The Lost Love of Lucy Lane - The Loyal Love of Lucille Lane

We previously dissected how Lucy Lane of Earth-One had a long term relationship with Daily Planet photo-journalist Jimmy Olsen, while her counterpart Lucille Lane of Earth-Two found the love of her life in a man named "George Tompkins". Only George was an assumed alias for oil baron / geologist / adventurer Tex "Mister America" Thomson, a teammate of Lucille's brother-in-law Clark "Superman" Kent in the All-Star Squadron. Years after serving together on this team, the future brothers-in-law with marry the Lane sisters Lois and Lucille. As we'll see, Jimmy won Lucy's heart by disguising himself as a mustached brunette heart throb, like Tex*!

Tex realized after World War II, when he utilized various aliases to infiltrate Nazi Germany as one of its professional officers in order to subvert it, that he made many powerful adversaries. This was also true in his costumed career in the United States, when Tex as Mister America faced foes like the Gorrah, Queen Bee and General Ito. Now a retired hero and finding a woman to share his life with, Tex adopted the civilian identity of George Tompkins.

However, Lucille saw a gallant stylish man behind the disguise, and was captivated by George's "Tex" persona. Something similar happened with her doppelgänger decades later on a parallel planet in another universe.

Stewardess Lucy disguised herself as glamorous Sandra Rogers, secretly assigned by her employer to rate the efficiency of of the flight crew for her aircraft. Meanwhile, Jimmy disguised himself as stage performer Magi the Magnificent, in order to catch a legendary jewel thief aboard the same flight. Together, Sandra and Magi form a romantic bond that lingers past this adventure. After Jimmy as Magi captures the thief, he once again adopts this alter ego when he sees Lucy again disguised as Sandra. On this occasion, it was Lucy who was tasked with cornering a criminal, an individual who stole mail from airplanes. Again, Jimmy as Magi helped Lucy as Sandra capture their prey.  The two deepened their feelings for one another while feeling guilty at their unfaithfulness to each other's real identity!

On their third and final meeting, Jimmy decided to "kill" his Magi alias in an apparent drowning, when imminent nuptials were on the horizon. When Lucy discovered Jimmy's disguise trunk, with the Magi's wig and clothing, and realized he was really Jimmy. After revealed that she was really Sandra, Lucy accepts Jimmy's marriage proposal, only after their ceremony do the couple learn that the justice of the peace who married them let his license lapse. No longer officially married, the couple resumed dating but eventually split up due to their differences. Meanwhile, George and Lucille Tompkins started a family together!

Charlton Comics’ Other Action Heroes

On the parallel planet of Earth-Four, a terrific trio of troubleshooters appeared on occasion alongside Blue Beetle and Peacemaker. While this quintet never had a name, they may have been a precursor for the future Sentinels of Justice, of which Blue Beetle would be a future member. The original Sentinels consisted of another tremendous trio bequeathed with specialized garments which granted them amazing abilities. As to the origin of the superpowers on display by today's trio, whether these traits were inherent or augmented by sophisticated devices, is unknown.

When the aspiring young  inventor Jack Biceps adopted to alter ego of a supervillain named  Sinestro the Boy Fiend, he attempted to make a name for himself as protector for all criminals. Biceps was opposed by the two established action heroes, as well as newcomers Captain USA, Green Spider and Superguy. While never having appeared before, these three were apparently well known by their adversary, thus establishing their notoriety among the more publishized contemporareous costumed crusaders.

Captain USA had cosmic twins on Earth-One/Earth-Two who were  geologists/oil magnates Pete Ross and Tex Thomson. This pair were amateur adventurers, inspired by  Superboy and Superman, and for a time wore caped costumes as superheroes.

Pete of Earth-One and Tex of Earth-Two assumed the alter egos of the second Superboy and Mister America, respectively. While Captain USA seemingly had natural superhuman strength and the power of flight, Pete and Tex used their technological prowess to artificially replicate the abilities of the Supermen.

Superguy’s Earth-One/Earth-Two doppelgängers were Kara Zor-El/Linda Lee Danvers and Kara Zor-L/Karen Starr. These two heroines also known as Supergirl and Power Girl were the first cousins and secret weapons of their Earths’ Supermen during the same period of time, until they latter gained public notoriety. Superguy likewise was less well known than the Superman of Earth-Four, Captain Atom, of whom there was no known familial connection. 

Green Spider’s counterparts were the rogue vigilantes Black Spider and the Spider, dark reflections of the more noble Batmen. While those heroes operated in the Gotham Cities of Earth-One and Two, Green Spider’s base of operations was in Earth-Four’s Gothamville.

Although nothing is known as to their personal origins nor their civlian identities, each man possessed superpowers. Whether they had innate abilities or were technically enhanced, they appeared to be barely sufficient at holding this own versus an amateur antagonistic, his world's version of the twin Earth Flash’s’ foes Trickster and Gadgeteer.

The Boy Fiend was able to evade this quintet, a loss which Peacemaker and Blue Beetle recovered from but which this trio of amateur costumed crusaders apparently did not.  This is evident in the short term nature of Green Spider, Captain USA and Superguy's heroic histories.

Aggressive Attorneys and Avenging Americommandos

In 1977, the Freedom Fighters arrived from Earth-X, making the New York City of Earth-One their new home. Seeking a fresh start to their crimefighting careers, they were initially given special status by the city's District Attorney David Pearson. However, the sinister Silver Ghost soon after framed the Fighters, first blackmailing them into committing crimes for him and later by seemingly perishing at their hands. But was the Ghost really deceased?

From decades past, the once fictional Crusaders appeared in Pearson's office, requesting his authority to pursue the Freedom Fighters. Led by Americommando, the Crusaders included his sidekick Rusty, the undersea warrior Barracuda, and the flaming duo of Fireball and Sparky. Seeing the potential, D.A. Pearson authorized them to arrest the Fighters. Following a confrontation at Niagara Falls in upstate New York, the Crusaders' seeming victory over the Fighters swiftly turned to defeat. 

During the battle, Americommando's true identity as the Silver Ghost was exposed! Utilizing a device to supply temporary superhuman powers to he and his four comrades, his scheme to finally vanquish his old foes failed. Abandoning the Crusaders, who presumably lost their abilities, Silver Ghost would later enlist a different group to deal with his enemies... the Secret Society of Super-Villians.

In 1942 on Earth-Two, the original home world of the Freedom Fighters, a different Americommando likewise had a professional relationship with his city's District Attorney, D.A. Mahoney. With the aid of his best friend Bob "Fat Man" Daley and the mysterious Miss X (secretly Mahoney's daughter), Tex "Americommando" Thomson battled a variety of foes including the Gorrah and his Rat Men, two gigantic alien puppets, and the Purple Gang... as well as various racketeers and saboteurs. 

While the Freedom Fighters and their "Americommando" left Europe following World War II, this golden age Americommando was sent to Europe at the beginning of World War II. The Fighters battled other foes besides Silver Ghost and his Crusaders, including powerful action figures and metahuman native Americans. Eventually, these heroes (Uncle Sam, Ray, Black Condor, Phantom Lady, Human Bomb and Doll Man) left Earth-One for their home world once more, following their final defeat of Silver Ghost.

The Case for Why Pete Ross and Tex Thomson are Counterparts

Pete Ross first met Clark Kent when he and his family moved to Smallville, while they were both young teenagers. Undoubtedly, the move was prompted due to that town's increasing prominence, as the home of Superboy, as it grew during the lad's time there. Immediately, the two became best friends, with Pete feeling protective of the weaker Clark, not knowing that Clark was secretly more powerful as the Boy of Steel. During a camping trip, Pete would accidentally learn of Clark's dual identity, and helped to protect it from time to time. This included on occasion masquerading as Superboy himself!

Tex Thomson and his family never moved to Smallville on their Earth, as it only had a Clark Kent, no Superboy to cause the town’s notoriety to grow its population. Still, the two "Action Aces"... whose tales were chronicled in early Action Comics, would become teammates and later brothers-in-law as adults.

Pete and Tex were adventurous blonde haired young men with noble streaks and loyalty to those weaker then they. For Pete, this was Clark, and for Tex, this would be in the good natured Bob Daley. Both men became wealthy... Pete as a geologist and Tex as an oil baron. How did Ross gain a fortune from his profession, and how did Thomson strike it rich finding oil fields? The logical answer is that they were both petroleum geologists, at least initially. Once succeeding in this, they used their intuitive nature in other endeavors.

Both Pete and Tex were mechanically gifted, capable of developing and utilizing advanced technology. Pete was inspired by his uncle, a Scotland Yard inspector, to pursue detective work. This uncle very similar to a contemporary of Tex's in Europe, Inspector Erskine Hawkins, who tried to learn Superman's secret identity! Pete for a time had in his possession an anti-gravity belt enabling him to fly, Tex developed a mechanism within his cape allowing him to fly as well. Each had adventures both as inquisitive civilians and in their red caped aliases of "Superboy" and Mister America, they traded blonde for black hair... masters of disguise.

Their heroism was noticed and rewarded when they were invited into large organizations of powerful protectors, with Pete joining Superboy's team... the Legion of Super-Heroes as an honorary member, and Tex joined Superman's team, the All-Star Squadron. Yet while successful professionally, as well as superheroes inspired by the Supermen

When an alien armada kidnapped Pete's son Jonathan, who had some special intrinsic gifts that they... and the future Legion... knew was needed in space, Superman was convinced not to rescue the boy from his captors. This led Pete to use a device created by Lex Luthor, transplanting his brain into the body of Superboy from over a decade earlier, bringing him to the future to fight his former friend. When Superman defeated this hybrid Superboy with help from his pet and his younger self in Pete’s body, he had Ross incarcerated in a mental institution until he could save Jonathan, reuniting him with his dad. 

In one future timeline, Tex would likewise succumb to tragedy, when he was captured by Superman's arch-enemy the Ultra-Humanite, who then used Tex's body to contain his brain. When his latest scheme versus his adversary failed, Ultra-Tex used his political influence to become a leading senator of the United States, while in another possible timeline Pete was pushed by Luthor himself into becoming his Vice President of the United States. Neither political career lasted long.

Pete's son Jonathan was well known even before the lad’s alien abduction, as Superman confiding in the boy with his secret identity in order to save his life. Superman would eventually liberate Jonathan from his extraterrestrial captivity, returning him to Earth-One to reunite with his now sane father.

In the late 1940s, another lad much like Thomson appeared, fatherless and with the same sense of adventure. This lad, also named Tex, would join the Boy Commandos in 1947 and had several adventures with them. It is hypothesized that this was Tex Senior’s only son, who had been raised by his mother before joining Rip Carter's team during his young adulthood. Why his mother and father did not remain together is unknown, but possibly due to Tex Sr.'s adventures as a younger man.

However, once he returned from Germany in 1944 after his mission as Mister America aka the Americommando was complete, Tex legally changed his name to George Tompkins. This was probably due to having made powerful enemies in his civilian identity. Soon after, he met and married Lucille Lane, and they had a daughter named Susie. Tex and Lucille's daughter came to have various adventures* with their sister-in-law Lois and her future husband Superman before Lois and Clark married.

Pete and Tex had various similarities beyond their appearance. Each was a contemporary from the early days of the Supermen, each were avid and rich scientists, each utilized artificial flight to adopt red-caped alter egos, each joined the same teams of which the Supermen were themselves members, each were tied in brain-exchange schemes to adversaries of the Supermen, each were brief nationally renowned politicians, and each had heirs who carried on their heroic spirit.

* While the first published appearance of Susie was in 1943, a year before her father Tex/George returned from Europe, the date of this story would be a few years in the future.. given that Susie was still a young pre-teen girl when she had adventures with Mr. and Mrs. Superman in the early 1950s.

I Love Lucy: Said Jimmy Olsen and George Tompkins

A fascinating case study in how Earths One and Two diverged yet still mirrored one another is the example of the sister of Lois Lane. Or rather, each sister of both Lois Lanes. Each woman on the surface appeared to be exact duplicates, as were their famous siblings. But upon closer examination, the life choices of Lucy and Lucille resulted in different eventualities for these two members of the Superman Family.

The first to appear was Lucille of Earth-Two. Both were, at least as adults, brunettes... although it seems that Lucy had blonde hair that darkened later in life. Eventually, the Earth-One Lucy would bleach her hair blonde, and later had platinum blonde follicles. And it seemed that unlike Lucy, Lucille did not have 20/20 vision, as she wore prescription glasses. However, Lucy may also have had poor eyesight, and simply wore contact lenses.

The first time Lucy was shown was when cub reporter of the Daily Planet, Jimmy Olsen, met her. Learning that she was a flight attendant, Jimmy instantly fell for Lucy and hatched various schemes to sway her to him, including pretending to be a famous cowboy and an inventor. Despite his sincere feelings, Lucy could not reciprocate these, as she had a wandering eye. Besides this, she was resolved to never settle down and marry until first her older sister was married. This is the first main difference between the two Lane sisters, their ages relative to each Lois. Lucy's roommate was Lois. But who was Lucille's?

While Lucy was the second born of Sam and Ella Lane, Lucille appears to have been the first born of the Sam and Ella Lane of her world. How would we know this? Because she already had an adolescent child while Lois was still unattached. When Lucille first appeared, she was already a mother completely flustered with that daughter, Susie Tompkins. Although the name of Susie's mom had yet to be revealed, it was evident that this mother of Lois Lane's niece Susie was Mrs. Tompkins. Indeed, Lucille had met and married her George Tompkins in the mid-1940, shortly after her future husband returned to America from Europe where as Tex "Mister America" Thomson he acted as a spy against the Nazis during World War II (and changed his legal name, to protect his family*). Shortly after, George and Lucille had their daughter Susie.

And it was at this wedding that apparently Lucille met a much younger Jimmy, as she was Lois' maid of honor while he was Clark's best man. Given that she was already married and much older than Jimmy... while the Earth-One Jimmy and Lucy were about the same age... this and a future occasion, while celebrating Clark and Lois' anniversary, were the extent of their interactions.

Lucy never had time to marry, as she would adopt a secret identity as actress Sandra Rogers, and nearly married Jimmy's secret agent alter ego of Magi the Magnificent**. Later, while on an undercover mission, Lucy seemingly died in a  remote jungle, but was revived ... only to become an extremely aged woman. Although this process was reversed, the progressive damage done to her toxic relationship with Jimmy led to the couple finally, permanently, breaking up. Perhaps, if Lucy had met Pete Ross when both were young, they would have had the same romantic chemistry as had their counterparts Lucille and George "Tex" Tompkins. As such, Lucille made a career as a housewife and a mother, and Lucy transitioned from being a flight attendant to a nurse.

* There is precedent in the Superman Family for a family changing their legal name to protect its members from evildoers, as the parents of Earth-One's Lex Luthor changed their last name to Thorul. Lex's sister and the Luthor's daughter Lena Thorul became accustomed to this name as a young girl. Like Lena, Susie was unaware of her father's true family name until possibly later in life.

** Another example of how, just like Tex Thomson became George Tompkins, Lucy Lane became Sandra Rogers and Jimmy Olsen became Magi for a brief period.

Auburn Aggressive Antagonists: The Queen Bees

Marcia Monroe and Lissa Raven, seemingly ordinary auburn haired debutantes who caused a pair of caped crusaders quite a bit of headache and heartache.

Marcia was a spoiled young rich lady who attracted the attention of Earth-One's Batman due to her recklessness. Soon after, she started following him and they began a brief romance before she vanished. When she returned, she had adopted the alter ego of Queen Bee, and agent for the evil organization known as CYCLOPS. Her task was to free Eclipso, but when that villain threatened the life of Batman she sought to save her former boyfriend. Informing him that she turned bad as her father was kidnapped, Batman helped free him, after which Monroe vanished from Gotham City.

Lissa was the daughter of a renowned psychologist who developed a device that could remove a person's anxiety, Experimenting on herself, Raven turned evil and adopted the alias of Queen Bee. Using various high tech gadgetry, she came to the attention of Earth-Two's Mister America, who sought to stall her sinister schemes. After a series of confrontations, Mister America was able to reverse the process on Lissa. Returned to normal, she resumed her law-abiding ways.

While Marcia’s caper with CYCLOPS was her sole known appearance, another more famous version plagued the Batman and his allies in the Justice League. Queen Zazzala of the planet Korll sought out the serum to gain immortality, and was drawn to Earth-One when her bee men were defeated by the Justice League. Repeatedly using actual insect humanoids of her world, Zazzala had a more enduring criminal career than her Earth-Two counterpart Elmer “King Bee” Pane, and her sadistic and scientific side mirrored that of Lissa Raven, who likewise reappeared nearly half a dozen times to battle the Americommandos. 

Among the technologies Zazzala and Lissa employed as the Queen Bees were Zazzala's magno-nuclear rod and Lissa's phosphorous light effects. Zazzala also used size alteration and magnetism which effected others while granting her regained mobility, while Lissa's gigantic robot Vo-Kan and radium were among the tools she used. Additionally, sonics played a part in later schemes, with Zazzala manipulating Sonar and Lissa recruiting a false Pied Piper. Their medical conditions drew these ladies to madness, with Zazzala's exposure to an immortality serum that paralyzed her and Lissa's exposure to a personality altering ray which turned her evil.

Fawcett's Finest: Mustached Manhunters

Mustached manhunters marvelously march against malevolent madmen. That pretty much incapsulated Earth-Two's Mister America and Earth-S' Zoro the Mystery Man. While the masked Tex Thomson of Earth-Two wielded a whip while in his costumed identity, Zoro used a sword cane during his unmasked escapades. While Mister America had a cape to help him fly and a sidekick named Fatman to aid him versus adversaries, Zoro had his sportscar to carry him to-and-fro and a sidekick that was a cheetah to irritate his enemies. Although these two operated solo throughout their careers, they earned the respect of their fellow mystery men who appreciated their tenacity and talents.

On Earth-One, it would be Pete Ross, a wealthy geologist who in the days of his youth adopted the alias of Superboy to secretly protect his best friend. Unlike his counterparts on Earth-Two and Earth-S, Pete only briefly colored his hair black during the few occasions he impersonated a young Superman, and similarly only had the same limited number of adventures as a costumed crusader. However, like Tex and Zoro, Pete was an invaluable ally and protector of the innocent, as well as having the same athletic abilities and analytical acumen as his doppelgängers.

While Pete and Tex each had numerous appearances throughout the years, Zoro was only active for a couple of years, from August 1940 until January 1942. During that time, beside displaying his physical skills and his superb animal training of his pet Cheeta, Zoro could also somehow project mental illusions and make himself seem to vanish. He also displayed an aptitude of tracking down criminals and helping to prevent crimes. 

As Ross and Thomson were primarily scientists, with an emphasis on geology where they made their personal fortune in discovering oil deposits, it seems Zoro's natural aptitude was more towards the performing arts. Despite their varying fields of secular endeavors, all three men were united in their adventurous aptitude and self-sacrificing spirit towards their fellow man.

Whether Zoro ever personally met his world's greatest superhero, Captain Marvel, is unknown, as he may have perished during World War II during his global travels before having such as opportunity. He definitely never had as close and familial a relationship with his Earth's mightiest man, as had Pete and Tex. Ross was Clark/Superman's earliest best friend and the godfather of his son Jonathan; Thomson in his assumed identity of George Tompkins was Clark/Superman's brother-in-law through his wife Lucille, the sister of Clark's wife Lois (Lane). 

Still, Zoro and Cap would have had a mutual respect for one another's heroic spirit and self-sacrificing disposition, which they both shared.

Fawcett's Finest: All-Stars of the Golden Age

The largest assemblage of superheroes in the Multiverse is probably Earth-Two's All-Star Squadron, even larger than Earth-One's 30th century Legion of Super-Heroes. Operating in the 1940's, during the period of World War II when protectors of freedom were necessary, this group included such teams as the Justice Society of America and Law's Legionnaires. A variety of costumed crusaders from diverse backgrounds possessing different abilities meshed into a cohesive unit of mystery men.

While Earth-S never had opportunity to bring together its various superheroes, they nevertheless existed and were brought together as smaller units, such as the Squadron of Justice, Crime Crusaders Club and Marvel Family. Still, most of these vigilantes worked solo without interacting with fellow masked men. Sharing similar careers, abilities, fashion sense and other aspects with their cosmic twins, these second-stringers in the Fawcett staple of characters nevertheless earned a degree of respect among their more prominent peers. There the bright boys, monstrous manhunters, device dogooders, back-word bidazzlers, ranked raiders, heroic hispanics, trick teens, power princesses and mustached marauders.

Superman Family: The Blonde Caped Crusaders

During the early days of Superboy of Earth-One and Superman of Earth-Two, a pair of courageous blonde hair troubleshooters joined them in their crusade against crime, and each would eventually adopt costumes similar to the Boy and Man of Steel.

Superboy's childhood pal Pete Ross, was the nephew of a revered Scotland Yard inspector of Earth-One, following in his footsteps in helping uncover mysteries and helping the oppressed. Pete learned of Clark's secret, while witnessing his transformation during a camping trip. As such, Pete had on several occasions assisted his buddy by creating distractions that allowed Clark Kent to become Superboy. This led to Ross being invited to the Legion of Super-Heroes as an honorary member. He even masqueraded as Superboy on occasion such as to protect him from his Revenge Squad. On another occasion, Pete gained the powers of his pal due to the machinations and manipulations of young Lex Luthor, while Superboy was left temporarily powerless.

At the same time that the Superman of Earth-Two appeared for the first time, protecting the citizens of Metropolis, another hero debuted half a continent away. This was the wealthy young oil baron known as Tex Thomson, who found himself battling various threats around the world. He would eventually be accompanied by his pal Bob Daley, and after a couple of years both decided to became masked men. Tex became first Mister America and then  the Americommando, while Bob became Fatman. This new identity necessitated Tex dying his hair black to complete his disguise as well as creating a special mechanism within his cape allowing him to fly. It was around this time that Mister America met and worked alongside Superman, as both were members of the All-Star Squadron.

Pete's son Jonathan later learned of Superman's alter ego, and had a few adventures alongside him when learning of his dual identity. When aliens kidnapped Jonathan, there was strain between the two men as Pete resented the fact that Clark didn't protect his son. Using a device created by Lex Luthor, Pete transplanted his brain into the body of Superboy from over a decade earlier, bringing him to the future to fight his former friend. When Superman defeated this hybrid Superboy with help from his pet and his younger self in Pete’s body, he had Ross incarcerated in a mental institution until he could save Jonathan and reunite him with his father. 

Tex's older son Tex Jr., who had been raised by his mother, ended up joining the Boy Commandos in the late 1940s. Meanwhile, Tex Sr. returned from his spy mission in Europe during World War II, and legally changed his name to George Tompkins*. Soon after, he met and married Lucille Lane**, and together the couple had a daughter Susie who had several adventures in the late 1940s and early 1950s with Lucille's sister Lois and future brother-in-law of Superman. The former All-Star Squadron teammates Mister America and Superman were now brothers-in-law George "Tex" Tompkins and Clark Kent, cementing their relationship.

* There is precedent in the Superman Family for a family changing their legal name to protect its members from evildoers, as the parents of Earth-One's Lex Luthor changed their last name to Thorul. Lex's sister and the Luthor's daughter Lena Thorul became accustomed to this name as a young girl. Like Lena, Susie was unaware of her father's true family name until possibly later in life.

** Another example of how, just like Tex Thomson became George Tompkins, Lucile's Earth-One counterpart Lucy Lane adopted the alias of Sandra Rogers while her beau Jimmy Olsen briefly went by the alias of Magi the Magnificent.