Cosmic Converter Creating Costumed Crusaders

Along with the emerald batteries and their respective power rings, another pair of items that harnesses vast energies was created that rivaled these. The first was a star-band devised and wielded by a scientist adopting the alter ego of Evil Star. The second was a cosmic-converter belt developed and worn by Sylvester Pemberton aka the Star-Spangled Kid. Both channeled cosmic energies, allowing their owners to create objects from solid energy along with various other effects.

While Evil Star of Earth-Two didn't have access to the technology of his Earth-One counterpart, he was connected to the man who was, as Pemberton was not only a scientist capable of making the belt but also a financier of Stellar Studios. The original Evil Star's civilian alter ego was Guy Pompton, owner of Ace Movie Rental Agency, which provided movie props for several Hollywood studios including Stellar Studios. A movie script outline the criminal activities of Evil Star and his underworld associates, which Pompton sought to surpress when Stellar Studios sought to make a movie based on it. This led to Evil Star battling with Green Lantern and his allies in the the Justice Society of America. Decades later, Pemberton exercised his ownership right over Stellar Studios.

The later Evil Star was a frequent foe of his universe's Green Lantern, from the planet of Aoran. He sought immortality from the stellar energy, harnessing the Star-Band device he invented. However, a side effect transformed the once benevolent scientist into a malevolent menace to his family and the people of his world, watching gleefully as he remained young while his wife and children advanced into old age. The effects of wearing the Star-Band for years resulted in only Evil Star and his artificial Starlings remaining as the sole inhabitants of the planet of his birth.

Despite Evil Star's star-band having greater functionality than Lantern's ring, he was defeated in each of their encounters. Star-Spangled Kid's Cosmic Converter Belt was based on the technology developed by astronomer Ted Knight from his alter ego Starman's Cosmic Rod. Whether the Kid's Costmic Concevter was likewise more versatile than his Justice Society teammate Green Lantern's power ring is unknown.

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Continuing thru April 2025 - #JSApril! Celebrating 85 years of #DCComics JUSTICE SOCIETY OF AMERICA, the world's first greatest superhero team! Join over 40 podcasters bloggers as we honor our favorite heroes! Info participants:

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Space Stories & Stellar Sagas: Dynamic Duos & Problematic Pairs

On Earth-Three the roles are reversed from those on Earths One and Two, where superheroes there are supervillains, and visa versa. For instance, the counterparts on that world of the Justice League and Justice Society are the Crime Syndicate, while the noble doppelgänger of the Luthors on that planet is Alex Luthor, Earth-Three's only superhero (not counting the Rogue Hunters, opposite of Flash's Rogues Gallery, who were actually amoral bounty hunters who opposed the Syndicate).

However, there are some instances where a pair of protectors on Earth-One were devious duos on Earth-Two, with the reverse also being true of others. One examples of this were heroic Space Ranger and his shape-changing sidekick Cryll on Earth-One's future, and the villainous Saturnian Duke Saturno and the Duke of Deception's Martian shape-changer of Earth-Two's past. Another was the legendary lawmen Star-Spangled Kid and Stripesy, and the obstinant opponents Star-Tsar and Starfire/Red Star... all four men possessing mechanical and engineering aptitude allowing them to devise gadgets to aid in their costume careers.

While the Kid and Stripesy had length careers working alongside one another, this was also the case for Space Ranger and Cryll. Some other parallels between the two dynamic duos is their stellar themes, the leader is a wealthy young industrialist equipped with a flying vehicle, assisted by adaptable and strong sidekicks.

As for the other four, Saturno and Deception’s mimic minion worked separate as had Tsar and the Jailer, each pursuing their own criminal capers (although Tsar’s alter ego Snapper Carr had a longer career as an honorary member of the Justice League, both before and after he had betrayed them to the Joker and… later… the Key).

Sensational Studios Starring Stellar Superhero

The "big five" movie studios of the golden age in Hollywood California were Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Paramount Pictures, Warner Brothers, RKO Pictures,  and 20th Century Fox. This quintet dominated the movie industry during the period of the 1930s and 1940s. On Earths One and Two, there were two others who grabbed the attention of masked marauders, both good and bad. These were Verner Brothers Studios & Stellar Studios.

Frank T. Fanum founded Stellar Studios, and by 1948 they were one of the renowned studios in Hollywood (although physically just outside of the actual city on Earth-Two). At that time, a masked man gave Farum a portion of a script for their latest blockbuster Thief in the Night, and another man named Evil Star was threatening the studio as the script might possibly expose his criminal rackets. After battling various henchmen, the Justice Society eventually confronted their leader, and exposed Evil Star as Guy Pompton, owner of  a movie prop store that Stellar Studios used.

Decades later, Star-Spangled Kid along with his fellow Seven Soldiers of Victory returned to the 20th century following their battle with the Nebula Man, and the Kid discovered that his inheritance as Sylvester Pemberton included ownership in Stellar Studios. Reclaiming it to produce future movies, he hired various young superheroes as Infinity, Inc. to act as local protectors, in an agreement with Los Angeles to reopen the studios on land they owned.

On Earth-One, owner Jock Verner and his brother founded Verner Brothers Studio, and in 1984 he hired professional stuntman and special effects expert Daniel Cassidy to create the title character for the Blue Devil movie. While wearing his prototype suit, Cassidy melded with it while battling an other-worldly creature. From this point, the superhero Blue Devil faced various threats that seemed to gravitate towards him, as Cassidy was a "weirdness magnet".

Heinous Henchmen Help Hooded Hoodlums

Professor Zoom aka the Reverse Flash and Captain Cold had numerous capers, which brought them into conflict with the Flash of Earth-One and his Justice League allies. Likewise, Sargon and Star-Spangled had scores of adventures alongside their colleagues in the All-Star Squadron, including the Flash of Earth-Two. But their counterparts on each others’ Earth only appeared a few times. This would be compensated by their similarly empowered henchmen.

Saigon’s doppelgänger Mister Element had his key lieutenants named Argon, Krypton, Radon, Xenon and two others. Zoom’s cosmic twin the Rival had a handful of hoodlums with superspeed powers like his and the Professor. Cold’s counterpart Icicle had similar clad henchmen, while former Justice League honorary member and Star-Spangled Kid analogue Snapper “Star Tsar” Carr had his stellar themed gang.

These thugs severed as proxies for the original rogues, and compensated for the deficiency of appearances which their bosses had compared to their correlating counterparts on the alternate Earth.

Stellar Students and Irritable Inventors

The greatest Dynamic Duo in history is easily Batman and Robin. However, there are the great…and not so great… pairings of both heroes and villains. One such colorfully collaboration on Earth-Two was Sylvester Pemberton was brilliant school student and wealthy child protégée, while Pat Dugan was an inventive mechanic and brilliant automobile designer. When they were each inspired to follow the trend of becoming costumed crusader, Syl became Star-Spangled Kid and Pat became Stripesy. When they both met and dealt with Nazi saboteurs, they began adventuring together as well as becoming members of Law’s Legionnaires (aka Seven-Soldiers of Victory) and the All-Star Squadron.

Years later on the alternate world of Earth-One, school student  Lucas “Snapper” Carr became an honorary member of the Justice League after helping them defeat Starro the Starfish Conqueror. Later during a battle with the Royal Flush Gang, Snapper as the Joker absorbed radiation from the stars which empowered him. On one occasion, the Key mentally controlled Snapper and used him as a pawn against the League. This tactic failed, yet years later the Key reached out to Snapper once more, offering him technology and an alter ego they could share to obtain revenge against the League which they both felt wronged them. The now disenfranchised Snapper Carr and malevolent.mastermind the Key assumed the alter ego of Star-Tsar, and fought the League until Carr switched sides and his former allies overcame the Key’s snares.

Cosmic counterparts Star-Tsar Snapper and Star-Spangled Kid were each allied with irritable inventors. Although the  counterpart of Stripesy, the Russian superhero known as Starfire/Red Star, never met nor worked with Snapper/Star-Tsar, another star-themed partner on Stat-Tsar-Key did. Because it was a supervillain and a superhero sidekick, the Key and Snapper quickly parted company, the Kid and Stripesy formed a partnership that lasted for years and a friendship that endured for decades.

An analogue to the Star-Spangled Kid and Stripesy partnership on Earth-One was another stellar superhero and sensational sidekick hundreds of years in the future. This terrific twosome, wealthy technologist Space Ranger and his shape-shifting sidekick a full, defended their future era.

What If: There Was an Earth-One Infinity Inc.

Earths One and Two have teams that are quite alike, such as the Justice League and Justice Society, the Injustice Gang and the Injustice Society, not to member a Secret Society of Super-Villains. Each world has a Dynamic Duo, a World's Finest Team, Ace Archers and the like.

Yet there are also distinct groups on each parallel planet, such as the Teen Titans and the Blue Boys, each unique. But imagine if Infinity, Inc. had a team like the Forever People, but composed of the next (and a couple previous) generation of superhumans:

Instead of Wonder Woman's daughter Lyta aka Fury, it was Wonder Woman's twin sister Nubia. Tempest replaced Northwind. Swap out one tall redhead in Nuklon for another in Big Bear, and one stellar stud in Star-Spangled Kid for Snapper Carr's Star-Tsar. An inventive adventurer in Daniel Patrick Cassidy aka Blue Devil who replaced Hector Sanders Hall aka Silver Scarab. A pair of Green Lanterns in Arisia and John Stewart were inserted where Jade and Obsidian would have been. Brain Wave Junior's mental equal in the Omega Men’s Primus could fill in for him. And then, of course, the World's Finest Females, Batgirl and Supergirl, would be the team's dynamic duo in place of Huntress and Power Girl!

Imagine the team dynamics of this version of Infinity, Inc. on Forever People's Earth!

Fantastic Four Supports Seven Soldiers

Shortly after an their adventure alongside the Justice Society of America, wherein they assisted them in recovering their fellow All-Stars missing since the golden age of mystery men, the Justice League returned to Earth-One. That is, all save three Leaguers who remained on Earth-Two, who were tasked with what Hawkman said was: “helping the Seven Soldiers adjust to the world of the present”! Why?

In the early 1950’s, the Seven... also known as Law's Legionnaires, gathered together for one final case as a group. On that occasion, atop the Himalayas, they along with their unofficial eight member Wing, battled the Nebula Man monster. Assembling a Nebula Rod that destroyed the create, a side effect was Wing's death, while his teammates were sent to various past time periods. From these eras, various members of the JLA and JSA retrieves the Legionnaires, bringing them back to the 20th century although decades after they disappeared. Thanks to their reappearance, the Soldiers were able to save Earth-Two!

Undoubtedly, the Society also aided the Soldiers in their transition from the 50’s to the 70's. However, those three Leaguers: Aquaman, Atom and Black Canary; these three had special purpose that necessitated their temporary presence in that alternate universe.

At least one of the Soldiers was given one-on-one assistance by a Socialite, as Starman took an immediate interest in his fellow stellar superhero, Star-Spangled Kid. In fact, when he later broke his leg, Starman lent the Kid his Cosmic Rod to use. And it would be this device, along with his knowledge of the Nebula Rod, that helped the Kid create his Cosmic Converter Belt.

The Legionnaire known as Shining Knight would have little difficulty readjusting to a new decade, as he had previously experienced a frozen sleep that lasted over a thousand years removed from his native time in Camelot. He and his flying steed Winged Victory simply acclimated to yet another new time period.

Apparently, although sent to save Star-Spangled Kid from the prehistoric past, something drew Aquaman's attention toward the Legionnaire referred to as the Vigilante. Perhaps with his telepathic abilities, the marine marvel was able to perceive some melancholy in the cowboy crusader. One thing they both had in common were beloved sidekicks who were surrogate sons, that they had grown distant from. While the emotional rift between Aquaman and his young partner Aqualad eventually mended, at the time of this tale it was still a fresh wound.

And if history parallels on both Earths, then this Vigilante would soon discover the tragedy that befell his sidekick Stuff. On Earth-One, after that Vigilante returned from a mysterious years-long absence, he learned of the death of his world's Stiff., who had been murdered by his arch-enemy the Dummy.

Honorary League member Metamorpho would have had a positive influence on Stripesy, the senior partner of the Kid. The Element Man would no doubt encourage Stripesy into settling down into a normal life and get married, something Metamorpho longed to do if ever cured from his inhuman condition. Stripesy later mentioned that he retreated into a new life with a wife and son on the other side of the United States... retiring from heroics… something he wasn’t inclined to do before meeting his new League acquaintance.

The Atom had first encountered Legionnaire Crimson Avenger in ancient Mexico, when the hero was under the influence of a fragment of the Nebula Man. Radiating with power from the radioactive rock, Crimson Avenger had battled Atom as well as Elongated Man and Doctor Fate, until they defeated him and he regained his senses. However, there was undoubtedly a concern as to the physical effects of Avenger's close proximity to the alien substance, which Atom sought to investigate using his scientific knowledge and experience with dangerous white dwarf radiation.

And indeed, his concern was borne out, as the Crimson while traveling the world as Lee Travis, discovered he now had cancer. With time running out, he resumed his costumed career for one final adventure. Sadly, if Atom discovered the root cause, he was unable to prevent the resulting effect.

And finally, there was Black Canary, a native of Earth-Two. She would perhaps feel inclined to help Vigilante, whom she helped save from the old west. However, she would've instead sought out the Legionnaires' ace archers, Green Arrow and Speedy. And given her recent history with her adopted world's versions of the pair of bowmen, one can see why this is a logical choice for her.

Throughout the years, the romantic relationship between Canary and the Earth-One Arrow usually involved her being the voice of reason, given his stubborn and opinionate point of view on life. This made him a better man, and would carry over with his adopted ward.

That ward, Speedy, had succumbed to drug abuse and addiction, despite having a storied career alongside his mentor and as a member of the Teen Titans. Canary in her Dinah Lance identity helped the lad recover over time.

Now on her home world of Earth-Two, Dinah saw a more mild and reserved Green Arrow, and a very frightened Speedy given his experience in ancient Greece when he temporarily lost his grip on humanity. 

She seemed a stabilizing influence, as the pair retired to reclaim their lives as Oliver Queen and Roy Harper. While the Earth-One Oliver and Roy had lost the fortune that supported them, causing them to live more modest lives and persist in their masked escapades... this wasn't the case for the Earth-Two pair. Those two ex-Legionnaires never acclaim resumed their more famous alter egos, aside from the occasional reunion with their teammates and during the Crisis on Infinite Earths.

Although Roy felt torment later during the Crimson Avenger's funeral due to their displacement in time, he did not revert to substance abuse as had his cosmic twin. Instead, he dealt with the harsh realities life had presented him with. The Teen Titan Roy, also at a funeral, felt some indignation for the abandonment of his former guardian Oliver, and would once more become Speedy in order to prove that he had regained control of his life once more.

Kara's and the Kids: Supergirls and Stellar Studs

Kara Zor-El began her caped career in secret, training under her famous cousin Kal-El. During this period, she joined the 30th century Legion of Super-Heroes to experience working side-by-side with fellow teens. However, given the special trips she needed to make a thousand years into the future, she was only a part-time member, and so was essentially a loner even after she revealed herself as Supergirl to her new world of Earth-One in her native era.

During the same period of time, Lucas "Snapper" Carr was made an honorary member of the Justice League of America. After years as that team's mascot, he grew disenfranchised at being looked down upon, and she so adopted the stellar powered Star-Tsar. After a brief criminal career, Carr decided that make amends for his actions by becoming a research assistant of S.T.A.R. Lab's Fred Danvers, step-father of Supergirl's alter ego. It was then that she first met Snapper when trying to stop a malfunctioning robot of Superman's he was attempting to repair to help mankind.

Kara Zor-L began her caped career also in secret, though for far longer. This was due to fact that, unlike her counterpart who grew up in Argo City which has survived the destruction of Krypton, she was raised within her Symbioship providing her with an artificial reality creating a simulated Kandor with virtual parents and friends. Now on Earth-Two, she was taught by her adopted father Clark Kent, when was also her cousin Kal-L, and her step-mother Lois Lane Kent. 

Eventually, she revealed herself to the world as Power Girl when joining the Justice Society of America at the same time as time displaced Sylvester Pemberton, known as the Star-Spangled Kid. The Kid would try to impress Kara repeatedly, although his affection would not be returned. However, a friendship would grow between the two in the years together as teammates.

Star-Spangled Striplings

After several years as the mascot of the Justice League of America, Lucas "Snapper" Carr attempted to enter adulthood as his own man. Sadly, he was well-known for his honorary status with the League, which caused others in college and the secular arena to view him as still a kid. Bitter from this experience, he was easily manipulated into adopting the alter ego of Star-Tsar, a costumed identity created by the supervillian known as the Key.

Using stellar energized technology, Snapper and the Key each disguised themselves at certain points as Star-Tsar, who had a few confrontations with the criminal Doctor Light and the combined Justice League. However, Snapper eventually realized the folly of turning to crime, and secretly assisted the League in capturing first the Key and then the true mastermind behind Star-Tsar, the hero turned villain known as the Privateer, aka Mark Shaw. From this point, Carr retired from League affairs and became a research scientist at S.T.A.R. Labs in Florida, assisting Supergirl in Florida.

After jumping ahead several decades from his native time due to a cosmic anomaly, the young superhero known as the Star-Spangled Kid attempted to restart his career using the cosmic rod which fellow superhero Starman developed to channel stellar energy through. This led to his joining the Justice Society, at first being a provisional member alongside Power Girl as one of the "Super Squad" which she formed to combat the evil Brain Wave and Per Degaton. Soon thereafter, Kid created a cosmic converter belt based on the cosmic rod which had even greater versatility in its usage, returning the rod to Starman. After several adventures alongside the Society, the Kid retired from superheroics to resume his private life as Sylvester Pemberton, later using his inheritance to purchase Stellar Studios in Los Angeles and fund the new young superhero team known as Infinity, Inc., which his pal Power Girl also joined.

While Star-Spangled Kid and his former sidekick Stripesy had longer costumed careers than had their Earth-One counterparts Star-Tsar and fellow teen hero Red Star,, their adventures during the 1940's mirrored those of the Space Ranger and his partner Cryll on Earth-One who had more chronicled cases than their Earth-Two counterparts.

Fawcett Fridays: Peak Physique Personas

On parallel planets populated with powerful people, it would at first seem that Peter Cannon and Jack Weston were ordinary. But in fact, each man was extraordinary, accomplishing tremendous feats of physical and psychological strength that far exceed their more common-place contemporaries, and earned the respect of their superpowered peers.

Jack Weston was the first to appear, in 1941 as the costumed crimefighter known as Minute-Man on Earth-S. Left an orphan after first his mother’s passing, followed by his father dying during World War I. Throughout his formative years, Jack was trained in various physical and psychological discipline, each of which he excelled in. Recruited by his guardian General Milton into adopting an alter ego as a One-Man-Army, Jack as Minute-Man battled a wide range of both local criminals and foreign adversaries.

Peter Cannon was an orphan whose parents were medical professional a group of Tibetan monks in the Himalayas from a ravenous disease. In gratitude for this self sacrifice, the monks raised Peter and taught him from ancient scrolls how to unlock his full physical and mental potential. Journeyed to his parents’ native country the United States of America, Peter as the costumes crusader known as the Thunderbolt on Earth-Four. Cannon fought a wide range of both local criminals and foreign adversaries.

While Peter’s femme fatale was the one-shot Egyptian temptress known as Evila, John’s femme fatale was his frequent foil named Illyria, who worked for various countries in the field of espionage, seeking to exploit secrets from the United States. 

The Earth-One and Earth-Two doppelgängers of Minute-Man and Thunderbolt were Star-Tsar and Star Spangled Kid, respectively. While the Kid was himself a child protégée, so much so that he was the leader of a dynamic duo consisting of he and his adult chauffeur, the Tsar was only highly intelligent. That said, Tsar’s alter ego of Snapper Carr was trained by the heroes in the Justice League, of whom he was an honorary member. The Kid had years of experience before joining the Justice Society.

Cannon’s constant companion was Tabu, who motivated him in his constant war against evil. Milton was Weston’s mentor and closest companion, continually spurring on his protégée in his heroic pursuits. While neither were team-players, preferring to work more solo, on occasion Minute-Man worked alongside Captain Marvel and the Crime Crusaders Club, while Thunderbolt operated on occasion with Captain Atom and the Sentinels of Justice.

Starmen of Different Places and Another Time

Prince Gavyn was the younger son of the emperor of the intergalactic empire known as Throneworld, within the Earth-One universe. When his father died, his sister assumed control and as a custom for such manners, she executed him by leaving him float in space. However, as a mutant, Gavyn survived the airless vacuum of space and was retrieved by the elderly alien known as Mn'Torr. Granting the prince a pair of jeweled wrist bands that harnessed the power of the stars, Gayvn could direct bio-energy to project force blasts as well as propel himself through space as high  velocities. As Starman, Gavyn protected the empire that spurned him and assumed the role of emperor when his sister died, while he married his true love.

An unnamed warrior prince fearlessly defended his homeworld, the fabricted Asgard spawned within the notional dimension attached to the Earth-Two universe. Early in the celestrial conflict known as Ragnarok, the Justice Society of America from the post-Crisis world of Earth-0 journeyed from 1986 to 1945 Earth-Two, with each of its members merging with one of the Asgardian warriors. This prince and Sylvester "Star-Spangled Kid" Pemberton became one-in-the-same, with the Asgardian royal now possessing stellar abilities from Pemberton allowing him to fly at high velocity and project beams of energy.

Both alien princes had brief careers, each ultimately perishing in order to preserved their beloved homelands threatened due to the incursion of forces unleashed during the Crisis on Infinite Earths. However, whereas Starman Gavyn would have his energies transferred from Earth-One's reality and enter the body of Earth-0 human Will Payton, Star-Spangled Kid eventually departed Asgard's realm and returned to his home reality... while the Asgard prince he was once merged with carried on his battles in the Ragnorak conflict alone once more.

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Two other men tied to the Starman legacy, as were the princes of Thronesworld and Asgard, were Richard Rigel and David Knight. Both men had grand aspirations, inspired by members of the Justice League and Justice Society, that ultimately led to them adopting their heroic predecessors' alter egos yet using their stellar powers for evil rather than good.

Richard Rigel was a young astronomer and amateur inventor who became a coworker with research assistant Lucas "Snapper" Carr at S.T.A.R. Laboratories. As the two young men gained each other's acquaintence, Carr confided in Rigel that he had a previous criminal career as Star-Tsar, when Snapper teamed up with master criminal the Key as the two sought revenge against the Justice League of America. While an honorary Leaguer for a number of years, Snapper grew disenfranchised when his reputation as a teenage sidekick of superheroes diminished his career prospects. However, Carr as Star-Tsar soon after joined forces with his Justice League friends in defeating the Key and a third Star-Tsar, Mark "Privateer" Shaw. 

David Knight was the oldest son of astronomer and millionaire Theodore Knight, aka the original Starman of Earth-Two. Although at first a reluctant hero, with his father giving his Cosmic Rod to fellow mystery man the Star-Spangled Kid instead of either of his sons, Ted would ultimately find within his son the heart of a champion. However, shortly after embarking on his costumed career, David was shot by the son of the elder Knight's arch-enemy, the Mist. However, a quirk in the fabric of time-space jettisoned David decades into the past.

Stealing the Star-Tsar suit and equipment from S.T.A.R. Labs, Richard became the fourth Star-Tsar and embarked on a crimewave unleashed on Star City. This drew the attention of the city's prime protector Green Arrow and his teammates in the Justice League, and ultimately one of the Ace Archer's gimmick arrows brought about the defeat of this Star-Tsar.

Although in a Post-Crisis world, David was sent to forty years prior to the 1990's, where he would be 1950's Starman, in the pre-Crisis world of Earth-Two he was instead sent forty years before to the 1980's, arriving in the early 1940's. Due to the confusion of his unexpected time travel experience, David became a misguided villain who sought out the ancient Atlantan book of Thoth, and was subsequently defeated by his father’s  Justice Society teammate, Doctor Fate.

The Crossovers Time Forgot Between Titanic Teams

While the teamups of headliner heroes such as the Justice League in the silver age and, prior to that, the Justice Society in the golden age, were fairly common... minor mystery men generally kept within their corners of comicbook continuities. Partly this was due to their lack of notoriety, and popularity. However, on occasion, these did occur with startling results.

There was the time when the criminal League of Challenger-Haters stalked the vacationing objects of their vitriol. And without their gadgets, the Challengers of the Unknown may have been helpless versus their inhuman opponents, were it not for the Doom Patrol who leant a hand. Elasti-Girl vs Multi-Woman... Kra versus Robotman. And, of course, the more modest masked men Star-Spangled Kid and Stripesy crossed paths... not to mention almost running into each other.. with the Dynamic Duo in pursuit of the Joker. Good times.

Fawcett's Finest: Stellar Studs

During World War II, two cosmic twins had different private lives although parallel public ones, due in large part to their age.

While Sylvester Pemberton on Earth-Two had been wealthy teenage with a genius-level aptitude, Jack Weston was a young man in his early twenties who was no longer in school. As a result, he was an army private for whom his superior, General Milton, saw tremendous potential. So had Sylvester, in himself, and so both lads adopted similar blue, white and red costumes to fight the forces of evil terrorizing humanity.

As the Star-Spangled Kid, Sylvester eventually met fellow hero Stripesy, and developed a long lasting partnership while employed Dugan as his chauffeur and mechanic. For Weston, he was a one-man army sent on various missions by his officer and mentor, and as the Minute-Man he soon developed a legendary career in his own right.

Weston never meeting his world's Dugan, a Pat Gleason who assisted the costumed crusader known as Devil's Dagger. Similarly, Jack and Sylvester’s Earth-Four counterpart… Peter “Thunderbolt” Cannon, mostly worked solo. That is, aside from Peter’s personal assistant and life long friend, Tabu. Minute-Man did find allies among his fellow mystery men. As a member of the Crime Crusaders Club alongside Captain Marvel Jr., Bulletman and Bulletgirl, he found long lasting friends. So did the Kid, as a member of Law's Legionnaires.

Due to the machinations of villains, both heroes were catapulted from their era and reappeared in the mid-70's. Syl resumed his heroic career, although Jack only resumed his alias on occasion and mostly retired as a restauranteur. While Jack has little in similarity with his Earth-One twin, Star Tsar aka , Snapper Car, both seem to manifest the ability to tackle weighty matters with equal parts valor and victory.

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.

Swell Rides in the Sky: Enjoy the View!

Fantasy is unleashed in comic books, allowing writers and artists to unleash their vivid imaginations in ways unimagined in live or even cartoon media. Such was the case in the 40's and again in the 70's, when boy heroes and their older red-haired companions came upon a pair of flying cars that could not exist outside a Back-to-the-Future flick.

Boy genius turned costumed hero Sylvester (the Star-Spangled Kid) Pemberton enlisted the aid of his chauffeur/mechanic Pat (Stripesy) Dugan to build for him a unique form of transportation. Matching the lad's sky-high expectations, Pat built the Star-Rocket Racer, and history was born. The pair used the vehicle throughout the duration of their partnership until lost in time for decades. When the Kid returned, he would use the Racer once more as the chief mode of transportation for his newest team of youths, Infinity Inc of Earth-Two.

Earth-One's Snapper Carr was an honorary member of the newly formed Justice League of America, helping to assist them against the evil Starro. As a gift to the lad, the League designed a special device which allowed Snapper's Hot Rod to fly..

There were also the Whiz Wagon piloted by the Newsboy Legion of Earth-One and the Atomobile piloted by the Boy Commandos of Earth-Two. Each of these vehicles could traverse even more diverse environments than either Snapper’s Hot Rod or Sylvester’s Star-Rocket Racer.