Secret Origins #9

Issue Details

Synopsis

THE SECRET ORIGIN OF THE STAR-SPANGLED KID AND STRIPESY At Stellar Studios, on the set of a Western movie, Skyman and Nuklon were discussing their new superhero names with Brainwave, Jr., who was Skyman's nephew. Nuklon commented that he would always remember Sylvester as the Star-Spangled Kid. Next, Brainwave and Nuklon asked Skyman how old he was when he and Pat Dugan teamed up. Skyman responded that he was in his early teens and said that he remembered the day he met Dugan as if it were yesterday.   In 1941, in New York City, some Germans were watching an American film encouraging opposition against Nazism, fascism, and Japanese imperialism. Later, the Nazi sympathizers expressed their support for the Nazis and their disdain for America. Meanwhile, Sylvester, a young boy at the time, who bought himself a box seat for himself at the theater, stormed out and returned to his home. When Sylvester returned home, he received a beating from his father, John, due to his overprotectiveness. Back on the balcony of the theater, Pat Dugan overheard the Nazi sympathizers converse, prompting him to swoop down and attack them. After fighting the Nazis, the police arrived to arrest them. Then, Pat picked up a telegram that was carried by one of the Nazis with a message listed down.   Later, Sylvester was called back to the theater to give a statement. Sylvester examined the telegram and deduced that it was written in some kind of code. When Sylvester gave his statement to the police, one of the officers said that the Nazis would most likely be released after a light punishment. Later, another officer told Pat that he wished that the American flag would come to life and get revenge on the Nazis for insulting their country. After conversing with the police, Pat and Sylvester both had ideas; Sylvester borrowed his father's limousine and Pat used his garage as his hideout.   Later, Sylvester, wearing a blue suit covered in stripes and red pants, arrived at the main hangar of Flower Field and attacked two Nazi spies. Sylvester referred to himself to the Nazis as the Star-Spangled Kid. Meanwhile, Pat arrived in his car at the airfield. He exited his car and learned that the Star-Spangled Kid had defeated the Nazis and were left for the police. Suddenly, Dugan noticed one of the Nazi spies from the theater sneak out from behind him. Dugan believed that the Star-Spangled Kid was incompetent for failing to capture the Nazi and decided to follow the Nazi himself to Woody Hills Tennis Club. The Nazi was meeting up with one of his colleagues, informing him about the Star-Spangled Kid and that he still had the dynamite needed to use on the stadium. Suddenly, Dugan emerged and attacked the Nazis, one of whom mistook him for the Star-Spangled Kid. Dugan referred to himself as Stripesy and beat up the Nazis.   Meanwhile, the Star-Spangled Kid heard news of the fight at Woody Hills Tennis Stadium and arrived there to learn that Stripesy had defeated the Nazis and turned them into the police. The Star-Spangled Kid thought that Stripesy got the idea of fighting Nazis from him and that he wanted to "get hold of him" and "teach him a lesson." Meanwhile, in a Nazi hideout, some Nazi spies were reporting their failures to their lieutenant. On his radio, the Star-Spangled Kid heard that Nazi agents were attacking Trupert's Brewery. The young vigilante arrived at the brewery and was defeated by Nazi spies, who placed him next to Stripesy, who also defeated. The Nazi spies intended to demolish the brewery, taking the two vigilantes with them. The Nazis left the two vigilantes alone at the brewery, where the two bickered at first. However, the two heroes decided to work together to escape. The two broke a pressure valve in the boiler room and used its glass to cut them free of the rope that held them. The two escaped to learn that the Star-Spangled Kid's father's car had been stolen by the Nazis. Much to Stripesy's dismay, he drove himself and the younger hero to the Fourth of July fireworks display at Central Park Lake. During their trip, Stripesy revealed that his car was an airplane/car hybrid that he worked on.   When the two heroes arrived, they learned that the Nazis planned to put their dynamite in the fireworks. The two heroes attacked the Nazis with their fists and the fireworks. The explosions attracted the attention of nearby police officers, who arrested the Nazis. Afterwards, the two heroes decided to become partners. They would go on to fight villains such as Doctor Weerd and the Needle and join other superheroes in teams such as the Seven Soldiers of Victory and the All-Star Squadron. A few years after the war, the Seven Soldiers of Victory were defeated by the Nebula Man and hurled into a time warp until they were saved by the Justice Society and Justice League. After that, Stripesy retired and the Star-Spangled Kid joined the JSA fighting against the Ultra-Humanite and Brainwave, Sr.. One day, the Sylvester decided to retire the name Star-Spangled Kid and take up the name of Skyman.   In the present, Fury arrived to join Skyman, Nuklon, Brainwave, Jr., Jade, Obsidian, Wildcat, Northwind, and Doctor Mid-Nite for a meeting. Fury informed them that the Silver Scarab had left the team. THE SECRET ORIGIN OF THE GOLDEN AGE FLASH Jay Garrick was telling Jonathan Law, the Tarantula about how he went from being a college football player to a speedster superhero.   One day, when Jay was a science student at Midwestern University, he approached Joan Williams and asked her about their date for the Victory Dance. Joan, however, told Jay that although he asked her out first, she would be going with Bull Tryon, the captain of the football team, because she believed that Garrick performed poorly as a football player. Coach Russell would refer to Jay as "lead-foot" during their games and scold him for his poor performance on the field and that he would not have made the team if the team had not been performing poorly as well.   While Jay played on Midwestern's football team, he also worked with Professor Hughes' in the university's science labs. When Jay, was at the lab at 3 A.M., he lit up a cigarette and accidentally knocked over a bottle of "Hard Water", releasing gasses, which he inhaled. The next morning, the professor came to the lab and found Jay unconscious on the floor. Next, Jay was taken to the hospital where he remained in a comatose state for two weeks. For the next week, Jay remained in the hospital. But one day, he got up, looked out the window, and saw Joan getting off of a bus. Jay rushed through the hospital to meet Joan, realizing that he had gained superhuman speed abilities. When he arrived to meet Joan, she wondered how he was able to come so fast. Jay, then, rushed into the library and returned with a copy of Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell. Next, Jay explained to Joan that he received superhuman speed abilities after his accident in the lab three weeks prior and asked him to go to the post game dance over the weekend. Joan said that she would go to the dance with him only if he played in the game.   During the game, Midwestern was losing by two points and Bull Tryon was injured during the game. Coach Russell, realizing that he had no other choice, ordered Jay to take Tryon's place, much to the dismay of the team. Joan watched the game from the seats as her friend Carol doubted Jay's abilities. Tom, one of Jay's teammates, and another player scoffed at the idea of Jay replacing Tryon. However, when the opposing team's quarterback threw the football, Jay intercepted it and rushed past the other players, to the end zone. scoring a touchdown. After the game, Coach Russell said that he looked forward to having Jay help them win the rest of their season. However, Jay decided to quit the team, as he believed that he would provide an unfair advantage to them with his powers. That night, Jay was listening to a report on the radio about Britain and France's declaration of war on Nazi Germany. As Jay heard this, he thought that he needed to use his speed to do more than just play football. His speed did last and Joan kept his secret until they graduated. After the graduation, Joan introduced Jay to her father, Major Williams, and told her friend that she would be going to Washington to assist her father in his bombsight research, much to Jay's disappointment.   One evening, Jay was reading the Philadelphia Courier, learning about Philadelphia's crime wave. In response, Jay decided to become a costumed crimefighter, using his speed. One day, Jay decided to take a break from being a hero. For recreation, Jay decided to secretly play tennis on the Coleman Campus. After one of his games, Joan visited Jay and told him that her father had been kidnapped because a group called the Faultless Four kidnapped him for not giving them the secret of his bombsight. Suddenly, a gunman attempted to shoot Joan, but before the bullet could hit her, Jay quickly caught it.   Meanwhile, at the meeting place of the Faultless Four, Duriel, the man who attempted to kill Joan, announced that he intended to tell Major Williams that his daughter had been killed, hoping to make the officer break his silence. Duriel came to Major Williams and told him that his daughter had been killed. The major, however, did not believe Duriel. To prove that Joan was dead, Sieur Satan, the leader of the Faultless Four, ordered Duriel to bring her corpse to her father. When Duriel arrived, he saw Jay and asked him to bring him to Joan. Jay came in and showed Joan to Duriel, who was shocked to find that she was alive and claimed that he had found "the wrong Joan Williams" and rushed away in his car. Then, Jay rushed, following Duriel's car to the meeting place of the Faultless Four. At the hideout, Sieur Satan was lashing out at Duriel for failing to kill Joan. Suddenly, Jay broke into the window, causing the criminals to shoot bullets at him, which were all caught by the speedster. Jay found Major Williams and rushed away with him to the Williams residence, reuniting him with his daughter. Suddenly, the speedster disappeared, much to the major's confusion.   Jay, who suspected that the Faultless Four had something planned at the beach, lurked around until a fighter plane piloted by Duriel swooped down and attacked Jay, who quickly transformed into his hero guise and caught the bullets from the plane. Duriel, who referred to the speedster as the Flash, flew back to his teammates to warn them. Jay followed the plane to Keystone City where the Faultless Four had relocated. Sieur Satan, who had anticipated the Flash's arrival, activated an electric trap, which failed to harm the Flash, but instead electrocuted three of his colleagues. Next, Sieur Satan attempted to escape in his car, but the Flash caught up to him and caused his car to swerve off of a cliff to his apparent death.   Later on, Jay would find himself becoming a member of the Justice Society of America and married to Joan and having a child together.