Saturday, February 10, 2018

Wanted TPB: The Origin & Life of the Red Tornado

Writer: Various
Artist: Various
Publisher: DC Comics (1980, 1981 and 1985)
Includes: World's Finest Comics #265-270,272, Justice League #192-193 and Red Tornado #1-4

Having a collection; which comprised of the solo Red Tornado tales told in the World's Finest Comics, the Justice League Red Tornado origin issues and Carmine Infantino mini-series would be great!


Origin: The origin of Red Tornado comes from the merger of two different entities: the android body created by supervillain T. O. Morrow and the Tornado Champion from the Earth-One planet Rann. The origin of the Tornado Champion begins with a fight between the sentient tornado on the planet of Rann; Ulthoon, the Tornado Tyrant of Rann and Adam Strange, with Strange being the victor. The defeated Tyrant "contemplated the nature of good and evil and decided that good was the superior force".It observes the exploits of the Justice League of America (JLA) and then settles on an abandoned planet, which transforms into a perfect replica of Earth, right down to its populace, the only absence being the JLA. The tornado entity splits itself to become the JLA of this world, taking for itself the name the Tornado Champion. However, the Champion soon discovers that it had inadvertently split itself into two separate entities, the Champion and the Tyrant, who easily defeats the Champion. "Disappointed, the Tornado Champion lured the Tyrant to Earth-One, where the Tyrant was defeated by the real JLA".
 

The Champion then goes to Earth-Two,where he encounters Morrow, who is creating an android to use against the Justice Society of America. Morrow had given his android the false memory of being the Red Tornado who had attended the first JSA meeting. The Tornado Champion enters the android's body but loses its memory in the process. This explains why Red Tornado seems to be alive. After defeating the JSA, Morrow and Red Tornado travel to Earth-One, where they are defeated by the JLA.However, Red Tornado's dual-origin was not fully revealed until Morrow had re-captured him in order to figure out how he became sentient. When Morrow opens up Red Tornado, both the Tornado Champion and the Tornado Tyrant come out of the body; the Tyrant had never truly left the Champion. After a battle with the JLA, Red Tornado was reassembled by Firestorm, with both the Tyrant and the Champion being returned to the android and with both their memories being erased.

On Earth-One, Red Tornado slowly becomes more human-like. He develops more of a distinct personality, and adopts the name John Smith. He takes a job teaching school, where he meets and develops affection for employment counselor Kathy Sutton. In time, Red Tornado even comes to love her, and they are married. The couple later adopt Traya, an orphan girl from the (fictional) Middle Eastern nation of Bialya. As a member of the Justice League of America, Red Tornado finds an acceptance he never did on Earth-Two. He becomes particularly close to new JLA members Hawkwoman and Firestorm.

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