Deck Log Entry # 192 The Silver-Age Challenge---Secret Identities

[Commander Benson]

It’s summer again, and time for the annual tradition here.  No, I don’t team up with my parallel-world counterpart to tackle a crisis.  I mean, it’s time for my annual Silver-Age trivia quiz.

 

These things are getting tougher to write.  I’ve always had to keep the Internet at bay, but now the information on line is getting more expansive and more detailed.  Case in point:  in my first Silver-Age Challenge, some eight years ago, I asked for the space sector assigned to Tomar Re, the Green Lantern from Xudar.  That is, as the Silver Age had it.  As a precaution, I had run “Tomar Re” through the search engines, and every hit that listed his space sector had it down as “Sector 2813”, which was a Bronze-Age development.  Tomar Re’s first Silver-Age appearance established that his space sector was “9”.  That didn’t appear in any hit I referenced, so I was able to use the question.

 

But a few months ago, I ran the same search and discovered that every biographical site on Tomar Re included the detail that he originally patrolled space sector 9.  I would have to toss out that question, now.  I’ve got my fingers crossed that I was able to stay ahead of the Internet for this round of posers.

 

The rules.  It gets old putting them down every year---you veteran Legionnaires know them by heart---but I feel I have to, just in case somebody new wants to play.  But, I’ll list them as briefly as I can:

 

1.  This is a Silver-Age quiz.  That means that all questions, and all of the answers, come from comics and related materials published with a cover-date of September, 1956 (Showcase # 4) to December, 1968---the time frame I consider to be the Silver Age.

 

2.  Information introduced post-Silver Age doesn’t count.  Subsequent retcons and revisions have muddied the Silver-Age waters, so be careful.

 

3.  Can I miss stuff?  Sure.  In fact, I’m surprised it hasn’t happened more often.  So it’s possible that you'll come up with an answer that wasn’t the one I had in mind.  Be sure to cite your source, so I can check it to ensure your information satisfies my question---“But I always thought . . . .” arguments won’t cut it---and if it does, I’ll be glad to credit you with a correct response.

 

4.  No prizes here.  No no-prizes, either.  You’re playing strictly for bragging rights.

 

As you’ve probably guessed, the topic of this year’s quiz is secret identities.  Every question will relate in some fashion to costumed characters and their civilian identities.  This year is a little different in the fact that it’s not strictly a DC or Marvel quiz.  I came up with some good questions from both companies (in fact, I think the toughie of the bunch, and there always is one, came from the Marvel side) but not enough from either to devote the whole quiz to one side or the other.  To avoid confusion, each question is prefaced with the company involved.

 

And, as always, I’ll start off with a lob.  All set?  O.K., here we go!

 

 

1.  (DC)  What reward did Pete Ross receive after Ultra Boy discovered how Pete loyally protected Superboy’s secret identity of Clark Kent?

 

2.  (DC)  Conversely, what reward did Lana Lang receive from Superboy for turning down a perfect opportunity to learn his secret identity?

 

3.  (DC)  Commissioner Gordon briefly appeared as which costumed hero?

 

4.  (DC)  After Superman and Batman, and Green Lantern and the Flash, who was the third pair of Justice Leaguers to exchange knowledge of their secret identities?  (For keeps; in other words, JLA # 19 doesn’t count.)

5.  (Marvel)  During his sojourn on Earth as a guest of the Avengers, Hercules briefly used an ordinary mortal alias.  What was it?

 

6.  (DC/Marvel)  Both DC and Marvel had a masked, costumed character named "Ant-Man".  Who were their civilian identities?

7.  (Marvel)  Name two masked heroes in the Marvel Universe who were practising lawyers in their civilian identities.

 

8.  (DC)  Colonel Steve Trevor gave Wonder Woman a taste of her own secret-identity medicine when he briefly assumed the rôle of which costumed super-hero?

 

 

9.  (DC)  Yeah, yeah, we all know about the awful period in which the Blackhawks adopted super-hero identities.  But one of the famed Black Knights operated as a costumed mystery-man before he became a Blackhawk.  Name the man and his costumed identity.

10.  (Marvel)  After Captain America was revived by the Avengers, what was the first job he had in his civilian identity as Steve Rogers?

 

 

Good luck!

[Philip Portelli]

The way you put it, Commander, it seems like they were setting up Mars to be the Manhunter's version of Kandor, a "home away from home" as it were.

We know that J'onn COULD return to Mars to stay any time he wanted to after Detective #301 (a Silver Age comic I actually owned!) but the real question was WHY he didn't!

Was it a sense of responsibility to the Justice League? An unspoken attraction for a blonde policewoman? His family to confining?

After years of exile, did the Martian Manhunter grow to think of Earth as home? And prefer it to Mars?

[Randy Jackson]

It was all about Zook.

[Commander Benson]

Philip Portelli said:

The way you put it, Commander, it seems like they were setting up Mars to be the Manhunter's version of Kandor, a "home away from home" as it were.

We know that J'onn COULD return to Mars to stay any time he wanted to after Detective #301 (a Silver Age comic I actually owned!) but the real question was WHY he didn't!

Was it a sense of responsibility to the Justice League? An unspoken attraction for a blonde policewoman? His family to confining?

After years of exile, did the Martian Manhunter grow to think of Earth as home? And prefer it to Mars?

I addressed that in the bulk of the article I cited for Mr. Sherman:

http://captaincomics.ning.com/profiles/blogs/from-the-archives-deck...

[Fraser Sherman]

Just reread the article--yes, Commander, your theory explains things handily.

[Luke Blanchard]

The Martian Manhunter is interesting because he was the least-standard of DC's early Silver Age superheroes.(1) Superman and Hawkman were also aliens, but they looked human, had superhero names, and wore costumes.(2) J'onn's "costume" was his Martian appearance and dress. He didn't even have a proper superhero name.

As originally designed he was even more alien, with a heavy brow. It makes sense to me that this design was restored in the 70s; it emphasised what was unique about him.

His parallel in the LSH was Chameleon Boy, the one member who looked alien rather than like an Earthperson with different colouring.

(1) Unless one counts the Metal Men, but they didn't debut until 1962. The Doom Patrol came along in 1963, Metamorpho in 1964.

(2) Although Hawkman's costume was supposed to be his Thanagarian police uniform.

This post displaced the thread Randy Jackson reads Blue Devil from the homepage.

[Richard Willis]

Luke Blanchard said:

10) I assume when he established his identity to the government he was automatically back in the army as Rogers until discharged.

Even though he was a Private, not a Captain as the movies portray him, they owed him a heckuva lot of back pay!

[Richard Willis]

I've always had a soft spot for J'onn J'onzz. Other than Superman and Batman (and their supporting characters), he was the first costumed hero I encountered shortly after his debut in Detective Comics. His appearance on the cover of Brave & Bold #28 caught my eye and caused me to get in on the ground floor with the JLA and to discover Flash and Green Lantern.

[Richard Willis]

4. (DC) After Superman and Batman, and Green Lantern and the Flash, who was the third pair of Justice Leaguers to exchange knowledge of their secret identities? (For keeps; in other words, JLA # 19 doesn’t count.)

I read this question wrong, and thought that the Atom's of Earth-1 and Earth-2 had told each other their identities in their story in The Atom #29. I'm not even sure if they did, as I no longer have this comic. Of course, you specify Justices Leaguers.

[Eric L. Sofer]

I've been waiting all summer for this, Commander! Always a delight to work on your quizzes!

Now for my answers....

1) He received a token that would allow him to attend an upcoming meeting of the Legion of Super-Heroes. (Of course, in the 20th century, EVERY meeting of the LSH was upcoming...)

2) She received a trip into the futuire for a meeting of the LSH (where she tried to join as Insect Queen.)

3) My guess is The Eagle - but again, it's only a guess. And Anti-Batman wasn't a hero.

4) Green Arrow and J'onn J'onzz (B&B #50).

5) Steve Powers

6) Marvel's was Henry Pym. DC's was Jumbo Carson.

7) Matt Murdock (Daredevil) and Matthew Hawk (the Two-Gun Kid.)

8) The Patriot.

9) My guess is Andre - but it's only a guess, and I have no real idea, nor his heroic identity.

10) Darn it, I KNOW this is a trick question - but I'm gonna say he was a policeman.

Looking forward to seeing how I compare with the other still-reading-comics people.

[Fraser Sherman]

The Eagle was Alfred.

Yes, these are fun challenges, aren't they?

[Fraser Sherman]

I think Barry and Flash and Hal and Alan were there first as far as JSA/JLA.

That reminds me of one of the problems with the Earth One comics taking place on Earth Two: unlike most of the JLA, Wonder Woman, Batman and Superman have exactly the same identities as their counterparts. That would seem to create an obvious red flag for snoopers.

Richard Willis said:

4. (DC) After Superman and Batman, and Green Lantern and the Flash, who was the third pair of Justice Leaguers to exchange knowledge of their secret identities? (For keeps; in other words, JLA # 19 doesn’t count.)

I read this question wrong, and thought that the Atom's of Earth-1 and Earth-2 had told each other their identities in their story in The Atom #29. I'm not even sure if they did, as I no longer have this comic. Of course, you specify Justices Leaguers.

[Philip Portelli]

Wonder Woman, definitely as Barry-Flash mentioned reading about her in his version of All Star Comics. Surprisingly no one else ever brought up his own similarity to the comic book Flash and certainly it was never mentioned when Green Lantern, the Atom and Hawkman debuted!

Thinking about it now, our Earth-One counterparts must have flipped when the JLA produced a real life Black Canary to their ranks which looked exactly like her comic book doppelganger!
 
Fraser Sherman said:

I think Barry and Flash and Hal and Alan were there first as far as JSA/JLA.

That reminds me of one of the problems with the Earth One comics taking place on Earth Two: unlike most of the JLA, Wonder Woman, Batman and Superman have exactly the same identities as their counterparts. That would seem to create an obvious red flag for snoopers.

Richard Willis said:

4. (DC) After Superman and Batman, and Green Lantern and the Flash, who was the third pair of Justice Leaguers to exchange knowledge of their secret identities? (For keeps; in other words, JLA # 19 doesn’t count.)

I read this question wrong, and thought that the Atom's of Earth-1 and Earth-2 had told each other their identities in their story in The Atom #29. I'm not even sure if they did, as I no longer have this comic. Of course, you specify Justices Leaguers.