Bito Wladon and Roger Romaine, also known as Sonar of Earth-One and Gadgeteer of Earth-Two, were sovereigns of sound, mastering malevolent melodies which they used on those whom they opposed. Both were fierely anti-American, seeking to undermine the United States of their respective Earths from within using sophisticated sonic technology. On occasion, they even used other aliases to further their agendas, although these were exposed by the Green Lanterns of parallel planets.
Bito assumed the identity of Professor Dunkirk, a resident scientist at S.T.A.R. Labs, who developed the Ultima-Card which would replace normal monetary currency that was carrying a deadly plague across Earth-One. This plague caused animals to obtain human intelligence and rebel against humanity, however the nucleo-sonic science imbued the Ultima-Cards with a mind-dampening field which allowed Sonar the mentally manipulate all Americans to uplift his own country.
Roger assumed the identity of Handy Mann, a resident broadcast engineer of WXYZ radio, who developed a specialized frequency to coordinate a crime wave across Gotham City. In addition, Romaine exposed the Green Lantern Alan Scott along with his best friend Doiby Dickles and sound-effects specialist Dinah Mite to hallucinagenic gas which overwhelmed the trio with nightmarish images. Besides the fabricated civilian identity of Handy Mann, Romaine also used the public alias of Lord Haw-Haw, a British propagandist who work with Nazi Germany during World War II.
The Green Lantern of Earth-One, Hal Jordan, along with his Justice League teammates opposed Sonar’s brainpower link which dominated man and beast. During the course of battle, the League determined that Sonar was himself being manipulated by the malevolent maiden known as Queen Bee using her own alien technology which she assembled through her proxy agent in Waldon.
Similarly, the Green Lantern of Earth-Two, Alan Scott, along with his two friends were able to overwhelm Mann's henchmen and corner their boss himself. Together they exposed his sinister scheme, despite being almost left brain dead by Romaine’s gadgetry.
This was the last known appearance of the master criminal formerly known as the Gadgeteer, who years earlier employed various sonic weapons against Lantern's All-Star Squadron teammate Commander Steel. However, Gadgeteer’s similarly named cousin Roger “Spirit King” Romaine would likewise persist in his own attempts at world conquest using his own mental-manipulating methods. Initially opposed by Mister Terrific, this cousin eventually opposed his foes’ teammates of the Justice Society including Green Lantern. Whether Gadgeteer assisted his kinfolk Spirit King behind the scenes during this caper is unknown.
As for Sonar, he would return yet again in his persistent attempts to glorify his native country of Modora, which he would eventually rule over as its beloved dictator. During the Crisis on Infinite Earths, Sonar was reunited with Hector Hammond… counterpart to Spirit King… as both were recruited my rogue Green Lantern Guy Gardner into an incursion of the Antimatter Universe of Qward to thwart its leader the Anti-Monitor. Years prior to this, Sonar was an unwitting pawn of Hammond’s versus their mutual foe, Green Lantern, and if he became aware of the later on it would have led to animosity between the two.
While Wladon/Sonar/Dunkirk found a permanent home overseas in his home country within Europe, it is uncertain if Romaine/Gadgeteer/Mann changed his citizenship to another nation. However, his adopting the “Lord Haw-Haw” cover in his later years seems to indicate his allegiance has shifted to Germany or a neighboring country within that region. Oddly, the origin of the name Romaine is from France, so Gadgeteer may have aligned himself with Vichy French, the puppet government of Nazi Germany during the early 1940s.
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