Earth's Frozen Heat Wave With Murphy Anderson

True, likely you don't need any reminder of the heat wave as it sweeps across the country, but, you might need a reminder that today is the birthday of artist, Murphy Anderson (July 9, 1926 - October 22, 2015).

Murphy Anderson drew many a strange adventure, including Strange Adventures #161 (February, 1964, with story by Ed Herron), where Earth faced the problem of all its water freezing during a heat wave!

If interested, here's a little more of Murphy Anderson's history, including Captain Comet, Kanjar Ro, special pin-ups of the Seven Soldiers of Victory and the JSA and more!

 

DC Special Wanted Toyman Penguin Captain Cold Heat Wave

A second dose of Wanted -- The World's Most Dangerous Villains!


Editor E. Nelson Bridwell again went into the library of DC Comics, and pulled out a few gems, focusing on the foes of the main DC heroes of Superman, Batman and the Flash....


....and found the following tales for DC Special #14 (September-October, 1971), and put them under a cover by Murphy Anderson!

The Toyman's Castle

Superman #47 (July-August, 1947) by Don Cameron, Ira Yarbrough and Stan Kaye (originally under a Wayne Boring and Stan Kaye cover) starts off this collection, with Toyman convincing the warden in prison not to put him in solitary, but to make toys that will prevent crime.  But, the toys really detail how to commit crimes, and, then, help him escape.

On the loose, Toyman comes up with a new plan...to collect signatures from wealthy people under the guise of telling fortunes, yet really to forge their names on checks and deeds to him.  Lois Lane sniffs out his real plan, but is taken hostage, forcing Superman to rescue her from the trap he prepared for this occasion in his castle (a fiendish death trap, that Superman thwarts....with a jack-in-the-box!).  Defeated, Toyman is back in prison, breaking rocks this time.

The Heat Is On...For Captain Cold

The second story from Flash #140 (November, 1963) by John Broome, Carmine Infantino and Joe Giella (with original cover by Infantino and Anderson) pulls double duty with the villains, returning Captain Cold and introducing Heat Wave.  Flash is tasked to find a missing heiress with a unique diamond birthmark on her neck by lawyer Henry Willens, so she can get her father's fortune (with a sizeable donation for the poor of Central City).  The time to find her is running out, and Barry Allen has become fixated on a dream girl on TV (much to Iris West's dismay).  Captain Cold is interested in this dream girl too, and plans to steal her affections from the Flash by committing a spectacular crime.  Flash shows up to stop him, but is stopped by new villain, Heat Wave. 

The two villains flee with their ill-gotten booty, to find that Heat Wave, too, has designs on the dream girl!  Fighting, they find their cold and heat guns evenly matched, so go out to steal....and run across the Flash.  Working together, they stymie the fastest man alive for a bit, until he uses their powers against them....defeating them.  Still, Flash has his original task to solve, and checks directly with the dream girl....finding no neck birthmark, but that she has no memory of her early life.  She had had the mark removed, and shows him the picture, proving she is indeed the missing girl, Priscilla Varner, whom Flash speeds to the lawyer to allow her and Central City to get their inheritance (leaving Barry to mend fences with Iris!).

The Bird Sayings Crime

Last, but not least, a Batman and Robin story from World's Finest Comics #55 (December-January, 1951/1952) by William Woolfolk, Lew Schwartz and Stan Kaye (with original cover by Winslow Mortimer).  The Penguin finds his birthday a sad day, as he receives messages in his Aviary from fellow criminals, insulting his bird motif.  Penguin finds this inspiration, and plans new crimes, with clues sent to Commissioner Gordon for Batman and Robin to follow. 

Batman and Robin have no problem tracking him down and stopping his first three crimes based on "A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush", "Birds of a feather flock together" and "The early bird gets the worm" (which he escapes with help from his umbrella and birds), but it is the fourth that nearly ends the dynamic duo ("Killing two birds with one stone")....until they enlist a little help from a bird themselves, ending with capturing the Penguin, and putting him in a new nest...in jail!

While the Penguin ended this collection of Wanted The World's Most Dangerous Villains, the collections of villain based reprints would continue, in a nine issue series in the 1970s, recently collected by DC Comics (though not containing the stories from this DC Special or the previous....but it does have some NEW old tales, making it worth a look!).

Black Lightning Fights The Heat Wave

It's a hot time in the town tonight, as the electrical hero, Black Lightning, faces the heat....Heat Wave, Flash's hottest rogue!

This was the image for the 1978 DC Calendar of Super-Spectacular Disasters, for August in this shot by Rich Buckler and Vince Colletta.

Flash, of course, was busy....facing colder foes with Kid Flash!

Flash Facts Flash vs. the Rogues

One of the things the Flash was most known for in the Silver Age was his Rogue's Gallery.


You can search far and wide looking for their first appearances....


...or just get the Flash vs. The Rogues tradepaperback from 2009, under this cover by Ethan Van Scriver, with a collection of the first appearances of Flash's most important non-speedster foes.


Collected here are the first appearances of....

Captain Cold

Leonard Snart was a cheap crook who stumbled onto a gold gun in the Flash's second appearance, in Showcase #8 (May-June, 1957, by John Broome and Carmine Infantino), with "The Coldest Man On Earth". 

Captain Cold would be a driving force in Flash's life...and appeared next in Flash #114 (August, 1960, NOT in the trade, but mentioned so a cover with Captain Cold could be shown!).

Mirror Master

Sam Scudder used his knowledge of mirrors first to rob a bank, and then to become the Mirror Master, starting with Flash #105 (February-March, 1959) with "The Master of Mirrors" by John Broome and Carmine Infantino. 

Mirror Master was the first villain readers saw in the newly revived Flash comic....and he quickly returned in Flash #109 (October-November, 1959), also not in the trade, but a cool cover, nonetheless! 

Gorilla Grodd

Grodd was never really a rogue, but his first appearance from Flash #106 (April-May, 1959) by John Broome and Carmine Infantino in the "Menace of the Super-Gorilla" made it into this collection (though not the next two parts of the Grodd trilogy, where Flash continued to face the gorilla, meet Solovar and find Gorilla City).

Heck, Grodd didn't even make it on a cover of Flash until Flash #127 (March, 1962)....story not included here, but the cover is to get a look at the furry foe of the Flash!

Pied Piper

Hartley Rathaway hadn't been happy in live, so he took his knowledge of sound and made himself into the Pied Piper to take on the Flash in "The Pied Piper of Peril" from Flash #106 (April-May, 1959, by John Broome and Carmine Infantino), even making the cover of his first appearance!

Pied Piper even branched out in his second story (not in the trade), being recruited by Mr. Memory as the Flash foe in Justice League of America #14 (September, 1962) along with Green Lantern foe Hector Hammond, Aquaman villain Sea-Thief, Wonder Woman rogue Angle Man, Green Arrow evil-doer Dr. Davis and (behind the scenes) the Joker (to capture Batman), all while dealing with the Atom joining the JLA; though all these villains didn't make the cover!

Weather Wizard

Mark Mardon was an escaped criminal who got his weather wand when he found his brother, Clyde, (noted scientist working on weather control) dead in his lab, and used that technology to create his weather wand to give himself control of the weather...and menace the Flash starting with "The Challenge Of The Weather Wizard" in Flash #110 (December-January, 1959/1960) by John Broome and Carmine Infantino.

Weather Wizard didn't make the cover of his second appearance (Flash #130 of August, 1962, facing Kid Flash and the Elongated Man), but did finally in Flash #145 (June, 1964) in a tale not in the trade.

Trickster

Jesse James was a messed up kid, being part of a circus aerialists (but was also afraid of heights).  Jesse came up with some shoes that allowed him to walk on the air, becoming a "Danger In The Air" in Flash #113 (June-July, 1960, by John Broome and Carmine Infantino).

Trickster quickly strikes back after his heist of a plane in mid-air, quickly coming back to play new pranks on the Flash in Flash #121 (June, 1961) in a story not in the collection.

Captain Boomerang

George "Digger" Harkness came into the Flash's life with "Here Comes Captain Boomerang" in Flash #117 (December, 1960 by John Broome and Carmine Infantino), when W.W. Higgins recruited him to become his toy company's spokesman of Captain Boomerang to sell boomerang toys.  Captain Boomerang turned the tables and used the identity to rob the area.

This boomerang quickly returned, facing the Flash and the Elongated Man in Flash #124 (November, 1961), in his second appearance (which isn't in the trade).

The Top

Roscoe Dillon was a small time crook getting nowhere, until he came up with a spinning motif based on his love of tops as a child.  This led him into a spin-up with the Flash in Flash #122 (August, 1961 by John Broome and Carmine Infantino) with "Beware The Atomic Grenade" (a much larger threat than a spinning top, indeed!).

The Top spun onto his first cover on his own with Flash #141 (December, 1963), where we also met Peter Gambi, a tailor to super-villains in a stylish story (not in the collection)!

Heat Wave

Mick Rory was a kid who liked fire.  So much so, that he ended up as the super-villain, Heat Wave, and ended up making "The Heat Is On For Captain Cold" in Flash #140 (November, 1963 by John Broome and Carmine Infantino), which started a competition between the two temperature opposite villains (starting a rivalry between them...and leading to a gathering of more Flash foes as well....).

Heat Wave's second appearance with with all the Rogues, but his appearance after that was in Flash #166 (December, 1966), still facing off against Captain Cold (but not seen in this trade), and Mick continued to be a thread to the Flash, eventually taking him on on his own!

....and the team-up of the Flash's Rogue's Gallery!  Captain Cold, Mirror Master, Pied Piper, Captain Boomerang, the Top and Heat Wave made live hard for the Flash in Flash #155 (September, 1965, by John Broome and Carmine Infantino), making Barry run "The Gauntlet of Super-Villains"...and there was a surprise villain the Rogues faced as well (who tried to make a monkey out of the villains).

The Rogues returned en masse for the second time in Flash #174 (November, 1967), making life hard for the Flash yet again in a story not in the Flash Vs. The Rogues trade, but, like all these stories, proving that sometimes things are better the second time around!

Flash Facts Rogues

More so than most heroes, the Flash has been defined by his foes...the Flash's Rogue's Gallery!

Many of them first gathered in Flash #155 (September, 1965, by John Broome and Carmine Infantino in the "Gauntlet of Super-Villains"), but here's a quick breakdown on those foes first appearances and a few other facts!

Captain Cold

Real Name: Leonard Snart

First Appearance: Showcase #8 (May-June, 1957)

Created By: John Broome & Carmine Infantino

Origin: Dealing with his father's abuse, Leonard Snart became a small time criminal with a fascination for cold.  Snart developed the costume, and stole an experimental gun and powered it up to project intense cold to face the Flash!

 

Team Membership: Rogues (charter member and leader), Secret Society of Super-Villains, Suicide Squad

Some non-Flash appearances:  Justice League of America #5, 40, 129, 139, 155, Secret Society of Super-Villains #1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, Crisis on Infinite Earths #5, 9, 10, Blue Devil #19, 30, Manhunter #1, 24, Suicide Squad #16, 17, 18, 20, Secret Origins #41, Justice League Quarterly #2, Underworld Unleashed #1, Rogues (Villains) #1, JLA #18, Adventures of Superman #565, 613, Sins of Youth: Kid Flash/Impulse #1, Sins of Youth: The Secret/Deadboy #1, Young Justice: Sins of Youth #2, JSA Secret Files #2, JSA #28, Superman/Batman #3, Catwoman #21, 46, 48, 49, Infinite Crisis #1, 7, Outsiders #32, 33, World War III #1, All-New Atom #5, Countdown #46, Salvation Run #1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, Blackest Night #1.

Mirror Master

Real Name: Samuel Joseph Scudder

First Appearance: Flash #105 (February-March, 1959)

Created By: John Broome & Carmine Infantino

Origin: Sam Scudder was a prisoner, who figured out how to hold his reflection in a mirror and escape.  Sam developed some more mirror based weapons and ended up facing the Flash, as well as joining the Rogues, and other villain teams, passing away during the Crisis on Infinite Earths.

 

Team Membership: Rogues (charter member), Injustice Gang of the World, Secret Society of Super-Villains

Some non-Flash appearances: Brave & the Bold #30, Detective Comics #336, 555, Justice League of America #40, 111, 143, 158, Secret Society of Super-Villains #1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 15, Batman #388, Crisis on Infinite Earths #5, 9, 10, Flash and Green Lantern: Brave & the Bold #2, 4

 

Pied Piper

Real Name: Hartley Rathaway

First Appearance: Flash #106 (April-May, 1959)

Created By: John Broome & Carmine Infantino

Origin: Born with no hearing, Hartley got his hearing fixed thanks to the wealth of his parents.  This gave him an obsession with sound, and he adopted the identity of the Pied Piper, faced the Flash!  Pied Piper gave up his villainous lifestyle, and ended up helping Trickster during Countdown.

 

Team Membership: Rogues (charter member)

Some non-Flash appearances: Justice League of America #14, 35, Detective Comics #480, Fury of Firestorm #5, 6, Crisis on Infinite Earths #9, Blue Devil #30, Secret Origins #41, Guy Gardner: Warrior #29, Rogues (Villains) #1, Countdown #51, 50, 49, 47, 46, 44, 43, 42, 41, 40, 39, 38, 37, 36, 34, 33, 32, 30, 29, 28, 27, 25, 22, 21, 20, 19, 12, 11, 10, 9, 1

Captain Boomerang

Real Name: George "Digger" Harkness

First Appearance: Flash #117 (December, 1960)

Created By: John Broome & Carmine Infantino

Origin:  Digger was an Australian who picked up the use of boomerangs, and became a mascot for a boomerang company, but decided to make off with the money at events instead, fighting the Flash.  After Flash died, Digger was a regular with the Suicide Squad until his death in Identity Crisis (but came back in Blackest Night!). 

Team Membership: Rogues (charter member), Secret Society of Super-Villains, Suicide Squad

Some non-Flash appearances: Justice League of America #61, Secret Society of Super-Villains #1, 3, 4, 5, 6, Batman #322, 388, 645, Detective Comics #555, Crisis on Infinite Earths #5, Blue Devil #30, Legends #3, 4, 5, 6, Suicide Squad #1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, Annual 1, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 27, 29, 30, 32, 33. 34, 35, 36, 37, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 49, 50, 51, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, Fury of Firestorm #64,

Firestorm Annual #5, Millenium #4, Justice League International #13, Invasion! #2, 3, Checkmate! #15, 16, 18, Firestorm the Nuclear Man #87, War of the Gods #3, 4, Wonder Woman #61, Showcase '94 #6, Outsiders #9, Adventures of Superman #520, 565, Superboy #13, 14, 15, Underworld Unleashed #1, Rogues (Villains) #1, Robin #62, 63, 64, Identity Crisis #2, 3, 4, 5, Blackest Night #2, 3, 8, Blackest Night: Batman #3

The Top

Real Name: Roscoe Dillon

First Appearance: Flash #122 (August, 1961)

Created By: John Broome & Carmine Infantino

Origin: Roscoe Dillon was a crook who developed the ability to spin at superhuman speeds...and fought the Flash, all while dating Captain Cold's sister, Lisa.  But, his power killed him, inspired her to become the Golden Gilder...and he came back as a ghost to continue to haunt the Flash!

 

Team Membership: Rogues (charter member)

Some non-Flash appearances:
Justice League of America #28,
Hawk & Dove Annual #1,
Hawk & Dove #27, 28,
DC First: Flash/Superman #1


Top mostly faced the Flash and associated with the Rogues!
  

Heat Wave

Real Name: Mick Rory

First Appearance: Flash #140 (November, 1963)

Created By: John Broome & Carmine Infantino

Origin: Mick Rory liked to watch stuff burn.  Seeing a cold based villain in Central City, Mick adopted the identity of Heat Wave, to compete with Captain Cold and fight the Flash!

 

Team Membership: Rogues (charter member), Cadmus

Some non-Flash appearances: Blue Devil #30, Invasion! #2, Justice League Quarterly #2, Underworld Unleashed #1, Green Lantern #96, Green Arrow #130, Rogues (Villains) #1, Superboy #65, 75, 76, 77, 79, 80, 81, 87, 88, 89, 90, Infinite Crisis #1, Superman #225, Countdown #51, 50, 47, 46, Salvation Run #1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, Catwoman #75, DC Universe #0, Blackest Night #1

More Flash foes joined up, like Weather Wizard, the Trickster, Golden Glider, and even Abra Kadabra...but never Grodd, or any of the evil speedsters like the Reverse Flash or Zoom.

These foes were enough to keep Barry Allen and his legacy running fast!

 

A Quick Flash on Heat Wave

That could have been the title for Heat Wave's first appearance in Flash #140 (November, 1963, by John Broome and Carmine Infantino), wherein this hot Flash foe was introduced.

It wasn't, the title was "The Heat Is On...For Captain Cold!".

We Didn't Start The Fire

Mick Rory was a kid who was fascinated with fire. So much so, that he watched his parents' home burn...with them in them.

Mick was then raised by his uncle, and later ran away to join the circus and became a fire-eater.

Didn't help him though, he burned the circus down. Mick was inspired by the Rogues to become Heat Wave, and he came up with his fire-resistant costume and heat gun, and started a competition with Flash foe, Captain Cold.

This led to Heat Wave joining Flash's Rogue's Gallery, and many battles with the Flash for a time, both with and without the rest of the Rogues.

Mick does get tired of the criminal life, and tries to give it up for a time, encouraged by his Flash foe (secretly Barry Allen), and Mick even helps Flash capture a Heat Wave impostor.

With what seemed to be Barry Allen's death during the Crisis on Infinite Earths, Heat Wave had most of his reason to be a criminal, though he did mix it up with Blue Devil once.

Burning Like A Flame

Heat Wave tried to reform, working with Captain Cold for a time...

...but Captain Cold's criminal nature and Mick's own fascination with fire led him to work with Weather Wizard, Captain Boomerang, and the new Mirror Master to release Neron (an evil demon who had designs on Earth's heroes)...

...where the Earth's heroes had to face Neron during the Underworld Unleashed event (and it had cost the Rogues their lives, to burn in hell forever more...).

Well, not quite.

Neron was a planner, he was.
 

Neron had these foes trapped in hell, and later released them to bedevil the Flash (at this time, Wally West, having picked up his mentor's name and costume).

Now, the Rogue's worked together to prevent themselves from going to hell! It didn't last for Heat Wave, who teamed up with Green Lantern Kyle Rayner's version of Sonar and Green Arrow Connor Hawke's foe Hatchet to free the magnetic foe, Dr. Polaris.

Regretting this, Heat Wave tried to help out at Cadmus while Superboy was missing, and ended up working security there for a time under the watchful eye of the Guardian.

Heart of Fire

Still, the pull of the Rogue's got to Mr. Rory, and he came back to work with them for a time (though working more with the reformed Rogues, Trickster and Pied Piper). Still, at the end of the Rogue War, the Rogue's were reunited, and all pretense of Mick's reformation had gone up in smoke by the time of the Infinite Crisis, and Mick worked with other fire-foes like Effigy, Plasmus and Scorch against Superman.

Then, Mick was one of the Rogue's who helped kill Bart Allen (he who was formerly Impulse and Kid Flash, and after the Infinite Crisis was Flash for a short time as part of the Flash legacy).

This sparked a manhunt for the Rogues and all villains, and let to the villains being exiled off-Earth in Salvation Run, and a Countdown to the Final Crisis.

Eventually, the Rogues returned to Earth, and got their revenge on Inertia (the Impulse foe who tricked the Rogues into killing the Bart Allen version of the Flash), and worked with the Rogues to stave off the rising of the undead Flash foes during the Blackest Night.

Heat Wave Burns Out

Heat Wave even worked with the Rogues to help fight the Renegades (25th Century police who used the Rogues as templates for their own to fight time travelers...

...basically a group like the Rogues, but inspired to do good by the Reverse-Flash of the 25th Century - Heat Wave's equivalent was Heatstroke).

Then, Flash faced his foe, the Reverse-Flash, and changed time in Flashpoint (with an alternate Heat Wave being the star of the Legion of Doom mini-series..

...though Heat Wave was never a member of the original Legion of Doom, like Toyman II), and, now there was the return of Heat Wave in the New 52, with new internalized heat powers, which I'm sure will be a scorcher!