Nick Stevens* was an aspiring young artist while still attending Fairfax High School. His primary interest was in creating superheroes for his handmade comicbooks. In 1982, he became friends with fellow students Vicki Grant and Chris King, who themselves were superheroes thanks to the power dials they mysteriously inherited a year earlier. He, and they, discovered that somehow his creations influenced the dials, causing Chris and Vicki to transform into those specific heroes and heroines. After briefly being mentally manipulated by the mysterious Master to use this ability to manufacture supervillains, Nick regained his senses and helped his schoolmates.
It was then revealed that the Master was really Robbie Reed, the original Dial H for Hero. After dialing "S-P-L-I-T" in order to become both himself and a superhero in order to save Earth-One, this turned him evil. His heroic alter ego created the two additional power dials then given to Vicki and Chris, after which he was hunted down by Reed. After regaining his sanity and morality, Robbie bequeathed his Dial to Nick. Stevens remained a creative civilian instead of a costumed crimefighter.
On the parallel planet of Earth-Two, another young cartoonist was himself heavily involved with actual superheroes since the 1940s. This lad, Scribbly Jibbet**. lived in a neighborhood where his own younger sister Sisty and her best friend Dinky were secretly the Cyclone Kids***, sidekicks of local superheroine Red Tornado****... herself Ma Hunkle the mother of Dinky. During their various adventures, Scribbly tapped into the metaphysical aspects of his reality through Earth-Prime artist Sheldon Mayer whom they all met.
Among Scribbly's greatest inspirations towards his career chronicling costumed crimefighters was Superman, and years later the revived Seven Soldiers of Victory who returned after having disappeared for decades into past eras. This led Scribbly in his late 40's into a job at Metropolis News, illustrating the city's many prtoectors such as the Man of Steel, the Soldiers, Power Girl and some members of the Justice Society. Jibbet also supplemented this with reporting on their tales as a beat reporter. This led him to become friends with the Shining Knight, who recruited Scribbly to be his partner and newest teammate of the Seven Soldiers, or Law's Legionnaires which was their other team name. During the Convergence event on the world of Talos, they saw the other Soldiers losing their lives save for the Knight and Star-Spangled Kid.
In the intervening years between his boyhood days and those as a Legionnaire, Jibbet ended up marrying and fathering a son named Scribbly Jr. His son became friends with Sugar Plumm and Cecil "Spike" Wilson who, like Sisty and Dinky, at times were secretly heroes... although these kids gained various abilities or devices. These kids, like Vicki**** and Chris, were local legends.
* Nick Stevens’ Earth-Two counterpart was Bernie the Brain, a super-genius infant who created various devices which he and his friend Sugar and Spike used in several of their adventures.
** Robbie Reed's Earth-Two counterpart Scribbly Sr. may have been the creator of the cartoon brought to life known as "Burp the Twerp" which like Chris’ heroic Dial aliases was multi-talented.
*** The Cyclone Kids Sisty and Dinky's Earth-One counterparts were Justice League junior members Paco "Vibe" Ramone and Cynthia "Gypsy" Reynolds.
**** Red Tornado aka Ma Hunkle's Earth-One counterpart was Katma Tui who like Ma was inspired by Green Lantern, with Katma becoming the Green Lantern of her space sector.
***** Vicki Grant's greatest power is her hairs' superhuman ability to stay as pigtales at all times!!!
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