#sylvester pemberton

[evilhorse]

Infinity Inc. and Batman and the Outsiders house ads (from Jonni Thunder A.K.A. Thunderbolt #3 circa June 1985)

[infinityinc4ever]

Brian Bolland’s gorgeous JSA cover

[halbarryislife]

Who could drive the curse out of this family? These people are glued to ruin. (in/sp.)

[star-spangledblog]

Compilation of Sylvester's thicc ass in Infinity Inc.

[dcdreamblog]

Simialr to the previous question, but less heavy; how often did people in general, and other superheroes in particular, give Stripesy agita over being an adult who sidekicked to a child?

No, if only because the term "sidekick" hadn't been invented and that's not how either Pemberton or Dugan saw their relationship.

See, the term "sidekick" wasn't used in contemporary records and it's never recorded as being in use by the heroes themselves to their younger partners.

(A war bond image of The Sandman and Sandy the Golden Boy. You can tell it's a war bond model because that is NOT what Wesley Dodds looked like! Circa 1943)

These superheroes tended to refer to their sidekicks as "wards" if referring to their age specifically, placing themselves in the legal caregiver role and responsibility. Most often though they simply called them their "partners" or even their "young partners" if they wanted to be specific. The sidekicks were trusted comrades to the heroes they palled around with, if they weren't they certainly wouldn't have been trusted to go up against nazis, criminals and supervillains.

Any attempt to undermine or overrule superhero sidekicks in official channels or ESPECIALLY in the heat of battle were pushed back on HARD by the heroes themselves.

To use Sandy as an example, there's a famous anecdote of an OSS agent speaking over Sandy during a JSA meeting and being interrupted right back by Hawkman slamming his mace on the table before every hero present turns to Sandy and asks him to continue his thought.

Afterwards the agent was given a warning by Hawkman: "Sandy is one of us, we trust him."

With the implication being clear as to their opinion of the agent.

Stripesy was a special case but not an absurd one.

(A signed promotional shot of the pair, signed and given out to a young fan. circa 1942)

Now don't get me wrong everyone knew which of the pair was "in charge", just look at how they're billed. And SOME heroes did give Stripesy some pain for following the Kid's directions so flawlessly. Wildcat specifically was known to be particularly adept and willing to press that button. But Wildcat was a gadfly on his best day and it was some good natured ribbing among friends.

Any attempt by the public, ESPECIALLY media or government to talk down to Stripesy would have and was met with direct, warning hostility from any other heroes present. Especially the Kid himself.

The most demonstrative story is one where the Kid was invited to take a meeting with a state's governor to discuss a raft of sabotage afflicting coastal manufacturing. When the governor's security attempted to disallow Stripesy entry to the meeting, the Kid turned, kicked both of the guards' knees out of from under them and chilled any response from the governor with a glance.

Pemberton and Dugan saw themselves as partners, no matter what. Especially due to Pemberton's...distant and difficult family life, Dugan was the closest thing to family Pemberton ever saw himself as having to the point that Dugan was/is the sole inheritor of Pemberton's will and trust. (Save some deep legal chicanery from one Lex Luthor that has since been corrected)

[dailyjsa]

JSA Returns: Star-Spangled Comics #1 cover by Dave Johnson

[wanderingmind867]

I just thought of how I would have handled the Justice Society in the 70s: I would adamantly refuse to kill anyone (besides maybe batman and catwoman of earth-two), and I would probably replace the main JSA with eight young, new members: Robin (Dick Grayson), Speedy (Roy Harper), Star-Spangled Kid, Sandy the Golden Boy, Power Girl, The Huntress, Merry, Girl of 1,000 Gimmicks and Batgirl (Bette Kane). Before you say something about Bette Kane: don't tell me she didn't exist on Earth-Two. They establish that Kathy Kane (Batwoman) existed on earth-two. If you get one, you get the other. It counts. So, yeah. This is probably how i'd do it. And i'd then probably add Infinity Inc as it's own separate thing a few years later.

[comicpolls]

[usedgingertwinkhole]

Okay DC fandom I have one request:

Someone make this and tell me if it's Actually Bad

Also this one

[sandy-castle]

The "Esoteric Studies" of Sylvester Pemberton

According to Star Spangled Comics (1941) #1-10

Equatorial Insects

Caesar

Ants

Pathological Studies of a Goldfish

Amoeba (a type of cell or unicellular organism)

Neuroses in Bees

Comets

Plants that exist without Chlorophyll

Dual Personalities 

Electrodynamictheurolateral Physics (is this even real?)

Criminology x3

According to Leading Comics (1941) #1-14

Rare Rock Specimens

Oceanic Plankton

Mosses of the North woods

Whales

Raising Tropical Fish 

[kryptonbabe]

Clark??? You don't go around saying things like that!!

We are so used to blaming Barry for altering timelines and messing up the space-time continuum and Superman is such a polite person that we often ignore that he tried to mess with the past a hundred times already

From All-star Comics #64 (1977)

[evilhorse]

Doctor Fate will not live through the night!

(All-Star Comics #62)

[infinityinc4ever]

One of my all-time favorite covers. The first appearance of Power Girl!

[halbarryislife]

did you mean: manipulate, mansplain, malewife

[google / template by @cal-kestis]

[star-spangledblog]

Valentine's Day is in one week! Share some love with these star spangled sillies!

[dcdreamblog]

Seeing you talk about the Crimson Avenger reminded me, what can you tell us about the Seven Soldiers of Victory? I’ve seen different article talk about different members and the number don’t always add up. I’ve seen something about a guy named the Spider, one article even says TNT and Dyna-Mite were members!

And sometimes there’s eight of them?

Oh you will regret this. I actually did my thesis on the 7 Soldiers (Specifically ABOUT the historical mysteries of their membership), you can see on the selfie they posted that I have a decal for them on my phone. This question is a big one. So let's cover what we know...

(Group Photo of the 7 Soldiers from the Squadron's '43 Yearbook. I have cut out the members on the left for rhetorical purposes) This is what I would call the 5 core, inarguable members of the 7 Soldiers.

Crimson Avenger: Lee Travis, newspaper publisher, the first mystery man (Fun fact, because of the drastic difference in costuming. It wasn't until after Travis' death that it was confirmed this Avenger and the original Avenger were the same person) Shining Knight: Sir Justin, displaced knight from the Arthurian era Vigilante: The rider of the purple sage. Frontier mystery man secretly country-western artist Greg Saunders Star-Spangled Kid and Stripesy: Industrial heir Sylvester Pemberton and his bodyguard/chauffeur Patrick Dugan. This is the easy part. Below is the hard part.

Two core team members weren't counted for unfortunately obvious reasons for the era...

(Crimson Avenger and Wing at a Squadron Function in 1942) Wing How, the Crimson Avenger's chauffeur and later confidante/sidekick. A Chinese immigrant to Travis' native New York

(Vigilante and Stuff riding down the streets of Independence, MI. 1940) Stuff, The Chinatown Kid. AKA Danny Leong. Another Chinese immigrant this time adopted by country western star Greg Saunders, secretly The Vigilante How and Leong, being Chinese "tag alongs" which was already a loaded trope by the 1940s were often treated more like accessories than real members of the team by media and the public. If you want to know the other 2 soldiers that were on the team when it was founded to lend it that name. Its those two. But it got more complicated than that. 2. The 7 Soldiers gained new members during the War but their name never changed

(TNT and Dyna-Mite at the DC Courthouse after receiving a medal from the city) TNT and Dyna-Mite, DC natives and perhaps the most personally popular superheroes who were not members of the Justice Society during the War years. Owing to their personal popularity in the nation's capital. WHEN they became members of the Soldiers is unknown but they were inducted by December of 1941 at the latest as they partcipated in the "Black Star" case It is unknown whether or not Dyna-Mite remained associated with the team after TNT's tragic death in the line of duty in early 1942. And then there's..him...

(The Spider, glimpsed on the edge of a billboard in his native St Louis) The Spider, AKA Thomas Hallaway. For fairly obvious reasons is no longer concerned part of the superhero community. He was, in fact, an unrepentant criminal who used the cover of a superhero persona as an alibi. It wasn't until post war that his treachery was discovered when he attempted to assassinate both Jay and Joan Garrick, losing his life in the attempt under mysterious circumstances. In the modern day it was discovered that The Spider himself was responsible for the 7 Soldiers' disappearance post war, having been in cahoots with perennial enemy The Iron Hand. The Soldiers were scattered through time and only recovered during one of the early cases of the Justice League, leading to the heroic sacrifice of Wing How to save the lives of his teammates When he became associated with the Soldiers is unknown and he is retroactively cast out from his membership in the Soldiers specifically and the All Star Squadron in general save for the most dry of historical perspectives. Conclusion: If you want me to answer who the "7 Soldiers" were. To me (noting that this is a personal opinion, not a historical fact). It's The Crimson Avenger, Wing, Vigilante, Stuff, Shining Knight, Star Spangled-Kid and Stripesy. With knowledge that TNT and Dyna-Mite were also members because what's in a name anyway? The Spider, by his own action has been stricken from any claim to any membership of any heroic organization.