#Who's Who In the DC Universe

[browsethestacks]

The Brain And Monsieur Mallah

From Who's Who In The DC Universe

Art by Bill Sienkiewicz

[tomoleary]

Geof Isherwood “Captain Boomerang” Who's Who in the DC Universe #02 pg 03 (1990) Source

[bringbackwendellvaughn]

Something different - here is Kamandi's entry from Who's Who: The Definitive Directory of the DC Universe #12. Written and researched by Robert Greenberger, Peter Sanderson, Len Wein and Marv Wolfman with artwork by none other than Jack Kirby.

[chernobog13]

The Fatal Five by Steve Lightle and Bill Wray for Who's Who In the DC Universe.

[sebeth]

Who's New In The DC Universe?

[thebestcomicbookpanels]

Silver Swan in Who's Who in the DC Universe #3

[cantsayidont]

August 1985. The original WHO'S WHO entry for Doctor Fate gives an okay rundown of how things stood at the time of the Crisis, with a few minor caveats. Here's the history text:

BACKGROUND Archaeologist Sven Nelson and his son, Kent, then a boy, were exploring an ancient temple in the Valley of Ur in Mesopotamia. Kent found the entombed body of the giant ancient wizard Nabu the Wise, who was in suspended animation. Nabu was actually a being composed of pure energy who had originated a half million years ago on the planet Cilea [sic] and had taken human form. He was revived by a gas that killed Sven Nelson. Over the following years, Nabu trained Kent in sorcery. Finally, when Kent reached adulthood, Nabu presented him with a helmet, a cape, and an amulet and, naming him Doctor Fate, sent him back to the outside world to battle evil. On his way to America, Doctor Fate first met Inza Cramer, who eventually became his wife. There, Doctor Fate became a founding member of the Justice Society of America (see JSA).

Although Doctor Fate first appeared in MORE FUN COMICS #55, he didn't have any kind of origin for the first year — in fact, until MORE FUN #66, which was the first time he was seen without his helmet, he often intimated that he had no human identity! The above account comes mostly from MORE FUN COMICS #67, which also gave him a name: Kent Nelson. The planet from which Nabu said he'd originally come was spelled Cilia; "Cilea" appears to be a typo.

Nelson came to realize that when he donned his helmet, his personality was being increasingly supplanted by that of Nabu, who was a mystical "Lord of Order." Hence, Nelson put the helmet aside, thereby greatly reducing his powers, and instead wore a different helmet that did not conceal his entire face as the original had. Doctor Fate thereafter joined the All-Star Squadron (see All-Star Squadron), and months later, his original helmet was stolen by the sorcerer Kulak and hurled with him through "an infinity of dimensions."

The idea that Nabu possessed Kent Nelson wasn't indicated in the Golden Age stories; it was first suggested in Marty Pasko's 1975 Dr. Fate solo adventure in 1ST ISSUE SPECIAL #9. Using this to explain why Kent adopted the half-helmet in MORE FUN COMICS #72 in early 1942 (which didn't originally have any in-story explanation) was a Roy Thomas thing — the stuff with Kulak happened in ALL-STAR SQUADRON #27–28 in 1983.

Years passed, and Nelson married Inza. His own magic powers and temporal energy absorbed from the villainous Ian Karkull kept Nelson physically in his twenties. The magic kept Inza physically in her twenties as well.

Ian Karkull was a Golden Age Dr. Fate villain, seen in MORE FUN #69, but the "temporal energy" absorption refers to ALL-STAR SQUADRON ANNUAL #3 in 1984, a cumbersome Roy Thomas contrivance to help explain why even the non-super JSAers were still unusually spry in the '80s, when most of them were pushing 70.

Under circumstances yet to be revealed, however, Doctor Fate regained his original helmet and began wearing it whenever he went on a mission. Now, whenever Nelson puts the helmet on, his psyche is entirely replaced by that of the Lord of Order, Nabu, although the latter retains Nelson's memories. Doctor Fate continues to be an active member of the Justice Society of America.

The eventual consensus was that Doctor Fate reclaimed his original helmet sometime after his last Golden Age appearances in 1944, but before the end of WW2. In any event, he had it back by the time of his first Silver Age appearance in JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #21, 19 years later. Dr. Fate remained a JSA member until the others were sent to limbo in the LAST DAYS OF THE JUSTICE SOCIETY SPECIAL, after the Crisis, and then joined the new Justice League.

POWERS & WEAPONS When wearing his original helmet, Doctor Fate is one of the most powerful of all known sorcerers, capable of virtually any kind of magical feat. However, his power is still dwarfed by that of the virtually omnipotent Spectre (see Spectre). When he is not wearing Nabu's helmet, Doctor Fate cannot cast spells. However, thanks to his training by Nabu, Doctor Fate can still fly and levitate objects. Nabu also made him superhumanly strong and nearly invulnerable even without the helmet, although Doctor Fate still needs to breathe.

Saying Kent Nelson couldn't cast spells without the Helm of Nabu isn't exactly correct, as he managed it on a number of occasions in Bronze Age stories. Also, his levitation and invulnerability were magic spells, based on molecular control; it's just that his personal abilities were much more narrowly focused than a magician like Zatanna.

[savage-kult-of-gorthaur]

"MR. BONES IS A CYNICAL SMART ALECK WHO SEEMINGLY HAS VERY LITTLE USE FOR LOVE AND AFFECTION."

PIC(S) INFO: Spotlight on Mister Bones, the chain-smoking, rhyme-speaking member of Infinity Inc. and Helix super-teams, artwork by Jay Geldhof & Anthony Tollin (colors), from "Who's Who in the DC Universe" Vol. 1 #6. January, 1991. DC Comics.

POWERS & WEAPONS: "Mr. BONES possesses superhuman strength. He also has a poison touch, the result of a cyanide compound produced by his skin to which he alone is immune."

-- "WHO'S WHO IN THE DC UNIVERSE" Vol. 1 #6 (text/script by Mark Waid)

Source: www.zipcomic.com/whos-who-in-the-dc-universe-issue-6.

[nightwingsgirlfriend]

the babies (dick grayson & bruce wayne) (please don't flop this took a stupid amount of time) (i used a different pen and im not a fan switch back to my bae 😒) (i looove dick grayson as robin)

[giotanner]

All Tim Drake has to do is say "millenial core" (support my entire video on tiktok)

ko-fi

[robintherobiner]

Love the idea of Gotham knowing there's different Robins and giving them titles (Flippy Robin, Happy Robin, WTF DID HE GET REBORN OR SOMETHING WAIT NEVERIND ITS ANOTHER DUDE LOL Robin, Girl Robin)

The batfam make bets on what Damian will be called. Angry Robin? Stabby Robin? SWORD Robin?

They're all wrong. They wake up after Damians first night of patrolling and theres a new hashtag trending on Twitter.

#CuteRobin

[azz-modeus]

For some unfathomable reason Kon doesn’t like Jason that much.

[tomoleary]

Tom Mandrake and Klaus Janson - Who's Who in the DC Universe #1 Page 9 Black Mask Pin-Up Original Art (1992) Source

[lass-us-slay]

So I read a prompt about how Wonder Woman found Danny in a trash can (don’t remember which one) and I was bored.

So I took that lil info and made it into an AU.

So basically, Danny get yeeted into this unknown universe and has no where to live. And no where to live means no money. No money means no food. No food means Danny can’t keep his human half sustained.

So what does he do?

Decides to not change into a human and live in a trash can.

Yes you heard that right, live in a trash can.

Because he’s a ghost, he doesn’t have to worry about the germs and stuff. But that doesn’t mean he lives in just any trash can! He lives in a clean one ☝️

AND he also decorated it with his name so other people know it’s his!

And so Danny has been here for a while now and realizes

Holy shit there’s hero’s here- you know what, why doesn’t he have hero’s back home?!

And being minorly annoyed jealous (but he’s never admitting that)he thought:

Well since there’s hero’s here already, guess I’m not needed.

.

.

.

Good. I’m tired af

And so Danny caries on his life, being content with his trash can and scaring whoever comes into his alley. It’s fun. Sure he sometimes needs to ugh overshadow people to feed his human side, but other than that.

It’s going great.

But Danny doesn’t realize that with Amity gone (or smth, you choose) which was his haunt, he slowly makes the trash can into his new haunt.

And slowly but surely, Danny’s beloved haunt trash can starts to become other worldly kinda.

Yk because of the ectoplasm.

So now Danny’s lovely trash can haunt has more space inside and- Hey Danny can actually sleep in it better!! And he got some company too!

In the form of blob ghosts.

Two actually.

They keep his trash can clean and help purifying some corrupted ectoplasm that he finds. Because for some reason this universe’s ectoplasm seems half way artificial and tastes a bit weird. Which is where the blob ghosts help out in.

Everything was great.

Danny was loving the trash can life style.

He has two blob ghosts friends. Which he named Sam and Tucker, and yea they couldn’t talk but that was fine.

He wasn’t lonely, he wasn’t. He had two very much talking friends like Sam and Tucker.

However one day two weirdly dressed people- oh they were hero’s.

Well anyway they found him, one woman stripper and one furry guy.

But it was on accident! He was just peaking out of his beloved haunt trash can, and they spotted him.

He stared, they stared back.

Then the woman stripper asked him questions, even when he said:

“Don’t mind me, have a nice day!”

But they just kept bother him and giving him weird looks and glances.

Which- rude.

Didn’t they see his mark on his haunt trash can? Obviously it means it’s his home, so they shouldn’t be bothering him still. He’s safe as can be.

Plus.

It’s not like he’s looking at them in suspicion and weirdness, I mean look at them! What kinda cheep knock off vampire fury mix and American stripper style clothing are those!

They should mind their own business!

———

Just a silly lil drawing of this lmao, don’t mind me.

[kingoftheu]

Deep down, Bruce belives in Superman. His split second, gut instinct is that Clark Kent will save the day. Oh he has contingency plans and threat assesments up the wazoo, because he's Batman. He wraps himself up in paranoia and planning because he is convinced nothing is what it seems. He stockpiles Kryptonite because years of trauma and self-doubt have left him convinced that everything will go wrong and it will be his fault. But when the cards are down, when he's falling, Batman trusts that Superman will be there, Bruce sees Clark and in his heart of hearts he knows he'll be safe.

[sebeth]

Who's Who In The DC Universe #2: Black Bison, Blackbriar Thorn

Black Bison by Pat Broderick

“An American Indian totally assimilated into ‘the White Man’s World’, John Ravenhair was given a necklace talisman by his great-grandfather, who had once been the shaman of the legendary Bison Cult.”

John was possessed by the spirit of his great-grandfather who set out to avenge the “white man’s many injustices against his people”.

Firestorm separated John from the talisman, releasing his great-grandfather’s possession.

Months later, Silver Deer seduced Ravenhair into becoming Black Bison and the duo battled Firestorm and Firehawk.

The mystic talisman allows Bison to animate inanimate objects and control the elements of nature.  He is also a skilled hand-to-hand combatant, “using ancient Indian forms of martial arts”.

I’ve never read a Black Bison story and I don’t think he’s been seen since the 1980s. If DC ever brings the character back, they should reduce the stereotypical elements. The motivation is fine – understandable even – and the powers make Bison a match for Firestorm – but the presentation needs a revamp.

Blackbriar Thorn by Joe Kubert

Thorn was a high priest of an ancient Druidic sect, “leading them in sacrificial rituals”, until he was slain by a Roman legion.

During his attempt to flee the Romans, Thorn was swallowed by a fissure in the earth created by his fellow Druids.

Centuries later, Thorn was unearthed by Professor Lewis Lang, and revived by his own magic and the light of the full moon.

Thorn battled Superman and Etrigan the Demon and was “presumably” destroyed by the duo.

Thorn has complete control of the elements, and is a master of illusion. He is trapped in a wooden form due to his centuries-long imprisonment.

The only appearances of Blackbriar Thorn that I’ve read was in Geoff Johns’ JSA run. He was a member of the Injustice Society.  If I remember, Thorn seemed to be presented as a foe of Alan Scott even though the Johns run seemed to be their first encounter. A villain made of wood is a natural foe for a hero whose greatest weakness is wood.