Real Name: Dr. Rex Ward

Identity/Class: Human ghost

Occupation: Scientist

Affiliations: None

Enemies: Unknown

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: Mobile

First Appearance: Star Studded Comics #1

Powers/Abilities: Invisibility, intangibility, invulnerability (he’s already dead) and ability to grow to giant size.

History: In the year 2031, young scientist Dr Rex Ward stepped into his experimental time machine, and vanished. He exited the machine into the library of a remote country house, in the year 1941. Unfortunately, the house was being burgled, and he was immediately shot dead.

Fleeing the scene, the burglars torched the house to destroy the evidence of murder. Unfortunately for them, the spirit of Dr Ward rose from his body, still clad in his futuristic clothing, but now sporting a strange emblem. His handsome face now replaced by a ghastly, ghostly visage, he sent his killers to a fiery doom, by sending their getaway car over a cliff.

On ascending to Heaven, the spirit of Dr Ward was denied entry, because “You have died before you where born, a thing that can not be”. This paradox was resolved by sending the spirit back to earth, with magical powers, including the ability to become solid and visible. Calling himself Dr Weird, the spirit was charged with protecting the world from supernatural menaces. He must do so until the moment of his departure from the future (he had hoped that the moment of his birth would do). A reluctant but dedicated hero, the doc is always looking for a way to go to his eternal rest ahead of schedule.

Comments: Dr Weird’s adventures begin in the 1940’s, but this is clearly on Earth A. He never appears in a “Golden Age” Knights of Justice” story, and the Earth B heroes do not meet him until the “Criss Cross Crisis” in Big Bang (Caliber series) # 3.

Dr Weird is unique, in that he is the only Big Bang hero to have a real publishing history. Dreamed up by comics fan Howard Keltner in the early 1940’s, the Doc was first published by Howard and his fellow members of the Texas Trio in fanzine form in Star Studded Comics #1 (he appeared in 12 of the 18 issue run). In this version, Rex Ward had only traveled from 2013 to 1963. When Big Bang acquired the character, the dates where changed to make him more “Golden Age” and to give the character more potential for past and future stories. Doctor Weird appeared in many amateur comics (being drawn by Jim Starlin at one point) before joining the Big Bang stable. Some of these old stories have been reprinted under the Big Bang label.

Despite his obvious resemblances to the Spectre, Dr Fate and even Dr Strange, Dr Weird was in fact inspired by genuine old time comic hero, Mr. Justice.

Thanks to Chris Adams for the above information.

Real Name: Jerry Randall

Identity/Class: Normal human

Occupation: Lawyer

Aliases: the Kid Whiz, Galahad, White Knight, Knight Watchman

Affiliations: Whiz Kids, Round Table of America

History: Kid Galahad was groomed from a young age to fight crime and the Kid Whiz dedicated his life to that pursuit. Along the way, he passed on some of what he learned to other youthful crimefighters as the leader of a team that became known as the Whiz Kids. He spent some time in New York City studying with an aged master of Japanese martial arts.

Galahad dropped the “Kid” from his name when he entered college and left Midway City. Yearning to not only stop criminals but to see them locked away, Jerry studied law. After graduation, he returned to Midway City to work for the District Attorney by day and patrol the streets at night as Galahad. The demands of two full time jobs stretched Jerry to the limit and when the time came to make a decision, Galahad won out.

Inspired by Ultiman’s example, Galahad vowed to become a symbol of hope for the citizens of Midway City. Leaving the “night shift” to the Watchman, Galahad began operating during the daylight hours to become a visible presence in Midway. He worked with the police and the FBI, fighting not only crime but also corruption.

Meanwhile, Jerry became a corporate lawyer and a partner in the family business. He married his long time girlfriend Maggie and they bought a large mansion on Midway City’s famed Platinum Coast. Once owned by smugglers, Jerry converted the secret basement into the Dungeon, his own version of the Watch Tower.

Over the years the Watchman and Galahad fought crime individually and as a team. Galahad replaced his mentor in the Round Table of America and came to be regarded as the team leader by even the older members.

The Knight Watchman retired in his mid 50s, still in peak mental and physical condition, but age was catching up to him. Confident in Galahad’s abilities, Reid devoted himself to his career as an international fashion designer and to running the family financial empire.

Noting an increase in crime after Reid’s retirement, Jerry often adopted the Knight Watchman identity to patrol the city. In this way he could strike fear into the hearts of criminals by night and offer hope to the city by day as Galahad, the White Knight.

Real Name: Reid Randall

Identity/Class: Normal human.

Occupation: Fashion designer

Affiliations:

• Earth B: Knights of Justice
• Earth A: Round Table of America

Enemies: Mr. Mask, Quizmaster, Grandfather Clock, Pink Flamingo, Baron Fledermaus, El Diablo, Cheshire Cat

Known Relatives: Jerry Randall/Kid Galahad (nephew), Ma Randall (mother), Ted (older brother, deceased), Janet (sister-in-law, deceased)

Aliases: Twilight Paladin, Purple Pimpernel

Base of Operations: the Watchtower, Midway City, Earth A

Powers/Abilities: world class decathlon athlete, skilled fighter, detective

History: College student and Olympic hopeful Reid Randall was called home to Midway City when mobsters attempted to take over the family garment business. His older brother Ted and his wife Janet were killed by a car bomb and Reid vowed to avenge their deaths, deciding that the whole warehouse district needed a guardian to protect it from the mob.

Wearing a simple homemade costume and mask to protect his identity, and using his athletic skills, Reid defeated the gang single-handedly. He dressed his downed opponents in women’s clothes and left them tied up for the police. During the fight, one of the gang had referred to Reid as a night watchman. Recalling how his mother had referred to him as her “knight in shining armor”, the Knight Watchman was born to protect the innocents from criminals.

The wooden water tower on the roof of a warehouse became the Watch Tower, where the Knight Watchman began his nightly vigil over the city. The building below was the real secret headquarters, housing a laboratory, training area and the garage which housed the motorcycle known as the “Iron Horse” and later, the high performance automobole known as the WatchWagon.

Reid’s nephew Jerry Randall soon entered the war on crime, claiming that “every knight needs a squire!” A knight in training, Jerry adopted the guise of Kid Galahad and together the two became the terror of the Midway City underworld.

Midway City was the most dangerous and corrupt city in America, run by mobsters who had fought a continual gang war for control since the Great depression. But instead of simple mobsters, the Twlite aces were soon facing Mr Mask, whose disfigured, clay-like face could be reshaped to look like anyone else; former game show writer the Quizmaster; the rotund, top-hatted Grandfather Clock; and the sinister, smiling Pinkerton Fleming, a.k.a. the Pink Flamingo.

Aside from Galahad, the Knight Watchman’s closest friend was Ultiman. Known as “the World’s Best Friends”, they shared many adventures together and with the Round Table of America, an assemblage of America’s best & brightest heroes which they established at the request of President Kennedy.

Real Name: Moray Talbot

Identity/Class: Human technology user/enhanced by chemicals

Occupation: Unknown

Affiliations: Whizz Kids

Enemies: Unknown

Known Relatives: Dr. Moira Talbot (mother), Dr. Noah Talbot (Atomic Sub, grandfather)

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: Unknown

First Appearance: Big Bang #3 “The Criss-Cross Crisis” (Calibre)

Powers/Abilities: Amphibious – able to breathe underwater.

History: The granddaughter of the Atomic Sub, Moray Talbot became a superhero in her own right when experiments with hydroglcerine enabled her to breathe underwater. Rather than have an android body like her grandfather, or a complete blood transfusion like their pet, Bubbles the sea-monkey, Moray simply takes a hydroglycerine capsule. This enabled her to extract oxygen from seawater for up to one hour, apparently without the side affects suffered by the Atomic Sub and Bubbles. She had no other super powers, but seemed to be an expert oceanographer, and a strong swimmer. In her first appearance she travelled on the back of a tame whale.

Moray and Bubbles became charter members of the Whizz Kids (the junior partners of the Round Table of America) and wre present when The Atomic Sub dies saving the world. She has a long standing romantic relationship with her fellow Whizz Kid, Cyclone. By the mid 1980’s, Moray had been missing for three years and (prompted by the death of Bubbles) Cyclone quit as leader of the adult Whizzards team to look for her. It has yet to be revealed what became of her.

Comments: Thanks to Chris Adams for the above information and images. He notes that “As beautiful as her mother, Moray’s amphibian powers let her fill the role of Aqualad in the Teen Titans, but her black pony tail makes her a dead ringer for Wonder Girl, a role she co-fills with Thunder Girl. More than that, her red costume and method of breathing underwater are very similar to the 1960’s Japanese TV cartoon hero, Marine Boy.”

Real Name: Caspar Milquetoast  or  Dave Donovan or unknown (1968, 1986 and 1990’s) or Brett Kowaski

Identity/Class: Human cyborg

Occupation: Crimefighter

Affiliations: Caspar Milquetoast: Dogtag

Dave Donovan: Polly

Unknown (1968): U.S. Junior, G.O.O.D.G.U.Y.S.

Enemies: Caspar Milquetoast: Heinrich

Dave Donovan: Ivan

Unknown (1968): B.A.D.G.U.Y.S.

Brett Kowaski: U.S. Government

Known Relatives: Unknown (1986): Amelia (wife)

Aliases: Unknown (1986): Caspar Milquetoast

Base of Operations: U.S.

First Appearance: Big Bang #8 (Image)

Powers/Abilities: Mr U.S. has bionic arms, a bionic leg, and, depending on which incarnation, various bionic eyes, ears, radio recievers / computers in his head.

History: Mr U.S. is a patriotic Red, White and Blue garbed hero, whose career spans six decades. However, he has more than one origin . . . . . .

1943 “Birth of a Legend”

Forlorn 4F reject Caspar Milquetoast is desperate to serve his country. When he is approached by two scientists looking for a subject for the U.S. governments “Project Nazi Stopper”, he eagerly volunteers. He is rebuilt into a cyborg with “super-strength mechanical arms, one leg, and a super-radio built into your head!” Plus “stainless steel arches in your feet!” . No sooner has he been given his costume, than the plans for his cybernetics are stolen by lab assistant, Henry, who is really Nazi spy Heinrich. In his first mission, Mr U.S. retrieves the stolen plans from the Nazi hideout, aided by a stray dog he names “Dogtag” which he adopts as his sidekick.

1963 “A Hero Bestowed”

18 year old Dave Donovan is in hospital, waiting to have his tonsils removed. As his girlfriend Polly visits him, a clumsy nurse changes Dave’s life forever by dropping her clipboard and mixing up the operating schedules. Upon leaving hospital, Dave is amazed when two panicky surgeons break the bad news that is is the accidental subject of “Project Patriot”, something that was only discovered when other surgeons tried to remove the non-existent tonsils from a GI. Dave now has “ultra-strong mechanical arms, a leg, a transistorised headset and titanium arches”. Re-admitted to hospital, Dave’s has his trousers stolen by lab assistant Evan, who is really Communist spy Ivan. (The trousers contain Dave’s wallet, with his address. The plan is to kidnap Dave later for examination).

Donning the Mr U.S. costume in lieu of his own clothes, Dave discovers (with the aid of his transistorised hearing) a Communist hideout. Realising that it is now his patriotic duty to be Mr U.S., he captures the spies, retrieving his trouser in the process. After telling the authorities of his decision to remain as Mr U.S., Dave realises too late that he has missed his date with Polly.

1968

Mr U.S. and his sidekick, U.S. Junior are agents for the government organisation G.O.O.D.G.U.Y.S. They are captured by an agent of B.A.D.G.U.Y.S who holds Mr U.S. prisoner with a magnetic wall. Responding to the villain’s taunts that he should never have allowed the government to fill him with robotic parts, Mr U.S. explains (without ever mentioning his real name) that “I made them do it!”. While in hospital, he had wanted to do something to serve his country. Overhearing two doctors carelessly talking about the Mr U.S. project, he tripped up the nurse carrying the operating schedules and hastily rearranged them so that he would be the test subject. He received the prosthetics intended for the volunteer, Colonel Adam, namely: “robot arms, thigh, two way infra-red eye and ears and titanium foot arches”. The authorities realised the switch too late, but were impressed by his resourcefulness and patriotism. allowing him to become Mr U.S.. Concluding his story Mr U.S. easily escapes the magnetic trap, because “Magnets don’t attract titanium!”.

1973 “By Any Other Name”

In his civilian identity of Brett Kowaski, Mr U.S. is cruising the highways of America on his motorcycle. He relates his origin to his black buddy. A typical long haired hippy, the orphaned Kowaski had evaded the draft, due to his flat feet. Hospitalised after being beaten up at a peaceful “Ban the Bomb” rally, Brett is horrified to discover that he has become the subject of “Project Perfect Patriot”. He is now a cyborg, complete with “platinum insteps”.

He is unwilling to co-operate at first, until the military reveal that under “secret executive order 37” he can be “terminated with extreme prejudice”. Reluctantly then, he becomes Mr U.S. and at first he is happy to capture criminals, save lives and thwart alien invasions. He finally goes AWOL however, after a raid he is ordered to perform turns out to be on a peaceful, law-abiding anti-war organisation. With his life in jeopardy, he goes on the run, in an attempt to “find America”.

1986 “Old Glory”

Caspar Milquetoast is now a middle aged man, happily married to his beloved Amelia. As Mr U.S. however, he is reduced to being both a participant and the subject of a trivia question about his “teflon arches” on the “Hollywood Squares” TV show. He hides a dark secret from the world, including his wife. Some 12 years earlier an investigative reporter had told him that he wasn’t really human. In WW II, the U.S. army were trying to develop a lifelike, sentient robot soldier. When the funding ran out, they grafted the computer brain and other completed mechanical parts onto a fresh corpse. Thus “Caspar Milquetoast” was nothing but a false identity created in 1943.

The 1990’s “U.S.”

U.S. is a “butt kicking machine”, with big cyborg muscles and really big staple guns. He either crushes his opponents under his “advantagium arches”, or staples them to the wall (with really big staples). When ever he is asked about his origin, he replies “I don’t know. A butt kicking machine doesn’t need to know its origin, it just kicks butt”.

Comments: Thanks to Chris Adams for information and images. Chris notes “Mr U.S. is not your typical Big Bang character, being more of a satire than a homage. Like the Shadow Lady, the character was created quite independently of Big Bang. The intention was to publish a special one-shot, stand alone story, with a choice of six multiple covers. When this plan fell through, the completed strip found a home in the pages of BB #8 (Image series), taking over the entire issue.

Mr U.S. is an affectionate and well produced parody of popular trends in comic book history. The artwork and the writing are both spot-on. 1943 is done in the style of Simon and Kirby, while 1963 is done in the style of a Lee and Kirby Marvel comic. 1968 is a combination of the Batman, Blackhawk and T.H.U.N.D.E.R Agents comics that tried to capture the feel of 1960’s super hero and secret agent TV shows.

1973 melds elements of Captain America’s “Nomad” identity and new partner, the Falcon, with Green Lanterns “search for America” and new buddy, John Stewart. 1986 is in the style of Alan Moore’s Watchmen, (this segment explaining neatly why Mr U.S. had only ONE mechanical leg) while the 1990’s are done in the style of just about any Rob Liefield title published by Image (it was good of them to publish it).

Mr U.S. is both full of in-jokes for the long-time comic fan and a useful crash course for anyone interested in the history of American super hero comics. The character himself is inspired not only by Captain America, but also by the original Shield (the first patriotic super hero), The Fighting American (whom he resembles), and DC’s Commandeer Steel and his grandson, the original Steel.

It is unclear whether Mr U.S. exists on Earth A, Earth B or both. He has made only two other appearances outside of BB #8. The first was a single panel in the “missing chapter” of the “Timebomber” storyline (when just about every BB hero turned up to fight the Time Being). The second was on the back cover of the Ultiman special published in 2001, spoofing the notorious Hostess Fruit Pie adverts.”