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Earth-1's heroes who were active during the Golden Age

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When the concept of Earth-2 was introduced, it was assumed that most Golden Age heroes were active on Earth-2. This applied to the Jay Garrick Flash, the Alan Scott Green Lantern, the Carter Hall Hawkman, the Al Pratt Atom, etc. Even heroes who had been in continuous publication such as Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Arrow, and Aquaman were declared not to have begun their careers on Earth-1 until a later time than the Golden Age. (Superman and Aquaman, however, were shown as beginning their careers as Superboy and Aquaboy, respectively, and Green Arrow and Batman also had adventures as youths.) All Golden Age adventures of these characters were attributed to their near-identical Earth-2 counterparts.

Yet, strangely, some stories indicated that a few Golden Age heroes were in fact native to Earth-1. Although DC may have intended that no costumed or masked heroes were active during the 1930's and 1940's, a few have slipped in. This list details these cases.

I am up front excluding war comics heroes such as the Unknown Soldier, Sgt. Rock, Earth-1's Blackhawk, etc. However, I do provide some links to these heroes for those of you who may be interested in their Earth-1 careers. As I do not have the discipline to be that comprehensive, I am mostly only covering costumed or masked heroes. I have also excluded adventure characters who operated before the 20th century, but again, have provided links to make up for the deficiency.

Another clarification regards alien heroes, I suppose I should mention that strictly speaking, as the term I used was EARTH-1's Golden Age heroes, that would specifically exclude characters active elsewhere in the universe containing Earth-1. (Admittedly, this is a little bit of semantics often overlooked. How many times have you read about "the Krypton of Earth-1"? Now, saying the Krypton of the Earth-1 universe is much more correct, or Krypton-1.) This would apply to, for example, the Green Lantern Corps, whose history stretches back for eons, and whose members such as Tomar-Re have been shown in stories which predated the 1950's. Abin Sur receives mention, however, as he had one adventure on Earth approximately during the period I have in mind.

Finally, I should note that a few of the characters I have chosen have been occasionally described as having been native to Earth-2, but somehow, under undepicted circumstances, crossed over to Earth-1. I have not given much weight to such claims, as first of all very rarely has an actual story depicted such a migration, and second of all, the logic of this is hard to uphold many times. (For example, Who's Who #1 (first series) stated that the Larry Jordan Air Wave had migrated from Earth-2 to Earth-1. However, Larry Jordan was established as Hal Jordan's [Green Lantern] uncle, and I have a hard time accepting that Hal Jordan's lineage crosses Earths.) [note from Mikel Midnight: I hold to the theory that Larry Jordan brought a sibling along with him when he emigrated. rebuttal from John McDonagh: Larry Jordan had at least four brothers, all of whom he would have had to bring to Earth-1-quite a trip!] However, Commander Steel is discussed in an appendix, as he was one of the few such heroes whose transition to Earth-1 was depicted.

Pre-History: Immortal Man

A bit of confusion exists with the Immortal Man character introduced in Strange Adventures #177 (June 1965). He had been shown to be active since prehistoric times, as he automatically reincarnated upon death while retaining fully his memories from his past life. Hence, it can be reasonably presumed that Immortal Man was active during the 1930's and 1940's.

However, Action Comics #552 (February 1984) amended the origin of Immortal Man to include the idea that he gained his peculiar reincarnation powers at the same time as, and as result of, the same meteor that mutated, caveman Vandar Adg /Vandal Savage. The problem is that Vandal Savage is usually considered an Earth-2 villain, due to his appearances in the original Green Lantern stories and his battles with the Justice Society.

Thus, this casts doubt about which Earth Immortal Man was native to. His original stories in Strange Adventures featured no crossovers with other characters, providing no help, while Immortal Man's appearances with the Forgotten Heroes such as Animal Man, Dolphin, Rip Hunter, etc. definitely took place on Earth-1. It is possible that Immortal Man was native to Earth-2, but immigrated to Earth-1 at some point. However, the possibility that merits Immortal Man for inclusion in this list is that Immortal Man was native to Earth-1, and that the Vandal Savage that he faced was the Earth-1 counterpart of Vandal Savage. [note from Mikel Midnight: the migration theory is the one I subscribe to, as there has been no independent evidence for an Earth-1 Vandal Savage -- although given how many characters have traveled from Earth-2 -> Earth-1, the idea that Vandal Savage may have started on Earth-1 originally and then traveled to Earth-2 has considerable appeal.]

Immortal Man Links

http://omega.animefringe.com/forgottenheroes/wwimmortalman1.html covers Immortal Man

http://darkmark6.tripod.com/shortrun.html covers Immortal Man's original run in Strange Adventures

Unspecified Point in Ancient History: Doctor Mist

The immortal sorcerer Doctor Mist can be presumed to have been active in the 1930's and 1940's. He first appeared in Super Friends #12 (Sep-Oct 1978). The Super Friends comics are usually considered not to have taken place on Earth-1, but Doctor Mist was established as existing on Earth-1 in DC Comics Presents #46 (June 1982). Doctor Mist was established as having been the same person as a character referred to in Chapter XVIII of Wisdom's Daughter by H. Rider Haggard, a book published in 1923.

That Doctor Mist was identical to the character from Wisdom's Daughter was established in Super Friends #45 (June 1981). Varying accounts indicate he was active either 11,000 years ago or no earlier than 5,000 B.C. In any event, his true name was Nommo, and he was a sorcerer from the Empire of Kor in Ancient Africa.

As with Abin Sur, post-Crisis, many stories have filled in Doctor Mist's history during the Golden Age, such as his dealings with the Dome. However, these stories need no mention for this deliberation.

Doctor Mist Links

http://dcworld.itgo.com/GlobalHistory.html

http://dcboards.warnerbros.com/files/Forum94/HTML/011820-5.html

http://darkmark6.tripod.com/superfriends.html

16th Century: Andrew Bennett/I, Vampire

Another entry that is somewhat conjectural, but worthy of at least honorable mention. Andrew Bennett was a vampiric hero introduced in House of Mystery #290 (March 1981). It was established that the became a vampire during the 16th century, and spent much of his time from then fighting other vampires-including his former lover, Mary called the Queen of Blood- again, once can safely conclude that he was active in the 1930's and 1940's.

That the "I...Vampire" series took place on Earth-1 was confirmed by Brave and the Bold #195 (February 1983), in which the Earth-1 Batman, so as to save a mobster's daughter from a fatal bite, allied himself with vampire Andrew Bennett to oppose the Blood Red Moon cult and Mary, Queen of Blood.

Andrew Bennett Links

https://www.angelfire.com/geek/TL2055/Vampch1.html

http://users.raketnet.nl/weirdcomics/DC/houseofmystery.htm

http://users.raketnet.nl/weirdcomics/DC/houseofmystery2.htm

http://dcboards.warnerbros.com/files/Forum94/HTML/011820-4.html (you have to scroll down a bit)

1928: Abin Sur

Abin Sur, the alien Green Lantern of Ungara who passed his ring on to Hal Jordan, of course was mostly active in outer space, but he was shown to have one adventure in the past on Earth-1 close to the 1930's and 1940's, so I suppose an honorable mention is in order. Abin Sur first appeared in Showcase #22 (September-October 1959).

In 1928, the Guardians ordered Abin Sur to capture Earth criminal Al Magone, who they considered a potential threat to the galaxy. Magone was placed on the Guardians' Prison Planet. Years after Sur died, Magone lead a mutiny against the Guardians in Green Lantern #55 (September 1967) and Green Lantern #56 (October 1967).

Abin Sur Links

http://www.glcorps.org/abin_sur.html details Abin Sur. Note that it also describes many Golden Age adventures of Abin Sur which were not established until after the Crisis, and thus need no mention of here.

1931, 1939: The Shadow and the Avenger

The Shadow had an Earth-1 counterpart (seen in Batman #253 [November 1973] and #259 [November-December 1974] who was active during the 1930's. Those issues of Batman detailed a team-up between the Shadow and the Batman in modern day, pitting them against a criminal named Al Gromm, a counterfeiter, in #253, with the Batman admitting that the Shadow had inspired him to become a costumed adventurer. This was elaborated in #259 by revealing that the Shadow had met Bruce Wayne and his parents before Joe Chill killed Thomas and Martha Wayne. Bruce Wayne witnessed the Shadow defeating a criminal named Willy Hank Stamper. Then, years later, the Shadow teams with the Batman to defeat Stamper again.

The other adventures of the Earth-1 Shadow were depicted in the Shadow regular series of the 1970's, which lasted for twelve issues. Although not explicitly stated, it is presumed that the Earth-1 Shadow's true identity, as was the case with his counterpart in the pulp magazines, was aviator Kent Allard, as The Shadow #8 (December 1974/January 1975) depicted a separate Lamont Crantston and showed the Earth-1 Shadow in the identity of Kent Allard. (In the Shadow pulps, it was established that the true identity of the Shadow is Kent Allard, and that Lamont Cranston is a separate person whom Kent Allard impersonates while Crantston is abroad.) The Shadow's enemy Shiwan Khan also has an Earth-1 counterpart, who appeared in The Shadow #11 (June-July 1975).

The Shadow was not the only Street and Smith hero to have an Earth-1 counterpart. In The Shadow #5 (June/July 1974), the Earth-1 Shadow battled General Sodom, the leader of a private army who tried to assassinate a peace envoy. General Sodom, although mistakenly called Colonel Sodom, returned in Justice, Inc. #3 (September/October 1975)-the comic book that featured the Street and Smith hero the Avenger. (The Avenger, whose true name is Richard Benson, leads an organization called Justice, Inc. He has never been featured in a comic book called The Avenger, due to Marvel's comic book The Avengers.) The Earth-1 Avenger, whose origin was largely similar to his pulp counterpart, was seen in four issues of Justice, Inc. He finally met the Earth-1 Shadow in The Shadow #11.

There are at least two comics published after the Crisis on Infinite Earths that merit mention for the discussion of the Earth-1 Shadow. The Earth-1 Shadow was closely identified with the creative team of Denny O'Neil and Mike Kaluta. So much so, that in 1989, all Kaluta and O'Neil Shadow comics were collected, along with an original story created specifically for this compilation, by DC into a collection called The Private Files of the Shadow......with one exception. In 1988, Denny O'Neil and Mike Kaluta had returned to do a well-received graphic novel called The Shadow:1941:Hitler's Astrologer. The reason DC could not reprint this graphic novel had to do with it having been published by Marvel! At the time, the rights to the Shadow were somewhat up for grabs, with Cond* Nast putting out feelers.

Although DC was at this time was publishing a new Shadow comic book series written by Andy Helfer, had published a Howard Chaykin mini-series, and would later published the Gerard Jones written The Shadow Strikes series, apparently the exclusive rights to the Shadow had not been acquired by DC. In any event, while it is certainly debatable whether The Shadow:Hitler's Astrologer should be considered part of the canon of the Earth-1 Shadow, as even DC's Andy Helfer/Chaykin/Gerard Jones series have a slim chance of being considered part of the history of the Earth-1 Shadow, The Shadow:Hitler's Astrologer still may stand as the only Earth-1 story published by Marvel Comics!

The fate of the Earth-1 Avenger was never revealed, but Batman #336 (June 1981) established that the Earth-1 Shadow had retired.

The Shadow and the Avenger links

http://darkmark6.tripod.com/shadow_index.html Indexes Earth-1 appearances

http://www.pjfarmer.com/woldnewton/Articles2.htm has an article that discusses Hitler's Astrologer.

1938: Zatara

Zatara the magician, whose first Golden Age appearance was Action Comics #1 (June 1938), and whose last was World's Finest Comics #51 (April-May 1951), of course, is the father of Zatanna, so he must have existed on Earth-1. Zatanna first appeared in Hawkman Vol. 1 #4 (October-November 1964), the first mention of the Earth-1 Zatara. The Earth-1 Zatara first actually appeared in Justice League of America #51 (January 1967).

It was later established that the Earth-1 Zatara had married a sorceress named Sindella who was part of a group of conjurers called the Hidden Ones/homo magi. Sindella was Zatanna's mother. This was revealed in Justice League of America #163-165 (Feb - Apr 1979). It was also revealed that Zatara had been forced to flee from Zatanna as an enemy had placed a clever spell on him that would have caused both and Zatanna to die if he ever saw her again. Justice League #51 showed how Zatara had finally managed to undo the spell. [note from Mikel Midnight: there plainly isn't time for the Earth-1 Zatara to have courted Sindella and sired an adult daughter between 1951 and 1964; I believe that Earth-1 Zatara's career as a crimefighter was not as long-lasting as his Earth-2 counterpart's.]

New Adventures of Superboy #14 (February 1981) established that Zatara had met Earth-1's Superboy, and New Adventures of Superboy #49 (January 1984) chronicled a further meeting of the two.

Zatara links

http://darkmark6.tripod.com/superboyind3.html Superboy index; details Zatara meetings with Superboy

http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Rampart/6559/zatara.htm

http://members.fortunecity.com/toywonder/SlowJLAShame2.htm covers Zatara and Sindella story

http://www.dcindexes.com/planet/planet33.htm

1941: Captain X of the R.A.F.

Captain X was an aviator hero who first appeared in Star-Spangled Comics #1 (October 1941). He continued to appear until Star-Spangled Comics #7 (April 1942). Working for the Royal Air Force, he was secretly Richard "Buck" Dare, a London journalist who used a high-tech plane made of an unknown transparent plastic alloy powered by atomic energy. He wore a multi-colored flight suit, which was red, green, and yellow.

Captain X was established as existing on Earth-1 due to Fury of Firestorm #50 (August 1986). This story established that he at some point became a member of the OSS (one wonders if he met Kana) and adopted the code name "Aviator".

After World War II, the Aviator continued as a member of the US Intelligence community, but also had a romance with a woman. Unaware that she was pregnant, he left her, and she bore a son, Edward - who in turn had a son named Ron. This Ron was the same Ron Raymond who eventually became part of Firestorm along with Professor Martin Stein. The Aviator kept tabs on his son over the years, and revealed his relationship to Edward in 1986. This story was published a few months before the Crisis ended, and so constitutes an Earth-1 story.

Captain X Links:

http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Labyrinth/7393/wwcaptxraf.html

1941-on: G.I. Robot and Creature Commandos

During World War II, the U.S. government on Earth-1 experimented with metahuman soliders. Among these were various robots called G.I. Robot and the Creature Commandos. Early models of the G.I. Robot were sent to Dinosaur Island, located in the pacific, which contained dinosaurs that managed to survive into modern times (Dinosaur Island first appeared in Star-Spangled War Comics #90 [May 1960].) These prototypes appeared in Star-Spangled War-Stories #101-103 and #125. The next G.I. Robot was Jungle Automatic Killer - Experimental 1 (or JAKE-1). He did not last long before being destroyed. J.A.K.E. 1 appeared in Weird War Tales #101 (July 1981), 108, 111.

The next G.I. Robot was J.A.K.E. 2. He first appeared in Weird War Tales #113, 115-118, 120, 122. His enemies included Krakko, a Japanese samurai robot. The fate of this G.I. Robot became intertwined with the other metahuman agents of World War II, the Creature Commandos, who first appeared in Weird War Tales #93 (November 1980). The government create a squad of soldiers mutated to resemble archetypal horror figures for the purposes of psychological warfare (Weird War Tales #93, 97, 100, 102, 105, 108-112, 114-119, 121, 124). Led by Lt. Matthew Shrieve, who retained his normal human appearance and body, the original roster of the Creature Commandos consisted of Elliot "Lucky" Taylor (a seriously injured soldier who was transformed to resemble the Frankenstein's Monster from the 1931 movie), Vincent Velcro (turned into a pseudo-vampire) and Warren Griffith (turned into a pseudo-werewolf) (WWT # 93). They were later joined by Myrna "Doctor Medusa" Rhodes (WWT #110), a woman whose hair had turned into snakes, resembling the mythical gorgons.

The Creatures Commandos destroyed a castle manufacturing android doubles of Allied officials in #93 (November 1980), crossed over with Dinosaur Island/"The War That Time Forgot" in #100 (June 1981), faced a group of children transformed into brainwashed metahumanly strong slaves in #102 (August 1981), in #105 (November 1981) faced Axis agents in New York, in #111 (May 1982) again faced dinosaurs, but were saved by G.I. Robot after which they faced a race of Atlanteans (revealed in the climax to be robots also), #112 (June 1982) entered an Egyptian pyramid containing a magical wine that could shrink people to miniature size, in #114 (August 1982) saved a French scientist with the secret of the atomic bomb, in #116 (October 1982) faced the fiery immortal goddess Inferna, in #117 (November 1982) visited Lourdes, and in #119 (January 1983) time-travelled to the year 2943 where they met a race of giants (all the males and females genetically engineered to physical perfection).

At a later point in the war, the Creature Commandos were court-martialed for unknown charges and given a death sentence. The sentence was commuted and the Commandos and G.I. Robot were told to test an experimental rocket aimed at the Axis countries. The craft malfunctioned and went into space, where it landed or stopped unknown in WWT #124 (1983).

It should be noted that, as seen in Phantom Stranger #23 (January 1973) and Superman #344 (February 1980), that the Frankenstein's Monster did exist on Earth-1, but that he did not resemble Lucky, the member of the Creature Commandos. As noted, the army probably based their image of Frankenstein's Monster on the 1931 Boris Karloff film. Other appearances of Frankenstein's Monster or the Frankenstein Family that could have taken place on Earth-1; Unexpected #191 (May-Jun 1979; Doctor Henry Frankenstein brings a graverobber back as a monster, but later decides to replace the head), Weird Mystery Tales #8 (Nov 1973; A director displeased with a phony monster gets led to a house where the real Frankenstein Monster kills him), House Of Mystery #255 (Nov-Dec 1977 - #256 Jan-Feb 1978; Forces Cain to relate stories), House Of Mystery #220 (Dec 1973; Hunter has actual Frankenstein Monster), Secrets Of Haunted House #34 (Mar 1981)- #35 (Apr 1981; Lady Frankenstein appears), House Of Secrets #124 (Oct 1974; Edmund Frankenstein, who was actually a robot; his "father" got burned by villagers), House Of Mystery #270 (July 1979; Sculptor who makes monster models gets killed by the real and offended Frankenstein Monster and becames a model himself), House of Secrets #63 (Nov-Dec 1963; Mention of Baron von Frankenstein), Ghosts #40 (July 1975; Mary Shelley story), Ghosts #106 (Nov 1981; Appears with Dracula), House Of Mystery #36 (Mar 1955; Joe Frankenstein), Action Comics #531 (May 1982; Duplicate?), Superman #202 (Dec 1967-Jan 1968; Alleges that Bizarro inspired Mary Shelley), Tomahawk #103 (Mar-Apr 1966; Possible inspiration for Frankenstein).

As for vampires on Earth-1, Dracula was shown as existing on Earth-1 in Superman#344, with other possible Earth-1 appearances being Beowulf #4 (Oct-Nov 1975), Ghosts#106, The Unexpected #199 (1980), Weird Mystery Tales #14 (Oct-Nov 1974), and Witching Hour #34 (? 1973). In The Night Force series, Vanessa Van Helsing, the descendant of Abraham Van Helsing (Dracula's foe) appeared, and in Secrets of Haunted House#32, a vampire serving Dracula appeared (he vampirized a crew of pirates, who in turn who became vampires who preyed on ships, until they were destroyed by a group of missionary nuns).

G.I. Robot and Creature Commandos Links

http://users.aol.com/outpost2ezine5/WarHeroes.htm

http://www.thirtiethcentury.free-online.co.uk/articles/weirdwartales.htm

http://users.raketnet.nl/weirdcomics/DC/weirdwartales.htm

http://www.fanzing.com/mag/fanzing36/feature2.shtml

http://www2.bitstream.net/~myke4/cosmic/teams2.html

1941-on: Kana, the Shadow Warrior

The Office of Strategic Services was the precursor to the CIA. One of their agents was the masked ninja warrior Kana, who first appeared in G.I. Combat #232 (August 1981). Kana can place himself into a trance that resembles closely suspended animation, allowing him to go without food, drink or water. While in such a trance, he apparently can astral project into the past or future, where he acquires a physical form. It remains unclear whether Kana's body travels through time as well, or whether his spirit incarnates a new body in the alien time-period. Kana went against Japan because a Japanese official, Major Saburu, had ordered the death of his parents due to their being too pro-Western. Kana left the House of Bamboo ninja to fight for the Allies. Kana appeared additionally in G.I. Combat #239, 246-247, 252, 255, 264-266, 272, 279. In one of his adventures ("Blood of an Emperor), Kana was sent to murder Hirohito, but chose not to. The fate of Kana on Earth-1 is unknown.

1941-on: The Viking Prince and the Viking Commando

In a two-part Sgt. Rock episode (Our Army at War #162 and 163), it was explained that Jon, who'd been ambushed and left for dead, had been taken to Valhalla by a lovestruck Valkyrior maiden. (Interestingly, Odin mentioned that he collected warriors in anticipation of a future struggle with Ymir, the King of the Ice Giants.) Upon learning that the warrior had not been meant to perish, an angry Odin returned the Viking Prince to Earth, insisting that he must die in battle for real. Complicating matters was Odin's stipulation that Jon could not be harmed by metal, wood, fire or water. After being thawed out of a Norwegian icebank, the Viking Prince joined Sgt. Rock and Easy Company in battle, suicidally seeking a glorious death in battle. He finally seemed to meet his goal when he was killed by plastique explosives tossed at a Nazi rocket launching pad.

Never one to waste a good idea, Kanigher revived the concept with artist George Evans for an ongoing series in 1979-1980's short-lived All-Out War. The blonde, bearded Valoric had, like Jon, been taken before his time and, at Odin's command, returned to Earth in post-D-Day World War Two. Fey, the Valkyrie who loved him, was sentenced to shadow Valoric until he truly perished. Recruited to fight the modern equivalent of the Huns, the Viking Commando became a force to be reckoned with over the course of seven episodes, the last of which was serialized in 1982's Unknown Soldier #266 and 267.

(excerpted from a post by Mikishawm from http://users.aol.com/outpost2ezine5/WarHeroes.htm)

1942: Air Wave

Detective Comics #60 (February 1942) marked the first appearance of this Golden Age hero, while Detective Comics #137 (July 1948) marked his last Golden Age appearance.

Air Wave (Larry Jordan) was revealed to be Hal Jordan's uncle in Green Lantern #100 (January 1978). DC Comics Presents #55 (December 1981) established that Earth-1's Superboy had met the Larry Jordan Air Wave.

It turns out that a letters page after GL #100 featured this exchange (cf. Commander Benson's post at http://www.captaincomics.us/forums/index.php?showtopic=21644&hl="Air+Wave"):

DC Comics Presents #40 (December 1981) told Air Wave's fate: murdered by a criminal, but avenged by his wife Helen, who briefly assumed the Air Wave identity to do so. Years later, Larry's son Hal became the new Air Wave. Presumably, therefore, Larry Jordan's wife Helen also had the surname Jordan, and must be the elder Green Lantern's mother's sister.

Air Wave Links:

http://darkmark6.tripod.com/shortrun.html

http://www.dcindexes.com/planet/planet32.htm

1942: The Guardian & the Newsboy Legion

The Guardian (Jim Harper) first appeared in Star-Spangled Comics #7 (April 1942). His last Golden Age appearance was Star-Spangled Comics #64 (January 1947).

Jim Harper had an Earth-1 counterpart active during the 1930's and 1940's, as the Earth-1 counterparts of the Newsboy Legion were shown as having known him in their youths. Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen #135 (January 1971) revealed that Project Cadmus included workers who had been in the Newsboy Legion when they were children, and, in homage to their fallen friend, created a clone of him. The death of the Earth-1 Jim Harper was shown in Superman Family #192 (November-December 1978). It was also established that Jim Harper was the Earth-1 Speedy (Roy Harper's) uncle in Superman Family #192-194 (December 1978 to March/April 1979).

The Guardian & the Newboy Legion Links:

http://www.dcindexes.com/planet/planet37.htm

1942: Robotman

Robotman's (Robert Crane's) first Golden Age appearence was in Star-Spangled Comics #7. He was shown in Justice League of America #144 (July 1977) to have an Earth-1 counterpart. Robotman assisted the Justice League against White Martians led by Commander Blanx in a story set in the late 1950's.

DC Comics Presents #31 (March 1981) gave further details about the Earth-1 Robert Crane Robotman, recapping his origin, as well as showing how he finally regained a human body. It should be noted that the Earth-1 Robert Crane Robotman had no connection to the Cliff Steele Robotman of the Doom Patrol, who also lived on Earth-1. [note from Mikel Midnight: John McDonagh also informs me that Robotman was declared as an Earth-2 native in the Doom Patrol Index (which also alluded to other Earth-2 characters having made the trip). However, there are slight differences between the court trial which established Robotman's legal humanity as depicted in Star-Spangled #15 and in All-Star Squadron #17, among them the name of the prosecuting attorney and the presence (or absence) of other All-Stars; these events plainly distinguish the Earth-1 and Earth-2 Robotman's otherwise indistinguishable careers, and I choose not to take the Index as authoritative]

Robotman Links:

http://www.dcindexes.com/planet/planet33.htm

1942: TNT and Dyna-Mite:

TNT and Dan-the Dynamite were two minor Golden Age heroes who possesed explosion powers. They appeared in the Golden Age in Star-Spangled Comics #7 (April 1942) to Star-Spangled Comics #23 (August 1943). The two found that, by coming into contact with each other, an explosion would result that would give them metahuman speed, strength, and durability. TNT and Dyna-Mite made their first post-Golden Age appearance in Super Friends #12 (June-July 1978). What presents an irregularity here is that the Super Friends comic books are generally considered not to have taken place on Earth-1; however, Superman Family #190 (July-August 1978) featured an appearance by TNT that indicated that the story from Super Friends #12 was roughly paralleled on Earth-1.

In any event, it was established that on Earth-1, TNT and Dyna-Mite's powers had gone out of control, and they had been placed in suspended animation. Upon being revived, Dyna-Mite was sent to live in Atlantis, and TNT went to live in Kandor, the Kryptonian city that Brainiac had shrunken and stolen. TNT presumably spent the rest of his life in Atlantis, while Dyna-Mite presumably joined the Kandorians when they were finally restored to normal size in Superman #338 (August 1979). The city of Kandor was moved to the planet Rokyn ( named revealed in Krypton Chronicles #1 [September 1981]), a phase world that moved with the shifting of the Cosmic Axis-the Cosmic Axis being an homage to Marvel's Man-Thing comic books.

Cosmic Axis Links:

http://darkmark6.tripod.com/man-thing_index.html info on the Cosmic Axis

http://www.marvunapp.com/Appendix/congreal.htm

http://www.dcindexes.com/planet/planet36.htm

1942: The Albert Hollerer Heap

Saga of the Swamp Thing #33 (February 1985) established that there had been previous Swamp Things throughout history, incarnations of an elemental champion. Swamp Thing (2nd series) #47 (April 1986) further implied that the Hillman character the Heap had an Earth-1 counterpart who was one of these elemental champions.

Unlike the Heap of the Hillman universe, who appeared in the Skywolf series and later in the Eclipse Airboy stories, the Earth-1 Heap was not Baron von Emmelmann but was named Albert Hollerer, and he did not begin his career during World War I, but during World II. Oddly, this twenty year delay between the Earth-Hillman Heap and the Earth-1 Heap mirrors the delay between the Earth-2 and Earth-1 characters, and the delay between the Earth-One and Earth-Five characters.

The Albert Hollerer Heap eventually retired and joined the Parliament of Trees in 1954, growing peacefully as a tree. (Alex Olsen, the man whose memories were absorbed by the original Swamp Thing from House of Secrets #92 [June-July 1971] was also established as existing in the Earth-One universe, but he started his career in 1905 and retired probably before the 1930's.)

Heap Links

http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~Sdarrens/mtheap.html

http://www.geocities.com/BourbonStreet/3395/media-wanna.html

http://www.geocities.com/BourbonStreet/3395/char-parliament.html covers Parliament of Trees

http://pc59te.dte.uma.es/cdb/series/dc/parliament.htm

http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~Sdarrens/mtothermm.html

1942, 1947: The Earth-1 Paul Kirk Manhunter and the unnamed Manhunter

In Detective Comics #437 (October-November 1973) a back-up feature called Manhunter debuted. Within a few issues, it was revealed that this Manhunter was named Paul Kirk, and in Detective Comics #439 (February-March 1974), it was revealed that this Manhunter was the same person as the Paul Kirk who had appeared as the blue and red costumed Manhunter in Adventure Comics #73 (April 1942) to Adventure Comics #92 (June-July 1944). (Note: although called Rick Nelson in Adventure Comics #73, the majority of the adventures of the blue-and-red costumed Manhunter stated that his true identity was Paul Kirk.)

In Detective Comics #439 and Detective Comics #440 (April-May 1974), Paul Kirk recounted how he had fought crime as a masked hero in the 1940's before becoming a government secret agent against the Axis. He was then seriously injured by an elephant, only to be placed in suspended animation by a group of covert scientists called the Council who had intended to recruit him as an agent. Awakening in the modern day, Paul Kirk turned against the Council, who employed dubious means to solve the world's problems. Kirk fought various clones of himself that the Council had created.

The Paul Kirk Manhunter met the Batman in Detective Comics #443 (October-November 1974)-the Earth-1 Batman, as he wore the yellow oval on his chest. Further cementing the fact that this series was set on Earth-1 was the fact that a surviving clone of the Paul Kirk Manhunter appeared in Secret Society of Super-Villains #1 (June 1976), a series also set on Earth-1. This Manhunter clone died in Secret Society of Super-Villains #5 (February 1977).

One should also note that First Issue Special #5 (August 1975) introduced the Mark Shaw Manhunter. In his first appearance, it was noted that an ancient society of Manhunters-with costumes similar to the Paul Kirk Manhunter-existed. Mark Shaw was shown as being the successor to an aged Manhunter. Who this previous Manhunter was is unclear-he may have been intended by the writer to have been Paul Kirk, but this is not possible, for the Earth-1 Paul Kirk was placed in suspended animation and never grew old, as seen in Detective Comics.

Justice League of America #140 (March 1977) and Justice League of America #141 (April 1977) established that the Manhunter organization that Mark Shaw belonged to was started by robots created by the Guardians of the Universe-who only existed in the Earth-1 universe, cementing that Mark Shaw and his unnamed predecessor existed on Earth-1.

Although pre-Crisis the exact relationship of the Manhunter organization of Mark Shaw with the Earth-1 Paul Kirk was never explicitly stated, one can extrapolate reasonably that the unnamed Manhunter Shaw replaced may have been the replacement for the Earth-1 Paul Kirk when he was trampled by an elephant and snatched by the Council. If so, his career may have begun in the middle 1940's-thus making the unnamed Manhunter who preceded Mark Shaw yet another costumed hero active on Earth-1 during the 1940's.

Manhunter (Paul Kirk) Links

http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Dimension/1587/manh-ph.html

http://darkmark6.tripod.com/manhunter_index.html details Earth-1 Paul Kirk Manhunter

http://www.dcindexes.com/planet/planet38.htm

1945: Major Terrence Brooke

In Weird War Tales#65, Major Terrence Brooke, a British soldier in 1945 transformed into a centaur by Circe, appeared. Fighting in Greece against Abrahamic Germany (so this story had to take place roughly before May and the surrender of the Third Reich), Major Brooke was an older, wounded British soldier who stumbled upon one of Circe's temples. She appeared to him and transformed him into a centaur. He fought Germany's soldiers until he was killed by a grenade, but was apparently reincarnated as a horse, to live the rest of his life wild and free. (Circe made another appearance in House of Secrets#7.)

Late 40's-early 50's: The Masked Hero

Due to the sliding scale of the Superboy stories, I am not sure where this fits in, but it is an odd curiosity I thought I should mention: Adventure Comics #181 (October 1952) featured the story of the The Masked Hero (Henry Darwin), who was active in Smallville during Superboy's youth. He saved many people's lives in a fire, but was suspected of being a criminal. Superboy, however, worked to preserve the anonymity of the Masked Hero.

http://darkmark6.tripod.com/superboyind1.htm Superboy index; details the character's meetings with Superboy

Late 40's-early 50's: Plastic Man, the Vigilante, and Wildcat

The cases of the Earth-1 versions of Plastic Man, the Vigilante (Greg Sanders), and Wildcat present a lack of clarity. Certain clues indicate that these heroes may have been active possibly during the late Golden Age on Earth-1, but one can not say with any great degree of certainty how early in the 1950's their careers began. Most pertinent of this evidence of these heroes having been active for a substantial period of time before the 1960's is that all of these heroes were shown to have some point retired before their 1960's/1970's appearances.

Plastic Man

The first indication that Plastic Man existed on Earth-One was House of Mystery #160 (July 1966). In that story, Robby Reed, of Dial H for Hero fame, transformed into a duplicate of Plastic Man. That Plastic Man had pre-existed on Earth-One was evidenced by Reed's remark that Plastic Man was "that famous crime-fighting hero of years ago". Not only that, but many criminals also recognized Plastic Man.

The first published actual appearance of the Earth-1 Plastic Man seems debatable. Some would consider Brave and the Bold #76 (February-March 1968), but as the Plastic Man of that issue is depicted wearing the costume that Plastic Man wore in the first run of his first DC solo series, one finds a problem. The Plastic Man of the first ten DC issues was shown as being the son of an earlier Plastic Man, but most Earth-1 appearances of Plastic Man affirm him as being the original Eel O'Brien. This version of Plastic Man can be relegated to Earth-B or Earth-12.

Having discounted Brave and the Bold #76, one can turn to Brave and the Bold #95. Although Brave and the Bold #95 did use the costume from Plastic Man #1-10, but as it introduced Ruby Ryder, who appeared in later stories, it merits inclusion on Earth-One. Plastic Man was shown in this issue as having retired, using his powers to adopt the new identity of the dashing Kyle Morgan. He married Ruby Ryder, but left her upon discovering her venial and shallow ways. In this story, Plastic Man says "In this wide, wild world of today, is there room for me, or am I really what I feared -- an out-of-date freak?" -another clue as to his having been active for some time.

Other stories further fleshed out the backstory of the Earth-1 Plastic Man. JLA #144 showed Plastic Man teaming up with Jimmy Olsen and the Blackhawks against a Martian invasion. This story took place squarely in the 1950's, in fact before the formation of the Justice League. Further elaborations on the Earth-1 history of Plastic Man took place with Plastic Man #17 (April-May 1977) which told of his origin. It also featured an appearance of the mobster who unintentionally brought about Eel O'Brien's transformation into Plastic Man. This gangster was given the name of Skizzle Shanks in his next appearance, DC Comics Presents #93 (May 1986), which revealed that he duplicated the accident to become Malleable Man. This story presents another clue as to the longevity of the career of the Earth-1 Plastic Man, as he comments that he considers himself a forefather to Elongated Man and Elastic Lad. This indicates that the Earth-1 Plas' career predated Elongated Man's first appearance in The Flash #112 (April-May 1960).

http://members.tripod.com/originalvigilante/braveandboldplasticman.htm

http://members.tripod.com/braveandboldreview/plasticman.htm

http://darkmark6.tripod.com/plastic_man_index.html

Vigilante

The Earth-1 Greg Sanders Vigilante first appeared in JLA #78-79 (Feb-March 1970). As with Plastic Man, he participated in the routing of the Martian invasion in JLA #144 (July 1977). JLA #78 showed that Sanders had retired at some point afterward.

World's Finest Comics #246 (Aug-Sept 1977), #247 (Oct-Nov 1977), and #248 (Dec 1977-Jan 1978) further fleshed out the backstory of the Earth-1 Greg Sanders. #246 retold his origin, as well as featuring the first appearances of the Earth-1 Stuff (Vig's former sidekick) and the Dummy (Vig's archenemy). The Earth-1 Dummy killed the Earth-1 Stuff in this story, with Vig continuing a quest for vengeance against the Dummy in the next issue. #248 showed the Vig teaming up with Stuff's teenaged son to defeat the Dummy-providing an important tidbit. One can reasonably speculate that the Earth-1 Stuff would not have started a family until after parting ways with Vig. That would mean that his adventures with the Vigilante took place before his son, a teenager in this story, was born.

The Earth-1 Greg Sanders Vigilante made no further appearances, but was mentioned at least one more time. It was revealed that he had a nephew named Michael Carter in Houston, Texas, whom he had trained to become the adventurer the Swashbuckler. The Swashbuckler's only appearance in Detective Comics #493 (August 1980) implied that Michael Carter had had several cases before that issue, since he mentioned to The Batman that the Houston newspapers had dubbed him the "Swashbuckler".

http://members.tripod.com/originalvigilante/vigilante.htm

http://darkmark6.tripod.com/shortrun.html

http://members.tripod.com/originalvigilante/swashbuckler.htm

http://www.dcindexes.com/planet/planet36.htm

Wildcat

The Earth-One Wildcat first appeared in Brave and the Bold #88 (February-March 1970). That this was not another of Brave and the Bold's detours into Earth-B (as happened with the appearances of Sgt. Rock in The Brave and the Bold) was verified later in Super-Team Family #2 (Dec 1975-Jan 1976) which depicted the Earth-1 Wildcat teaming up with the Creeper.

In any event, Brave and the Bold #88 showed the Earth-1 Wildcat having been active but retired at some point before the story began, as he was shown living in a Gotham flophouse. The Earth-1 Batman shown to know Grant, as he sought him out to coach a U.S. boxing team in an international competition. The Brave and the Bold #97 (Aug-Sept 1971) featured a flashback to the Earth-1 Wildcat's history that took place before the story in Brave and the Bold #88, showing a match with the Mexican fighter Al Sordo.

Incidentally, a curious sidebar about the origin of Wildcat comes up when one considers him having an Earth-One counterpart. The origin of Wildcat from Sensation Comics #1 (January 1942) showed him being inspired by a Green Lantern (Alan Scott) comic book.

This works smoothly with Earth-1, as Showcase #4 (September-October 1956) established that the Jay Garrick Flash of Earth-1 existed only as a comic book charachter on Earth-1, with The Flash #123 (September 1961) explaining that the Earth-1 Gardner Fox's mind "tuned into" Earth-2 in his dreams. The Flash #137 (June 1963) showed that this applied to the other Earth-2 heroes, so the Earth-1 Wildcat undoubtedly was inspired to become an adventurer by a comic book produced by the Bill Finger/Martin Nodell (creators of the Alan Scott Green Lantern) of Earth-1's minds "tuning in" to Earth-2.

http://members.tripod.com/originalvigilante/braveandboldwildcat.htm

http://members.tripod.com/braveandboldreview/wildcat.htm

http://www.dcindexes.com/planet/planet35.htm

1951: Captain Comet

Although not active during the 1930's and 1940's, Captain Comet did debut a few months before the end of the Golden Age in 1951, and so technically counts as a Golden Age hero. First appearing in Strange Adventures #9 (June 1951), Adam Blake was a mutant who represented a specimen of man that would evolve in the far future. His regular job was as a reference librarian in Midwest City. Captain Comet appeared regularly until Strange Adventures #49 (October 1954), his last appearance until the 1970's.

In New Adventures of Superboy #24/2, the young Kal-El had a copy of Strange Adventures #13 with Captain Comet on the cover.

An eerie sidenote about Captain Comet is the appearance of the Guardians of the Universe in Strange Adventures #22 (July 1952) and Strange Adventures #35 (August 1953). These were not the Oans who are the masters of the Green Lantern Corps, however, as they rely on champions from various planets such as Captain Comet to acts as agents for them as they preserve the balance of planetary forces.

The missions that Captain Comet performed for these Guardians of the Universe, whose leader was Nestro, included assisting a fellow mutant, Radea, in stopping another band of aliens from moving their world closer to the sun and thus imbalancing cosmic forces. The next mission involved a chess tournament on Pluto. Captain Comet looked ahead 279 moves to win a chess game.

Little other information is available about the Guardians of the Universe. It is remotely possible that they are the same beings as the "Timeless Ones" who defeated the demons Abnegazar, Ghast & Rath in prehistoric times according to Justice League of America #10 (Mar 1962). This is largely conjecture, however.

Captain Comet eventually left Earth to explore outer space and alient planets. Eventually, he decided to return to Earth. He returned to Earth in Secret Society of Super-Villains #2 (August 1976).

Captain Comet Links

http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Dimension/1587/ccom-ph.html

http://members.aol.com/MG4273/strngadv.htm#CaptainComet

http://darkmark6.tripod.com/captain_comet_index.html

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Appendix: Commander Steel

A special case exists with Commander Steel (originally just called Steel), Hank Heywood, who was introduced in Steel #1, (March, 1978). Commander Steel appeared as an older man in several issues of Justice League of America, as his grandson, Hank Heywood III, first appeared as the new Steel in Justice League of America Annual #2 (November 1984). Justice League of America #235 (February 1985) detailed how Hank Heywood III became the new Steel.

From that, once could assume he was native to Earth-1, but it was later established that he was native to Earth-2, and had immigrated to Earth-1 decades in the past. There he started a family and became a rich industrialist. The writers actually showed him crossing over from Earth-2 to Earth-1 in All-Star Squadron #50 (October 1985) and had him admit that he was from Earth-2 in Infinity Inc. #19 (October 1985). Steel made the transition from Earth-2 to Earth-1 on April 1, 1942, and so may have had some adventures on Earth-1 until at least the end of World War II.

Commander Steel Links

http://www2.bitstream.net/~myke4/jla/jlachron3.html covers Commander Steel's appearances in the Justice League of America.

http://www2.bitstream.net/~myke4/jsa/jsachron3.html covers Commander Steel's move to Earth-1, complete with date

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Appendix: Sargon the Sorceror

Sargon's (John Sargent's) first Golden Age appearence was in All-American Comics #26. Sargon's first Silver Age appearance was The Flash #186 (March 1969), his first appearance since Green Lantern #37 (March-April 1949). In that story, Sargon was presented as having turned evil, and sought the knowledge of time travel into the future. He allied himself with Professor Zoom, the Reverse Flash. Sargon next appeared in The Flash #207 (June 1971), which featured an appearance by Gracie, Sargon's niece, as well as other members of the band Washington Starship (an analog of Jefferson Airplane).

Sargon next appeared in Justice League of America #97-98 (March to May 1972) against the cosmic vampire Starbreaker. Finally, Adventure Comics #462 (March-April 1979) explained why Sargon had turned malevolent. In the story, the ghosts of Merlin (yes, this probably conflicts with Merlin's appearances with Etrigan), Cagliostro, and Harry Houdini conferred with Aphrodite and Athena and persuaded them to keep a magic ruby in the safe-keeping of the Amazons. Eventually, the malevolent Sargon acquires the ruby, but Wonder Woman uses her magic lasso to free Sargon from the gem, which explodes. Wonder Woman revealed that the jewel, a twin of Sargon's Ruby of Life (which gave Sargon power over inanimate matter), was causing his evil impulses, and its destruction freed him from his evil streak.

After this story, Sargon appeared in DC Comics Presents #26 (October 1980) and Justice League of America #220 (November 1983)-and in the latter story, Sargon revealed that, in 1950, he moved from Earth-2 to Earth-1.

Sargon Links:

http://www.dcindexes.com/planet/planet39.htm

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Appendix: Crimson Avenger on Earth-1?

World's Finest Comics #131 (February 1963) presents a possible indication that Earth-1 had a counterpart to the Crimson Avenger active during the 1940's. In this story, bumbling inventor Albert Elmwood takes the identity of the Crimson Avenger. He mentions that he took the name in homage to a "former lawman". Although this could mean the publishers of Detective Comics on Earth-1's minds "tuned in" to Earth-2, it could also mean that a counterpart of the Lee Travis Crimson Avenger had adventures on Earth-1. [note from Mikel Midnight: given the publication date and lack of other evidence for a Crimson Avenger, I hold to a third alternative, that this story took place on Earth-E where Superman and Batman had their careers mainly in the 50's and later sired the Super-Sons. Earth-E seems relatively short of superhumans and I think it has room for a 1940's Crimson Avenger.]

http://members.tripod.com/originalvigilante/crimson2.htm

http://users.aol.com/outpost2ezine5/ObscureChars2.htm you have do a find, but it is there.

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Appendix: Earth-1's vampires and villains who were active during the Golden Age

Action Comics #487-488 (September to October 1978) introduced a character called Microwave Man who was supposed to be Earth-1's first super-villain. His true name was Lewis Padgett (the name is an homage to a pseudonym for C.L. Moore and Henry Kuttner, two science fiction writers). Padgett was obsessed with microwaves since he was a young child and managed to convert his body into a microwave receiver. He was able to absorb microwave energy created by radio antennas and convert it to his own use. He was depicted flying and melting bullets fired by the police. The Microwave Man's criminal career took place in the early 1930's. He left Earth with an alien race who were intrigued by his experiments with microwaves in 1934. He did not return to Earth until 1978.

The Microwave Man faced no costumed heroes or metahuman adventurers during his brief criminal career in the early 1930's, although the Shadow and Andrew Bennett were active on Earth-1 during this time. The Microwave Man's claim to being Earth-1's first super-villain, it should be noted, is a bit tenous, since Morgan Le Fay; the vampire Dracula; the Frankenstein's Monster; Garn Daanuth (foe of Arion); and Mary, Queen of Blood would have predated him. [note from Mikel Midnight: Microwave Man does make an interesting part of the history of Earth-1, as he was nevertheless the first modern supervillain in the contemporary sense of the term.]

Ra's Al Ghul existed on Earth-1, active for centuries before he first became known to the Batman characters, so he might merit discussion.

Action Comics #577 (March 1986) featured Caitiff, allegedly the first vampire on Earth-1. The Earth-2 Batman foes the Monk and Dala were shown to have counterparts on Earth-1 whose history went back to the U.S. Civil War. Detective Comics #511 (February 1982) was the first appearnce of the Earth-1 Dala. She next appeared Batman #343 (March 1982), while Batman #346 (April 1982) was the first appearance of the Earth-1 Monk.

The Earth-1 Monk and Dala also appeared in Detective Comics #515 (June 1982) Batman #349 (July 1982), Batman #350 (August 1982), Detective Comics #517 (August 1982), Batman #351 (September 1982), and Detective Comics #518 (September 1982).

The Monk was revealed to have been a New Orleans plantation owner named Louis DuBois circa the U.S. Civil War whose vengeful ex-slaves resolved to have revenge. A hypnotized DuBois was commanded to go to a voodoo ceremony even as his sister, Dala, surreptiously trailed him. DuBois, mesmerized, was commanded to thrust his hand into a basket -- where a snake bit him. Dala raced after her yelling brother, imagining that the snake had been poisonous. In fact, the bite had been the last part of a ceremony designed to make Louis into a vampire -- and Dala DuBois became the first he infected to join him among the undead. This was revealed in Detective #517.

http://www.vampyres.com/content/fd/vcomics.html has extensive citations for vampires in comics.

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Appendix: Metahuman or Special Axis Agents of Earth-1

Once the concept of Earth-Two was established firmly, generally no series set during the 1930's and 1940 took place on Earth-1 except for conventional war titles. (Commander Steel, as noted earlier, was revealed to have existed on Earth-2.) Thus, no metahuman adventurer series was set on Earth-1 during this time. So, possibly as a function of the concomitant presence of fewer metahuman adventurers during World War II, the Axis countries of Earth-1 produced fewer metahuman or otherwise special agents than their Earth-2 counterparts did. However, some stories indicate that the German National Socialists and Japanese Shinto Imperialists did have some special agents during the course of Earth-1's World War II.

Iron Major

DC' s war titles such as Sgt. Rock, with the aforementioned exception of the Viking Prince appearance, generally stuck to mundane adversaries, though Sgt. Rock gained a recurring foe. The Iron Major was a Third Reich officer who contracted frost bite when he attempted to save a drowning friend from a frozen body of water. The officer reflexively thrust his hand in to save his friend. The officer's hand showed the telltale signs of gangrene, and had to be amputated. A steel hand replaced it. The Iron Major appeared in Our Army At War# 158 (1965), 165, 251-253, Sgt. Rock # 342, 345, 359 and Sgt. Rock# 2, 4. Although one of the few recurring villains in a war title, the Iron Major was otherwise relatively mundane.

Agent Axis

On the other hand, the Agent Axis of Earth-1 presented an interesting case. In World's Finest Comics#250, a very strange team-up between the Earth-2 Wonder Woman, the Black Canary of the present, with the Earth-1 Batman, Superman and Green Arrow took place. In this story, the Earth-1 Green Arrow and Black Canary attempted to travel to Earth-2, but due to faulty equipment, emerged in the past of Earth-2. Bumping into the Earth-2 Wonder Woman, they were then bounced to Earth-1 on August 13, 1942. They discovered that on Earth-1 at that time a Professor Ronsom was working on a "chronal transponder" . Due to the machinations of the malcontent Agent Axis, Professor Ronsom became the Ravager, whose distortion of reality and time prompted the arrival of the Earth-1 Superman and Batman from the 1970's

Of interest here is that the adventurers only encountered Agent Axis while they were on Earth-1 during the 1940's, indicating that Agent Axis was a native of Earth-1. However, this is complicated by the fact this Agent Axis stated he was only the second individual to use the code-name Agent Axis; only one other known character to use such an alias appeared in a Boy Commandos story in Detective Comics#65. The Boy Commandos are generally presumed to have existed on Earth-2, as they teamed up with the Sandman and Sandy in Detective Comics#76 (June 1943). This presents three possibilities: (1) the Agent Axis seen here was somehow an emigrant from Earth-2 to Earth-1 (2) Earth-1 had a previous Agent Axis for its history, about whom nothing else was ever revealed ( 3) the Boy Commandos existed on both Earth-1 and Earth-2, with similar adventures on both Earths. To that last possibility one can note that the Boy Commandos villain Crazy-Quilt appeared in a couple of Earth-1 Batman stories published in the 1970's, so it could hold merit. (However, the idea that the Metropolis policeman Dan "Terrible" Turpin seen in New Gods was the same person as Brooklyn of the Boy Commandos does not help. This idea was apparently not introduced until after the Crisis by John Byrne.)

A slew of bizarre Axis menaces appeared in the Weird War Tales horror/war hybrid series, such as G.I. Robot and the Creature Commandos. As noted earlier, G.I. Robot faced the Japanese samurai robot Krakko. Treading into the same territory, the usually more mundane Uknown Soldier faced his recurring foe the Black Knight intermittently during Star-Spangled War Stories # 151-204 and Unknown Soldier#205-268. In the last issue of his solo series, the Unknown Soldier even discovered the existence of vampiric creations of the Third Reich called the Nosferatu. In G.I. Combat, The ghost of Attila the Hun aided the Axis forces in several Haunted Tank stories.

Killer Shark of Earth-1

A more flamboyant war series than Sergeant Rock also played around with more esoteric menaces regularly. In the 1980's, DC published a series of Blackhawk stories set in the 1930 's and 1940's, most written by Mark Evanier, which the letters page explicitly stated took place on Earth-1. These stories brought in at least one metahuman Earth-1 Third Reich agent. In Blackhawk#269-270 (April to May 1984), Blackhawk encountered Killer Shark, a specially trained, metahuman Nazi operative. His true surname Haifisch (not so coincidentally the German word for shark), this Killer Shark put up a brutal battle before apparently dying. In point of fact, this Killer Shark was created in homage to an enemy of Blackhawk introduced in Blackhawk#50, published in 1952. However, this earlier published Killer Shark was not a Nazi, but rather a modern pirate. The original Blackhawk comics are generally held to have taken place on Earth-Quality (distinguished from Earth-X in that Black hawk was a native inhabitant, not an Earth-2 emigrant, and where World War II ended in 1945). However, a counterpart for this Killer Shark was established for Earth-1 when DC picked up the Blackhawks from Quality. Killer Shark appeared in several stories from that point till the 1970's. Haifisch does not resemble this Killer Shark in any great way. This Killer Shark did not have metahuman strength and wore a different, dark purple costume where Haifisch wore a green costume. Thus, this Earth-1 version of t he Quality Killer Shark was probably a different person entirely, and indeed the Who's Who entry for the two numbers them as separate individuals.

Saga of the Swamp Thing#10 (February 1983) introduced Ernst Von Ruhnstedt, an adept who worked for the Axis. Finally, Brave and the Bold#188-189 (July to August 1982) established that the Earth-1 Martin Bormann survived World War II. However, he died in the 1980's in an encounter with the Earth-1 Batman and Thorn.

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Supplemental Links I:

As noted, this list does not cover various non-costumed, non-metahuman powered heroes who were active during the 1930's and 1940's on Earth-1. However, I have provided these links as a supplement.

http://members.tripod.com/Dark_Mark/bhawkind.htm covers the Earth-1 Blackhawk

http://www.fanzing.com/mag/fanzing36/feature2.shtml covers many war heroes. Although a caveat should be put in: This article does incorporate post-Crisis stories, but as the history of the DC war heroes (with the notable exception of Blackhawk) does not vary too much from their Earth-1 history, this is not too much of a problem.

http://www.fanzing.com/mag/fanzing36/feature4.shtml covers Sgt. Rock, without incorporating too many post-Crisis ideas.

http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Jupiter/3981/dcwar/unknown.htm covers the Unknown Soldier. A similar caveat exists as with the above links.

http://darkmark6.tripod.com/phantomstrind.html has info on Doctor Thirteen's father who was also a ghostbuster

Supplemental Links II:

Earth-1 also had many adventure heroes who were active before the 1930's and 1940's, such as various Western heroes. In addition, characters such as Sherlock Holmes, the Golden Gladiator, the Three Musketeers, Ben Hur, Robin Hood, King Arthur, William Tell, and so on have been shown to have existed in the past of Earth-1, as have various legendary figures such as Hercules, Samson, and so on. When links relevant to these characters' pasts have been found, they may be added. Also, I should mention the following link that gives appearances for the Asgardian gods which features many appearances relevant to both Earth-1 and Earth-2: http://dcboards.warnerbros.com/files/Forum94/HTML/012816-2.html

http://home4.inet.tele.dk/sjum/Jonah_Hex.htm covers Jonah Hex

http://www.rpi.edu/~bulloj/western.html various Western characters

http://users.aol.com/outpost2ezine5/DCsHell.htm covers the Earth-1 Merlin; you have to do a find, but it gives a list of his appearances.

http://users.aol.com/outpost2ezine4/ObscureChars4.htm covers the Earth-1 Hercules; you have to do a find, but one finds a fairly comprehensive account.

http://camelot4colors.tripod.com/index.htm covers various comic book uses of King Arthur, and thus has info relevant to the Earth-1 history of King Arthur.

http://dcboards.warnerbros.com/files/Forum3/HTML/002092-26.html an extensive list of Sherlock Holmes appearances in the DCU. You have to scroll down a bit, but you can find it there.

http://www.comicboards.com/dcguide/History/History_1_1900.htm gives a general history of the DC Universe. Unfortunately, it incorporates many post-Crisis and Earth-2 stories, but features many stories that are Earth-1 relevant.

Article by John McDonagh