Roy Thomas
Roy William Thomas Jr. is an American comic book writer and editor, Stan Lee's first successor as editor-in-chief of Marvel Comics. He is best known for introducing the pulp magazine hero Conan the Barbarian to American comics, with a series that added to the storyline of Robert E. Howard's character and helped launch a sword and sorcery trend in comics. Thomas is known for his championing of Golden Age comic-book heroes – the 1940s superhero team the Justice Society of America – and for lengthy writing stints on Marvel's X-Men and The Avengers, DC Comics' All-Star Squadron, among other titles. Thomas was inducted into the Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame in 2011. Thomas was born in Jackson, United States; as a child, he was a devoted comic book fan, in grade school he wrote and drew his own comics for distribution to friends and family. The first of these was All-Giant Comics, which he recalls as having featured such characters as Elephant Giant, he graduated from Southeast Missouri State University in 1961 with a BS in Education, having majored in history and social science.
Thomas became an early and active member of Silver Age comic book fandom when it organized in the early 1960s – around Jerry Bails, whose enthusiasm for the rebirth of superhero comics during that period led Bails to found the fanzine Alter Ego, an early focal point of fandom. Thomas a high school English teacher, took over as editor in 1964 when Bails moved on to other pursuits. Letters from him appeared in the letters pages of both DC and Marvel Comics, including The Flash #116, Fantastic Four #5, Fantastic Four #15, Fantastic Four #22. In 1965, Thomas moved to New York City to take a job at DC Comics as assistant to Mort Weisinger the editor of the Superman titles. Thomas said he had just accepted a fellowship to study foreign relations at George Washington University when he received a letter from Weisinger, "with whom I had exchanged one or two letters, tops", asking Thomas to become "his assistant editor on a several-week trial basis." Thomas had written a Jimmy Olsen script "a few months before, while still living and teaching in the St. Louis area," he said in 2005.
"I worked at DC for eight days in late June and early July of 1965" before accepting a job at Marvel Comics. The Marvel "Bullpen Bulletins" in Fantastic Four #61 describes Thomas "admitting that he gave up a scholarship to George Washington University just to write for Marvel!" This came after his chafing under the notoriously difficult Weisinger, to a point, Thomas said in 1981, that he would go "home to my dingy little room at, the George Washington Hotel in Manhattan, during that second week, feeling tears well into my eyes, at the ripe old age of 24." Familiar with editor and chief writer Stan Lee's Marvel work, feeling them "the most vital comics around", Thomas "just sat down one night at the hotel and – I wrote him a letter! Not applying for a job or anything so mundane as that – I just said that I admired his work, would like to buy him a drink some time. I figured he just might remember me from Alter Ego." Lee did, phoned Thomas to offer him a Marvel writing test. The writer's test, Thomas said in 1998, "was four Jack Kirby pages from Fantastic Four Annual #2... had Sol or someone take out the dialogue.
It was just black-and-white. Other people like Denny O'Neil and Gary Friedrich took it, but soon afterwards we stopped using it." The day after taking the test, Thomas was at DC, proofreading a Supergirl story, when Steinberg called asking Thomas to meet with Lee during lunch, where Thomas agreed to work for Marvel. He returned to DC to give "indefinite notice" to Weisinger, but Weisinger ordered him to leave and "I was back at Marvel less than an hour after I first left, had a Modeling with Millie assignment to do over the weekend, it was a Friday." His employment was announced in the "Bullpen Bulletins" section of Fantastic Four #47 under the heading "How About That! Department". Thomas described his early days at Marvel: I was hired after taking'writer's test', my first official job title at Marvel was'staff writer'. I wasn't hired as an assistant editor. I was supposed to come in 40 hours a week and write scripts on staff.... I sat at this corrugated metal desk with a typewriter in a small office with production manager Sol Brodsky and corresponding secretary Flo Steinberg.
Everybody who came up to Marvel wound up there, the phone was ringing, with conversations going on all around me.... At once though Stan proofed all the finished stories, he and Sol started having me check the corrections before they went out, that would break up my concentration still further.... They kept asking me to do this or that, or questions like in which issue something happened, or Stan would come in to check something, because I knew a lot about Marvel continuity up to that time.... It became apparent to them, that the staff writer thing wasn't working, Stan segued me over to being an editorial assistant, which worked out better for all concerned. To that point, editor-in-chief Lee had been the main writer of Marvel publications, with his brother, Larry Lieber picking up the slack scripting Lee-plotted stories. Thomas soon became the first new Marvel writer to sustain a presence, at a time when comics veterans such as Robert Bernstein, Ernie Hart, Leon Lazarus, Don Rico, fellow newcomers Steve Skeates and O'Neil did not.
His Marvel debut was
Supergirl
Supergirl is the name of several fictional superheroes appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The original and most well known Supergirl is Kara Zor-El, the cousin of the superhero Superman; the character made her first appearance in Action Comics #252 and was created by Otto Binder and Al Plastino. Created as a female counterpart to Superman, Kara Zor-El shares his super powers and vulnerability to Kryptonite. Supergirl plays a supporting role in various DC Comics publications, including Action Comics and several comic book series unrelated to Superman. In 1969, Supergirl's adventures became the lead feature in Adventure Comics, she starred in an eponymous comic book series which debuted in 1972 and ran until 1974, followed by a second monthly comic book series titled The Daring New Adventures of Supergirl, which ran from 1982 to 1984. Due to changing editorial policy at DC, Supergirl was killed off in the 1985 limited series Crisis on Infinite Earths. DC Comics subsequently rebooted the continuity of the DC Comics Universe, re-establishing Superman's character as the sole survivor of Krypton's destruction.
Following the conclusion of Crisis on Infinite Earths, several different characters written as having no familial relationship to Superman have assumed the role of Supergirl, including Matrix, Linda Danvers, Cir-El. Following the cancellation of the third, 1996–2003 Supergirl comic book series which starred the Matrix/Linda Danvers version of the character, a modern version of Kara Zor-El was reintroduced into the DC Comics continuity in issue #8 of the Superman/Batman comic book series titled "The Supergirl from Krypton"; the modern Kara Zor-El stars as Supergirl in an eponymous comic book series, in addition to playing a supporting role in various other DC Comics publications. Since her initial comic book appearances, the character branched out into animation, film and merchandising. In May 2011, Supergirl placed 94th on IGN's list of the Top 100 Comic Book Heroes of All Time. In November 2013, the character placed 17th on IGN's list of the Top 25 Heroes of DC Comics. Superwoman – The first comic to feature a female counterpart to Superman is "Lois Lane – Superwoman", a story published in Action Comics #60, in which a hospitalized Lois dreams she has gained Kryptonesque superpowers thanks to a blood transfusion from the Man of Steel.
She begins her own career as Superwoman, complete with copycat costume. Similar stories with Lois Lane acquiring such powers and adopting the name "Superwoman" periodically appeared later. One such story is in Action Comics #156, in which Lois accidentally gains those powers through an invention of Superman's arch-foe, Lex Luthor. In the story, Lois wears a short blond wig in her crime-fighting identity, giving her an appearance identical to the version of Supergirl after the latter's real name was specified as Kara Zor-El. Supergirl – In Superboy #5 in a story titled "Superboy Meets Supergirl", Superboy meets Queen Lucy of the fictional Latin American nation of Borgonia, she is scholar. Tired of her duties and wanting to enjoy a normal life, Queen Lucy travels to Smallville, where she meets Superboy and soon wins his heart. Superboy puts on a show with her; as Supergirl, Queen Lucy wears a tan dress with Superboy's "S" symbol. Superboy saves her from a scheming minister, she returns to her throne, leaving Superboy to wonder if she thinks of him.
Super-Sister – In the Superboy #78 story titled "Claire Kent, Alias Super-Sister", Superboy saves an alien woman named Shar-La from a life-threatening crash. After he ridicules her driving, Shar-La turns Superboy into a girl. In Smallville, Clark Kent claims to be Claire Kent, an out-of-town relative, staying with the Kents; when in costume, he plays Superman's sister, Super-Sister, claims the two have exchanged places. As a girl ridiculed and scorned by men, he wants to prove. In the end, it is revealed. Superboy learns not to ridicule women. Super-Girl – In Superman #123, Jimmy Olsen uses a magic totem to wish a "Super-Girl" into existence as a companion and helper for Superman. At her insistence, Jimmy wishes the dying girl out of existence. DC used this story to gauge public response to the concept of a new female counterpart to Superman. In the original issue, she has blond hair and her costume is blue and red like Superman's. Early reprints of this story show her with red hair and an orange and green costume to prevent readers from confusing her with the current Supergirl character.
Much the story was again reprinted in its original form. After positive fan reaction to Super-Girl, the first recurring and most familiar version of Supergirl debuted in 1959. Kara Zor-El first appeared in Action Comics #252; the story that introduced the character was drawn by Al Plastino and written by Otto Binder, who had created Mary Marvel, Captain Marvel's sister and female spinoff. Like Supergirl, Mary Marvel was a teen-age female version of an adult male superhero, wearing a costume, identical to the older character's other than substituting a short skirt for tight trousers. Binder created Miss America, a superhero who shared little other than the
Apokolips
Apokolips is a fictional planet appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The planet is ruled by Darkseid, established in Jack Kirby's Fourth World comic book series, is integral to many stories in the DC Universe. Apokolips is considered to be the opposite of the planet New Genesis. Apokolips is a large planet covered by a city; the war that destroyed the Old Gods and created New Genesis and Apokolips separated the Fourth World from the rest of the universe, leaving it only accessible by a form of travel called a boom tube. The boom tube, it has been revealed, converts individuals that pass through to proportions fitting the destination, i.e. when a New God passes from Apokolips to Earth, they are shrunken in size, while someone going the other way would grow larger. If someone somehow reaches the Fourth World by other means, he will discover that its denizens are giants. Apokolips and its bright counterpart, New Genesis, were spawned by the destruction of Urgrund, the world of the "Old Gods".
Apokolips and New Genesis are locked in an eternal war, symbolizing the struggle of evil and good on a grand mythic scale. Apokolips is ruled by a fell being known as Darkseid, a dark leader who rules over his downtrodden people by force and fear. Apokolips appears to be a high-tech industrial wasteland. Both Apokolips and New Genesis were destroyed in a final battle prior to Grant Morrison's miniseries Seven Soldiers: Mister Miracle. However, the final issue of that series implied that the story's earlier events were visions seen by the hero as part of an elaborate test by the New God Metron. How much of the battle happened and the current status of the New Gods remains to be seen. Using Boom Tube technology Brother Eye arrives on Apokolips and assimilates the entire planet. Before the assimilation is complete, the Pied Piper intervenes and channels the Anti-Life Equation through his flute; this destroys much of Brother Eye, making its central core make a last-minute escape off the surface of the planet and reverting much of Apokolips to what it was.
At the end of the Death of the New Gods mini-series, with all the gods now dead, the combined entity born from the melding of the Source and the Anti-Life Equation merges Apokolips and New Genesis into a single new planet with characteristics in common with both the former worlds. In the 30th century, original Legion of Super-Heroes continuity, Apokolips is inactive and Darkseid incapacitated. In the reboot Legion continuity, Darkseid was aged and dying with the planet uninhabited but the center of a large cult. In DC continuity following its 2011 Flashpoint event and the launch of its The New 52 line of comics, the DC Multiverse remains composed of 52 worlds but only one set of New Gods. Darkseid and his army from Apokolips has attempted to invade Earth-0, or Prime Earth, but is repelled by the first incarnation of the Justice League. At the same time, his armies, invaded the alternate Earth of Earth-2 under the aegis of Steppenwolf, much more successful; the invasion of Earth-2 cost the lives of that universe's original Superman, Catwoman, Wonder Woman and millions of humans, including Earth-2's Lois Lane, married to Superman on that world.
The Apokoliptan forces have assistance with all her mother's Amazonian abilities. Five years on, a number of new "wonders" begin to emerge: Green Lantern, Hawkgirl, Doctor Fate, Red Tornado and the Flash form an embryonic Justice Society to deal with threats such as Solomon Grundy. Before long, the armies of Apokolips attempt a second invasion of Earth 2, the Wonders of the World are supported by further heroes includes Batman, a new Superman, Power Girl, Accountable, the New God Mister Miracle, Earth 0's Mister Terrific. Agents of Darkseid such as Glorious Godfrey and Kalibak, the Apokoliptian Orion have encountered the heroes of Earth-0 on several occasions, but no full-scale invasions have taken place. In the series Earth 2: Worlds' End, Mister Miracle discovers that Highfather made a deal with Darkseid that the armies of Apokolips could invade Earth-2 and that dimension without the intervention of the New Gods of New Genesis, explaining the wild disparity between the fates of Earth-0 and Earth-2.
Apokolips itself enters Earth-2's solar system and consumes Earth-2, transforming the planet into fuel to sustain itself. When Perpetua destroys the Source Wall, one of the side effects is that Apokolips vanishes. With Apokolips gone, Darkseid plans to use the Ghost Sector to create a New Apokolips which he will use to invade and conquer the Multiverse; the population is a downtrodden lot, including many kidnapped from other worlds before being "broken". The majority of the population are called Lowlies or Hunger Dogs, a bald and fearful race that has no sense of self-worth or value, yet, in their own way, are just as much gods as those who rule the planet; the Lowlies are subject to constant abuse. Next are the Parademons. Higher above the Parademons are the Female Furies, they are blessed with unnatural strength and longevity and are either trained for their position in the Furies from birth, or are promoted from the ranks of general Apokoliptian troops. The leaders of the Furies are Granny Goodness
Superman
Superman is a fictional character, a superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, the character first appeared in Action Comics #1 on April 18, 1938 which marked the rise of the Golden Age of Comic Books. Since his inception, Superman has been depicted as an hero that that originated the planet Krypton and named Kal-El; as a baby, he was sent to Earth in a small spaceship by his biological family, Jor-El and Lara, moments before Krypton was destroyed in a natural cataclysm. His ship landed in the American countryside. Clark displayed various superhuman abilities from the start as a young boy, such as incredible strength and impervious skin, his foster parents advised him to use his abilities for the benefit of humanity, he decided to fight crime as a vigilante. To protect his privacy, he changes into a colorful costume and uses the alias "Superman" when fighting crime. Clark Kent resides in the fictional American city of Metropolis in his adult life, where he works as a journalist for the Daily Planet disguising himself among the people there.
Depicted supporting characters of Superman are depicted as residing in Metropolis such as prominent love interest of Superman, Lois Lane, good friend of Superman, Jimmy Olsen, Daily Planet chief editor Perry White. He has many foes such as the genius inventor Lex Luthor, he is a friend of many other superheroes such as Batman and Wonder Woman. Although Superman was not the first superhero character, he popularized the superhero genre and defined its conventions, he remains the best selling superhero in comic books of all time and endured as one of the most lucrative franchises outside of comic books. He is regarded as the greatest superhero / comic book character of all time. Superman was created by Joe Shuster. A duo who met met in 1932 in a high school in Cleveland and bonded over their mutual love of fiction. Siegel aspired to become a writer and Shuster aspired to become an illustrator. Siegel wrote amateur science fiction stories, which he self-published a magazine called Science Fiction: The Advance Guard of Future Civilization.
His friend Shuster provided illustrations for his work. In January 1933, Siegel published a short story in his magazine titled "The Reign of the Superman"; the titular character is a vagrant named Bill Dunn, tricked by an evil scientist into consuming an experimental drug. The drug gives Dunn the powers of mind-reading, mind-control, clairvoyance, he uses these powers maliciously for profit and amusement, but the drug wears off, leaving him a powerless vagrant again. Shuster provided illustrations. Siegel and Shuster shifted with a focus on adventure and comedy, they wanted to become syndicated newspaper strip authors, so they showed their ideas to various newspaper editors. However, the newspaper editors told them. If they wanted to make a successful comic strip, it had to be something more sensational than anything else on the market; this prompted Siegel to revisit Superman as a comic strip character. Siegel modified Superman's powers to make him more sensational: Like Bill Dunn, the second prototype of Superman is given powers against his will by an unscrupulous scientist, but instead of psychic abilities, he acquires superhuman strength and bullet-proof skin.
Additionally, this new Superman was a crime-fighting hero instead of a villain, because Siegel noted that comic strips with heroic protagonists tended to be more successful. In years, Siegel once recalled that this Superman wore a "bat-like" cape in some panels, but he and Shuster agreed there was no costume yet, there is none apparent in the surviving artwork. Siegel and Shuster showed this second concept of Superman to Consolidated Book Publishers, based in Chicago. In May 1933, Consolidated had published a comic book titled Detective Dan: Secret Operative 48, it contained all-original stories as opposed to reprints of newspaper strips, a novelty at the time. Siegel and Shuster put together a comic book in similar format called The Superman. A delegation from Consolidated visited Cleveland that summer on a business trip, Siegel and Shuster took the opportunity to present their work in person. Although Consolidated expressed interest, they pulled out of the comics business without offering a book deal because the sales of Detective Dan were disappointing.
Siegel believed publishers kept rejecting them because he and Shuster were young and unknown, so he looked for an established artist to replace Shuster. When Siegel told Shuster what he was doing, Shuster reacted by burning their rejected Superman comic, sparing only the cover, they continued collaborating on other projects, but for the time being Shuster was through with Superman. Siegel wrote to numerous artists; the first response came in July 1933 from Leo O'Mealia, who drew the Fu Manchu strip for the Bell Syndicate. In the script that Siegel sent O'Mealia, Superman's origin story changes: He is a "scientist-adventurer" from the far future, when humanity has evolved "super powers". Just before the Earth explodes, he escapes in a time-machine to the modern era, whereupon he begins using his super powers to fight crime. O'Mealia produced a few strips and showed them to his newspaper syndicate. Nothing of Siegel and O'Mealia's collaboration survives, except in Siegel's memoir. In June 1934, Siegel found another partner: an artist in Chicago named Russell Keaton.
Keaton drew the Buck R
Lashina
Lashina is a fictional character and Goddess warrior woman published by DC Comics. Created by Jack Kirby, the character first appeared in Mister Miracle vol. 1 #6. Lashina was raised a warrior in Granny Goodness's orphanage, took over leadership of the Female Furies when Big Barda left Apokolips for Earth. Though the Furies stayed on Earth to aid Big Barda and her lover, Mister Miracle, they soon returned to Apokolips to take their punishment for their betrayal of Darkseid. Lashina is given leadership over the Female Furies by Darkseid, much to fellow Fury Bernadeth's annoyance. During a mission to capture Glorious Godfrey, a New God, imprisoned on Earth, Lashina was betrayed by Bernadeth as the Female Furies were escaping through a boom tube. Caught in an explosion, Lashina is sent flying into the swamp surrounding Belle Reve Penitentiary. Surviving the blast, she remained in the swamp until an opportunity to save an injured member of the Suicide Squad, a United States government agency that uses super-powered beings to fulfill black ops missions, presents itself.
Using the opportunity to ingratiate herself with the team and claiming to be suffering from amnesia, Amanda Waller allowed Lashina to join. Dubbed Duchess by the support staff due to her haughty demeanor, she became a critical part of the Squad and participated in every one of the team's missions during her time as a member, she engineered a return to Apokolips and convinced many members of the Squad to come with her, while others she outright kidnapped. The plan ended in a battle against Apokolips forces. Multiple Squad members were killed, including Doctor Light. During the battle, Lashina confronted and killed Bernadeth. Darkseid, furious that Lashina has brought humans to Apokolips, revived Bernadeth and killed Lashina with his omega beams; the survivors of the Suicide Squad were allowed to return home. Lashina was resurrected by Darkseid and sent with the Furies on another mission to retrieve Mister Miracle, but he escaped. Sharing leadership with Bernadeth, Lashina served as the field leader of the Furies, while Bernadeth led them off the battlefield.
Lashina has since battled the Birds of Prey and Wonder Woman. She is a long-time enemy of Superman and his compatriots Superboy and Supergirl. In recent appearances she has been seen battling Firestorm and Hawkgirl. Lashina appears in Seven Soldiers: Mister Miracle, part of Grant Morrison's Seven Soldiers maxi-series event. Within the story and the rest of the Furies are given human form by Darkseid, with Lashina taking on the appearance of a bald-headed dominatrix prostitute, she and the rest of the Furies battle Shilo Norman in an attempt to stop him in his quest to free Aurakles, the world's first superhero. During the events of Final Crisis, once again in her bald-headed human form, is seen as one of the villains running the Dark Side Club, an illegal arena where spectators gamble on battles between brainwashed teen metahumans; when Rose Wilson and Miss Martian lead a rebellion against the Dark Side Club staff, Lashina attempts to flee along with the wealthy club patrons in the VIP section of the arena.
They nearly escape the club, but are cut off by teen superhero Static, who proceeds to electrocute Lashina and the others into unconsciousness, turning them over to the authorities afterwards. When the Anti-Life Equation takes effect across the globe, several superheroines and villainesses are taken under Darkseid's power and are transformed into the new Female Furies. Catwoman becomes the new Lashina, wearing an outfit similar to hers. In the aftermath of the series, Lashina is reborn on Earth-51, along with the rest of the Jack Kirby-created characters. Lashina makes her first appearance alongside Granny Goodness in issue #8 of Infinity Man and the Forever People. During the Darkseid War and Kanto traveled to Earth to hunt down the renegade amazon Myrina Black. After Darkseid had been enslaved by his daughter Grail and the other Female Furies accepted an offer from Big Barda to help defeat Grail as well as to protect Barda's husband, Mister Miracle. Lashina participated in the final battle against Grail and Darkseid, which resulted in the pair's defeat.
Lashina left for Apokolips with the rest of the Furies, including Barda. After the events of the Darkseid War left Apokolips without a ruler, Lashina joined Granny Goodness and several other Furies who had remained loyal to Darkseid on the outskirts of the planet called the Deadlands, she participated in the battle against Kalibak's forces, though she was defeated by her teammate Lois Lane after the Furies turned on the human when she revealed her relationship with Superman. Lashina was imprisoned on Apokolips with Stompa, Mad Harriet, Granny Goodness when Superman became ruler of the planet. At some point Lashina and her comrades were freed from their imprisonment by Darkseid, regaining his power on Earth. Along with the other Female Furies, Lashina was assigned to seek out mystical artifacts that would further empower Darkseid. Steve Trevor and his team of soldiers called the Oddfellows prevented Lashina and the Furies from stealing the relics, in the ensuing battle Lashina, along with Mad Harriet, was captured.
Both Lashina and Mad Harriet refused to answer Wonder Woman's questions about Darkseid's plans which led to Wonder Woman freeing the two Furies and attempting to battle them for answers. The battle was interrupted by Darkseid, who had transported a chunk of the A. R. G. U. S. Headquarters to his lair in the Amazon jungle. During the chaos, Lashina battled the soldiers of A. R. G. U. S. and fled when Darkseid was killed by Wonder W
Steel (John Henry Irons)
Steel known as the Man of Steel is a fictional comic book superhero in DC Comics. Introduced in 1993 as one of several replacement characters for the then-deceased Superman, Steel continued to be an independent superhero after Superman's resurrection, he received his own ongoing series, which saw him move from Metropolis to Washington, D. C. and join the Justice League of America in Grant Morrison's JLA. He mentored his niece Natasha Irons, who became a superheroine herself. First appearing in The Adventures of Superman #500, he is the second character known as Steel and was created by Louise Simonson and artist Jon Bogdanove. Aspects of the character are inspired by the African American folk hero John Henry, as well as Superman. Doctor John Henry Irons was a brilliant weapons engineer for AmerTek Industries, who became disgusted when the BG-60, a powerful man-portable energy cannon he had designed, fell into the wrong hands and was used to kill innocent people; as the company would have coerced him to retain his services, John faked his death, came to Metropolis.
His own life was saved by none other than Superman. When John Irons asked how he could show his gratitude, Superman told him to "live a life worth saving". During Superman's fatal battle against Doomsday, Irons attempted to help Superman fight the deadly menace by picking up a sledge hammer, but was buried in rubble amidst the devastation. Shortly after Superman's death, he awoke and crawled from the wreckage and saying that he "must stop Doomsday", he recovered, but to discover that the gangs in inner-city Metropolis were fighting a devastating gang war using BG-80 Toastmasters, an upgraded version of his earlier AmerTek design. Irons created and donned a suit of powered armor in Superman's memory in order to stop the war, as well as the weapons, which were being distributed by Dr. Angora Lapin, a former partner and lover during his time at AmerTek Industries; the "Reign of the Supermen" story arc saw the rise of four "Supermen" who were differentiated from each other with nicknames applied to Superman.
Although Steel never claimed to be the "true Superman", Lois Lane considered the possibility that he was a walk-in—someone, now inhabited by Superman's soul. Lois met all four "Supermen" that appeared after the apparent death of Superman, while she never concluded that any of them was the one true Superman, she evinced less skepticism of Steel than she did of the others. Steel was spin off into a solo series, written by co-creator Louise Simonson and by Christopher Priest, from 1994–1998; the series began by having Steel leave Metropolis and return home to Washington, D. C. revealing that it had been five years since he had left. He erroneously believed that AmerTek, would no longer be interested in him; this turned out to be false. Between this attack and his knowledge that the Toastmasters were now being used on the streets of D. C. he reforged his armor. Steel decided not to use the "S" emblem, since he felt that his battle might take him outside the law. Steel's family was introduced in this series: his grandparents and Bess, his sister-in-law Blondell, her five children: Jemahl, Paco and Darlene.
Steel's early adventures pitted him against AmerTek and against the gangs that were using his weapons. His nephew, was involved in one of the gangs, which he thought offered him protection, he was proven wrong, when the gangs turned against him to get to Steel. Tyke was paralyzed by a bullet meant for Blondell was assaulted. Steel took down AmerTek and the gangs, focused on, helping AmerTek distribute the weapons; this led him to track down a group called Black Ops, led by the villain Hazard. Steel joined up with Maxima, still on Earth at the time and working with the Justice League, to help her with an alien warlord named De'cine. During this time, Steel developed the ability to teleport his armor off himself. At first, it appeared purely by reflex but he soon began to better control it, although he had no idea how it happened. Steel continued his battle against the return of the White Rabbit. A bounty hunter named Chindi attempted to take down Steel, but after realizing Hazard was experimenting with children, he ended up as an ally of Irons.
He was called away from Earth as part of the Superman "Rescue Squad" when Superman was put on trial for the destruction of Krypton. Tragedy would strike the Irons family upon his return from space. Tyke and angry over his handicap, revealed Iron's true identity to men working with Hazard. Hazard unleashed. Most of them received minor injuries, though Butter was wounded. Child protective services came to reclaim Darlene. Tyke was shown to end up in the custody of Hazard. Hardwire battled Steel at the Washington Monument. Steel had to send his armor away to save his life—this resulted in his secret identity being revealed to the world at large. Steel was taken by Hazard, but managed to escape. Steel retrieved an anti-matter weapon called the Annihilator, which he had designed and hidden years before, for his showdown with Hazard, he learned at this point that h
OCLC
OCLC Online Computer Library Center, Incorporated d/b/a OCLC is an American nonprofit cooperative organization "dedicated to the public purposes of furthering access to the world's information and reducing information costs". It was founded in 1967 as the Ohio College Library Center. OCLC and its member libraries cooperatively produce and maintain WorldCat, the largest online public access catalog in the world. OCLC is funded by the fees that libraries have to pay for its services. OCLC maintains the Dewey Decimal Classification system. OCLC began in 1967, as the Ohio College Library Center, through a collaboration of university presidents, vice presidents, library directors who wanted to create a cooperative computerized network for libraries in the state of Ohio; the group first met on July 5, 1967 on the campus of the Ohio State University to sign the articles of incorporation for the nonprofit organization, hired Frederick G. Kilgour, a former Yale University medical school librarian, to design the shared cataloging system.
Kilgour wished to merge the latest information storage and retrieval system of the time, the computer, with the oldest, the library. The plan was to merge the catalogs of Ohio libraries electronically through a computer network and database to streamline operations, control costs, increase efficiency in library management, bringing libraries together to cooperatively keep track of the world's information in order to best serve researchers and scholars; the first library to do online cataloging through OCLC was the Alden Library at Ohio University on August 26, 1971. This was the first online cataloging by any library worldwide. Membership in OCLC is based on use of services and contribution of data. Between 1967 and 1977, OCLC membership was limited to institutions in Ohio, but in 1978, a new governance structure was established that allowed institutions from other states to join. In 2002, the governance structure was again modified to accommodate participation from outside the United States.
As OCLC expanded services in the United States outside Ohio, it relied on establishing strategic partnerships with "networks", organizations that provided training and marketing services. By 2008, there were 15 independent United States regional service providers. OCLC networks played a key role in OCLC governance, with networks electing delegates to serve on the OCLC Members Council. During 2008, OCLC commissioned two studies to look at distribution channels. In early 2009, OCLC negotiated new contracts with the former networks and opened a centralized support center. OCLC provides bibliographic and full-text information to anyone. OCLC and its member libraries cooperatively produce and maintain WorldCat—the OCLC Online Union Catalog, the largest online public access catalog in the world. WorldCat has holding records from private libraries worldwide; the Open WorldCat program, launched in late 2003, exposed a subset of WorldCat records to Web users via popular Internet search and bookselling sites.
In October 2005, the OCLC technical staff began a wiki project, WikiD, allowing readers to add commentary and structured-field information associated with any WorldCat record. WikiD was phased out; the Online Computer Library Center acquired the trademark and copyrights associated with the Dewey Decimal Classification System when it bought Forest Press in 1988. A browser for books with their Dewey Decimal Classifications was available until July 2013; until August 2009, when it was sold to Backstage Library Works, OCLC owned a preservation microfilm and digitization operation called the OCLC Preservation Service Center, with its principal office in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. The reference management service QuestionPoint provides libraries with tools to communicate with users; this around-the-clock reference service is provided by a cooperative of participating global libraries. Starting in 1971, OCLC produced catalog cards for members alongside its shared online catalog. OCLC commercially sells software, such as CONTENTdm for managing digital collections.
It offers the bibliographic discovery system WorldCat Discovery, which allows for library patrons to use a single search interface to access an institution's catalog, database subscriptions and more. OCLC has been conducting research for the library community for more than 30 years. In accordance with its mission, OCLC makes its research outcomes known through various publications; these publications, including journal articles, reports and presentations, are available through the organization's website. OCLC Publications – Research articles from various journals including Code4Lib Journal, OCLC Research, Reference & User Services Quarterly, College & Research Libraries News, Art Libraries Journal, National Education Association Newsletter; the most recent publications are displayed first, all archived resources, starting in 1970, are available. Membership Reports – A number of significant reports on topics ranging from virtual reference in libraries to perceptions about library funding. Newsletters – Current and archived newsletters for the library and archive community.
Presentations – Presentations from both guest speakers and OCLC research from conferences and other events. The presentations are organized into five categories: Conference presentations, Dewey presentations, Distinguished Seminar Series, Guest presentations, Research staff
