior-priest, who then takes her under his wing and teaches her various
forms of combat.
Starfire is a skilled swordsman, archer, and tracker, among others.
Anyway, Dagan is soon captured by Sookarooth, tortured, and killed. Starfire
avenges her lover's death by storming Castle Mollachon, freeing Sookarooth's
human slaves, and she eventually slays Sookarooth himself.
Starfire vows to rid her world of the Mygorg and free her people from slavery.
In Starfire's final recorded adventure, she learned that the alien Mygorg
that ravaged her world had been brought there by a mystic "Eye of Armageddon".
The revelation filled the heroine with "hope! We now know of the Eye of
Armageddon... and that it can be destroyed...and our world made free!"
(STARFIRE #8). Though they were unaware of it, Starfire and Claw the Unconquered
were two of the eternal champions of the Sornaii (STAR HUNTERS #7). Her appearances
include:
STARFIRE III:
Starfire #1-8
Star Hunters #7
Who's Who '86 #22
STARFIRE III (variants):
Starman #55
Swamp Thing #164
Starfire also appears in one panel of SWAMP THING #163. Starfire, Claw,
Stalker, and one other sword and sorcery character I dont recognize are all
pictured running away from Nightmaster. She's also pictured in her original
costume (my fave!) except its mistakenly colored blue (it should be green).
Here's the lowdown on issues #2-4 of STARFIRE. As for issue #1, see
my first post.
Starfire #2 - "The Siege of Lortnan Manor"
Written by David Michelinie, Art by Mike Vosburg and Vince Colletta
At Lortnan Manor, young Kyrse Lortnan is about to be killed by a Mygorg warrior
for committing the crime of reading books, an activity forbidden to humans.
As his father Velg Lortan looks on in horror, Starfire and her band of followers
arrive just in time! After a short battle, all the Mygorg in the Manor are killed,
but Velg tells Starfire that the dead Mygorg were only the advance guard for
a larger patrol of Mygorg soldiers. Oops!
Soon after, the entire patrol of Mygorg soldiers storm the walls of Lortnan
Manor. Starfire and her men manage to hold them off, and the Mygorg commander,
Kevarj, retreats. He's already plotting his second attack, and this time he'll
be using sky-beasts, which are pterodactyl like creatures which shoot heat beams
(called "death bolts") from their eyes. Starfire manages to stop the
sky beast once (you've got to see it to believe how she does it!), but sensing
the Mygorg won't stay routed for long, her and her men flee into the countryside.
As she leaves, Starfire is given a map by Kyrse, and the map is said to lead
to the legendary Lightning Lords, beings who have powerful weapons that could
be used in the battle against the Mygorg.
Also, in this issue we meet the first of Starfire's supporting cast, a balding
man named Thrumdahg who wears all blue and swings a nasty axe. Thrumdahg makes
some unwanted advances towards Starfire, and she ends up showing him exactly
who's boss. Embarrassed in front of the men, Thrumdahg soon grows to resent
Starfire, as we'll see in issue #3.
Starfire #3 - "The Arena of the Frost Dragon"
Written by Elliot S! Maggin, Art by Mike Vosburg and Vince Colletta
Still wandering around, Starfire and her followers come across a gladiator
pit where a giant, deformed human is fighting a frost dragon (instead of breathing
fire, frost dragon's breath ice) with a metal ball and chain. With the crowd
of Mygorg engrossed in the battle, Starfire and her men ambush the spectators
and free the giant. The giant is mute, so Starfire decides to name him Thump,
saying that "He looks like a Thump, don't you think?" Thump quickly
proves his loyalty by stopping Thrumdahg's plot to assault and overthrown Starfire
as leader of the rebels.
We also meet Anzus, the group's weapon keeper, who is an older man with a white
beard who wears a purple outfit and a green hooded cape.
Another Mygorg commander tracks down Starfire with the help of a human slave
named Moonwatcher, who is an excellent tracker. Setting up in a nearby Mygorg
village, the commander decides to ambush Starfire's camp at dawn. Moonwatcher
overhears this, manages to kill the commander, and escapes to tell Starfire.
Starfire decides to attack the village before the Mygorg can attack her. Starfire's
army of ex-slaves wins, and they free the human slaves held in the village,
who them join Starfire's ranks.
Starfire wants to continue their quest to find the Lightning Lords but since
nobody knows how to read the map Kyrse gave them (remember, its a crime for
humans to read books), she isn't sure what to do. In a stroke of good luck,
it is discovered that Thump knows how to read. Pointing them in the right direction,
the mute giant leads them onwards.....
Starfire #4 - 'slaves of the Golden Queen"
Written by Elliot S! Maggin, Art by Mike Vosburg and Vince Colletta
While heading through a mountain pass, Starfire and her followers are ambushed
by Nitrons, tribal beats who spurt flame from their tails (really!). A brief
struggle ensues, and the Nitrons manage to steal all the human's food and supplies.
Trekking onwards on empty stomachs, Starfire spots a settlement "with supplies
we can doubtless beg, borrow, or steal" in a nearby canyon.
Starfire, Thump, Anzus, Moonwatcher, and Raynor (not much is revealed about
him) enter the settlement, and they meet the settlement's Queen Karoleen, a
feminist with an attitude who sports a golden helmet which covers half of her
face. "All men are slaves in this city" Karoleen tells Starfire, and
you just know what's gonna happen next. Starfire decides to "trade"
three of her men (Azmodus, Moonwatcher, and Starfire in disguise) for two wagonloads
of food. Once inside, Starfire reveals herself and engages Karoleen in battle.
As soon as this happens, Karoleen sends a group of her female soldiers to reclaim
the food. Raynor, Thump, and Azmodus lead Starfir's followers in defending the
food, while Starfire and Moonwatcher deal with Karoleen.
We learn that Karoleen has much in common with Starfire. She too was destined
to marry Sookaroth and escaped. However, her escape had a price - a hideously
scarred face caused by the Mygorg's flaming arrows. Thus, Karoleen hides the
scarred side of her face behind her golden helmet. To make a long story short,
Karoleen dies fighting Starfire (she plunges to her death), and Starfire and
her merry men escape with the food. They continue along their journey to find
the Lightning Lords.
Star Hunters
Another Michelinie feature, this one set in a spacefaring future with a group
of rebels, led by one Donvan Flint, against a tyrannical government. One of
many similar ideas that (IIRC) sprang up in the wake of the original 'star Wars"
movie.
The Star Hunters included Bruce Sellers, Darcy Vale, Donovan Flint,
Jake Hammersmith, Mindy Yano and Theodore McGavin. As they returned to Earth
for a final confrontation with the Corporation that had exiled them in space,
McGavin was killed and Flint made a crash landing on the planet (STAR HUNTERS
#7). The final resolution of the conflict (written by Gerry Conway) was set
to appear in issue #8 but it was lost in the DC Implosion. The Adam Strange
back-ups for SH #8 and 9 eventually appeared in WORLD'S FINEST #263 and GREEN
LANTERN #132.
The Star Hunters appeared in:
DC Super-Stars #16
Star Hunters #1-7
Who's Who '86 #22
Stanley and His Monster
Created by Arnold Drake and Bob Oksner
First appearance: THE FOX AND THE CROW #95, December 1965-January 1966.
Personal data:
STANLEY:
Alter ego: Stanley Dover Jr.
Occupation: Kid
Known relatives: Sheila Dover (mother), Mitchell Dover (father), Stanley Dover
Sr. (maternal grandfather, deceased), Marge Dover (maternal grandmother, deceased)
Group affiliation: None
Base of operations: The suburbs of Star City
Height: N/A
Weight: N/A
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Blond
Skin: Caucasian white
THE MONSTER:
Alter ego: Unnamed. Sometimes known as "The Beast With No Name", "Massachusetts",
'spot", or "Thpot"
Occupation: Dog. Expelled Demon of Hell.
Known relatives: None
Group affiliation: Demons of Hell
Base of operations: Formerly Hell, currently the suburbs of Star City
Height: N/A
Weight: N/A
Eyes: Black
Hair: Magenta (all over his body)
Skin: Furry
History:
The story about Stanley and his Monster is actually two stories. One, an innocent
fairytale about a boy and his dog. The other, a considerably darker tale about
arts arcane and evil personified.
It starts with an entirely different Stanley. A monster in his own right.
Growing up in an American suburban area in the 1950s, Stanley Dover Sr. was
seemingly the most decent citizen anyone could imagine. He was married to a
beautiful woman and housewife named Marge, he had a decent job as a postman,
was a good neighbour, and went to church every Sunday.
However, the bright idyll of the 1950s could cast a dark and twisted shadow.
After a few years of marriage, Stanley and Marge were drawn into Satanist circles
by one of their friends. Although most of the Satanic worshippers in their "club"
- including Marge - saw the practicing of arcane arts mainly as a way of "letting
loose", a way of breaking the taboos of the Truman era and engaging themselves
in group sex sessions, for Stanley Dover it became much more. He deeply wanted
to serve the Dark Powers and use them for his own satisfaction. Ultimately,
he was captivated by the promise of life eternal - and by that, he did not mean
in the hereafter, as most religions promised.
Marge didn't think much about Stanley's serious dedication, not until the day
she found that she was pregnant, and suggested to Stanley that it was time to
grow up and leave the Church of Satan. Stanley could not believe it. There was
not a chance that they would abandon the church for the sake of the child -
on the contrary, the newborn child was going to be sacrificed in the name of
Satan. The very next day, a death-scared Mary fled the neighbourhood, and Stanley
never saw her again. (GREEN ARROW (vol. 3) #9, December 2001)
Bitter and disappointed, Dover travelled to England to study the science of
the supernatural and socialize with well-known occultists, such as Jason Blood
and Alexander Burgess. It was in the Burgess Estate in Wych Cross, that Stanley
Dover had an encounter that would forever change his life.
In the early 1920s, Alexander Burgess' father, the magus Roderick Burgess,
had attempted to capture Death herself, but instead got hold of Death's little
brother - Dream of the Endless. For decades, the Roderick family had kept the
so-called Sandman in a glass cage in their basement, and now, in the late 1960s,
Stanley Dover snuck a peek of him. Not knowing who the strange creature was,
Dover was still impressed by the capturing of a being that he sensed had great
power. It was rumored that Burgess' ancient book known as the Magdalene Grimoire had been crucial to the capturing, and Dover, not above stealing when it suited
his purposes, returned to the United States with the unholy book in hand. The Magdalene Grimoire provided Dover with enough wealth to set himself up
in style in Star City, but, like Burgess, he never succeeded in capturing Death.
(GREEN ARROW (vol. 3) #9, December 2001, THE SANDMAN (vol. 2) #1, January 1989)
In 1985, life took an unexpected turn for Dover. Knocking at his door was a
woman named Sheila, who introduced herself as the daughter he had never seen.
Sheila explained that Marge had been dead for many years, that she herself had
been brought up by her aunt, and that her boyfriend Mitch had advised her to
seek out her long-lost father. She did not know why her parents have separated,
but wanted to get back to her roots, her family. Pretending to be touched by
her tears, Dover decided to play the good father.
Some years later, Sheila gave birth to Stanley Dover Jr., giving old Stanley
the perfect cover for his wicked activities. While the parents was at work,
grampa Stanley looked after his grandson at the same time that he attempted
to arise creatures of Hell. The ancient chants and spells of the Magdalene
Grimoire served as lullabies for the baby Stanley, something that old Stanley
remembered as something rather cute later in his life. And on the surface, the
family life was both very cute and very happy. (GREEN ARROW (vol. 3) #9, December
2001)
Young Stanley grew up in the happy suburbs of Star City with his caring parents,
Sheila and Mitchell Dover. (A modern man, Mitch had agreed on taking his wife's
family name.) Except for Sheila's sad childhood, the Dovers were probably the
most typical suburban couple you'll ever find - in the most positive meaning
of the word. Caring, intelligent and fun-loving people, fond of gardening, barbecues
and socializing with their neighbours. They still love each other and experience
no marital difficulties except for the occasional quarrel. And they are both
starting to gain weight. Neither of them has been involved in any criminal affairs...and
none of them has ever joined any Satanic church.
Stanley was (and is still) the Dovers' only child, something that has not seemed
to make him a spoilt brat. Actually, Stanley is a lovable kid, who dreams of
becoming either a professional wrestler or a super-hero as a grown-up. Early
in his life, his parents realized that he was quite intelligent. For example,
he learned how to read and write before he was five years old.
Nevertheless, at the age of five, Stanley was a very lonely boy. He had no
siblings. No other kids his own age lived in his neighbourhood. He found some
content in comic books and his own wild flights of imagination, but longed for
company. He wanted a dog, but was allergic to them. Things looked bleak...until
one day, while he was chasing a baseball down a sewer, and actually found the
dog he had longed for. Or...it was not quite a dog. It was something even better.
A genuine monster!
What Stanley did not know at the time, was that the Monster in question was
actually a demon - a nameless creature that had been banished from Hell by Lucifer
himself, just because he was, well, too nice to be there. He had treated his
fellow demons with love and respect, given solace to the damned, and pasted
"have a nice day" stickers all over the city of Dis. These actions
drew the attention and awakened the anger of Lucifer, who decided that the nameless
one should be banished to Earth. That would teach him some manners.
Lucifer's plan almost succeeded. Wherever the Monster moved on Earth, he was
feared and hated by ignorant humans. Frustrated and angered, the Monster had
probably chosen the path of evil, were it not for the interference of the good-hearted
and innocent Stanley.
Stanley did what any normal five-year-old would have done - he befriended the
Monster and took it home. The lonely Monster despised the fact that he scared
people, and was more than happy to be Stanley's "dog" and friend.
And since he had no name, Stanley gave him one. Although the Monster would have
preferred "Massachusetts", he was content with Stanley calling him
'spot" - or "Thpot" as the kid pronounced it (he had a lisp in
those days).
When Stanley asked his parents if he could keep a Monster he had found, they
gladly agreed, more than happy that their son could be so satisfied with an
imaginary friend. Even to this day, the Dovers have not actually seen the Monster,
and, just like the parents of "Calvin and Hobbes", they believe it
to be a figment of Stanley's imagination. For months, even years, Stanley has
kept the Monster in his bedroom, hiding him under the bed in times of crisis
(and ignoring the fact that this should be topologically impossible). (THE FOX
AND THE CROW #95, January 1966; SECRET ORIGINS #48, April 1990; WHO'S WHO IN
THE DC UNIVERSE #1, August 1990)
As time went by, Stanley and his Monster embarked on many fun adventures together,
developing a deep and sincere friendship. Whatever would happen, they promised
never to leave each other. (THE FOX AND THE CROW #96 - STANLEY AND HIS MONSTER
(vol. 1) #112, February 1966 - November 1968.) However, Hell's rulers would
not agree on that bargain. During this time, a weary Lucifer had abdicated and
abandoned Hell. The infernal realm was now under Heaven's control, and the punishment
of the damned overseen by the angels Remiel and Duma. (THE SANDMAN (vol. 2)
#28, July 1991) The Hell's Angels did not like the thought of having demons
running around on Earth, and decided to send out agents to fetch them all, the
unnamed one included. Some escapees, like Lord Asteroth, were collected by Etrigan,
who had been appointed "Hitman of Hell" at the time. (THE DEMON (vol.
3) #42-45, 1994) Others, like Anton Arcane, were brought back by Agony &
Ecstasty, Hell's inquisitional "police". (SWAMP THING (vol. 2) #125,
November 1992, #136-138, October-December 1993.)
To collect Stanley's Monster, the Angels appointed the female rhyming demon
known as Nyx, who was sent to Earth and invaded the Dover household. With the
help of the Phantom Stranger and the mysterious Ambrose Bierce (a John Constantine-wannabee),
Stanley and his Monster were able to avert the danger, and the Monster was ultimately
allowed to stay on Earth. Stanley's parents were introduced to the Monster and
encountered a lot of weirdness during this time, but their memories of the whole
event were soon erased. Life in the suburbs returned to normal. Such as "normal"
was. (STANLEY AND HIS MONSTER (vol. 2) #1-4, February-May 1993)
Time went by. Stanley grew older and went to school, and his parents got increasingly
worried about him never outgrowing his "imaginary friend". They asked
grampa Stanley if he couldn't talk to the boy. Stanley Sr., still playing the
part of the good grandfather, agreed, just as happily as Stanley Jr. agreed
to introduce his grandfather to his "friend". What Stanley Sr. had
not anticipated, was that his grandson's imaginary friend was real. And that
he suddenly would stand eye to eye with a demon of Hell.
Old Stanley recognized the Monster instantly. This was the one who in his arcane
books was referred to as "the Beast With No Name" - a creature that
would be forced to do the bidding of any human being that gained control over
it. Stanley Sr. had been trying to summon the creature for years, often while
taking care of little Stanley, and now realized that he had succeeded, indirectly
and unknowingly, by transferring the curse to his grandson. Astonished, old
Stanley asked his grandson to go get him a glass of water while he got "acquainted"
with the magenta-colored Monster.
He had only turned away for a couple of seconds, but that was enough for the
repulsed Monster to flee the Dover household. Furious about having been so close
to the goal, and that the creature still would elude his grasp, old Stanley
finally revealed to his grandson what kind of person he really was.
Old Stanley kidnapped young Stanley and imprisoned him in the basement of his
big Star City mansion. Reasoning that hurting the child would be the only sure
way to lure the demon out from hiding, the old mage started a wicked scheme
to get the Monster's attention. He contained his grandson in a glass cage (similar
to the one he had seen in the Burgess Estate), dressed him up as the Monster,
and fed him only the blood of children who had been innocently killed by Stanley
Sr. on the streets of Star City. Infamously known as "the Star City Slayer",
the seemingly mild-mannered old man was never suspected to be guilty of the
murders, or, for that matter, the disappearance of young Stanley. However, his
plan didn't work. The Monster did not appear and Stanley Sr. was becoming increasingly
frustrated.
Ironically, the Star City Slayer almost fell prey to street violence himself
when Stanley Sr. was assaulted by robbers one night. To his surprise, he was
saved by a delirious Green Arrow. The original Green Arrow, Oliver Queen, who
everybody believed to be dead. In fact, the real Oliver Queen was still dead.
Stanley Sr., who had studied occultism for decades, recognized this Green Arrow
as a "hollow" - a creature with the body and mind of a living man,
but no soul. It was later revealed that this "Ollie" was a creation
by Hal Jordan, the Spectre, who believed that his former friend deserved a second
life. Ollie's soul, on the other hand, was still in Heaven, and refused to inhabit
the new body.
However, this was not known to Stanley Dover Sr. at the time. He only realized
that this soulless "Green Arrow" could be a valuable instrument for
him in his evil mission. He befriending the confused, soulless hero (who didn't
realize that he was anything less than the real thing), offering him food, clothes,
a sanctuary, and, above all, friendship. While "Green Arrow" resumed
his hero career, Stanley Sr. played the role of Ollie's old, good-hearted, gay
friend.
While adventuring, the soulless Ollie gradually learned more about what he
really was. Afraid that his plan would fail if the hollow learned too much about
itself, Stanley Sr. put his plan in motion, trapping Ollie and his young friend
Mia in the basement where Stanley Sr. was already held captive. Here, Stanley
Sr. revealed the plan he had had since the day he met Ollie: he was to mystically
transfer his own soul to the soulless body. In the shape of the Green Arrow,
he could infiltrate the JLA HQ, and thus get the means to locate the missing
demon who could provide him with everything...perhaps even life eternal. It
was a convoluted and far-fetched plan, but Stanley Sr., mad and power-hungry,
really believed it would work. (GREEN ARROW (vol. 3) #9, December 2001)
The soulless Ollie was just about to be killed when fate intervened in the
form of Oliver's son, Connor Hawke, the second Green Arrow, who entered the
building in an attempt to free the captives. Of course, Stanley Sr. was not
unprepared, but unleashed a cadre of demons to fight the young archer. Feeling
that Connor had no chance to survive this fight, the soul of Oliver Queen finally
returned to the "hollow" body, making the original Green Arrow "whole"
again. Soon, the first and second Green Arrow stood side by side, battling the
minions of Hell. Finding themselves outnumbered, they were ready to sacrifice
themselves and save the world by letting the JLA destroy the building with them
in it.
At the last second, Stanley's Monster actually turned up and succeeded in sending
the other demons back to Hell. He saved the Green Arrows, freed young Stanley
from captivity, and punished the old Stanley with the words:
"You dreamed of mastering me, didn't you? Of inhabiting meÖas you
intended to inhabit Mister Queen over there. You wanna get inside me? Fine."
A screaming Stanley Dover Sr. was then devoured by the Beast.
Oliver, Connor, Mia, and Stanley Jr. were all freed from their imprisonment
and returned to their respective lives.
The reunion of Stanley and his Monster was a sweet one, with the Monster erasing
the painful memories of abuse from Stanley's mind. They returned to the simple
life of building forts and climbing trees - and their mutual satisfaction of
forever being each others' heroes. (GREEN ARROW (vol. 3) #10, January 2002)
Powers, skills, and weapons:
Stanley Dover Jr. is a typical boy of his age. He has no meta-gene, no extraordinary
abilities, and does not know any martial arts. He is highly intelligent and
rather hyperactive.
Before he was banished to Earth, the Monster had demonic powers of a fairly
high caliber. Most of them were stripped from him as part of his punishment.
He has working knowledge of magic, but is mostly incapable of using it since
his Earthly exile. However, he can recognize other Demons, no matter how well
they are disguised. He has also been able to conduct other mystic feats at occasions,
such as the time when he closed old Stanley's doorway to Hell, and erased Young
Stanley's painful memories. The Monster is vulnerable to magic spells, and certain
mystical objects and substances (such as holy water).
The Monster still has superior strength and an incredibly high threshold of
pain. He is impervious to cold and fire. He has good night vision. His diet
consists mainly of poisons, toxic wastes, garbage, and trash (which makes him
come in handy on cleaning day). He has an adverse effect on normal animals,
who are terrified of him and will run away, no matter how well trained. He can
be hurt by heavy-duty weapons, but will heal completely unless they've been
blessed. He has no extensive knowledge of weaponry, but if called upon, can
wield a mean pitchfork. His claws can rip through concrete and his teeth can
bite through an inch of Steel (though they'll smart a bit afterward). Despite
his appearance, he can move swiftly, and delicately if the need arises. (WHO'S
WHO IN THE DC UNIVERSE #1, August 1990; GREEN ARROW (vol. 3) #10, January 2002)
Appearances in chronological order:
THE FOX AND THE CROW #95, December 1965-January 1966
THE FOX AND THE CROW #96
THE FOX AND THE CROW #97
THE FOX AND THE CROW #98
THE FOX AND THE CROW #99
THE FOX AND THE CROW #100
THE FOX AND THE CROW #101
THE FOX AND THE CROW #102
THE FOX AND THE CROW #103
THE FOX AND THE CROW #104
THE FOX AND THE CROW #105
THE FOX AND THE CROW #106
THE FOX AND THE CROW #107
THE FOX AND THE CROW #108
STANLEY AND HIS MONSTER (vol. 1) #109, April-May 1968
STANLEY AND HIS MONSTER (vol. 1) #110, June-July 1968
STANLEY AND HIS MONSTER (vol. 1) #111, August-September 1968
STANLEY AND HIS MONSTER (vol. 1) #112, October-November 1968
THE BEST OF DC #49, June 1984 (reprint)
SECRET ORIGINS (Vol. 3) #48, April 1990
WHO'S WHO IN THE DC UNIVERSE #1, August 1990 (fact page)
STANLEY AND HIS MONSTER (vol. 2) #1, February 1993 (also a background article)
STANLEY AND HIS MONSTER (vol. 2) #2, March 1993
STANLEY AND HIS MONSTER (vol. 2) #3, April 1993
STANLEY AND HIS MONSTER (vol. 2) #4, May 1993
CONJURORS #1, April 1999 (Elseworlds)
CONJURORS #2, May 1999 (Elseworlds)
CONJURORS #3, June 1999 (Elseworlds)
GREEN ARROW (Vol. 3) #2, May 2001 (Stanley only, dressed up as the Monster)
GREEN ARROW (Vol. 3) #8, November 2001 (Stanley only)
GREEN ARROW (Vol. 3) #9, December 2001
GREEN ARROW (Vol. 3) #10, January 2002
Starman II (pre-Crisis)
Alter Ego: Bruce Wayne, alias Batman
Occupation: Millionaire Socialite
Known Relatives: Thomas Wayne (father, deceased); Martha Wayne (mother, deceased);
Richard "Dick" Grayson (legal ward)
Group Affiliation: None
Base of Operations: Gotham City (Earth-One)
First Appearance: Detective Comics #247 (September 1957)
Height: 6 ft. 2 in.
Weight: 210 lbs.
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Black
History: Renegade scientist, Professor Milo, gathers three members of the underworld
in his secret laboratory to discuss the problem of Batman. He explains that
others have failed at crime because of the caped crusader, but believes he shall
succeed by defeating Batman through a phobia. After many years of research,
he has developed a substance so precious it can only be used once, a substance
that will make Batman helpless against their march of crime.
The next day, at a charity benefit, where Batman is an honored guest, Milo
paints the phobia liquid on a spotlight lens which mimics the bat-signal. When
Batman is introduced, Milo's henchman projects the image of the bat into Batman's
eyes. Batman is stunned by the bright light, begins to feel a little dizzy,
and excuses himself as he is helped off-stage by his partner, Robin. The heroes
return to their home and their civilian identities of Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson.
That night, when Batman and Robin are summoned with the real bat-signal, Bruce
finds he cannot look at his own bat emblem. He rips the emblem off and dons
his costume. When they reach the Batmobile, Batman finds he cannot enter it,
and the duo are forced to tend to the crime on foot. Shortly, at the Gotham
Art Museum, Batman and Robin confront three art thieves. When Batman pulls out
one of his batarangs, he goes into a sudden panic, and the criminals escape
with the stolen artwork. The thieves report back to Professor Milo that the
phobia works.
The following night, Batman and Robin again answer a call from the police.
When Batman corners the criminals on a building rooftop, one of them opens a
small box and lets loose a bat. Batman is so panic-stricken, he falls off the
edge of the building. Robin saves his partner, but the criminals again escape
with their stolen goods.
Later, back at the Batcave, Batman concludes that someone has given him an
artificial phobia against bats. In the days that follow, Batman's phobia gets
so bad that he is forced to retire. Batman brings Robin to Police Commissioner
Gordon's office to inform the police that, from that moment on, Robin will be
working with a new partner, Starman. Within an hour, news of Batman's retirement
spreads around the world.
The next time the police are faced with a crime they cannot handle, they project
a star-signal into the night sky. Starman and Robin arrive at the crime in progress
in a hovering Star-Plane. Using their fists and a handful of star-darts, the
heroes capture the four thugs and bring them into custody.
Back at their new headquarters, the Star-Loft, Bruce confides in Dick that
it won't be long before people guess that Starman is actually Batman, and criminals
will begin to use his bat phobia against him once more. When Dick asks if there
are cures for phobias, Bruce explains that the person can be made to realize
that there's nothing to fear, but it usually takes time. Before he can react,
Dick straps Bruce to a chair and rolls out a news reel projector. Dick begins
showing films of the exploits of Batman, deafening himself to Bruce's pleas
to stop. As scene after scene flashes before him, Bruce begins to relax. Elsewhere,
Professor Milo proclaims to his men that it is obvious that Starman is really
Batman in another costume. Milo states that he has come up with a bat-scare
that will finish Batman for good.
Later that night, as bandits make off with a factory payroll, Starman and Robin
arrive. The criminals are prepared, and unleash a huge bat-shaped balloon. Instead
of being frightened, as expected, Starman and Robin jump aboard the bat-balloon
and ride it towards the thieves. Two are captured immediately. Starman then
captures the remaining two who are fleeing by slashing the floating balloon
with a stararang. Starman quickly learns of Professor Milo's whereabouts from
his prisoners. He soon arrives at the secret lab, confronting Milo. The cunning
scientist quickly holds up a paper cutout of a bat, believing it will stop his
attacker, but Starman merely punches through it and into Milo's jaw. Starman
then reveals his Batman costume underneath, showing that the phobia no longer
has any effect. The world soon learns that Batman is back.
Weapons and Powers: Bruce Wayne has been trained in numerous fighting techniques
and is an expert in hand-to-hand combat. He is a man of great intelligence and
ingenuity and, as Batman, is renowned for his superior detective skills. As
Starman, he flew a robot controlled Star-Plane, which was kept at it's secret
hanger, the Star-Loft. Among other weapons, Starman wielded star-darts and the
stararang.
Comments: This portion of Batman's history was eliminated by the events of
the Crisis on Infinite Earths. In the revised history, a hero resembling the
one described above was active for a year and a day, from January 1951 to January
1952. This hero was, in fact, two separate individuals: Dr. Charles McNider,
a.k.a. Dr. Mid-Nite, and David Knight, the time-traveling son of the original
Starman.
Charles McNider replaced Ted Knight, the original Starman, who had suffered
a mental breakdown, from January 1951 to early December 1951. When David Knight,
the fifth Starman, was snatched from the moment just prior to his death and
transported through time to early December 1951, he was trained by McNider as
his replacement. David was active from December 1951 to January 2nd 1952, and
was believed by the general public to be the same Starman that had been fighting
crime for the last eleven months.
The post-Crisis Starman was first mentioned in Starman [second series] #2 (December
1994), made a cameo appearance in Starman Secret Files #1 (April 1998), and
made his first full appearance in Starman 80-Page Giant #1 (Jan 1999).
Starstriker
The villain known as Starstriker was a mutant who was born at the same time as Captain Comet, but hadn't been exposed to the radiation of the unique comet that passed through the skies that night. Thus, Starstriker's latent mutant powers were never fully stimulated. He planned to expose himself to the comet's rays when it next appeared in the skies to induce the same kind of super-mental powers that Captain Comet was born with.
Meanwhile, Captain Comet was having his own set of problems because of his powers. He seemed to be losing his mental powers and he was starting to have violent and destructive "comet attacks", in which his entire body transformed into a huge flaming comet. Luckily, Superman was around to contain one of his worst attacks, and the Man of Steel offered to help Comet find the comet that he had been exposed to at birth, hoping that a renewal of the radiation would both stop the comet attacks and regenerate his powers. Heading to the Fortress of Solitude, Superman scanned his immense science library and discovered that the comet would be reappearing in the skies over Chicago, Illinois in the early hours of the next morning. The comet was unique in that it warped through space along its journey, which was why Comet hadn't been able to locate it.
Starstriker, however, had been able to discover the same information and awaited the comet's arrival atop a levi-craft. Seeing and over-hearing Superman and Captain Comet discussing the situation, he launched a missile at the two heroes. Superman deflected it, and Starstriker sent the Kryptonian out of the area by firing a series of rockets directly at Chicago. Starstriker then used his powers to trigger another, and possibly fatal, comet attack in the Captain. Superman stopped the rockets and then headed after Captain Comet, while Starstriker basked in the radiation of the real comet.
Superman caught up to Captain Comet's fiery form, and diverted him to impact against the other comet before it disappeared into the space warp. Comet exploded, and the resultant energy soon reformed into Captain Comet, revitalized. The two headed back to Earth to capture Starstriker, but the villain's expanded super-powers allowed him to escape fairly easily. Captain Comet went in search of Starstriker, while Superman went back to take care of business as Clark Kent. The next morning, Comet contacted Clark while he was at his desk at the Daily Planet, and as he changed to Superman in the storeroom, he discovered that he had lost his powers. Superman took the JLA transporter tube to the JLA satellite to search for Captain Comet, who he had suddenly lost mental contact with.
The transporter beamed Superman down to the site where Comet's thought trail ended, at the Barringer Meteor Crater in Arizona. Starstriker noticed him right away and sent a trio of energy duplicates of himself to battle the Man of Steel, not knowing he was powerless until the hero passed out from sheer exhaustion. After capturing Superman and bringing him inside his hideout (where Captain Comet was also being held prisoner), Starstriker said that his lifelong ambition had been to gain enough power to dominate the world. Superman suddenly broke out of his cell, since he wasn't really exhausted (and had merely forgotten that he was indestructible). After freeing Captain Comet and allowing the hero to remove the mental blocks, Superman challenged Starstriker to a rematch. As he and the villain squared off, Comet telepathically told Superman that Starstriker had prepared a menace to force the world to surrender to his control, a series of seven giant comets that were set on an intercept course with Earth. Superman headed to space to deal with the situation, while Captain Comet contended with Starstriker.
Superman used one comet as a type of "cosmic cueball" to ricochet all the others into a course that caused them to destroy each other. Back on Earth, Starstriker was attempting to cause Captain Comet to have his final comet attack, but was forced to hold back until he was certain Superman didn't need him. Once the comets were taken out of play, Captain Comet caused Starstriker to suffer a comet attack of his own, and performed some mental restructuring so that if the villain every used his powers again, they would trigger yet another comet attack, ending his usefulness as a villain or world-conqueror.
Appearances:
DC Comics Presents #22
Steel-Man
The Batman-Superman of Earth-X
Jimmy Olsen visited Professor Potter in his Mount Tipton workshop, to talk
to him about other dimensions. Potter had created a Dimension-Travel Machine
which he was going to demonstrate when he returned from a lecture, but Jimmy
accidentally activated the machine while he was inside. The top of Mount Tipton
blew off in the resultant explosion, and Jimmy pulled himself from the machine's
wreckage to find himself on another Earth. He noticed that the trees grew up
and bowed over the ground there.
Jimmy apparently landed in the middle of a bullfighting arena, because he saw
Perry White dressed as a matador in front of a charging bull. Perry was startled
by Jimmy landing and tripped in front of the charging bull. Jimmy suddenly discovered
that he had super-powers much like Superman, and saved Perry.
Perry convinced Jimmy to use his powers for good (since it looked like he was
stranded on this alternate Earth) and the young man stayed with the retired
matador, honing his abilities. But soon, the elderly White's heart gave out,
but not before he gave Jimmy a letter of introduction to his cousin in Metropolis.
Jimmy went to see Perry's cousin, who was in fact Clark Kent, Tours Custodian
of the Metropolis World's Fair. Jimmy accidentally knocked over a statue of
Benedict Arnold (the second president of the United States), which was seen
by Clark. Clark said that Jimmy was Steel-Man, a character that Clark had created
in his hobby as a science fiction writer (he had also created such characters
as Solarman, Mystic Man, Storm King, and Superman himself). Jimmy decided to
take the name of Clark's fictional hero and, after discovering that his clothing
was now indestructible, reweaved his clothes in to a costume. The costume had
the trunks and books of Superman, with the grey shirt, leggings and cape and
cowl of The Batman (to hide his red hair and freckles). The chest emblem was
an 's" that was very similar to the one that Superman wore in his first
appearances in ACTION COMICS. Jimmy also gave his signal watch to Clark so he
could summon him whenever he needed him.
Jimmy met this world's Potter, who was Clark's tough-as-nails boss, and Lucy
Lane, who monitors the World's Fair computer. While on his tour of the complex,
the Luthar (an acronym for League Using Terror Havoc And Robbery) League attacked,
flying in on anti-gravity discs. Pulling a "Clark," Jimmy tripped
and fell into the garbage chute so he could change into Steel-Man.
Meanwhile, the Luthar League had attacked the Science Hall, firing their Element
Guns at the Radio-Telescope model to transform it into a huge spider-web to
capture the guards. Steel-Man broke their the web as they tried to make off
with a model atom that used priceless gems for electrons. Steel-Man stopped
them easily and later that day, the Mayor of Metropolis declared it to be 'steel-Man
Day" in honor of the new crime-fighter, and held a ticker-tape parade for
him.
Meanwhile, the Luthar League was making more nefarious plans, this time with
it's leader (who looked exactly like Batman's archenemy, the Joker) planning
the demise of Steel-Man. Soon after, Clark summoned Steel-Man with his signal
watch, wanting Jimmy to get him a chunk of lava for inspiration as he wrote
a new science fiction TV play about a hero named Lava-Man.
At the same time, the Luthar League was raiding the World's Fair Art Pavilion
(including taking a genuine Rembrandt portrait of the great actor Mickey Mantle
in the role of Hamlet). This time as the hero approached them, the League diverted
Steel-Man's attention by magnetizing a model of Earth, creating a giant lodestone
that threatened to uproot all metal structures in the area. Steel-Man melted
a giant tire from an exhibit, coating the globe and shielding the magnetic attraction
(yeah, I know...that's just what he did though). The gang also used their element
guns on the space rocket exhibit, launching it toward the crowded fairground.
Steel-Man intercepted it, but was suddenly very weak. The rocket had apparently
been carrying some of the remains of Mount Tipton that had been carried over
into this dimension, and like Superman and his vulnerability to Kryptonite,
Jimmy found he was weakened by Tiptonite. Luckily, Clark came by and was able
to remove all the deadly rocks.
Later, Jimmy is surprised to see his Professor Potter there, having
built a new Diminsion Travel Machine to rescue Jimmy. Unfortunately, Jimmy didn't
want to go, since he was Superman here, and even Lucy Lane was crazy about him.
Potter decided to wait to see if Jimmy would change his mind, as he was called
away on another alarm from Clark.
Steel-Man followed the signal-watch's tone only to find The Joker at the helm
of an odd machine. The Joker took off his mask to reveal...Clark Kent, the true
leader of the Luthar League! He activated his machine, which he gloated contained
an element from the lava Steel-Man had brought him. The device drained Steel-Man's
powers and transferred them to Clark, who was going to make himself King of
the World.
Later, Clark was defiantly facing off an angry crowd when Steel-Man, unmasked
as Jimmy, arrived carrying a huge steel shell. He dared to Clark to prove that
he had super-powers by crushing the shell in his bare hands. Since Clark had
already destroyed every piece of Tiptonite, he called Jimmy's bluff and did
so, releasing a strange gas in the process that Jimmy said would destroy his
super-powers. Clark did not believe him, until Jimmy floored him with a hard
left to the jaw.
Later, as Clark Kent was imprisoned, Jimmy revealed that Lucy had used the
computer to come up with the formula for the gas that defeated him. Jimmy decided
to return to his own world with Professor Potter. Potter asked Jimmy about what
was the gas that defeated Clark. Jimmy said that, ironically, it was a concentrated
dose of Krypton Gas.
Appearances: Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen #93 "The Batman-Superman of Earth-X"
(June 1966)
Sterling Silversmith
Sterling T. Silversmith appeared in the middle chapter of Len Wein's
1975 "Bat-Murderer" five-parter (DETECTIVE #446), with exquisite art
by Jim Aparo. Silversmith had been obsessed with silver since childhood and,
now, as a silver-haired older man, he had amassed a fortune in stolen goods
that he smuggled through his antiques business. Dapper in his white suit, bullets
bounced off Silversmith thanks to a silver alloy woven into the fabric. When
a skeleton belonging to one of the villain's former henchmen was accidentally
discovered within a statue, Batman investigated and stumbled upon Silversmith's
operation. Fleeing from the scene, the rogue was stopped by a bar of silver
thrown into his shoulders by the Dark Knight.
Silversmith returned in 1980 (DETECTIVE #495, by Michael Fleisher and Don Newton).
Having learned that Matthew Thorne, the Crime Doctor, was aware of Batman's
true identity, Silversmith demanded the secret, administering poisonous quicksilver
when the doctor proved reluctant. The Doc agreed to tell all in exchange for
an antodote but Batman's unwitting intervention delayed things too long and
Thorne was left a vegetable. Silversmith's WHO'S WHO entry was in #22 of the
original series.
The Stylist
The Stylist was a paid assassin who attacked the martial artist known as Richard
Dragon, wishing to test his skills against the famed "kung-fu fighter".
the Batman, who thought that Dragon was a mugger, interrupted their battle in
Gotham City. the confusion allowed the Stylist to escape.
A limousine pulled up before Batman and Dragon as they left the park, and Dragon
received a key to a safe deposit box in Las Vegas and a quarter, which Batman
determined to be from eccentric billionaire Calvin Curtis. Dragon had helped
Curtis a year earlier by fixing his bicycle and defending him against some thugs.
The Stylist returned the next day and tricked Batman into beating him up in
front of some TV cameras, in hopes of getting him out of the way to continue
his match with Dragon. Later that night, the Stylist again faced off against
Richard Dragon, but soon sensed something was wrong, as Batman had taken the
martial artist's place. the Stylist escaped, but injured a policeman in the
process.
Through an associate of Dragon's, the two heroes trail the Stylist to Matanzas,
Yucatan, which was a "crime city" in the Central American jungles
run by Carlos Esteban, the crooked former partner of Calvin Curtis. the Stylist
had returned there to return the fee that Esteban had paid to kill Dragon, the
criminal believing that Curtis had left Dragon most of his fortune out of gratitude
for saving his life. Esteban was about to kill the Stylist, when the Batman
and Dragon burst in on them. During the battle, the Stylist prevented an assassin
from killing Dragon from behind and then escaped into the jungle, where he tried
to reclaim his lost honor by walking into quicksand.
A week later, the Batman and Dragon visited the safe deposit box in Las Vegas
to find Curtis's will, which left everything to charity, and Dragon's bicycle
pump.
