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Countdown #46: "They Came From Suicide Slum" BY FREE STEVE CHUNG
Last week in Countdown #46, we saw Jimmy Olsen following up a lead in Metropolis's Suicide Slum. While the cub reporter is just a visitor to the area, there are at least three super-heroes who have called Suicide Slum their home. What is it about this corner of the DCU that has attracted such attention, though on multiple earths?
Earth-Two: In the part of New York City called "Suicide Slum," Jimmy Harper was a dead end kid. At times, it did seem that the only way to get out of the neighborhood was to shoot yourself. That didn't bother Jimmy and his pal, Leo, though. They had their ways of dealing with the Depression, such as stealing apples from the local cart. After a back alley chase, and over a fence, the two boys were soon hiding in an abandoned pipe. The two orphans are enjoying their stolen fruit when a stranger discovers their hiding place. He wants to see if either of them are worth saving. Leo gets away, while Jimmy gets caught by the stranger.
The stranger is a good guy, who believes that physical exercise is the way out of Suicide Slum. Jim Harper is best at running, jumping, and gymnastics. He could become an Olympic champion and make some money. Thoughts of the Olympics are far from Jim's mind until he can find out whatever happened to Leo. As soon as he finds his childhood pal, he'll return, and they'll really clean up. Back in the old neighborhood, Jim Harper calls out for his friend, Leo. His old pal is hiding in the shadows, and is now with the mob. He can get Jimmy a job, too. There's also a matter of this rival hood he bumped off in New Jersey.
Once out in the open, Leo's hiding place is discovered by the rival hood's cronies, and he receives a tommy gun burst to the gut for his troubles. Jim Harper's search ends among the garbage, as his childhood friend dies in his arms. Suicide Slum had done this to Leo, had made him join the mob as the only way out. But it won't claim any other lives if he can help it. Jim Harper leaves sports and joins the police force. As a rookie cop, his regular beat is Suicide Slum. The locals must like him because he was only hit by a tomato today. Hours later, the rookie policeman has a run-in with two hoods looking to soften up an off-duty cop. When he recovers, Jim finds himself staring into the window of a costume shop, and gets an idea.
Leaving his money on the counter, he picks up a crash helmet, clothing ideal for freedom of movement, and an antique shield. It's a simple matter for him to find the crooks who attacked the rookie cop, in a pool hall, and it felt good to wade into them. It turns out they were all wanted kidnappers. When asked for his identity by the captive hoods, he identifies himself as a guardian, a Guardian against society against their kind.
Jim Harper became the Guardian in Star Spangled Comics #7 (1942).
Earth-One: The Newsboy Legionnaires have grown up. Gabby is a teacher. "Big Words" is a geneticist. Scrapper has become a social worker. Tommy is a medical doctor. They have been developing a replica of their own. He was one of them. A good friend. A good captain of detectives who died in battle against crooks. Before his death, a living tissue sample was taken.
In the Life Chamber, he senses trouble, and is ready to handle it. He is strong. His mission is to defend and to protect. As he is released, he picks up an object resembling a shield. The duplicate shares the same sense of duty as the original.
The Golden Guardian first appeared in Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen #135 (January, 1971).
Earth-One: Jeff Pierce is on staff at Garfield High School. The school hasn't changed since his graduation and the trophies won in college and at the Olympics are on display. His late mother had given them to the school. As a teacher who was a student at the same high school, Jeff is expected to set quite the example for the children. Knowing that he is not Superman, but just another teacher, he steps in when the 100 has one of their boys selling drugs on school property.
The pusher gets his stomach pushed in, then his head gets pushed into a school locker. The teacher sends the student to the nurse's office, where they'll be having a long talk.
That afternoon in the new gym, Jeff Pierce gets a chance to show that he still got the moves when it comes to basketball. Earl Clifford, Garfield's "new" Jefferson Pierce would like to see how good he really is.
The games over when three members of the 100 shoot the basketball from under them.
The teacher must learn the lesson for hassling one of the 100's sales representatives. Thanks to some quick thinking by Earl, teacher and student are able to take on the three hoods.
The creeps are sent packing. That night, Peter Gambi has got something on his mind.
The tailor is worried about what happened at the school today. He's also worried about Jefferson being so full of anger lately. To his mother, it was all about getting out of the crummy neighborhood, and never coming back. When he returned for the funeral, he saw that little had changed. Maybe he can make a difference, because someone has to try.
Tobias Whale is angry.
He has ruled Suicide Slum through guile, graft, strength, and fear. A high school teacher has made the 100 look like they can't back up their threats. The streets do not need a martyr. In order to neutralize Jefferson Pierce, you'd have to strike through his students.
Earl Clifford learns that it's no game.
It's the last thing he learns. The lesson is taught to his teacher the following morning in the gym.
The boy was butchered because of him. Why did he ever come back?
The 100 run every crook, racket, and vice in Metropolis. Jeff was lucky to have escaped from Suicide Slum. He never stood a chance. The teacher is a dreamer and the tailor is an old fool with a dream. In order to keep his students safe, it will not be Jefferson Pierce who will go after the 100. The streets of Suicide Slum, his students, they need a symbol.
In the weeks that come, Black Lightning goes after the pushers who have wrecked the city long enough. He is after the 100 and he's going to get them.
The human dynamo has augmented strength, incredible speed, hurls bolts of bioelectrical energy that are apparently generated by his own body. Tobias Whale would see him dead, but some dreams cannot be destroyed. Jeff Pierce continues the fight as Black Lightning. His powers are now a part of him and he does not stop fighting for the dream. Until Black Lightning succeeds in freeing Suicide Slum and Metropolis from the 100 forever.
Black Lightning was created by Tony Isabella and drawn by Trevor Von Eden in Black Lightning #1 (1977).
Post-Crisis: It is not unusual for nighttime in Suicide Slum to be broken by the sounds of sirens. Miles north of Metropolis' Millionaires Row, a robbery is not investigated. A murder is looked into, then filed away. A tenement fire is part of life here.
Arriving on the scene, Lois Lane rushes into the building, and Jimmy Olsen uses his signal watch. Up on a roof, the cub reporter sees someone not flying in, but jumping from the next roof. Inside, the water is still on, and the fire hasn't burned through the hose yet. It's amazing that the building has got a hose, especially since the doors are too hot, and need to be cooled down.
The kids are still alive, but he needs to get them out before the fire reaches the gas main. They are scared, but he reminds them that it's okay to be scared. Lois has found three children, and their would-be savior. She hands off the children to him so that he can slide down the hose. The dumpster below the window will keep them safe. BAWHOOOMM Jimmy watches as the gas main explodes, with the kids in the dumpster, and Miss Lane being saved by Superman.
The man who saved them and who left the scene is Jose Delgado, a guidance counselor.
Jose has acted as a mediator between the various gangs. He learns from Lois that someone is training kids and forming them into some sort of military organization.
He cares about the street kids and isn't about to have some mobster using them for his own ends. It turns out that the kids don't want Jose's help and he soon finds himself in another manmade fire.
Thankfully, his injuries aren't deep and he recovers within a few days.
After a full recovery and establishing a relationship with Lois Lane, Jose Delgado adopts the identity of the Gangbuster in the pages of The Adventures Of Superman ##434 (November, 1987).
Agile and armored, the new hero must save his date from an armored adversary called Combattor.
In the battle, Gangbuster is crippled, and his last stand is reported in the Daily Planet.
Weeks later, a microchip surgical implant enables Jose Delgado to walk again.
Although happy for Jose, Lois knows that Advance Research Lab is a wholly owned subsidiary of Lexcorp. Luthor was behind Combattor, the super-villain who crippled Gangbuster, and now Luthor has given him a gift with strings attached.
Elsewhere, Gangbuster has made a reappearance. A hit man who decided to jump off a building is about to get some help from this mysterious vigilante.
Almost at the end of his rope, the daredevil swings back to the ledge, and tells the hitman to make the right choice. If he does jump, he should do it for all those lives he's taken, not because of some self-pity.
On the street, the two men in Lois's life have a chance to meet. Clark and Lois were friends. Jose tries to assure the mild-mannered reporter that she still cares for him, but the way he sees it, she's more interested in the Man of Steel. Clark Kent is working on a feature concerning an international crime cartel called Intergang. It sounds interesting to Jose, but he just wants to make sure that Clark knows that he's not this new Gangbuster.
-------------------- The Man of Mettle Posts: 4000 | From: The MBA (Mysterious Blue Area) of the MMM (Mighty Marvel Moon), Nagga (Pal) | Registered: Aug 2001
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John Henry Irons is a fighter forged from the same mold as Superman. When the Man of Tomorrow saved Irons from a fatal fall off a Metropolis skyscraper, he challenged the construction worker to make his life count for something. A former weapons engineer for the ruthless AmerTek company, Irons longed to atone for the deaths his designs caused. He chose the way of the hero known as the armored champion Steel.
John Henry Irons grew up, surrounded by a loving family, in a poor section of Washington D.C. He entered college as a physics major and quickly rose to the top of his class. Realizing his potential as an engineer, AmerTek hired Irons and he designed the BG-80 assault rifle, also known as the "Toastmaster," as well as a flying armor prototype. Disillusioned by the misuse of his inventions, Irons fakes his death and moved to Metropolis. After Superman died at Doomsday's hands, he was one of four men to briefly claim the Man of Steel's mantle. Irons and the resurrected Superman became close friends. John continued to adventure as Steel, aided by his plucky niece Natasha. Eventually, John opened Steelworks, an industrial design concern.
He also worked with the Justice League of America.
During the Imperiex War, Steel suffered mortal wounds while releasing Doomsday from the JLA Watchtower to batle the cosmic conqueror. At the same time, Superman was unable to turn away the New Gods' Black RAcer, who ushered dead souls into the afterlife. This time, however, the Racer delivered Irons to Apokolips, where the crafty Darkseid restored his life. Darkseid placed Irons in the Entropy Aegis, an Imperiex probe converted into a battle suit. Steel used it to help during the war's final hours.
Having experienced death and resurrection, Irons now prefers to stay working away in his lab work. However, his niece Natasha wears a new suit of Steel armor, thereby carrying on the proud family tradition.
Posts: 3534 | From: San Bruno | Registered: Aug 2002
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Countdown #46: "They Came From Suicide Slum"
