DC COMICS BEFORE THE CRISIS: Heroes Of Earth-One AND Earth-Two, Part 3 of 3

 

Concluding our three-part look back at DC Comics before the multiverse-ending Crisis On Infinite Earths, recalling Earth-Two heroes with identical Earth-One counterparts in the Silver and Bronze Ages. You can catch up with Part 1, then Part 2, and follow along now as we continue with some more heroes of two worlds.

THE SPECTRE

The Spectre was created by Superman's co-creator Jerry Siegel, and the Spectre was far, far and away the more physically powerful of the two. Given that the Spectre--the vengeful ghost of murdered police detective Jim Corrigan--has often been portrayed as a near-omnipotent figure, it's possible we should consider him a resident of the entire freakin' multiverse. Especially when the Spectre, like, grows to superplanetary size. Big guy, that Spectre.

But in the '40s, the Spectre was a founding member of the Justice Society of America. His 1960s solo series was presumed to be set on Earth-Two--a mention of the JSA in The Spectre # 3 confirmed that presumption--and even his first Brave And Bold co-starring guest spot commenced with the Earth-One Flash adventurin' on Earth-Two and deciding to pop in and visit his old buddy the Spectre while he was there. That's...an unusual bro combo. But yeah, the Spectre is considered an Earth-Two character.

I say there was also an Earth-One Spectre. I don't have an awful lot of evidence to support that claim. Most of the Spectre's subsequent Brave And Bold appearances with Batman are ruled irrelevant and inadmissible, given B & B writer Bob Haney's willful disregard for comic book continuity. Nor does the Spectre's 1970s series in Adventure Comics pin the Ghostly Guardian to any particular Earth; offhand comments by a couple of characters in one issue of Adventure implied common public knowledge that Clark Kent was Superman, which would rule out events taking place on either Earth-One or Earth-Two.

That said, Batman and the Spectre co-starred one more time, in 1983's The Brave And The Bold # 199, the next-to-last issue of that series. "The Body-Napping Of Jim Corrigan" wasn't Haney's work, but was instead written by Mike W. Barr, and it feels like it's set on Earth-One.

Slightly more conclusive evidence is offered by 1981's DC Comics Presents # 29, as the Spectre wrassles with Superman on the cosmic plane. One could counter that this issue supports the idea of the Spectre being a multiversal character not tied to a single Earth, and one would probably be right, I guess. But I dunno. I think DC Comics Presents # 29 and The Brave And The Bold # 199 show us the Earth-One Spectre. 

Hell, I'm even gonna move those Adventure Comics stories to Earth-One, too. They depict a Spectre more vicious and vengeful than he'd been since his earliest '40s strips; I think the Earth-Two Spectre moved past his original bloodthirstiness, while this Earth-One Spectre was still in his active eye-for-an-eye stage.

And the Clark Kent is Superman thing? Maybe an Earth-One tabloid suggested this preposterous notion that the Man of Steel was secretly a mild-manner reporter for a great metropolitan newspaper. Kinda like tabloid reports that Elvis Presley is alive and pumpin' gas in Tucson, or Debbie Gibson is pregnant with a two-headed love child.

Clark Kent? Superman..?!

Heh. As if!

STEEL THE INDESTRUCTIBLE MAN

Steel the Indestructible Man was a 1940s-set hero introduced in 1978, the star of his own title. The character was created by writer Gerry Conway and underrated artist Don Heck. Steel The Indestructible Man only lasted five issues before its cancellation, and I have no recollection if Steel's adventures were designated as occurring on Earth-One, Earth-Two, or an Earth to be named later. Earth-One appeared to be the default answer when Conway had Steel's grandson (also called Steel) join the Justice League in 1984. Roy Thomas also used Steel in All-Star Squadron, creating TWO default answers.

THE VIGILANTE

Modern-day masked cowboy hero the Vigilante was among DC's more resilient Golden Age back-up characters. Never a lead feature, Vig still had sufficient vigor to survive into the '50s, to star in his own movie serial, and to be a member of DC's second group of costumed crimebusters the Seven Soldiers of Victory.

In 1972, Justice League Of America # 100 established that the Seven Soldiers of Victory operated on Earth-Two. As a solo hero, the Vigilante's relative durability into the '50s meant he was around long enough for writer Steve Englehart to include Vig alongside other '50s heroes (like Blackhawk, Plastic Man, Robotman, Congo Bill, the Challengers of the Unknown, and Rex the Wonder Dog) in a flashback to the untold origin of the Justice League in 1977's JLA # 144.

But the Vigilante's presence on Earth-One was made canon well before that. In 1970, a two-part story in JLA # 78-79 showed the Vigilante fighting alongside the JLA. The Vigilante's latter-day solo stories in '70s issues of Adventure Comics and World's Finest Comics would seem to have occurred on Earth-One. 

The Earth-One Vigilante also had a nephew, Michael Carter, who protected the citizens of  Houston as the masked crimefighter Swashbuckler. Swashbuckler teamed with Batman to take on the Riddler in 1980's Detective Comics # 493.

WILDCAT

Wildcat was a backup to Wonder Woman's lead feature for the first 90 issues of Sensation Comics, 1940 to 1949. Wildcat was considered a member of the Justice Society, based on his two 1940s appearances with the JSA in All Star Comics. When the JSA was revived in the '60s, Wildcat became a frequent fixture in the annual JLA/JSA team-ups.

He also became a recurring team-up partner for Batman in The Brave And The Bold. Again, that wouldn't necessarily prove an Earth-One Wildcat, since we presume most of Bob Haney's B & B and other work for editor Murray Boltinoff took place on the out-of-continuity Earth-B (for Boltinoff.)

BUT...!

Wildcat also appeared with the Creeper (certainly an Earth-One guy) in 1975's Super-Team Family # 2. This story was written by Denny O'Neil, and while there's no reason to swear it's canon, there's also no overriding edict that it ain't. Book it. Earth-One Wildcat.

ZATARA

Wonder of wonder, miracle of miracles? No--TRADITION! The early days of comics built a tradition of crime-fightin' magicians, the vast majority of 'em patterned after/stolen from the successful newspaper comic strip Mandrake The Magician. Though that was the model, my experience with ol' Mandrake is limited, and I don't know if he actually had magic powers or if he was an extra-resourceful stage magician really, really good at gesturing hypnotically. 

Zatara debuted in Action Comics # 1 in 1939, a comic book I'm told has some important historical significance. John Zatara was a direct copy of Mandrake, adding the wrinkle of doin' that voodoo that he do so well via speaking his magical commands backward: YEH! Erongi taht Namrepus yug pu tnorf dna yap noitnetta ot EM, ref 'niyrc tuo duol! 

Zatara was not a star in the Golden Age, and his only specific labeling as an Earth-Two hero is in All-Star Squadron. His highest level of recognition is as the father of Zatanna. Zatanna was introduced in the '60s, as she enlisted members of the Justice League to help her find and rescue her missing papa. Zatanna later joined the JLA, and she and that version of her dad are recognized as Earth-One people.

That's our list of identical heroes who existed on both Earth-One and Earth-Two. As a tangent, here are a couple of Earth-Two characters who relocated to Earth-One:

THE BLACK CANARY

A clunky retcon in the '80s changed this one, but we should still mention Black Canary in the context of what had been canon until then. Black Canary (alias Dinah Drake) debuted in Flash Comics # 86 in 1947, introduced as a presumed bad-girl foe for Justice Society member Johnny Thunder and his Thunderbolt. She turned out to be an undercover hero, but she was still just evil enough to eventually take Johnny's place in the JSA.

Black Canary was a frequent participant in JLA/JSA team-ups in the '60s. In between her final Golden Age appearances and her return in the Silver Age, Black Canary married her 1940s love interest, Detective Larry Lance. During the course of the 1969 JLA/JSA crossover, Lance gave his life to save his beloved Dinah. Grief-stricken, Black Canary switched universes and became a member of the Justice League on Earth-One.

The '80s retcon claimed that the original Black Canary didn't make it to Earth-One, succumbing  to mortal injuries inflicted during the battle that killed her husband. Her now-adult daughter emerged from a cosmic coma, became the new Black Canary, and joined the JLA. The new Black Canary had no memory of her own early life, and believed she was, yes, her own mother.

Yechh.

THE RED TORNADO

There were Golden Age and Silver Age characters called the Red Tornado, and they definitely were not identical. The original Red Tornado was a tough, brawny matron named Ma Hunkel, who donned a costume to beat up various gangsters and nogoodniks who tried--and FAILED!--to terrorize Hunkel's poor but honest urban neighborhood. She was a supporting character in Sheldon Mayer's humor strip Scribbly, and she made a one-page appearance in All Star Comics # 3, the Justice Society's 1940 debut. The Scribbly and Red Tornado stories I've read were great comics. In the extremely unlikely event I ever had an opportunity to write the JSA's adventures, you can be damned sure the Golden Age Red Tornado would be included.

The Silver Age Red Tornado was introduced in 1968, a super-powered android originally implanted with false memory that he actually was Ma Hunkel, attempting to rejoin the Justice Society. This new Red Tornado was created by the sinister T.O. Morrow to destroy Earth-Two's JSA as a practice run for destroying Morrow's real enemies, the JLA over on Earth-One. Unfortunately for Morrow, Reddy don't play that, and he wound up joining the Society.

The newer Red Tornado was destroyed in the act of saving the universe in Justice League Of America # 102, the 1971 JLA/JSA event that revived the Seven Soldiers of Victory. His android form was subsequently reconstituted on Earth-One, and he joined the Justice League.

SARGON THE SORCERER

Among the legion of comic-book magicmakers, at least Sargon the Sorcerer--like Fawcett Comics' Ibis the Invincible--didn't copy Mandrake's look. Instead of a tuxedo, moustache, and top hat, Sargon and Ibis complemented their formal attire with turbans and clean-shaven faces. Ibis the Invincible wielded the power of his Ibistick, and Sargon had the magical Ruby of Life affixed to his chapeau. Ibis was (by far) the more successful of the two, supplementing his initial post as back-up to Captain Marvel in Whiz Comics with his own solo series. Sargon was only ever a back-up.

Sargon was revived in the late '60s as an antagonist for the Earth-One Flash, and he later helped the JLA battle Starbreaker in the early '70s.

Other than a 1944 cover appearance on The Big All-American Comic Book alongside JSA members the Atom, the Flash, Green Lantern, Hawkman, Johnny Thunder, Wildcat, and Wonder Woman, nothing originally connected Sargon the Sorcerer to Earth-Two in particular (beyond the presumption that all DC characters of the '40s were probably on Earth-Two). All-Star Squadron made that canon.

And apparently, at some point in some Silver or Bronze Age comic book, Sargon himself said something to the effect that he had moved from Earth-Two to Earth-One. 

Because c'mon: Who needs two Sargons, right?

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