The Hidden S in Phone Booth

The Hidden S in Phone Booth and Gotham City Dossiers are switching places this week. So do not fear that you're losing your mind and think today is Wednesday when its actually Thursday. The Hidden S Proposes Year one Series for the following... The "Year One" concept in comics has evolved from a being a gimmick to becoming a staple of many characters' mythologies (mainly in the DC Universe). Green Arrow, Batgirl, Robin and of course Batman are all characters who have gotten the "Year One" treatment. These narratives often become very influential in the telling of the characters' back story (Batman Begins could have easily been titled Batman: Year One). What I would like to see is some of DC's lesser lights get the "Year One" treatment. Characters who are quite familiar and often quite popular, but who have not been leading characters. Three characters in particular seem to be rich with possibilities in this regard... The Golden Age Wildcat: Wildcat is definitely my favorite "minor" comic character. For a second or even third tier superhero, Wildcat rates a lot of covers, appearances on series like Batman: Brave and Bold and fan popularity. Wildcat is Ted Grant, a former heavyweight champion before falling temporary victim of a criminal conspiracy. Inspired by a Green Lantern comic (a very early example of post-modern thinking) Grant became the superhero Wildcat, cleared his name and continued to fight crime as a superlative two-fisted style superhero. Wildcat is a great "old school" type of male who loves women, spirits, and the fighting arts. Despite his love of women, he has considerable chauvinistic tendencies as evidenced by genuine, though usually comic, friction between he and some of the more intense women of the DC Universe (Power-Girl, his associate in the Justice Society is a usual opponent in these situations). Somehow this attitude does not make Wildcat seem obnoxious; indeed, it helps make his persona particularly strong, recognizable and likable. Wildcat is pictured as perpetually in late middle-age in the comics (despite being contemporaries of Batman, Superman and first appearing in Sensation Comics #1, which also featured the first appearance of Wonder Woman). For this reason alone it might be interesting to revisit the character's origins as a young heavyweight contender and how he came to decide to fight crime. An interesting footnote for the Wildcat/Ted Grant character is that he is one of the only (I can't think of another) superhero characters of any note to come from a sports background. With all of the emphasis of comics on superhero physical and athletic prowess this might provide an interesting background with regard to revisiting the origins of this Golden Age character. David Aja, who helped reboot an old fan favorite for Marvel, Iron Fist, might be an especially good pick to do a "Year One" type series with Wildcat. Zatara: Zatara has also always been one of my favorite characters and like Wildcat, he is almost always pictured in late middle age (despite debuting in Action Comics #1 along with Superman). His character was a kind of rip-off of Mandrake the Magician who has endured as a popular supporting player (memorably showing up in an Alan Moore John Constantine narrative) for almost 70 years. Zatara's family were descendants of Leonardo da Vinci and were able to practice sorcery by speaking backwards (his more well-known daughter Zatana also has this power). There is some more general information about Zatara's origin, but with his long history and unique occult powers (rare in a male superhero these days) there seems to be a lot of unaccounted backstory for this character. Zatara is a particularly elegant character with a lot of natural panache (again a rare trait in the modern vernacular of superhero comics). I can see a good stylist like Ryan Sook doing a nice job with the character all the way around (see the Zatara sketch that Sook gifted The Hidden S as evidence of Sook's mastery of the character). The Golden Age Sandman: The Golden Age Sandman had a nice run with Vertigo's well-received Sandman Mystery Theater series during the 90s and early this decade. This series hinted at some of the events in Wes Dodds' (The Sandman alter ego) life which helped forge his career as a superhero/vigilante. A true "Year One" series could be very interesting in filling in some of the blanks in his back story which concerned, among other things, traveling through the Orient and developing his "sleep" gun. Dodds was a wealthy man about town like a lot of superhero characters from the Golden Age and it would be interesting to see this character as a very young man come to terms with some of his neuroses which drove him to become the nocturnal Sandman. Golden Age Dr. Fate The Golden Age Dr. Fate was one of the weirdest of the early superheroes. Contemporary superheroes are often inspired by earlier superheroes, however, the earliest superheroes tended to be inspired by mythology, literature and even religious texts. Fate was one of the heroes who were inspired by all three of these influences. The creation of Dr. Fate, who was otherwise Kent Nelson the orphaned son of an archaeologist who was inadvertently poisoned by the wizard Nabu, had aspects of HP Lovecraft's macabre short stories. H. Rider Haggard's tales of ancient black magic rearing its head in the present and aspects of the occult as it pertained to both Egyptian Lore and America's early history (Fate's Monolithic Tower HQ was located in Salem, Mass.). Nelson/Fate's Origin owes a lot to these unusual and eclectic sources (let's not forget the echoes of the Carter Discover of King Tut's Tomb as an influence here). In other words, the origins of the original Dr. Fate could be a treasure trove for a comic artist with a particular flare for occult themes. Frazier Irving who just did some work on the 7 Soldiers Klarion the Witch boy thread would be an excellent choice...

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