Manic Monday Triple Overtime--The Secret Origin of The Wonder Twins!!

It's kinda surprising that they never dedicated an entire issue of Secret Origins to these guys.

But I guess that's why they keep me around...

So, with no further ado:

And you're welcome.

From Super Friends #14 (1978)

Now That DC Allegedly Cares About Legacy Again...

Apparently, there was some vague notion back in the day that DC's Secret Origins would run the origin stories of Golden Age heroes more or less sorta kinda in nearly the chronological order of their first appearances. Which, in turn, seemed to have created a groundswell of questions:

I wonder what the over/under is on the number of letters that Roy Thomas considered "so many of you." Ten?

Note the claim that, at this point (1988), DC only had the right to the Marvel Family from Fawcett? That's interesting, because in the 70s DC certainly used Ibis, Bulletman, et al; and they used those characters a lot in the 90s in Power Of Shazam and Starman, and on in to the 2000s. Did they lose the rights for a few years? Did DC never properly have the rights to Ibis et al when they were used in the 70s? Or was Roy mistaken/misinformed?

Anyway, here's the list of most of the Golden Age heroes DC controls, and the order in which they first appeared. Enjoy this astonishing feat of pre-internet research!

Thank you, Roy!

Now that DC allegedly cares about "legacy" again, let's just wait and see how long it is until any of these folks appear in a Rebirth era comic, shall we?

From Secret Origins #23 (1988)

Tales From The Quarter Bin--Destined For Greatness!!

Just a reminder...

...that at one point, DC thought the Floronic Man was such a potential goldmine...

That they gave him his own logo and trademark!

Because, you see, they were going to use him so often, and do toys and clothing and maxi-series and...

Floronic Man. The next big thing--guaranteed!!

Secret Origins #23 is from 1988

The Secret Origin Of Mighty (Hour) Mouse?!?

So, if you read this week's Friday Night Fight, you know something about the effect of Hourman's wonder drug, Miraclo, on animals.

But what you might not have known, is that Hourman started out testing the formula on animals...

See, this is a modern retelling of a Golden Age origin. So instead of developing the drug and immediately testing it on himself, like a true olde tyme scientist would, Rex Tyler is using lab rats. Well, a lab rat.

Rasputin? Oh, Rex, you don't name the test animals you're giving potentially deadly chemicals to!

But...

Here he comes to save the day!!

You know, Rasputin's probably still alive...his exposure to Miraclo (and the earlier versions that "didn't work") granting him rat immortality, enabling him to survive over the decades...wandering the globe, desperately seeking out more of the Miraclo, trying to feed the monkey that's been on his back for 80 years...gradually evolving into a larger, more human-looking form, to menace anyone who gets between him and his sweet, sweet drug. Rasputin, the rat who cannot die...

And once again we see why I'm not allowed to write comic books.

Meanwhile, Hourman gets more and more...problematic as time goes by. Illegal animal experimentation? Addictive performance-enhancing drugs? What's next, Rex--marketing Miraclo in Third World countries to test it? Falsifying data submitted to the FDA to get it approved? Wining and dining doctors to get them to prescribe it? No wonder the nu52 hasn't come anywhere near Hourman in the reboot...

From Secret Origins #16 (1987)