Secret Origins Special #1

Issue Details

Synopsis

THE ORIGIN OF THE SUPERMAN-BATMAN TEAM! When Luthor escapes from prison again, Batman and Robin are reminded of their earliest case together with Superman. They rush to Metropolis in the event that Luthor intends to use kryptonite against Superman again.   When Batman and Robin summon Superman to work out their collaborative attack to stop Luthor, they are surprised to see Superman arrive with Powerman. Superman unexpectedly claims that Powerman is his new partner and that Batman and Robin are no longer needed.  he surprise move does not deter Batman and Robin from continuing their investigation against Luthor, though not directly with Superman. Batman and Robin devise an effective defence against Luthor's latest invention - a destructive ray that cannot penetrate silicon. With their shields the subdue Luthor and confiscate the kryptonite he intended to use in a ploy against Superman. With the threat of Luthor removed, Superman revealed to his friends that Powerman was a remote-controlled robot he designed to safeguard them from harm, and deal with Luthor is he attempted to use kryptonite to eliminate Superman. SECRET OF THE ETERNAL CITY! Adam Strange is an archaeologist working in the country of Caramanga in South America. A tribe of hostile Incan villagers begin chasing Adam, but he manages to elude them when his body is struck by a strange beam of energy.   This energy ray, known as a Zeta-Beam instantly teleports Adam Strange twenty-five trillion miles through space to the planet of Rann. There, he meets the scientist Sardath. Sardath explains that the Zeta-Beam was initially a communication ray, but radiation altered it, transforming it into a teleportation beam. Adam learns that once the Zeta-Beam radiation wears off, he will be instantly teleported back to his point of origin. Adam spends a great deal of time with Sardath, and meets his daughter, Alanna. He learns the Rannian language, as well as a portion of Rann's violent history.   Some time later, a race of alien invaders known as the Eternals arrives on Rann in search of a rare mineral known as Vitatron. Adam Strange and Alanna journey to the city-state of Kamorak where they encounter the Eternals. Alanna believes that Vitatron can only be found in the mythical city of Samakand - a place that only appears once every twenty-five Rannian years.   Adam and Alanna go to Samakand and consult with some of the scientists within the city. They manage to bait the Eternals into following them, and the scientists use their advanced technology to trap the invaders inside of a fourth-dimensional prison.   A short time later, the Zeta-Beam radiation infecting Adam's body wears off, and he instantly teleports back to Earth. However, he has already developed a fondness for the alien world and it's denizens and wishes to return. Adam knows that the Zeta-Beam will strike the Earth again, so he begins calculating the exact location at which the beam will strike. THE PLANET OF THE DOOMED MEN! While out testing a new aircraft, Hal's astral form is transported to the world of the Guardians, who seek to know who took over the role of Green Lantern in that sector of space from Abin Sur. Hal recounts the events that led to him becoming the Green Lantern. Convinced that Hal is worthy of the title, they erase his memory and return his astral form to his physical body, deciding that now is not the time for Hal to know of their existence.   Returning to his dressing room at the Ferris Aircraft Company, Hal gets a message from his Power Battery asking him to defend the beings on the planet Calor. Traveling out that way, Hal finds a race of primitive humanoids being terrorized by a monstrous creature that can fire mental bolts of energy. As he battles the creature, it's a race against time as the 24 hour deadline for his power ring's charge looms. Hal uses his power ring to freeze the creature in ice and places it in a glacier where it will not thaw out. Hal returns to Earth with just enough time before his power ring loses its charge. THE SECRET OF THE SORCERER'S BOX! En route by plane to appear on the radio program "Heroes", Olympic wrestling champion Rocky Davis, master skin diver Prof Haley, circus daredevil Red Ryan and War hero and jet pilot Ace Morgan are caught in a storm and their plane crashes. Surviving the crash, the group agrees that they are living on borrowed time and that they should work together challenging the unknown as the Challengers of the Unknown.   After making headlines with their exploits, the Challengers are invited by the mysterious Mr. Morelian who offers them a million dollars if they succeed in opening Pandroa's box. Taking the box out to an uninhabited island, each member tries opening the box. Unleashing and stopping such terrors as a giant stone warrior, a miniature sun and a whirling weaver, the Challengers defeat each challenge presented to them. After Morelian appears informing them that he knew of the dangers in the box, and that he set the Challengers to unleash them so that he can get the true prize of the box: a ring of immortality. However, when Morelian tries to fly away, his plane crashes and dies, the ring having been a dud. The Challengers leave the island, wondering where their next adventure will take them. THE SECRET ORIGIN OF WONDER WOMAN Shortly after the birth of Diana, daughter of Queen Hippolyta, Paradise Island is visited by Aphrodite the Goddess of Love, who comes to wish the young Diana well, and tells the infant girl that she will grow to be the fairest maid in all the land. The baby would be visited also by Athena, who would give her wisdom, Mercury who would be amazed at the tot's speed, as well as Hercules who is impressed by the girl's strength.   Time passes, and eventually conflict would claim the lives of all the men of Amazonia and the women would be in utter woe. Seeking to escape the conflict of the mainland, Queen Hippolyta would rally the rest of the Amazons and announce that they would be leaving, to escape the wars and find peace on an island far, far away. That night, the queen would be startled to find that Diana had gone missing in the night, and when they would go out to search for her they would be surprised to see the teenaged girl building a ship for them at super speed. Impressed by this display, her fellow Amazonians would begin calling her Wonder Girl.   As they set sail into the vast oceans, Wonder Girl would use her superior strength to help the ship make it past a whirlpool. as well as save the ship from burning. Eventually they would pass through a strange fog of sleeping gas. While most of the Amazonians would be knocked out by the gas, Wonder Girl would resist its caustic vapors and push onward, sailing them to safety. They would soon pilot out of the gasses and Wonder Girl would spot an island.   As the others revive, they would go to shore where they would be visited by Athena. Athena would tell the women gathered that this island, dubbed Paradise Island, would be their new home, and that as long as they stayed there they would retain eternal youth under the condition that nobody leave the island.   Over the years, young Diana would help her fellow Amazons build a new home, and spend her time exercising, having fun, and riding the Rocs, which were giant birds, native to the island, and also mastering all forms of science and languages. One day while out swimming with her fellow Amazons, Wonder Girl and the others would be terrorized by a giant whale. Wonder Girl would use her superior strength to send the whale packing, saving her friends. The entire exploit would be photographed and be the first record of the illustrious career of the girl who would eventually grow up to be Wonder Woman. THE STRANGE EXPERIMENT OF DR. ERDEL! When Professor Mark Erdel uses a "robot brain" and teleportation system of his creation to capture and retrieve something from space, it brings a green-skinned Martian named J'onn J'onzz to Earth. After both introduce themselves to each other, J'onzz asks Erdel to return him to Mars. Erdel replies that he cannot do that, since it might take years to reverse his computer's program. The Martian, knowing he must adapt his appearance to that of humans, uses his chameleon-like powers to make himself look like a brown-haired Caucasian human male. Seconds afterward, the shock of the preceding events takes its toll on Erdel's weak heart. With his last breaths, Erdel asks J'onzz to forgive him for making him a prisoner of Earth. Then he dies.   J'onzz muses that the Martians are working on a "Project Star-Ride" for interplanetary travel. But until that project is completed--however long that may take--he is bound to Earth. He Americanizes his name to John Jones. Then, going to the seaside, he uses his Martian mind-over-matter power to extract gold from seawater to give him working capital. John Jones then takes a tour of the Earth, sometimes using his powers of invisibility and immateriality to conceal his presence.   One aspect of Terran life disturbs J'onn J'onzz: crime. Since Earth is a younger planet than Mars, and since Mars underwent the "Great Evolution" centuries ago that virtually wiped out crime, its rate of wrongdoing is much less than that of Earth. J'onzz decides to help the Earthmen by fighting crime. In his John Jones identity, he takes and passes a detective exam at the Midtown police department. But he realizes he must avoid. MYSTER OF THE HUMAN THUNDERBOLT! Barry Allen, a police scientist who is doused with chemicals that are struck by lightning. Barry soon finds that he has been endowed with super-speed and creates a costume which contracts and hides in his ring). He takes on the name of his favorite comic book character: The Flash.   In his first mission as the Flash, Barry goes after the criminal known as the Turtle Man, dubbed the world's slowest man. The Turtle Man tries to rob a bank. However, he is ultimately thwarted by the Flash, despite the fact that his super-speed often worked against him going after the plodding Turtle Man. Ultimately, the Flash captures his opponent and turns him over to the police.