DC Dopplegangers: Fearless Fireballs

As previously mentioned, DC Comics had rolled out their own Crusaders in the late 1970s to play to part of foils for the Freedom Fighters. Based on Marvel's Invaders, leading to an unofficial crossover as each team battled amalgams of the other, there were traces of Mighty Comics' Mighty Crusaders and their supporting characters.

Interestingly, each team sported their own "Fireball". named the same with similar flame-wielding abilities. Of course, Ted Tyler was a firefighter while old Lennie Wein was a fanboy, so while one was a professional hero the other was an amateur nerd. 

Nevertheless, in a mano-y-mano fight between the two human torches, it would seem Fireball-DC would have the upper-hand on Fireball-MLJ, since he in enveloped in all-consuming flames enabling to create tangible shapes and defy gravity, while his opponent merely could absorb and control ambient heat around him... oh and leap mighty bounds. Still, he had girlfriend Hedy (Hedy?) Harris pulling for him, instead of a junior sidekick named Sparky. That has to count for something in the grand scheme of plot developments.

Crossover Month: Heroic Hotheads

If you were to do an inventory on all the secret (and not-so-secret) origins of heroes with fire-based powers, you'd see a common denominator. Most of them were the result of an accident, allowing the hero (or heroine) to not only project intense heat and gained immunity from their own flames.

Fireball was among the first of such characters, proceeded a couple years early by Timely Comic's Human Torch. While Torch was an android, allowing the reader to more easily accept his ability to cope with such temperatures, Fireball was fire fighter Ted Tyler bathed in an experimental chemical that mutated him into a heat-emitting hero. Decades later, the two-in-one hero Firestorm was composed of teen Ronnie Raymond and scientist Martin Stein, merged together by a nuclear plant accident. While his fire was more radioactive than other flame-based characters, Firestorm visually and conceptually is somewhat similar to Fireball. In a fair fight the younger hero easily out-classes his elder in both power and knowledge.

Team-Up Tuesdays: Marvel Mondays Madness!

On the outskirts of Marvel's main fictional universe, a team of alien adventurers formed to protect a strange world made up of floating enclaves connected in a metallic web floating through space. We have already considered two of their members which were at least partly inspired by the Comet and Hangman. Two more members of this society also gained some notoriety. One tied to the Champions, an analog for the Crusaders, the other a native Xandarian who struck off on his own to explore the cosmos with his cosmic abilities.

Powerhouse was a young Rieg Davan that gained the power to harness energy which allowed him to magnify his superhuman strength further.  Much like Lancelot Strong aka the Shield, he had great potential yet his life was prematurely snuffed out before his career could take off.

Firelord began as an ordinary lad in Xandar society Pyreus Kril that was second in command of a stellar vessel, who first assumed his friend and captain's place after his abduction, and later adopted a similar set of cosmic powers from the same cosmic entity when the former captain was himself killed. Much like Fireball and Inferno, his fiery disposition was matched by his manipulation of thermal energies around his body. While never officially joining a team like his MLJ counterparts, he was ultimately on the same side of good. But there were other Champions, like their Crusader forebearers, for another Monday.

Fear not, you Charlton fans (both of you) for Mighty Marvel also featured a team-up of an energetic captain and a spunky femme federali (no, not Captain Atom and Eve  Eden aka Nightshade) i.e. Captain Mar-Vel and Major Carol Danvers aka Ms. Marvel.

But that is a tale for another week yet to come.

Friday Fiends: Bad Dudes...Bad Breath!

Last week we considered a a couple of hot customers. Well, turns out we have another pair a bit hot under the collar, More specifically, hot under the larynx. Inferno and Mister Blaze. Let's introduce both side-by-side.

Inferno was a circus fire breather who seemed to emit from his mouth heat at will. He was lured into crime named Frank Verrano. This brought him into conflict with the man of steel, Steel Sterling.

Another circus performer, known only as Mr. Blaze also turned to a life of crime when his own act proved a dismal failure. And  he met Mr. Smith!

Now in prison, Inferno revealed a softer side despite his gruff demeanor, as he learned a new inmate may have cause the fare Dora Cummings to unnecessary danger. He soon learn that this prisoner is his old enemy, disguised as a fellow captive to ferret out a rumored prison break. Steel begins to realize that Mr. Verrano may have more in common with him than he knows. What will Inferno's future have in store for him?

Now coating himself and his special suit in Chris Smith's compound, Mr. Blaze is about to reveal his trump card, as he had discovered a  hidden race of underground lava men (all the rage in the hip 60's) ready to yield to his will when he displays an invincibility to fire. Still there is one obstacle... ex-diplomat now masked man... Peacemaker.

After Sterling's testimony, Inferno embarks on a heroic career getting one of those neat uniforms. From his initial appearances in Zip Comics 10-13... he then had his own series in Blue Ribbon Comics  13-19.

After drawing Peacemaker back to his hidden lair, Blaze does what all psychotic would-be world conquerors would do as reveals his scheme...to steal his rival's jet as a heat  missile of sort, and topple Washington D.C. 

Coming out of retirement, Inferno joined two other heated heroes, Firefly and  Fireball in Mighty Crusaders #4 in order to join the team. Sent to combat the threat Hangman (himself a former applicant of this team...turned evil on a reverse career path from Inferno). Later on, Inferno fights alongside with former foe and ally Steel, although neither seem to have much to say after all these years. And our hero leaves after his request to join...along with that of the others...is rejected by the Crusaders until later on.

Of course, Smith doesn't take the news of his invention being used as a weapon of war well, and pursues Blaze in his backup aircraft. Fortunately, he knows the flaws of his device well and this proves to be the undoing of Mr. Blaze, who disappears after ejecting. There is a hint that he would return...and had Peacemaker's series continued past issue #5, which was Blaze's debut, our turban tormentor may well have as he had potential. Oh...and the lava men slithered back into the hole they crawled out of. They got burned.


Both Inferno and Mr. Blaze started out in the same career, then followed up as felons. Would Blaze have also eventually repented and become a force for good? Doubtful but who know? Or cares? Meanwhile, Inferno makes one more silver age appearance...and it appears he may have turned back to the dark side! We'll leave that for a future Battling Blondes.

Friday Fiends: Fire Fiend & Fiery Friend

We break a pattern this week, as this post should be retitled "Friday Fiend & Friend" as only one of our candidates is a villain who only appeared twice yet is unique enough to consider among the hordes of other hot and cold criminals. The other is a golden age hero who's initial run was short and rarely appeared since, yet started out as a novel idea. Let's start the latter.

Fireball first appeared as Ted Tyler, fearless firefighter, who as often happened in comics both in the golden and then silver ages was exposed to "those" funky experimental chemicals that always seemed to be lying around. Thankfully his buddies are there to bring their unconscious comrade from the flammable structure...or would he have survived considering what was about to occur within his mutating body? Only his unknown creator knew for sure.

Ted then makes miraculously quick recovery (considering the page count of those 1940's comics) and immediately resolves to use his heat absorption and projection powers to fight fire bugs...and decided to track down the cause of his transformation before others are  then transformed as well into superhuman human torches. After all, who needs the competition in the long-underwear set? He still needed to nail the right color scheme, however.

Tracking down "the Bug" (as in firebug), Fireball shows how invincible his powers make him...bullets melt on impact...heat is his to command...his stamina is tremendous and his legs allow him to leap vast distances! And the Bug gets while the getting is good...we're unsure exactly where he landed but we are sure it wasn't pretty. As for Fireball, he continued his career as a one-man firefighting force, preventing fires from getting out of hand and burning bad guys who were their cause.This lasted about a year or so.

After 11 issues in the back pages of Pep, Fireball's fleeting fame burnt out. He next appeared in the 1960's as a potential member of the Mighty Crusaders, in fact he was the first applicant in issue #4. After an outing alongside fellow flaming fellows Firefly and Inferno then working alongside "too many heroes", he returns to retirement until Archie's Weird Mysteries #3 when he's finally accepted as a Crusader himself. Along with two dozen others!

August 1967's Captain Atom #87, a new adversary of our Atomic Ace appeared with an interesting set of abilities, the ability to project scourching heat from his right hand, and biting cold from his left hand...via his projectors attached to his specialized armor. Atom in his alias of Captain Adam, while swimming in the sea, came upon this baddie and his henchmen. And while the hired help aren't exactly pulling their wait, F-I is ready for this new challenge.

After cornering Atom into a trap which his henchmen sent thanks to their freezing cannon, Fiery-Icer mistakenly believes this is the end of the good Captain...sealed in a icey tomb underneath several tons of ocean. Ah if only he knew what was in store...a battle royale with our hero. Apparently Icer's objective is to disable a new missle tracking station which might have interfered with his "purposes" although what those were is unknown. Was he a foreign agent or simply a criminal opportunist?

It seems like Icer comes equipped for any opposition, including a nuclear powered sentinel, and uses a one-two combo of heat and cold to stun Atom. Note that Icer doesn't simply rely on his gadget, using his brawn as well as brains to pin down the Atomic Avenger!  The chips seems down until Cap finds the reserves necessary to deck his truly tempermental temperature foe. Knocking out Icer, Atom frees the ever annoying Abby Ladd from his clutches.  Sigh, oh well.

After years in the lockup, Fiery-Icer learns to folly of tying his career to a bunch of green clad goons and instead ties his future to a bunch of...green-red-and-yellow clad goons i.e. Blue Beetle's foes the Madmen as well as the Manipulator and another foe of Captain Atom, Iron Arm. Despite sheer numbers on their side, Icer's sinister Squad is no match for the fully assembled Sentinels of Justice. Still he manages to squirm away from Nightshade, to be seen nevermore.