Ripples Through Time: Historical Heroes Heralded

Rip Hunter and his pal Jeff Smith invented a time sphere, which they piloted on a series of adventures throughout history alongside his girlfriend Bonnie Baxter and her younger brother Corky. Journeying to several eras, the so-called "Time Master" and his crew had an indelible mark in tales of the past. 

Among their various voyages through time were to the eras of the dinosaurs, Briton of 1,000,000 B.C.E., Egypt and Roog of 2000 B.C.E, 500 B.C.E., King Darius in 325 B.C.E., Rome of 3000 B.C.E., Baghdad and Navar of 800 C.E., England of 1194 C.E., America of 1774 C.E., Poland of 1800 C.E., Ritannia of 1860 C.E., Germany of the early 1940s, and Italy of 2500 C.E. They also journeyed to other worlds such as the Zark of 1000 B.C.E. and ZM3 of 2165 C.E., to name just a few. They also appeared during the Crisis on Infinite Earths.

After several years wherein they disappeared following an encounter with a mysterious pyramid created by Vandal Savage in which they prematurely aged, Rip and his partners were restored to youth and joined the Forgotten Heroes of Earth-One. While he met Superman on that occasion, Rip never met that hero's ally in Metropolis' Police Department, Dan "Terrible" Turbin. Dan was the counterpart of Rip Carter's teammate, Dan "Brooklyn" Turbin.

Rip Carter enlisted a quartet of youths during the formative days of World War II, including André Chavard from France, Alfie Twidgett from England, Jan Haasen from the Netherlands, and "Brooklyn" from the USA.

Although several of their tales as the Boy Commandos occurred during the present day on their native Earth-Two, they mysteriously had several tales in various historical periods through various inexplicable means. Some tales led them to Japan of 1842 B.C.E., Rome in 65 C.E., France of 1700 C.E., Earth of 3500 C.E., an ant world of 20,000 C.E. among other time periods.

The Commandos also battled various threats such as Sigrid aka Agent Axis, Crazy-Quilt and Case 13,  Case 13 was actually a husband and wife who matched wits with Carter repeatedly, and were the dopplegangers of Bonnie and Jeffrey.

Eventually, Andre, Alfie and Jan returned to their native countries to live with family, and new commandos in Tex and Percy Clearwater joined the team. During their tenure as troubleshooters, the Boys encountered various costumed crusaders of Earth-Two including Sandman, Sandy, the Guardian and the Newsboy Legion during an adventure. Likewise, Rip Carter and his teammates worked alongside the Sea Devils while both were allied in the Forgotten Heroes.

Twice-Told-Tales: The Forgotten Faces in the Crowd

Several once prominent adventurers found the need to assemble in order to overturn the malevolent machinations of Vandal Savage. Assisting Superman in protecting Earth-One from Savage, these heroes formed the core of the team known in the press as the Forgotten Heroes.

Consisting of Cave Carson the subterranean explorer, Congo Bill the explorer and his Congorilla alter ego, Rip Hunter the Time Master, Rick Carson the military mastermind, Dolphin the mystery maiden of the seas, and Animal Man... they were led by the enigmatic Immortal Man. Little did they know that their evil counterpart, Forgotten Villains, would cause them more problems.

For the Heroes and Villains, their twins on this parallel Earth were as follows:

• Cave Carson's was Cotten Carver, explorers of the depths below
• Immortal Man was from Earth-Two while Earth-One's T.O. Morrow traded places with him.
• Congo Bill had a twin in the Whistler Will, although Will never met his world's Congorilla.
• Rip Hunter's twin was Rip Carter, each a time traveler part of crusading quartets.
• Rick Flagg's was Red Dugan, both military men who had several covert adventures
• Dolphin's was Sontag Heyna, each bold blondes from the seas below who occasionally came to the surface
• Mister Poseidon's was Doctor Doombie, with technology allowing them to shrink their foes...one a foe of the Sea Devils... the other battled Sandman.
• Faceless Hunter and his fellow Saturnians’s were the “Space Men of Mars”, these gigantic aliens matching might with Superman and Doctor Fate.
• Atom Master's was Karat, counterparts who wore matter altering helmets.
• Kraknow's was Narkran, each evil elements from 18th century Poland terrorizing modern day
• Ultivac's was Angrak, each mammoth mechanized men of the 20th century employed by others.
• Enchantress aka June Moone's is Miss America aka Joan Dale of the Freedom Fighters, each matter manipulators.
• Chris KL's and his allies the Venusian named Jero and the Martian named Halk were future reporter/explorer Astra and her alien adversaries from two other worlds in her solar system.

Jungle Justice: Animal Ability Avengers Attack Amoral Aggressors

When stunt man Buddy Blake became irradiated with emissions from an unidentified flying object, he suddenly acquired the ability to absorb ambient attributes of animals around him. If a winged creature was nearby, he could fly. If a bestial behemoth was close at hand he gained its superhuman strength. While this transpired on Earth-One, a parallel even happened on Earth-Two when the heir to the title of Immortal Man himself gained superhuman strength, flight and other powers due to a meteor fragment from outer space. With Blake becoming Animal Man and his counterpart becoming Samar the Jungle Man, this pair defended two different continents from threats to nature, usually derived from that of selfish mankind. After five cases each, these two heroes retired only to reappear sparingly later.

Both men found true love in the form of Ellen Frazier for Blake and Helen Phelps for his cosmic twin. And each were tied to the Immortal Man, who himself journeyed from Earth-Two to Earth-One in order to recruit Animal Man into his team the Forgotten Heroes. This group only had a couple of adventures prior to the Crisis on Infinite Earths. And while Buddy and Ellen wed and had children, Jungle Man's true love Helen would be separated from him after his passing.

Perhaps the most tenacious adversary that the Immortal Man/Jungle Man faced was the plunderer known only as Karat who steals a mysterious helmet allowing him to create fantastic mutated animals and other materialized objects in Africa and later in England. Karat's counterpart on Earth-One was Atom-Master, who like Karat possessed a helmet of his own design granting him the power to create various monsters and weaponry from solidified dust molecules. He initially battled the World's Finest team of Superman, Batman and Robin of Earth-One and later as a member of the Forgotten Villains battled Animal Man and his allies in the Forgotten Heroes, as well as having a rematch with Superman. Despite their awesome abilities neither Atom-Master nor Karat succeeded in their two appearances and, like their creations, eventually faded away from public sight.

Immortal Man: Evidence He Originated on Earth-Two

The Immortal Man's biggest claim to fame may well be forgotten.. as the founder of the Forgotten Heroes. This team was composed of various plain clothed (and in Animal Man's case, costumed) crusaders of justice on Earth-One, such as Rip Hunter the Time Master, geologist Cave Carson, deep sea divers the Sea Devils, jungle explorer Congo Bill, Suicide Squad leader Rick Flagg and mysterious maiden the Dolphin.. He had assembled them in order to combat his age-old foe, Vandal Savage, however Savage originated on Earth-Two!

As Immortal Man explained to his fellow champions of justice, he and Vandal had been exposed to the same strange comet that bequeathed them both with extensive lifespans. And through the eon they battled one another perpetually. How could this be, if one was on Earth-One and the other on Earth-Two? In his first tale on Earth-One, Vandal mentioned that he left his home world to conquer this parallel planet by changing its history and thereby controlling its greatest champion, Superman, whose counterpart had alongside the Justice Society defeated him shortly before this.

In his next appearance, Savage created a company known as Abraxas, Inc... designed to employ robotic replicas of the Man of Steel in order to more sufficiently protect Metropolis. However, this was a mere ploy by Vandal to supplant Superman and thereby fracture the public's perception of its prominent protector. After manipulating the radioactive Neutron into battling Superman, he lured the hero into the headquarters of Abraxas, whereby Superman was sprayed with spores that he unknowingly spread throughout Metropolis… causing environmental chaos! This tied to ancient alien pyramids Savage used as a means of returning Earth-One to prehistoric conditions which he could control. 

At this point, Immortal Man revealed himself while recruiting the Forgotten Heroes into joining him in aiding the Man of Steel in defeating his immortal adversary. As Immortal Man confirmed their history, with Vandal previously mentioning his leaving Earth-Two to conquer Earth-One, it is an inescapable conclusion that Immortal Man originated from Earth-Two as well... only leaving it for Earth-One when Vandal himself migrated there.

What can we conclude from this? The adventures of the various "Immortal Men" accumulated racial memories contained within the comet crystal that the original Immortal Man and his subsequent heirs possessed... all took place on Earth-Two until this tale with the Forgotten Heroes. Thus, the various Immortal Men had counterparts on Earth-One that were heroic figures from around the globe of Earth-Two, such as:

• Mark the young orphan was the twin of the young Immortal Man that appeared when the Forgotten Heroes met their opposite number, the Forgotten Villains. Each had brief careers before they each perished saving humanity, both manifesting the same set of powers in that sole appearance. 

• Samar the Jungle Man of Earth-Two's Africa had a counterpart in Animal Man (aka Buddy Baker) of Earth-One's Arizona, each with superhuman abilities tied to powers from the jungles similar to wild beasts. Note: Jungle Man's arch foe Karat possessed a helmet that created animal mutants much as that of Atom Master, a villain who battled the Superman and Batman of Earth-One, and later fought Animal Man, Immortal Man and the Forgotten Heroes. 

• Mark King the English treasure expert of Earth-Two was as intuitive and resourceful as investigator Mark Merlin of Earth-One, whose counterpart was Mark Merlin. Both men possessed mind-over-matter powers and later had their minds transplanted into new bodies. While Mark Merlin merged minds with ancient Egyptian Prince Raman, it was Prince Khufu of Egypt who merged minds with the Hawkman of Earth-Two. Ra-Man and Immortal Man died during the Crisis on Infinite Earths. 

• Kirk Jason the ancient books editor of Earth-Two was like his counterpart on Earth-One, geologist Kenneth Anderson, men who gained telekinetic abilities due to their exposure from alien rocks. Jason was similar to his predecessors, a hero, while Anderson became the villain known as the Annihilator until Batgirl and Supergirl beat him.

• Anton Carter, the prominent former European paleontologist of Earth-Two was matched by Lucian Crawley of Earth-One, a young mutant who like Anton had mental abilities and aspired to be the masked superhero known as Mind-Grabber Kid. However, unlike Carter, who perished soon after his career began, Crawley used his mind control to strike back at the Justice League out of jealousy, and then in disgrace retired. 

• Immortal Man's next identity was unnamed when he appeared on Earth-One following Savage, but this cloned body was the Earth-Two doppleganger to T.O. Morrow who left Earth-One for Earth-Two to construct the Red Tornado as a weapon to use against the Justice Society and Justice League before returning to his home-world. Both men had telekinetic powers.

• Many others in the Immortal Man line, such as Hotep, Ali Jaba, Marcus of Rome, Sir Longlance and Flying Stag (aka Super-Chief) of Earth-Two who each carried Immortal Man's jewel mirrored those Earth-One individuals as Prince Ra-Man of Egypt, Diabolu of Babylon, the Olympian of Greece,  the Wild Huntsman of Germany and Kirk Langstrom (aka Man-Bat).

• The original Immoral Man, Klarn Arg and arch-enemy Vandar Adg, existed during the same prehistoric era as mortal enemies. Klarn's ancient race on Earth-Two mirrored that of an ancient race on Krypton-One which predated Superman's own people. Originally the ruler of this people, when a meteor threaten his civilization the future Kryptonite Man ordered all save himself to be kept in suspended animation for twenty years to ensure salvation. However due to a malfunction, all save himself perished while he awoke centuries later. This was just prior to his home world self destructing, which he blamed on the current Kryptonians. Mutated by Kryptonite radiation from the space fragment he survived on for decades, Kryptonite Man fed himself from the storehouse found in the Seeders' ships. Seeking out Kryptonian survivors, he battled both Superman and Supergirl, a battled paralleled by Vandar aka Vandal Savage battling Superman and Power Girl a universe away. However, Kryptonite Man gave his life to save Earth-One from an invading fleet of Seedera, far more noble than Savage had been.

Forgotten Fluid Females Flipout

Dolphin and Sontag Heyna, women of the deep blue sea, briefly met members of the Justice League and Justice Society while on the surface.

On Earth-One, Dolphin's initial solo appearance led to her inclusion in the Forgotten Heroes on a few missions. On two occasions, she interacted with Superman and later with Aquaman, unable to ascertain her true origins. 

On Earth-Two, Sontag Heyna was leader of the anarchistic Citizen’s Committee opposing Princess Octavia, shortly after that princess had liberated Atlantis from the bad influence of Queen Clea. Sontag on this occasion faced Wonder Woman, who helped Octavia to vanquish this usurper.

Explorers of the Lands Down Under (not Australia)

The depths below hold as many potential mysteries as the skies above, yet relatively few have explorer this story-telling avenue in comics.

Previously we considered the lands of Skartaris and Mikishawm, and the men who journeyed there, Travis Morgan the Warlord and Mark Lansing soldier of fortune. There were others who proceeded them and perhaps encountered these same lands.

Famous spelunker Cave Carson recruited fellow explorers Bulldozer Smith and  Christie Madison to travel with him to the depths below, guided on their journey in his revolutionary digging machine into various adventures. Later they acquired Johnny Blake to round out their team. After eight documented,  Carson's squad met other notables of Earth-One including Superman and the team they'd later join, the Forgotten Heroes...then pretty much forgotten completely!

Cotton Carver himself was an explorer, eventually stumbling upon a subterranean world shortly before his contemporary Lansing traveled there as well. Soon Carver was joined by Deela, Red Mike and Jim Bent throughout the course of his  twenty adventures (documented in Adventure Comics in the early 1940's) in this strange new world below. As he fought in the same pages alongside Earth-Two's finest forgotten heroes Hourman, Sandman and Starman, its logical that he was originally from their world as well.

Aquatic Avengers Aid All: Sea Devils and Boy Commandos

Just to show that the Aquamen didn't corner the market on all Seven Seas, each of their Earths had a team of underwater agents protecting life above and below the ocean.

On Earth-One, it was Dane Dorrance and his Sea Devils team consisted of girlfriend Judy Walton, her younger brother Nicky and his pal Biff Bailey, Eventually, the acclaim of the Sea Devils led to the creation of the International Sea Devils including Sikki of India, Molo of Africa, Miguel of South America, Petey Eldidge and a lad named Brad from America. Their chief foe and begrudging ally throughout the seven seas was Captain X aka John Payton Dorrance, who was Dane's father.

Years later, the Sea Devils joined forces with time traveler Rip Hunter (along with his colleagues Jeffrey Smith, Bonnie and Corky Baxter) as members of the Forgotten Heroes of Earth-One.

As to Earth-Two, we had Red Torpedo aka Jim Lockhart operate solo with behind-the-scenes support of his fiancee Meg. Biff on this world was an assistant of Lance "Captain Triumph" Gallant. During their adventures, Torpedo journeyed throughout the seven seas saving the world below, while encountering a fascinating array of awesome life forms such as the Femazons, while battling his arch-enemy Black Shark several times. Eventually, he joined Uncle Sam's Freedom Fighters as they prevented the attack on Pearl Harbor to occur on Earth-X, although this cost Red Torpedo his life! 

Other Earth-Two scuba-divers who swam the same seas as Red Torpedo were the Boy Commandos, consisting of Andre Chavard of France, Alfie Twidgett from England, Jan Haasan from Netherlands, Tex and Percy Clearwater Poodle of America. Each of these members corresponded to a youth on Earth-One, in Nicky Walton, Jason Todd, Dan "Brooklyn" Turpin, Corky Baxter, Jonathan Ross and Bertran "Bug-Eyed Bandit" Larvan. 

Just as Nicky and Corky were junior partners on their respective teams, Jason was the second Robin trained under Batman as his sidekick, while Jonathan was the son of Superman's old friend Pete who quickly became the Man of Steel's unofficial sidekick. Meanwhile, Percy was more an annoyance as a junior reporter working alongside fellow Daily Planet reporter Jimmy Olsen, although he did tag along with the red-haired "Action Ace" on some of his adventurers

Additionally, there were substitute Commandos named Oklahoma, Bronx and Marconi Einstein Edison also from America. Another charter member Brooklyn was born Dan Turpin, of whom his Earth-One counterpart would be a famous Metropolis law enforcement officer. The Commandos' leader was Rip Carter, a time traveling adventurer like his cosmic twin Rip Hunter who repeatedly battled evil dopplegangers of Rip's pals Bonnie Baxter and Jeff Smith, the male and female criminal couple known as Case 13.

While the Forgotten Heroes and their forebearers the Sea Devils weren't as famous of their contemporaneous superhero teams of the Justice League and Teen Titans, while the Boy Commandos weren't as renowned as their contemporarneous superhero teams the Justice Society and Law's Legionnaires, these non-powered heroes were nonetheless necessary to keeping the peace on their respective Earths. And so, while many have forgotten them, we remember them.

Actions Aces of Africa: Congo Bill and Whistler Will

William Glenmorgan was a big-game trapper, explorer, and naturalist located in the interior of Africa of Earth-One. Under the nickname of "Congo" Bill, he had for years operated as an adventurer, in the forefront of dangerous scenes around the world though mostly in the safari, helping to save innocents time and again. During his first adventures, Bill was mainly associated with noted botanist Professor Kent and a chimp known as O'Toole, and when World War II erupted Bill revealed his participation in World War I as an air ace which meant by 1940 he was himself at least 40 years old. 

His counterpart was an international traveling freelancer known as Whistler Will, who alongside his pals Gunner Bill and Fog Fortune made up the aerial aviator adventurers known as the Three Aces. They likewise were involved in the War at the same time, only a universe away!

On Earth-One, Congo Bill eventually became employed with World-wide Insurance Company, and became the guardian of Janu the Jungle Boy who was a lad who lost his parents in the African Congo. Still later, Bill was given a ring by his old friend Kawolo which allowed him to transfer his mind into the body of Congorilla, a powerful golden simian. As Congorilla, Bill would have a few adventures on his own and later alongside the Earth-One Superman.

After this, Bill retired into corporate life, founding a business in sub-Saharan Africa with his now grown disciple, Janu who had returned from extensive education in America. Meanwhile, Congorilla was kept safely in Bill's care, seeming to not age a day. Eventually this brought him to the attention of the Immortal Man who recruited both the man and his furry alter ego to join the Forgotten Heroes and combat Vandal Savage as well as the so-called Forgotten Villains. After these cases, Congo finally retired leaving his protégé Janu to operate his now thriving business... while presumably Professor Kent had long since expired. Whistler, Gunner and Fog all disappeared in the mid-1940's, presumably killed during the War.

Tex Thomson had also encountered the means to transfer the human mind into a simian body when he met Doctor Kichung and his hench-apes including one specific one named Kyoto. Doctor Kichung was a similarly twisted genius from an Asian country who operated on the brains of his minions, placing them into bodies of apes such as Koyto and Yong. Soon after encountering these evil entities, Tex and his companions fled the scene in Asia were Kichung and Kyoto terrorized the locals, figuring these creatures were dealt with, which in fact seemed to be the case as they never were heard from again.

Whistler Will of Tex's world never came into contact with the means of transferring his mind into a simian as had his doppleganger or Tex. While William Glenmorgan of Earth-One had a long career, inside and outside of jungles, cockpits, and various settings around the world... William Glenmorgan of Earth-Two was a mere footnote in history by comparison.

However, one notable example of Whistler Will gaining modest notoriety was when he was seen pictured alongside fellow Action Aces Mister America, Vigilante, Superman and Zatara (on the cover of Action Comics #52). Given that Mister America was solely an Earth-Two character, while Zatara operated on that Earth during World War II when this was pictured, it is evident that the character on the far right who looks like Congo Bill is actually Whistler Will. As the other individuals pictured here were members of the All-Star Squadron, perhaps, Will also had some loose affiliation with this group.

Time Travelers of Twin Terras Triumph over Trouble

Time travel was a grand pursuit of individuals on both Earths One and Two. On Earth-One, Ripley "Rip" Hunter devised a time sphere along with his colleagues Jeffrey Smith, Bonnie Baxter and her brother Corky. Hunter as the "Time Master" along with his friends journeyed backward and forward in time several times. Rip Hunter's counterpart Rip Carter along with Carter's Boy Commandos, had their own unorthodox means of time travel. Both teams met several historic figures.

The Time Trust of Earth-Two consisted of Doctor  Swanley, Professor Everson, Professor Zee and Doctor Doome. This collaberation of scientists developed an experimental time ray which projected the Justice Society of America in the 30th century, whereby the heroes collected pieces necessary to devise a "bomb defense formula" that would protect America in the 20th century. Although initially this formula worked, the Time Trust's assistant Per Degaton sabotaged it to further his future schemes.

While the other Time Trust members left their own distinct marks on the history of the Justice Society of America, Degaton proved to have left the most indelible mark on the team. Three times, he attempted to alter history: first while altering history from 331 BCE Macedonia, next in December 1941 during the opening days of World War II and lastly in the Spring of 1942. Per battled the JSA a couple more times before a fourth failed chronal-caper led to Degaton’s death.

In place of Degaton’s forays versus the Society, another time traveling tyrant battled the Justice League of America in the same number of cases the Time Lord named Frand Mattar. This Lord of Time like his Earth-Two counterpart the Light (aka the Unknown) was tenacious, while Degaton and his Earth-One doppelgänger Brainiac Five of the Legion of Super-Heroes were equally so…on both sides of the law.

Professor Damon Everson assisted Earth-Two's Atom and his teammates of the Justice Society with his now improved time ray, as had Professor Alpheus Hyatt with his time pool during his long partnership with Earth-One's Atom and the Justice League. Everson projected members of the Society into past eras, to help Damon's assistant who had been tormented over his past. Hyatt used his small pool to extract historical items, unknowingly granting the diminutive Atom the ability to time travel with it.

Professor Malachi Zee developed a time machine that was stolen by his lab assistant Per Degaton on three occasions to employed various temporal schemes. Each was thwarted by the Justice Society, along with the All-Star Squadron and the Justice League. Decades later, a time-displaced Zee returned to identify his murderer before he died, in front of an assembled Justice Society. Seeing no alternative, Degaton took his own life rather than be returned to prison once more by his hated enemies.

A much kinder eventuality presented itself for Doctor Phineas Quayle who, unlike Zee, was not betrayed by any assistant as he kept his time traveling device secret. Using his time scanner to see future events, Quayle saw the collapse of society, blaming it on the presence of superheroes. To that end, he became the supervillain known as Doctor Anomaly. After a series of battles with the Justice League, when finally faced with defeat, Quayle projected himself into the future and self-isolated from mankind.

Doctor Wilfred Doome battled the Law's Legionnaires after his encounter with the Justice Society while with the Time Trust. Doome enlisted the aid of five historic tyrants to retrieve metals needed to refine his time machine. After his defeat, Doome retreated to the future and became Tibro, who fought the Earth-Two Wonder Woman. His twin was the Time Trapper, arch foe of the Legion of Super-Heroes in the 30th century and of the Super Friends in the 20th century. He first fought the Earth-One Wonder Woman as T.Y. Master.

Doctor Alvin Swanley had his death avenged when the Justice Society uses his time chute to track down the murder weapon and the man who used it against him. A competitor of Swanley Erik Pomar was jealous of Swanley's developments in temporal physics and sought to steal these while framing another man. After retrieving the weapon he used that had fallen through several past eras, the heroes brought Pomar to justice .

His doppleganger was Professor Mark Ronsom, a scientist who in 1942 on Earth-One developed the chronal transponder, and because of this became the target for Nazi Germany's Agent Axis. When Axis attempted to assassinate Ronson, he was thwarted by a visiting Wonder Woman from Earth-Two who used the transponder to save Ronson's life. Due to this, Mark became the Ravager, placed under the control of Agent Axis. The World's Finest Team of Wonder Woman with Earth-One's Superman, Batman, Green Arrow and Black Canary restored Ronson to normal and reset time.

In Earth-One's 30th century, it would be Brainiac Five and his allies in the Time Institute who would advanced temporal technologies in ways similar to the 20th century Time Trust. A version of the Institute existed in Earth-Two's 30th century with Jon Stannard's Space-Time Authority that worked with the Justice Society versus the Chameleon invasion.