Who's Who #5

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Art by Jorell Rivera
Words by Pat Owen

Superboy (Earth-One)
Real Name: Conner Kent
Alias: Kon-El
Status: Masquerading as a citizen of the United States with no criminal record, still a minor; his actual legal status is unknown at this time
Occupation: Superhero
Known Relatives: Kal-El(a.k.a. Clark Kent, a.k.a. Superman, paternal donor), Kara Zor-El(a.k.a. Supergirl, maternal donor), Martha Kent(foster grandmother)
Group Affiliation: None
Base of Operations: Kent Farm in Smallville, Kansas
Height: 6'3
Weight: 201 lbs
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Black

Powers & Abilities: Kon-El possesses tremendous superhuman strength, speed and resistance damage as well as the ability to fly and heat vision, in accordance with his Kryptonian genetics. He is still learning the full range and limits to his powers.

History: Superboy was a lab experiment created by Kryptonian scientist, Dr. Xadu. After four attempts, Xadu managed to use the sperm and egg cells from Superman (see Superman) and Supergirl in order to create his very own Kryptonian. Once he had created the son of Superman himself, he attempted to bid him off to Lex Luthor, Dr. Sivana, or Dr. Ivo. Ivo ended up with the Kryptonian and gave him the name Conner. Superman rescued Conner from Dr. Ivo with the help of Supergirl and the Marvels and brought the young man home to Smallville, where Conner gave himself the identity of Superboy. Superman told him that he should lay low in Kansas for awhile until he got more accustomed to his abilities but like any normal teenager, this was not nearly exciting of a scenario. Conner quickly found himself bored with the farm but luckily, Superman was ready to teach him a few things about his powers. Their first lesson centered on controlling his heat vision but Conner couldn't even get any heat at all to come out of is pupils. Their training was interrupted by an emergency in Metropolis concerning Superman's friend Pete Ross. During the investigation, Conner finally was able to unleash heat vision but found himself unable to turn it off. Superman has already found it hard to teach this young boy, but if he's ever in a tight squeeze he can always count on Superboy.

The Future: Superboy discovers a new ability while also joining up with other young heroes in search for justice.

First Appearance: (mentioned briefly) Action Comics #37; (introduced completely) Action Comics #38

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Art by Brandon Herren
Words by Jay McIntyre

Terra (Earth-One)
Real Name: Tara Markov
Status: Citizen of Markovia, on visa to the United States with a criminal record (sealed by Interpol and Checkmate); still a minor
Occupation: Adventurer; former juvenile delinquent
Known Relatives: Viktor Markov (father, deceased); Sasha Rokoshnev (mother, deceased); Gregor Markov (half-brother, deceased); Brion Markov (half-brother); Zenobia Markov (step-mother; no relation to the former Wonder Woman)
Group Affiliation: Teen Titans; former member of the Suicide Squad
Base of Operations: Titans Tower, New York City
Height: 5' 2”
Weight: 114 lbs.
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Blonde

Powers & Abilities: Terra possesses tremendous control over rock and earth itself. Given the inclination, she could construct a small building from scratch with a few minute concentration, or cause a powerful earthquake if she gets really angry. Usually though, she uses rocks of various sizes as projectiles and uses another to "fly" on. She also has limited control over lava flows.

History: Tara Illychia Markov was born the illegitimate child of Viktor Jaroslav Markov, then King of Markovia, and Sasha Svitlana Rokoshnev, his mistress. In the fullness of the scandal of her pregnancy, it was further revealed that this was the second mistress he had had an affair with. The name of the first woman was not disclosed.

Sasha died giving birth to Tara, and instead of buying the mother off and sending the child with her as was often the custom in these cases, the Royal Family took her in. King Viktor was fond of Tara, although not nearly to the same extent as he was of his two legitimate sons, Gregor and Brion. His main form of affection towards the child was to throw money at her. Additionally, Queen Zenobia Nadezhda Markov hated Tara and became cold to her husband as a result of the infidelity and the fact that he had taken Tara in. This further strained relations between Tara and her father, and her half-brother Gregor hated her as well. Only Brion really cared for her, and paid attention to her troubled soul. It was this sincere empathy and understanding that probably saved Tara from tumbling down the slippery slope and becoming a complete psychopath.

As it was, however, her clashes with Gregor and her step-mother became more and more violent over the years. Tara committed acts of vandalism in the Royal Castle, and inched ever closer to a life of crime as she grew up.

But when the sinister Doctor Jace gave Brion the lava-manipulating and earth elemental powers that turned him into the hero Geo-Force, Tara also sought genetic therapy from the unethical scientist. Amused and interested to see what the result would be, Jace granted Tara's request. Tara's powers were stronger on the Earth control side than Brion's, and weaker on the lava manipulation side.

Fleeing her homeland, Tara adopted the costumed identity of Terra and went on a small-scale crime spree. It wasn't so much for the money (though she certainly lived off such proceeds in this period) as it was about unleashing her anger. Before too long she caught the attention of another Earth-manipulating villain named Geomancer, who took her into his gang. He refined her handling of her powers, and turned her from an angry young girl into a much more cunning and dangerous femme fatale.

Eventually though, Geomancer's gang was caught by Interpol and Geo-Force. Brion tried to get her into the custody of a superhero team, but she wound up (over his loud objections) on the Suicide Squad instead. During her tenure with the Squad, she was befriended by the villainess Killer Frost, but her excesses taught Terra there were some lines she would not cross. Then she helped save the life of King Twaba of Mubotu by (unintentionally) taking a bullet for him. Not long after, the Squad journeyed to Markovia, coming into conflict with the Teen Titans. Both Viktor and Gregor died, and Terra left the Squad and joined the Titans instead, immediately putting her charms to work on Titans member Beast Boy.

The villain Deathstroke, the Terminator, always looking for a way to take down the Titans, approached Terra with an offer to betray them for an outrageous sum of money. Terra cemented her choice to side with the heroes instead by refusing his offer.

Terra's powers are currently being affected by the rise of the Black Sun.

The Future: After the Black Sun crisis, Terra will eventually have to face her criminal past head on, as Geomancer still remembers her, and he escaped prison during a conflict with Green Lantern....

First Appearance: Suicide Squad #14

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Art by Ramon Villalobos
Words by Susan Hillwig

Vigilante I (Earth-One)
Real Name: Gregory Saunders
Alias: The Prairie Troubadour
Status: Citizen of the United States with no criminal record
Occupation: Currently a semi-retired restaurateur and adventurer; former professional singer and deputy sheriff
Known Relatives: Jud Saunders (grandfather, deceased); Kitty Saunders (nee Wilcox, grandmother, deceased); Nathaniel Saunders (father, deceased); Cyril “Speed” Saunders (cousin); Sheira Saunders (a.k.a. Hawkgirl I, cousin, deceased); Daniel Leong (adopted son)
Group Affiliation: The Seven Soldiers of Victory (a.k.a. Law's Legionnaires)
Base of Operations: Dos Rios, Texas (21st Century), American West (19th Century)
Height: 6 ft.
Weight: 232 lbs.
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Black

Powers & Abilities: The Vigilante is an excellent hand-to-hand fighter, and is equally skilled at riding both motorcycles and horses. His weapons of choice are his twin Colt .45 Peacemakers (though he can handle any firearm with ease) and his ever-present lariat, with which he can hogtie any foe in record time. He has a natural talent for singing, and can play just about any song by ear, preferring to do so on acoustic guitar. He is beginning to slow with age, as he reaches his mid-fifties, but is still remarkably strong and fit for a man of his age, height and weight who engages in regular exercise.

History: Greg Saunders was born into a family of lawmen, with both his grandfather and father having served as sheriff for the town of Carson City, Wyoming. Despite this legacy, Greg had his heart set from a young age on entertaining folks for a living. While his father taught him the ways of the law, he secretly planned on heading off to the big city and becoming a musician, and in 1934 at the age of 18, he did just that, running away to New York with a guitar on his back and five dollars in his pocket. After a few years of playing in gin joints and seedy theaters, Greg landed a record contract and started to ply his trade on the radio. Dubbed "The Prairie Troubadour" by his manager Billy "Pop" Gunn, he began to build a decent career, traveling from one city to the next, performing both in person and on the local radio affiliates. Back in Wyoming, his father continued in the role of sheriff, even though he was getting on in years. Greg kept insisting to the man that he should retire, and even offered to help out financially, but his father wouldn't hear of it. Then in early 1941, the elder Saunders was killed while trying to stop robbers from stealing a gold shipment moving through his town. Feeling that he could have prevented it if he'd stayed in Wyoming to carry on the family tradition, Greg vowed to become the lawman his father wanted him to be. Taking a cue from both the emerging heroes of his time and the Western gunfighters of old, he strapped on his father's guns, hid his face behind a red bandanna, and dubbed himself the Vigilante.

After tracking down his father's killers, Greg brought his unique style of crimefighting to the Big Apple, and later with him on the road as he continued his public career as a country singer. Just a few months after beginning his new vocation, the Vigilante joined up with six other emerging heroes to take down a mysterious figure called the Iron Hand. With the shadow of World War II looming over the United States, they later decided they could serve their country best as a team instead of individually, and formally banded together as the Law's Legionnaires (see The Seven Soldiers of Victory), defending their home soil as many of the more powerful heroes went overseas to fight the Axis powers. "Vig" still acted alone on occasion, however, until working on a case in Chinatown in 1943, where he encountered 10-year-old Daniel Leong. His grandfather had been framed by a Japanese agent known as the Head, and the two of them banded together to clear the man's name and bring in the real criminals. Afterward, Daniel tagged along with Greg in both his singing and crimefighting careers, adopting the name "Stuff, the Chinatown Kid".

Greg’s life took an unexpected detour in 1948, when the Seven Soldiers found that the Iron Hand had resurfaced, continuing his plans for world domination that they’d thwarted seven years before. Heading to Philadelphia, they were too late to stop the Iron Hand from resurrecting an ancient entity called Neh Buh Lah -- mistakenly dubbed “The Nebula Man” by the Soldiers -- which proceeded to wreak havoc across the city. In a last-ditch effort to stop the creature, the Soldiers decided to detonate the Star-Spangled Kid’s cosmic converter belt, unaware that the resulting explosion plus the Nebula Man’s own chaotic energies would blend together and rip a hole in reality, scattering all of the Seven Soldiers randomly across the time-stream. Greg was thrown back to 1875, with no clue whether or not his comrades survived, and no way for him to get back to his proper time. After coming to accept his new situation, Greg began to travel across the Old West, still plying his trade as a musician wherever he could, and still protecting the innocent as the Vigilante. As the years passed and he settled into the era more, he met up with many of the Western heroes he’d heard stories about as a boy, and ironically became good friends with Cinnamon and Nighthawk (see individual entries in this issue), who -- unbeknownst to any of them -- would later be reincarnated in Greg’s proper time as his cousin Sheira and her husband Carter Hall.

By 1895, Greg had settled in Opal City to serve as deputy to Sheriff Brian Savage (see Scalphunter). Now a lawman in every sense, Greg was content with his life in the past, and therefore was shocked when his cousin Cyril suddenly showed up one day, ready to take Greg back to the present. The return trip was bittersweet for Greg, not only because he was leaving the era he had called home for two decades, but because he now found himself in 2008, exactly sixty years after the Soldiers had battled the Nebula Man. Now in his early fifties and suffering from a double-dose of time-lag, Greg decided that the time had come for the Vigilante to retire. Currently, Greg spends most of his time on his newly-bought ranch in Dos Rios, Texas, enjoying a more laid-back lifestyle and catching up on what he has missed. However, when the call goes out and his friends need him, Greg has been known to put on his guns again for old time's sake. You just can't keep a good cowboy down.

The Future: When he’s not helping out his teammates, Vigilante is acting as mentor for up-and-coming heroine La Garra in the pages of Seven Soldiers of Victory. As for his life in the past, more details will be revealed in later issues of Weird Western Quarterly.

First Appearance: WEIRD WESTERN QUARTERLY #6

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Art by Boris Mihajlovic
Words by Tim Abramo

Warrior (Earth-Five)
Real Name: Guy Gardner
Alias: None
Status: Citizen of the United States with no criminal record
Occupation: Owner of a bar inside Warrior's Hotel and Casino
Known Relatives: Mace Gardner (missing)
Group Affiliation: Green Lantern Corps
Base of Operations: Happy Harbor, Rhode Island
Height: 6' 2”
Weight: 210 lbs.
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Red

Powers & Abilities: As a result of his Vuldarian heritage, Guy is capable of turning his hands into weapons of any kind that he desires, including swords, guns or blunt objects. However, as a result of his involvement Alan Scott and the Green Lantern Corps, he has typically used his powers to create an organic power ring similar to those provided to Corps members. It is less versatile than Alan Scott's rings typically, capable only of projecting an intense blast of green energy, but Alan is able to “super charge” Guy's “ring” much as he charges Corps rings, allowing him increased ability at the expense of using his arm's shape-shifting abilities.

History: Guy was born into a lower-income family in Detroit, with a domineering, abusive father and mostly-absentee brother. As a result, Guy developed something of an abrasive personality, but also a tenacious will to survive.

With a rebellious streak a mile long, Guy often butted heads with his father and tended to act out, which only created more animosity between them. This pattern repeated until Guy was finally set right by his brother, Mace, now a local cop, when Guy was around the age of 15. Mace Gardner showed Guy that his path was self-destructive, and if he ever wanted to escape and make something of himself, he'd need to final a goal and work towards it.

That goal turned out to be football. Guy forged himself from sophomore year walk-on to his high school football team into winning a scholarship with the University of Michigan by the end of senior year. Although he had a modestly successful run while with the Wolverines, Guy never really attracted the attention of the pro scouts and an on-field injury would end his playing days forever while sending his life in a completely different direction.

Although no longer able to play football, the accident appeared to awaken long-dormant powers in Guy from an ancient Vuldarian ancestor, allowing him to become an adventurer of some renown, moving around the country, finding himself drawn to saving the sorts of hard-luck cases like he was as a kid, acting as something of a social worker with super powers.

This eventually earned him the notice of others in the superhuman community, working alongside the Global Guardians on a few cases, and gaining the respect of legendary JSA founder Alan Scott.

The Future: Everything finally seems to be coming up roses for Guy Gardner: a successful bar in an up-and-coming city, a burgeoning romance with Norwegian ice princess-turned-waitress Tora Olafdotter and loose associations with two groups of super heroes. But old secrets die hard and when the ghosts of the past come calling, will Guy have what it takes to stay a hero?

First Appearance: ULTIMATE GREEN LANTERN CORPS #1[/url]

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Art by Ramon Villalobos
Words by Don Walsh

Wing (Earth-One)
Real Name: Travis Wing
Status: Citizen of the United States with no criminal record
Occupation: Adventurer
Known Relatives: Walter (father), How (great-grandfather, deceased)
Group Affiliation: The Line of Wing
Base of Operations: New York City, New York
Height: 5'5”
Weight: 155 lbs.
Hair: Black
Eyes: Black

Powers & Abilities: Wing possesses no superhuman powers. Instead, he has trained his body to be a living weapon, having mastered several forms of martial arts. True to the beliefs of his great-grandfather, the first costumed Wing, Travis has taken from Western martial arts as much as the Eastern styles. He possesses the strength and stamina of a man his age, height and build who engages in rigorous daily exercises, and has focused on his speed and agility. He has also learned several meditative techniques for focusing his inner spiritual energy, or Qi, and with enough time, can double his recovery, among other uses. One particular use he puts it toward is a specialized technique that can alert him to an impending appearance of the Crimson Avenger.

History: Wing Travis (he prefers to use the traditional position of names found in Asian cultures) is the great-grandson of Wing How, the chauffeur for newspaper mogul Lee Travis back in the Depression. Wing How was a Chinese immigrant who moved to the United States in order to build a better life, and at some point, wound up in Lee's employ as chauffeur and general aide-de-camp. His responsibilities eventually included teaching Travis hand-to-hand combat in preparation for the millionaire's private crusade against lawlessness (see Crimson Avenger). The two were close allies and confidants, and while Wing never donned a mask or official alias, aided the Crimson Avenger on any number of missions, sometimes taking up side quests in Lee's place to expand the Avenger's reach. At some point in the late Thirties however, things between them started to become strained over How's concealed love for Claudia Barker, Lee's personal secretary. She loved Lee, however, and the situation grew more complicated when Claudia's sister donned a costumed identity as the Scorpion and began to kill the women Lee had been romancing. When Wing was attacked by the Scorpion while Lee was away on a separate mission, and Claudia was forced to realize what had driven her sister (a nun) crazy with rage, the situation just continued to worsen. For a while, all three maintained their relationships, but the cracks began to show by the start of 1940.

It remains unknown at this time what led to the split between Lee Travis and Wing How, but what is known is that How has felt guilty and even dishonorable over it. This was heightened when the Crimson Avenger vanished with his fellow Seven Soldiers of Victory in 1948. It was at this time that he laid down the foundations for what became the Line of Wing, a family-driven secret society dedicated to finding the fate of the Crimson Avenger and redeem How's (and the family's) honor in regard to Lee Travis. In the mean-time, each head of the Line would dedicate his life to the Crimson Avenger's ideals, either as an adventurer donning the ritual garb of Wing (as Wing Travis has elected), or through other methods (such as Travis's father, Walter, who dedicated himself to a powerful philanthropic crusade). The Line is, at its core, composed of Wing How's descendants, but includes a number of attached relations (husbands, in-laws, and such) and other allies. The Line is a small, but dedicated, group, well-funded and with a global reach.

Travis assumed the command of the Line following the failure of his father to be prepared for the return of the Seven Soldiers, and provide aid to the Crimson Avenger before his death in the final battle with the Nebula Man. While Walter was convinced not to kill himself, he did abdicate his position and turn it over to his son. Travis was certain that the disappearance of Lee's firearms was a clue that the Crimson Avenger did not face a true death in this battle, and began to develop a method of meditation to help him find and aid Lee's spirit. This finally succeeded when he sensed the appearance of the guns before Keith Beacham and his temporary assumption of the Crimson Avenger identity. With the unexpected help of the Green Arrow (see Green Arrow), Wing found the current incarnation of the Crimson Avenger in the body of Sally Bonner, and then met up with the Seven Soldiers in their battle against the Nefarious Dragons. In the aftermath of this incident, the guns (and Lee's spirit) have traveled on, leaving Wing behind, but with Sally in his company and several important clues to Lee's fate and the Crimson Avenger's purpose. He has redoubled his efforts to aid Lee, and dedicated himself to the Seven Soldiers as they seek a place in the modern world as heroes.

The Future: With his companion Maya and new ally Sally to help him, Wing prepares the next phase of the Line's work, while trying to figure out where he fits in with the Seven Soldiers. But as he digs into his family's dishonor in relation to Lee, will he remain so dedicated when he learns the truth behind his branch of the family tree?

First Appearance: SEVEN SOLDIERS OF VICTORY #7

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And now, a special treat, a visual tour of three of the biggest names on EARTH-TWO, presented by two of our great artists.

First up, the bearer of the power ring and artist extraordinaire
GREEN LANTERN KYLE RAYNER!

drawn by Mischief, colored by Boris Mihajlovic

Then, a big round of applause for the young man with the world's toughest job...wearing the legendary S-Shield and doing right by it...he's
Jon Kent, SUPERMAN!

art by Brandon Herren

Finally, the ambassador of peace and warrior for justice, daughter of the Amazing Amazon, and pretty amazing herself, it's
Lyta Trevor...WONDER WOMAN!

drawn by Mischief, colored by Boris Mihajlovic

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And that's the end of this guided tour of the DC2 Multiverse! We hope you enjoyed the trip, thrilled to the sites and met the true legends and those legends in the making. Before you leave, please be sure to go and tell us what you thought of this issue here!

And until next time...

Take care
Don