#Dan the Dyna-Mite

[superherobriefings]

Dan The Dyna-Mite

dc.fandom.com/wiki/Daniel_Dunbar_(New_Earth)

Creator(s): Paul Norris

Alias(es): Daniel Dunbar

1st Issue w/Uniform: Star-Spangled Comics #16

Year/Month of Publication: 1943/01

[ufonaut]

Promotional art for The Golden Age (1993) four issue miniseries. Art by Paul Smith with colours by Richard Ory.

[chernobog13]

Rescued from obscurity when he became on of the Young All-Stars (1987), Dan the Dynamite (former sidekick to the deceased hero TNT) found greater fame (infamy?) as Dynaman in the Elseworlds mini-series The Golden Age (1993).  Dynaman is fills the void in a world that has no Superman.

Despite being an Elseworlds story, several elements actually made their way into mainstream DC continuity (until the New 52 screwed up everything royally). This was also the story that jumpstarted writer James Robinson’s career at DC, leading to him help re-launch the Justice Society of America and Starman in their own books.

[onlylonelylatino]

Blue Beetle and the All-Star Squadron & Freedom Fighters by Jerry Ordway

[dcdreamblog]

You have any cool trivia about the time Axis America attacked the Perisphere, and they were seen off by the Young All-Stars? All I know is the weird trivia that both groups had line-ups that seem eerily similar to each other and to the Justice League.

(Sidenote, are there any theories about that?)

Sure. The Battle of Flushing Meadows (named after the park where the Trylon and the Perisphere now sit) was actually the inaugural battle of the Young All Stars, who certainly weren't a team the All Stars had expected to put together.

(TW below, nazi imagery)

(A lineup of Axis Amerika from an internal Nazi file captured post war, marked under "Projekt: Gesellschaft")

The Axis Amerika was interesting because, as its name implied, it was not a team active on the actual fronts of the war but was a fifth columnist group made up of homegrown fascist elements from right here in the USA, recruiting mostly for American fascist groups. Its lineup was majority German-American but on member "Usil, the Sun Archer" was later identified as an Italian-American and they had attempted to recruit young Nisei Miya Shimada to their cause after her parents were interned from their home on the west coast.

The Young All-Star's lineup had come from all over

(Poster of the Young All-Stars produced c. 1943 for propaganda purposes)

Left to Right: Iron Munro, Fury, Neptune Perkins, Tsunami, Flying Fox and Dan the Dyna-Mite.

The team was "assembled" more or less because they happened to be present when the attack went down. Axis Amerika's target had of course been the All Stars themselves. Team members Johnny Quick and Liberty Belle were quickly taken out of the fight when Iron Munro, Flying Fox and Fury jumped in, holding off the fascist invaders long enough to force a retreat when Green Lantern arrived.

Neptune Perkins and Tsunami (who Axis Amerika had previously tried to recruit) were inducted into the "team" along with Dan the Dyna-Mite who had recently lost his beloved partner TNT in a battle with nazi saboteurs where he and Munro had first met.

Now having this small but notable group of underage superhumans needing guidance, the All Stars decided basically on a whim to assemble the group into a team. The All Stars, despite the nature of their membership, were always low on manpower so a few extra hands were not going to be refused due to age (especially since a good chunk of the Squadron's membership already had young partners or wards) As for the second part of your question, you're not wrong. Both teams and the most iconic lineups of the JLA have: Invulnerable and Super Strong (Ubermensch/Iron Munro/ Superman) Based off of flying, nocturnal animals (Great Horned Owl/Flying Fox/Batman) Female warrior with basis in pagan mythology (Gurda/Fury/Wonder Woman) Young sidekick to a more expirienced fighter (The Bat/Dyna-Mite/Robin)

Aquatic superhuman (Sea Wolf/Neptune Perkins/Aquaman) and Archer (Usil/Tigress/Green Arrow)

I really couldn't tell you why though, other than the stars aligning to place these archetypes at these moments in time. Whether that coincidence has some sort of meaning for you is a question for a spirit medium, not a historian.

[evilhorse]

The Young All-Stars house ad (circa December 1988)

[nerds-yearbook]

After 31 issues the first run of The Young All-Stars came to an end. The final issue had a cover date of November, 1989. ("Sons of Dawn pt IV... Men and Supermen", The Young All-Stars 31#, DC Comic Event)

[isfjmel-phleg]

There was a whole storyline about recovering the "Lost Children," the forgotten young heroes/sidekicks, who return to a world that has carried on without them. Some of these children are from as far back as the 1940s, so everyone they knew and loved is gone. The recent JSA series dealt a little bit with what becomes of the children--who takes them in, where they find a place--and teases the idea of their forming a group as the "Young Justice Society." But now the series has ended without complete resolution of those questions, and who knows how many of these characters will come up again--which is a pity, because there's some fascinating story potential there.

Anyway, I got curious about the ones whose fates are still unsettled, and I made a list of who's accounted for and whose whereabouts are still unknown, with some speculation on where the unclaimed ones might end up (where is my girl Secret?!).

Airwave (Harold "Hal Jr." Jordan): Assignment unknown. Hal Jordan is his cousin, so it's likely that he has been reunited with the Jordan family. The status of his parents in this continuity is unclear, as far as I know.

Betsy Ross and Molly Pitcher (Elizabeth Rose and Molly Preacher): Assignment unknown. I'm not sure if their original mentor, Miss America, is still alive or not in this continuity. The girls' parents probably aren't living, but Elizabeth has a younger brother who might be still around in his eighties or nineties. If Miss America is unavailable, the girls might be a good fit for the Freedom Fighters.

The Boom (Judy Garrick): Reunited with her parents and is a fixture in the Flashfamily now.

Cherry Bomb (Gloria James): Working with the Freedom Fighters under the mentorship of Phantom Lady. Her father and original mentor are no longer living.

Dan the Dyna-Mite (Dan Dunbar): Working with Damage, since they have similar explosive powers. His original mentor is long dead, and his parents likely are too. Unlike the other lost children, Dan has not been missing for decades and got to age into his eighties before getting deaged; it is unclear if he ever was married or had children.

John Henry, Jr. (John Henry Irons I): Returned to the current Irons family, including his great-nephew/namesake, John Henry Irons (Steel). His immediate family are no longer living.

Ladybug (Rosibel Rivera): Working with the Freedom Fighters under the mentorship of Phantom Lady. Her parents and original mentor, Red Bee, are no longer living, but Red Bee's elderly granddaughter now lives on what was Rosibel's family's farm, and she wants to meet Rosibel.

Little Miss Redhead and the Blue Boys (Janie [surname unknown], Tommy Rogers, Herbert Simms, and Richard Mehlville): Assignment unknown. It's unlikely that any of their parents are still living, and none of them worked with an adult hero, so it's unclear who would be the obvious choice to take them in. Maybe there are some living extended family?

The Newsboy Legion (Big Words, Famous Bobby, Flip, Gabby, Scrapper, and Tommy): Assignment unknown. The boys are clones of the original Newsboy Legion, who went on to become scientists and found Cadmus; Bobby is the great-niece of Jim Harper, the original Guardian, and was living with her mother. However, the whereabouts of any of these adults in this new continuity is unclear, except for Guardian. The Newsboy Legion also has connections to Superman, Jimmy Olsen, and Superboy (Kon-El), so any of them might be likely to get involved in placing these children somewhere.

Pinky the Whiz Kid (Phineas Butler): Assignment unknown. The whereabouts of Mister Scarlet, his mentor/adopted father, are unclear, and his mother is likely no longer living. Phineas was from Gotham City, so he might be placed with a guardian/distant relative there, if available.

Quiz Kid (Raghu Seetharaman): Working with the current Mr. Terrific, who has recently been reunited with his son and now has two boys. Raghu's original mentor (the first Mr. Terrific), and his parents are all long dead.

Robbie the Robot Dog: Assignment unknown. It's unclear whether his original partner, Robotman, is still around. If not, Robbie might be a good fit to work with another robot/android hero, such as Red Tornado.

Salem the Witch Girl: Working with the JSA, particularly the current Doctor Fate. Declared an intention to return Limbo Town, her birthplace, where apparently she has some scores to settle, but we don't know how this has played out yet.

Secret (Greta Hayes): Assignment unknown. In this continuity, she is said to have been the Spectre's sidekick; this might also just be a reference to his having mentored her briefly in Young Justice 1998. It's unclear what her family situation is in this continuity, but originally her mother, who was in a mental institution, was her only living family member at the end of YJ 1998. Greta might be placed with the current Spectre, who isn't the one she knew; her Spectre was Hal Jordan, who probably wouldn't be in a position now to take her. Alternatively, she might end up with any of her old YJ teammates or people connected to them.

Sparky (Sparkington J. Northrup): Assignment unknown. His mentor and parents are long dead. Since he was originally sidekick to the first Blue Beetle, it would make sense to place him with either of the existing Blue Beetles, Ted Kord or Jaime Reyes. Ted would be the more likely choice since Jaime is barely out of high school.

Tick-Tock (Jimmy Martin): Assignment unknown. His mother is probably no longer living, so it's likely that Jimmy would be placed with his original mentor Hourman (Rex Tyler) or with Rex's son Rick (also Hourman), both of whom were recently restored to life.

[panels-of-interest]

First appearance of Iron Munro.

[from Young All-Stars (1987) #1]

[dccomicsnews]

Review: Stargirl: The Lost Children #1

Review: Stargirl: The Lost Children #1

Review: Stargirl: The Lost Children #1[Editor’s Note: This review may contain spoilers] Writer: Geoff JohnsArt: Todd NauckColors: Matt HermsLetters: Rob Leigh   Reviewed by: Matthew B. Lloyd   Summary Stargirl (Courtney Whitmore) and Red Arrow (Emiko Queen) are on the search for Wing, the supposedly deceased “eight” Soldier of Victory.  Their trail leads to the very-much alive Daniel Dunbar,…

[superherobriefings]

Dan The Dyna-Mite

dc.fandom.com/wiki/Daniel_Dunbar_(New_Earth)

Creator(s): Paul Norris

Alias(es): Daniel “Dan” Dunbar

1st Issue w/Uniform: Star Spangled Comics #10

Year/Month of Publication: 1942/07

[ufonaut]

To be fair, there’s hardly anything written about any of them anywhere. It’s like they were erased.

Stargirl: The Lost Children (2022) #1

[splooosh]

“Dan the…”

Brian Murray

[onlylonelylatino]

Crimson Avenger and Golden Age heroes by Andy Kubert

[donnatroyprincessofthemyscira]

[evilhorse]

If you follow this blog, you know I absolutely love everything Earth Two written by Roy Thomas at DC in the 1980s, from All-Star Squadron to Infinity Inc to Young All-Stars and beyond. So when this issue of Alter Ego magazine arrived in the mail yesterday, I was pumped and read it from cover-to-cover in one afternoon. Such fantastic stories about an amazing series that didn't survive very long. I particularly have always been taken with Thomas's theory about the Crisis erasing the big Golden Age heroes but not their energies. I thought replacing the DC trinity with brand new heroes and adding in a few other young guns was an ingenious solution. That's something I miss in today's comics; a commitment to continuity and the clever retcon to solve a continuity problem.