Sons of Fire Meet Teams of Justice

Many costumed crusaders aspire to be among the few invited to join their Worlds’ Greatest Superhero Teams. For two young men, Ronald Raymond and Christopher Pike, they too different paths to arrive at the same destination. And with different results.

Ronnie Raymond was a student athlete who fell in with the wrong crowd, a group of criminals masquerading as activists protesting a nuclear power plant designed by Professor Martin Stein. When their sabotage caused the plant’s reactor to explode, Raymond and Stein were merged together, transformed into Firestorm the Nuclear Man. His brief heroic career, with Martin becoming a mentor to Ronnie, led to a team-up with Superman of Earth-One and his recommendation of Firestorm for membership in the Justice League of America.

Chris Pike excelled in academics and scholarly pursuits, inspired by the heroic examples of his childhood heroes, the Justice Society of America. He first joined his mentor Rex “Hourman” Tyler’s Minute-Men of America, where he worked alongside that team of Earth-Two’ teen titans on several cases. When this team dissolved, Chris joined the Junior Justice Society of Earth-Two in their adventures combatting the Injustice Society and the Crimson Claw Gang. Then, tragedy transformed him into Vulcan, Son of Fire!

The experience of joining the Justice League helped mature Ronald, as he developed a self-sacrificing attitude towards his fellow man and became the true hero Firestorm. The experience of joining the Junior Justice Society sadly did not have a lasting effect on Christopher, as he developed a self-loathing for himself and a deep-seated resentment towards his heroes, whom he attacked as the villain Vulcan.

While Firestorm's tenure with the League only lasted for a couple years, before the team was disbanded and then reassembled with a smaller roster in Detroit by charter member Aquaman, the effect his former teammates had on the Nuclear Man was profound. Both Ronald and Martin formed a lasting friendship, developed from their physical bonding spawned by the reactor incident. Firestorm would face and defeat scores of supervillains with powers as great and some greater than his own, relying on the adaptability and instinctive nature of Raymond and the analytical and reasoning nature of Stein.

Since his own mentor Hourman distanced himself from Pike and his former Minute-Men allies, Christopher began relying too much on his own analytical abilities without humbly acknowledging his psychological limitations. When madness gripped him while aboard an experimental spacecraft orbiting the sun, Pike's mind snapped and he slayed his fellow astronauts, while disabling the vessel carrying them across the solar system. Due to the timely intervention of an alien observer saving Chris’ life, Pike was transformed into Vulcan. Instead of appreciating this act of kindness, Pike adopted the alias of Vulcan and became a foe of the Justice Society, later joining the Secret Society of Super-Villains!

The Brave and the Bold: Wildcats - Part 2

The next appearance of the Wildcat from Earth-One was in Mexico. Batman had been tasked with tracking down a smuggling racket, when he found just outside of Acapulco a young cliffdiver named Luis Mercado performing before a crowd. There, Bruce Wayne saw a would-be assassin aiming a rifle at the lad, and so Wayne as Batman dove into the crook... disarming him. Curiously, Wayne noticed a poster for boxing legend "El Tigre", which looked like his old friend Ted "Wildcat" Grant.

Attending a boxing match that evening, Wayne witnessed El Tigre felled by a combination by drugged water before his opponent El Machette could connect his fist with him. However, Batman swooped into the boxing ring, saving his friend from men trying to abduct him. With Luis beside him, Batman learned from the lad that Ted Grant and Mercado's father were close friends from their fighting days... with Ted joining his Mexican pal in retrieving the valuable ancient treasure of Choclotan. Before they could do so, the racketeer leader El Grande (Mister Big) and his henchmen killed Luis' father and left an amnesiac Grant for dead in the mountains, which Luis soon after found.

With Ted leading the way, Batman and Luis were accompanied by "Macho" Mercado's old boxing manager El Sordo into the mountains to retrieve the treasure. In the course of events, they learned that Sordo was El Grande, with Wildcat force to fight Grande's prize boxer El Buey. Overpowered, Grant (with his memory now recovered) was coerced into revealing the location of Choclotan, although he sent the thugs into a trap. Honoring his late friend's dying wish, Ted secured the treasure for a Mexican museum.

Around this same period of time, the Wildcat of Earth-Two was facing his own perilous trial, with Batman also present during that adventure. The alien invader known as Creator2 along with his minions sought to destroy Earth-Two, in order to build a new planet to the specficiations of his mysterious clients (a year later revealed to be the Buddak, evil counterparts to the Guardians of the Universe, that desired to make this area of space the center of their universe as was Oa in Earth-One's realm).

Those minions attacked Superman, Doctor Mid-Nite and the Flash... disabling each of them temporarily. The remainer of the Justice Society were called into an emergency meeting which included honorary members Batman and Wildcat, although neither actively participated in this case which was quickly resolved thanks to their fellow members.

Around this period of time, this world's Ted Grant met the counterpart to Macho Mercado in the Mexican boxer Montez. He would likewise befriend that man and his family, and end up being the godfather to Mister Montez's granddaughter Yolanda. Yolanda later used her mutant feline abilities under the alias of the second Wildcat, after Ted became disabled during the Crisis on Infinite Universes.

Midnight Marauders: Doctor Gordon Meet Doctor McNider

Two doctors scarred by tragedy, claimed by the night, casting long shadows of legacy. Doctor Bruce Gordon and Doctor Charles McNider were geniuses in the field of light, mastering it despite being impaced by disabilities that led to their costumed careers. One was a craven criminal, the other a courageous crimefighter.

Doctor Bruce Gordon was infected while visiting a South Pacific Diablo Island. There he confronted a misguided local priest named Mophir, who cut the doctor's flesh with a black diamond before perishing to his death. This infection caused Gordon to transfer him into an evil persona of himself named Eclipso during each eclipse, whether a natural or an artificial one. This led to a new supervillain who terrorized the world, opposed by his alter ego.

Doctor Charles McNider sustained permanent injury to his optical nerves following an explosion during a surgical procedure he was performing. After this, he learned that he had the ability to see in darkness when an owl crashed through his home's window. Devising infra-red goggles allowing him to see in daylight, while his own vision adapted to grant him sight in total darkness, Charles developed weaponry for his costumed career as Doctor Mid-Nite. 

Utilzing the black diamond as a weapon, Eclipso could cast frezzing darkness when positioning the dimaond in front of his eclipsed left-side eye, while emit devastating beams of light when cast over his normal right-side eye. To combat his adversarial alias, Bruce equipped his friend (and later himself when he and Eclipso separated into two individuals for brief periods) used light flash grenades and ulta-violet weapons to revert the villain back to his domant state within Gordon's body.

In addition to the Doctor's grenades which caused the blackout mist, he later devised a cryotuber that shot devastating laser beams, freeze rays and paralysis fields. This device was instrumental in some of his adventures during the 1960s, although he later retired his cryotuber for some unknown reason.

Interestingly, during a teamup between the Justice League and Justice Society, an alien entity known as Creator2 led his minions into battle versus the Society in order to obtain Earth-Two. This malefactor's plan was to destroy that world, paving the way for another to replace it. As each of his henchmen attacked individual members of the Society, one cornered and captured Doctor Mid-Nite in a specialized immobilization net. As had happened with the Doctor's teammates Superman and the Flash, who likewise were captured which inadvertently caused their Earth-One doppelgängers to also be paralyzed in their own universe, a similar thing happened with the Doctor. However, in this instance, it was Mid-Nite's "closest Earth-One equivalent" the Batman who felt the effects. Why not Eclipso?

In an earlier tale, Batman confronted Eclipso several stories above ground outside a skyscraper. However, a flash light grenade employed by Bruce Gordon below the two men caused Eclipso to revert into his phantom form, which passed downward through Batman’s body below him, before reentering Gordon's body. This caused a portion of Eclipso's aura to surround Batman, in place of the aura the Batman possessed which was brought it to life to combat Doctor Double X (after this battle, the aura ceased to exist). 

Simultaneous to Creator2's invasion occuring on Earth-Two months later, Doctor Gordon had sent Eclipso and himself into another dimension outside of Earth-One's universe, ridding his world of his alter ego. Hence, Doctor Gordon was not on Earth-One when Doctor McNider on Earth-Two was immobilized by Creator2’s minion… resulting in Batman at that moment being the closest counterpart to Mid-Nite instead of Eclipso!

The counterpart of Doctor McNider's nurse and girlfriend Myra Mason was a future Myra Mason who assisted industrialist Rick Starr in both his business and costumed identities. This Myra was aware of Starr's alter ego as Space Ranger while they shared various adventures in the 22nd century of Earth-One. Myra Mason of Earth-Two never seemed aware that her boss and his masked manhunter alter ego were the same man, even when she played the role of a female Doctor Mid-Nite alongside other girlfriends of Mid-Nite's Justice Society of America.

* Apparently, Wonder Woman’s purple ray also gave Doctor Mid-Nite extended youth and longevity matching that of his Justice Society  teammates, who had their own lives extended by exposure to Ian Karkull’s radiation years earlier.

** Since the aura-duplicate of Batman self-destructed following his victory over Doctor Double X, this left a void around Batman later filled by the energy entity that was Bruce Gordon’s Eclipso.

Cookie-Cutter-Counterparts: Johnny Thunder

Although they look identical, even having the same first and last names, the two Johnny Thunders were anything but the same. On Earth-Two back in the 1940's, Johnny was the first recruit of the Justice Society of America, where he along with his Thunderbolt fought crime and even big time supervillains. Although he possessed tremendous power, his intellect was his chief liability. However, it was trumped by his drive to help his fellow man. Well, as long as he made a name for himself, at least. Then in the 1950's, Thunder retired to become the monarch of Badhnesia, the land he lived in as a little boy when their past leader kidnapped him.

In fact, the same thing occurred in the early years of Earth-One's Johnny Thunder, who grew up and followed an entirely different course life. Becoming a low-level criminal who led his own gang, when he first met his visiting and naïve counterpart, he saw the opportunity to steal his Thunderbolt and remake his native world as Earth-A with its Lawless League. However, before they could establish themselves as the conquerors of Earth-A, the Justice Society of America defeated both the League and its leader, who reset history so that these events never occurred.

Then, several years later it occurred that the good Johnny once more wanted to me his doppleganger, and traveled to Earth-One. Since neither Thunder remembered their last meeting, events unfolded as they had previously, only this time the evil Johnny recruited the Crime Champions to be his hired muscle rather than his own gang. However, his own carelessness led to his cosmic twin reversing all that Thunder had accomplished when he placed all of Earth-One's heroes into a coma and nearly vanquished the Society through his Champions. Left defeated once more, this time evil Johnny couldn't escape capture, and was left powerless, while good Johnny remained a member of the Society in good standing into his old age.

Heirs to the Greatest Golden Gliders

Charlie Parker and Edmund Blake were lads who aspired to soar the heavens as heroes. Their dreams led them to become part of the legend that was the Hawkmen of their worlds.

For Parker, an orphan who idolized Earth-One's Hawkman who was at that time off-world, accidentally gained the ability to transform into the Golden Eagle when his hero's arch-foe Matter Master had subconsciously desired to face his enemy again. Using his powers, Matter Master made Charlie a proxy for his adversary, and as the Eagle the youth aided the Justice League in defeating the villain. Soon after, Charlie was made an honorary member of the League, even though he lose his transform of costume and wings once its creator was incarcerated.

For Blake, it was due to his having a life threatening illness which became well publicized, and linked his admiration for the Justice Society... of which Hawkman was its chairman... to a source of psychological treatment. After utilizing a device to see all the tales that Edmund shared with individual members of the Society in the years to come, Edmund was inspired to come to that team's rescue when their lives were threatened. For this, he was bequeathed with honorary membership.

It was later revealed that Hawkman had given Charlie an extra pair of Thanagarian wings with an anti-gravity belt. The Golden Eagle briefly resumed his costumed career in California, joining the short-lived Teen Titans West before they and the main Teen Titans on the East Coast of the United States joined forces against Mister Esper.

As for Edmund, he was called upon decades after his honorary induction to the Justice Society to be a character witness in a Congressional trial, investigating spurious charges launched against the team by its late founder Batman’s diary. He has married the love of his life and settled down, although kept his ties to his teammates alive throughout the years.

Titans' Tenures on Terrific Teams: Boys Wonder

The former Boys Wonder carved a niche, and a legend, for themselves as the right-hand lads of the Batmen. Yet it was once they matured into men themselves that they showed their true potential. While Earth-One's Robin was an early participant in cases involving his mentor's allies on the Justice League, it was Earth-Two's Robin that as a seasoned veteran was awarded membership with the Justice Society of America. Earth-One's Robin joined Batman on cases versus the Key and the Lord of Time, as well as working alongside his counterpart on a joint case versus Solomon Grundy. Earth-Two's Robin first officially worked with the Society when he was recruited to help them versus the Black Sphere Gang... and later aiding them versus the Iron Hand, the Injustice Society, King Kull of Earth-S and the evil duo Brain Wave and Per Degaton.

Interestingly, each Robin joined other costumed crusders to battle the League and Society, when those teams were effected by the machinations of Antithesis and Psycho-Pirate. In the end, both Ex-Boys Wonder stepped out of the shadows... and into the light of legend amongst a cadre of their peers!

Titans' Tenures on Terrific Teams: The Wonder Women

The Amazing Amazon were the first and foremost female members of their parallel planets' protectors. On Earth-One, Wonder Woman was a founding member and continued working with the team until she lost her powers for a time, at which point she became an honary member of the Justice League of America.

On Earth-Two, Wonder Woman joined the Justice Society months after it was formed, and only then as its recording secretary. It would take years before her allies allowed her to participate in their cases actively, despite being among the Society's most powerful members! Still, both Amazons proved true assets for their teams up until, and even after, those groups had been dissolved.

Titans' Tenures on Terrific Teams: The Green Lanterns

Right from the founding of the Justice League and Justice Society of America, Hal Jordan and Alan Scott... aka the Green Lanterns of their respective worlds... were valued members of these teams.  Hal was always a fixture of the League up until its dissolution following the Martian invasion. For Alan, after his brief tenure as the Society's second chairman, he felt a need to take a leave of absence to become an  honorary member... due to his failure to save a boy's life at the hands of the evil Wotan. However, a few years later, Scott would reunite with the Society and through the years become one of its key members. Even though Hal was already affiliated with the Green Lantern Corps and Alan had joined the All-Star Squadron, both large organizations, it was with the League and Society where they truely felt at home.

Titans' Tenures on Terrific Teams: High-Flying Hawks

Although the Hawkmen were fixtures of their world's foremost fighters of felons, their histoies with these teams were different indeed. On Earth-One, Hawkman was the third member to be voted to the Justice League, after which he aided them until he and his wife left for their homeworld Thangar during a crisis there, though they returned shortly thereafter. After years of aiding the League on a few cases, Hawkgirl was finally elected as a member... of which her actual adventure were eratic at best. And on Earth-Two, its Hawkman was an actual founding member of the Justice Society of America, and soon thereafter became its third and then permanent chairman. His wife Hawkgirl aided the Society from time-to-time, although she was never considered for membership despite her occasional protests to her husband. When that team was revived years later, she at that point retired to raise their son Hector, although her husband continued to be the leader from then on.



Titan's Tenures on Terrific Teams: The Batmen

Although both Batmen were founding members of their parallel planets' prime protectors, their relationship with their allies was at times strained indeed. Months after the Justice League's founding, Earth-One's Batman found his niche on the team and was active throughout its various cases until an uprising in the nation of Monrovia threatened his old friend Lucius Fox. When the League wouldn't aid him in saving Fox, Batman left the team to form his own, the Outsiders.

His counterpart on Earth-Two had immediately chose to be an honorary member of the Justice Society of America, like his best friend Superman. After which, Batman only joined the team on cases involving Ian Karkull, the "Five Drowned Men" and the Society's attack on Nazi Germany which time erased. 

However, Batman, was more active alongside the All-Star Squadron, operating around the same time period. Although aiding the Society on one adventure to Earth-S, afterwards as Commissioner Bruce Wayne he allowed his vendetta (caused by the influence of Psycho-Pirate and the effects of his advance-stages cancer) versus the Justice Society to cause a war within itself. Later he wrote a disparaging diary which held clues to the reemgence of their old foe Per Degaton, and finally he gave his life to protect his allies against the machninations of Bill Jensen and Frederick Vaux... which showed that he like his twin had deep down cared for his fearless friends.

Titans' Tenures on Terrific Teams: Fastest Men Alive

As with their compatriots Superman, Batman and Green Lantern, each Flash was a founding member of his world's premier protectors. Barry Allen aka the Flash continued his association with the Justice League throughout its history, up until its dissolution following a Martian invasion. At one point, due to his inadverdent slaying of his foe Professor Zoom, the Flash was nearly evicted from the League, although they elected to keep him as a member. Still, he left shortly thereafter to be reunited with his wife in another century.

Jay Garrick aka the Flash participated during the first few cases of the Justice Society of America, being its first chairman, after which he takes of leave of absence to become the team's third honorary member. However, a few years later he returned and was hencforth an active member up until its dissolution in 1951, and rejoined it after it was revived a decade later. From then on, Jay was virtually inseperable from his Society comrades, even training a new generation of heroes.

Titans' Tenures on Terrific Teams: The Atoms

The smallest members of their respective rosters were sizable additions to their teams. Ray Palmer, known as the Atom, was the second new recruit of the Justice League of America after it formed... Al Prat, is world's Atom, was a founding member of the Justice Society of America. Nevertheless, once both Mighty Mites joined these teams, they were stalwarts, participating in several adventures with their allies throughout the years. When Ray's marriage dissolved and he found a new life in the Amazon jungle with a tribe of minature aliens, he left the League prior to its dissolution. Al was only beaten out of the most appearences with the Society by his best buddy Hawkman, though when his group reformed decades later Atom had himself retired to his own marital bliss.

Titans' Tenures on Terrific Teams: The Supermen

The Justice League and Justice Society of America were the template upon which all other superhero teams were based on their respective worlds. And the Supermen were the cornerstones of these titantic teams. Kal-El aka Earth-One's Superman was, like his counterpart Kal-L aka Earth-Two's Superman, a founding member of his Justice organization. In the beginning, Kal-El like his twin was an irregular particpant in the League's early adventures, although within a year he became more active and was an active member for several years until its dissolution after a Martian invasion. Kal-L, however, remained an honorary member after the Society's first adventure, only appearing alongside his allies in an official capacity twice more versus Ian Karkull and the "Five Drowned Men". Another case, lost in time, had Kal-L alongside his allies invading Nazi Germany, although this tale was wiped from history.

When the Society reemerged decades later, Kal-L participated in JSA cases involving Creator-2, Aquarius, the Freedom Fighters, the Injustice Society, Vandal Savage and the Secret Society of Super-Villains. Though not as visibile as his doppleganger Kal-El, it was evident that both men set the tone upon which their teammates followed...

Boy Sidekicks for Teams of Justice

Lucas Carr was born and raised in the ocean side town of Happy Harbor, where the alien invader Starro launched his conquest of  Earth-One from. Thanks to the lad's accidental discovery of the alien's weakness, lime, the Justice League of America defeated the villain and made Carr an honorary member. He was given a flying hot rod designed by the League, and over the years Snapper proved valuable more than once in assisting his teammates.

Sylvester Pemberton was the child heir to his father's fortune when he became inspired to adopt a stellar uniform and alter ego. When he was joined by his future chauffeur Pat Dugan, the pair became the dynamic duo known as Star-Spangled Kid and Stripesy. Dugan designed for them their flying car, the Star Rocket Racer. Soon after, they were both charter members of the Seven Soldiers of Victory.

Snapper fell into some bad association, first duped by a disguised Joker into revealing the JLA's cave headquarters and later assisting the Key in developing the villain Star-Tsar, Using stellar based technology, Snapper as Star-Tsar was a recurring adversary of the League, although his ultimate intention was to supplant the schemes of Key and another rogue named Mark Shaw, which with the League he was able to accomplish. Snapper eventually reconciled with the team once more.

Star-Spangled Kid was eventually liberated with fellow Soldiers from ancient eras they had been exiled, returning to the 20th century where he was given Starman's Cosmic Rod to embark on a new career, joining the Justice Society of America. He created a Cosmic Converter Belt that gave him star-based powers similar to technology created by Earth-One's Evil Star. Syl eventually created a new persona as Skyman with his new team, Infinity Inc. which operated out of Stellar Studios, once owned by Guy Pompton aka Earth-Two's Evil-Star.

Star-Tsar would later be revived by a coworker of Snapper, who stole Carr’s super-suit to use for his own crimes, before this new Tsar was defeated by Green Arrow. Around the same time, Stripesy’s counterpart on Snapper’s Earth, Leonid Kosar, became the Soviet Union’s sole superhero Starfire and later Red Star, Kosar and Carr never had opportunity to meet as had Dugan and Pemberton, although another stellar sentinel on the second Star-Tsar/Key.

Matchless Misters Make Marvelous Men

Scott Free and Terry Sloane were marvelous men indeed. Each of them were the pinnacles of human perfection and a match for their worlds' Batmen.

Free was the son of planet New Genesis lord, the Highfather, and was traded with the son of his world's arch-enemy in a peace deal. This led to his being raised in bondage on planet Apokolips, until alongside his future wife Big Barda he rose up against his adoptive father Darkseid. Arriving on Earth-One, he took up a career as a master escape artist and part-time superhero as Mister Miracle. He would be aided by his future wife, the super strong Female Fury known as Big Barda, the counterpart to Earth-Two's Marya aka the Giant Girl who like Barda had super-strength and was a member of a female fighting force, the Holliday Girls.

Sloane was a wealthy genius with superb athletic abilities, bored with life, until he was motivated by future girlfriend Wanda Wilson into adopting a superheroic career as Mister Terrific. This led to his membership in the All-Star Squadron and Justice Society of America of Earth-Two. His most steadfast partner would be girlfriend Wanda Wilson, counterpart to Earth-One's Adeline Wilson who was also like Wanda a capable assistant to a costumed vigilante... in Adeline's case Deathstroke the Terminator aka husband Slade Wilson.

Both Misters were Olympic level athletes, excellence with hand-to-hand defense, and could escape nearly any situation they faced. While Scott eventually found freedom from oppression from Darkseid, Terry perished at the hands of his old foe Roger Romaine after a lengthy costumed career.

Additionally, there were others who had their aliases. Thaddeus Brown, renowned escape artist and Scott's mentor, was the original Mister Miracle. And a lad named Shilo Norman would become Free's apprentice and assume his alter ego years later. Mister Terrific enlisted others to stand in for him and a villain adopted his alias later on.

Stellar Surnamed Superheroes: Starman

Thom Kallor was the son of astronomers traveling through space where their son was born. As such, he gained the ability to increase mass and density in order to increase the gravitational pull of an object. When he was 16 years old, Thom left his home behind and encountered a comet which temporarily gave him Kryptonian level powers as well. Joining the Legion of Super-Heroes as Star Boy, he would travel from his native 30th century to the 20th century where he met Earth-One's Supeeboy, his future fellow Legionnaire. Kallor eventually met and fell in love with another Legionnaire, Nura Nal aka Dream Girl. Throughout the years, the pair would be foundation members of the Legion through its various incarnations.

Theodore Knight was the wealthy heir to a fortune who had a hobby as an amateur astronomer. When his cousin Sandra discovered untapped inventions of her scientific friend Professor Abraham Davis, she introduced one of these to Ted in the form of the gravity rod which he was able to energized with cosmic radiation he tapped from his observatory. He became Starman and soon thereafter a member of Earth-Two's Justice Society of America. With that team, he journeyed to the 30th century in order to obtain the needed items for a bomb defense formula. Encountering that era's Defenders, he along with his fellow Socialites succeeded and returned to the 20th century.

Eventually, Ted married a woman named Adele Doris Drew and sired a son named David...and later a younger son in Jack. Years later, this Doris... different from Ted's early girlfriend named Doris Lee who had briefly adopted a Starwoman alter ego to aid her boyfriend and his Justice Society allies... died leaving her husband a widower. During this period, Ted would attempt to raise both of his sons however given his scientific nature he would often find that he had a disconnect with both of them. While David aspired to be like his father, Jack wanted to chart his own course in life. 

As for Thom and Nura, for a brief period of time Kallor was expelled from that team while defending Dream Girl from a jealous romantic rival. She left with Star Boy and together they were members of the Legion of Substitute Heroes. Eventually they would be readmitted into their original team. In their later years as Starman and Dream Woman the pair would ultimately marry in one alternate future. 

Mister Sandman... Bring Me a Dream

Dream research is among the most intriguing fields to pursue, as it taps into the hidden subconscious of humanity with its deepest desires revealed! For Garrett Sanford and Wesley Dodds, this curiousity led to their adopting colorful careers as costumed crimefighters. Sanford used his technology to enter the Dream Dimension and retrieve an important dignitary of Earth-One. The cost of this action was his being trapped therein except for a one hour per day, when he could return to home.

Wesley Dodds was an adventuring playboy who simply desired to combat evil in all its forms. Both men utilized sand that could put one to sleep, and each had terrific physiques and incredible zeal. While Wesley eventually joined Earth-Two's Justice Society of America, Garrett only assisted the Justice League of America on one occasion although it was implied they offered him an honorary membership given his unique circumstance. Both men helped lads, Jed and Sandy, to conquer their own personal nightmares and have peaceful lives in the end. Even if such wasn't the case for the Sandmen themselves.

The Batwomen of Gotham City

No analysis of Batman is complete unless we also investigate the BatWOMEN who share his city. There have been many who were his allies, but foremost among these on two planes of existence is Earth-One's Batgirl...

And another femme fearless tied to the Dark Knight but with her own unique costumed identity, Earth-Two's Huntress...

Both were highly intelligent women in their respective professions. In Batgirl's case, her civilian identity was that of Barbara Gordon, she started out as a librarian before advancing to a  career  in a public relations firm followed by the position of congresswoman for one term. Yet always, it was Batgirl that kept distracting her secular pursuits: 

For Helena Wayne, who was the Huntress' real persona, she was the junior partner of Cranston, Grayson and Wayne serving as an attorney. Eventually she was assigned to assist her on-again off-again boyfriend District Attorney Harry Sims in his office as legal representation. Which caused a great deal of conflict between the two:

Both ladies, daughters of the police commissioners of Gotham City, had to operate in secret lest they raise the ire of their fathers whom they dearly loved. And both women lost their mothers at an early age which caused them to become at times emotionally distant from others. 

Eventually they each assisted the greatest teams of their respective Earths, with the Huntress instantly becoming a member while Batgirl remained a friendly associate instead. Each lass battled prominent femme fatales early on...Batgirl versus Queen Bee and Huntress versus the original Huntress.

And both of our pointy eared gals has a thing for their own Robins, whom they dearly loved albeit on the sly and without a word spoken:

Earlier tales of Batgirl mirrored those of the tales involving another red-haired heroine, the Black Widow of Earth-Two. Unlike her Earth-One counterpart Lori Elton, who was the off-and-on again girlfriend of Barbara's pal Dick "Robin" Grayson, Dianne Greyton used her mutant ability to control insects in her Black Widow alter ego. While both Batgirl and Huntress had numerous stories concurrent with one another, the former retired from active adventures a few years later while the latter amped up her own heroic career.

There were other females, such as the two Batwomen named Kathy Kane, and the two original Bat-Girls, Betty and Elizabeth Kane... both sets assisted the Dynamic Duo in their earlier careers. None left quite the impact as these two ladies, however.

Maidens of Steel: Last Daughters of Krypton

In May 1959, Superman was no longer unique amongst his kind. A fellow Kryptonian joined him in the fight to protect the Earth, only this individual was his cousin... and a female. Kara Zor-El, the last survivor (well at least that's what she thought) of the floating remnant city of Argo from long extinct Krypton, was sent to cousin Kal-El's new home world to assist him in his crusade to protect the innocent using an array of superhuman abilities. She was quickly dispatched into an orphanage until she was adopted and raised to adulthood by the Danvers family, unaware of her secret identity.

In January 1976, the Justice Society of America was revived in a semi-monthly format, and along the way they decided to introduce an Earth-Two version of the Maid of Might. This Kara, last name Zor-L, was the last survivor of Kandor who was several decades younger than her cousin. How could this be, when Krypton was destroyed in the early 20th century of this universe? This would be a mystery that would be closely guarded until years later during a solo run of Power Girl's in Showcase. In the interim, she developed a distinctly different persona than that displayed by her Earth-One counterpart. While Supergirl was alwasy eager to impress and emulate her famous cousin, Power Girl slowly began to resent Kal-L for his seeming overbearing attitude. Perhaps this was due to the fact that the only other Kryptonians that he had met in the flesh had been U-Ban, Mala and Kizo who were three exiled evil scientists. Seeing Kara's independent disposition no doubt caused him some pause, yet regardless he brought her into his home to tutor the socially ackward gal alongside his wife Lois Lane Kent, who became like a mother to her. Supergirl's alias on Earth was Linda Lee Danvers, while Power Girl's was Karen Starr.

Early in their career both Karas met their world's respective Justice teams, and even aided them on their first official team-up with them in defeating to mental mutants... Despero and Brain Wave! While Supergirl preferred to remain a solo heroine, perhaps in part to help her define herself from Kal-El, Power Girl readily jumped in the fray and immediately tagged along with the JSA until she was soon thereafter accepted as Kal-L's replacement at his request! Supergirl herself was a vagabond of a hero, traveling to various locations including Florida where she was a guidance counselor and New York City were she was a soap opera star before her final nesting place of Chicago where she went back to college. Power Girl herself gained instant education thanks in no small part to a memory teacher that Wonder Woman allowed her to use on Paradise Island, which provided Kara with a solid computer programming foundation. She then joined a tech firm in Gotham City, working alongside her her buddy the Huntress, before moving to Metropolis to start her own company. She also on occasion operated in Los Angeles.

In addition, both Girls of Might joined two teenage teams, the Legion of Super-Heroes and Infinity Inc. after having been partly recruited by a couple of brainy guys, Brainiac Five and Brainwave Jr. However they only stayed attached to them on an honorary basis... after all these teams didn't operate in their locale... Infinity Inc. was on the west coast directly opposite Power Girl's home base of Metropolis while the Legion operated on the east coast... but in the 30th century!

While both blonde bombshells were deep down found of their cousins, there were times when they came to blows particularly when both Men of Steel temporarily lost their minds alongside their fellow JLA and JSA members. Each held her own. Years later, Supergirl learned that her parents Zor-El and Allura and survived in a type of Phantom Zone until she released them and they began to live in the bottled city of Kandor. Also years later, Power Girl's secret origin was revealed, as she had been sent from her planet at the same time as Kal-L although her vessel came equipped with two distinct components his did not possess: a suspended animation component and a virtual reality device. The former kept her from aging beyond twenty years while the latter allowed her to experience life on "Krypton", albeit a virtual reality construct of said planet. This included interacting with her fellow Kandorians (she had moved from Argo City as an infant) including Zor-L and Allura until her Symbioship vessel eventually brought her to Earth.

The Crisis on Infinite Earths proved to be a devastating experience for both women, as Supergirl perished in battle against the Anti-Monitor while Power Girl's history was wiped out as her planet merged with Earth-One. Still, their legends prevailed and each would return in her own distinct way to once more battle evil. And eventually meet, which they never had previously.