I am a huge fan of neamathla's Five Colors for a Dime and introduced a Deviantart friend called Bastard-Bird and before he passed away the two of us started to expand upon it and I wish to share our ideas with anyone who cares.
All-American Comics
Mister Terrific (II)-Bartard-Bird's idea
Edward "Eddie" Whit
Extra! v1 #17 1958 All-American
Created by Bob Haney and Nick Cardy
Created in the labs of CYCLOPS experiment ED:W1T escaped after he found out he was created only to facilitate the overthrow of the world's governments. There had been a janitor who had read to ED:W1T and told him all sorts of stories about heroes, and the experiment didn't think overthrowing government was how a hero should behave, so he ran. Being a physically a fully developed adult, but only two years old, the experiment knew nothing of the outside world and was having rather a tough time of it until he stumbled into Miss Freda Agnes Asher who after a decidedly bewildering conversation took the experiment home to her father, university professor Caleb Asher.
Deciding he couldn't very well call the experiment ED:W1T or 'Hey, you' Professor Asher named the experiment Eddie Whit. Eddie was quite fond of this as he'd never had a name before and it was close enough to his designation he wouldn't get confused. Freda took an old school banner off her wall and sewed it on to Eddie's jumpsuit over the experimental designation telling him "You're not just an experiment anymore, you're Eddie."
After a couple run-ins with other experiments sent to retrieve Eddie, Freda added a mask to the jumpsuit. When Eddie asked what the 'T' was for Freda said "It's for 'Terrific' as you're just about the most terrific man I've ever met."
The more I'm thinking about it, with Bob Haney creating Mister Terrific (II), the more I'm thinking about the television series John Doe with Dominic Purcell and the movie Danny the Dog with Jet Lee and Bob Hoskins. In this case, unlike the series, a lab grown "Perfect Man" with a "computer-like brain" stuffed full of "All the Knowledge of Humanity". In '58, still not out of the science fiction b-movie craze, and Julius Schwartz wanting science fiction heroes, the artificial man fits that mighty mighty well. And naming a guy with a computer brain Wit/Whit? That's pretty Haney.
Lots of fish-out-of-water comedy potential with this guy... would actually make a pretty good television series in the vein of the Adam West Batman with the random educational bits (because he knows EVERYTHING), the action with the criminal organization always looking to get their experiment back and the villain of the week they send after him, and the situational comedy of him only being a couple years old. And there's no way Frank Miller would take a run at a guy called Mister Terrific. Alan Moore on the other hand would probably give him the "Hitler's sex midgets" treatment.
Captain America (II)
Frederick “Fred” Davis
Tales of Justice v1 #68 1958 All-American Comics
Created by Robert Kanigher and Ramona Fradon
Fred Davis was a researcher for the United States Air Force working on a formula to make American troops competitive with the Super Soldiers coming out of the USSR. When Warhead (Rupert C. Nall) attacked the base and overpowered the soldiers on duty with his fantastic weaponry Davis knew he had to do something and swallowed the experimental serum he'd been working on. After minutes of pure agony Davis found he had gone from a five foot six and one hundred and twenty pound scientist to a six foot four three hundred pound CHAMPION OF JUSTICE.
Wearing only a white clean room suit (as he had far outgrown his own clothes) Davis took on and defeated Warhead, but in the process his lab was destroyed and the notes for the formula with it. The only one who would know of Davis' miraculous transformation would be Major Vincent Harrower, who would swear Davis to secrecy to keep the truth that the greatest American hero was created not born out of Communist hands.
Davis would find that with a bit of concentration he could change back and forth from his usual form the enhanced super-soldier at will. Major Harrower named Davis' alter-ego Captain America (after a comic book character who inspired Harrower in his youth) and provided a costume to conceal Davis' identity, as well as a special lab so Davis could change unseen when evil threatened.
In time Captain America would help found the Justice League of America and gain a military handler and assistant in Susan Hilton who would become his partner Golden Girl.
Doctor Midnight
John Dolan
Sensation Comics v2 #30 1959
Created by John Broome and Carmine Infantino
This one was a pain in the tuchas.
Got the purple from the goggles in lurch's version, but the visor from the Five Colors version, the togs are damned near an inverse of Mister Satan (with more'n a bit of Beth Chapel), so I made sure the legs and arms were yellow instead of Satan's black, and the gun's supposed to be a black-light ray a la Black Condor or Phantom Lady with some design elements from Mirror Master. The beard's because I figured to put a little more 'doctor' in the Doctor Midnight.
Victor Creed
Iron Fist v1 #14 1977 Charlton
Created by Chris Claremont and John Byrne
This is one of those places where Earth L diverges from the Five Colors for a Dime Universe quite a bit. One of my biggest arguements (and one of the things I'm sure encouraged lurch-jr to suggest just scrapping the whole thing and starting from scratch) is that the OP just seemed to gloss over the talent he'd stuck at Charlton at what would have been (some might argue) the height of their comics careers. Chris Claremont, Len Wein, and John Byrne (amongst others) cut loose under Editor-in-Chief Roy Thomas in the mid '70s. Everything they collectively contributed to the DC and Marvel Universes in a setting with Ditko's Action Heroes and Thomas' love of Legacy? The mind, it whirls.
Thinking in this particular instance is there's no Hulk, so the Wolverine could have come in elsewhere, but I'm likeing that Iron Fist still happened pretty much as written and Sabretooth was likewise introduced, but in this case became popular enough to become a hero in his own right. At some point Byrne starts talking a Canadian super team and Thomas says "Hey, Len... Remember that idea you had for the hyperactive Canadian psycho a while back? Well, John's got this idea..." And Roy Thomas created adamantium, Len Wein created Weapon X...
The original version of the Wolverine Wein described as "Spider-Man like" (and having just gone back and reread that issue of the Hulk, yeah, that little bastard is a flea with pointy bits), and the claws were intended to be strap-on. Byrne said he specifically never gave Wildchild a definitive origin (despite the obviously derivative features), so this sets up an interesting potential dynamic where poppa's a freaking beast, one kid kind of takes after him, and the other kid has to go through significant experimentation and strap on his cutlery because he lost out in the genetic lottery.
Version 1 didn't work out so well, here. I was told "This does not look anything like a hero." *more or less* "Try something like Vincent from Beauty and the Beast."
Okay, sure. Ron Perlman as Victor Creed would be dreams coming true, yeah? And Creed was more'n a bit strange looking in the original Iron Fist version (which carried over to Wildchild in Alpha Flight). In the OTL Byrne had submitted a sketch of what Wolverine might look like under the mask (but Dave Cockrum beat him to the punch) but that sketch would inform Sabretooth, so I went with the hair from that and the more feline features. Then lurch-jr says "I meant Jay Ryan of the recent series..." and I have no idea who that is.
Scarab (I)
Peter Ward
Scarab v1 #1 1964 Charlton
Created by Joe Gill and Bill Fraccio from the original Nedor Scarab
Scarab (II)
Ted Kord
1970 Charlton
Created by Steve Ditko
The thinking here being that with Charlton owning the Nedor characters in the Five Color AU, and the Scarab Peter Ward being almost exactly the Charlton Blue Beetle Dan Garrett (with two 't's you see) as the archeaologist with the magical Egyptian bug tchotchke (in this case a ring) there's no reason Gill and Fraccio couldn't have carried on as written in the OTL. The series may well have lasted just a wee bit longer and then when Ditko went back to Charlton in 1970 Ted Kord still happens almost as written, but as a Scarab (I seem to be making a habit of this).
I know the Bug (and specifically its arms) to be dodgey as hell, but I never claimed to be an artist, yeah?
Scarab (Peter Ward) originally published by Better/Nedor/Standard, but is now in the Public Domain. Blue Beetle originally published by Fox then Charlton, but any versions published before 1977 are now in the Public Domain. The initial design for Kord here, was lurch-jr. The picture is mine.
Escape Comics
Spiderman
Based on Jack Kirby's design of Spider-Man
Mighty Comics
Comet
The Web
Thor
Hercules
Mr. Satan
All-American Comics
Mister Terrific (II)-Bartard-Bird's idea
Edward "Eddie" Whit
Extra! v1 #17 1958 All-American
Created by Bob Haney and Nick Cardy
Created in the labs of CYCLOPS experiment ED:W1T escaped after he found out he was created only to facilitate the overthrow of the world's governments. There had been a janitor who had read to ED:W1T and told him all sorts of stories about heroes, and the experiment didn't think overthrowing government was how a hero should behave, so he ran. Being a physically a fully developed adult, but only two years old, the experiment knew nothing of the outside world and was having rather a tough time of it until he stumbled into Miss Freda Agnes Asher who after a decidedly bewildering conversation took the experiment home to her father, university professor Caleb Asher.
Deciding he couldn't very well call the experiment ED:W1T or 'Hey, you' Professor Asher named the experiment Eddie Whit. Eddie was quite fond of this as he'd never had a name before and it was close enough to his designation he wouldn't get confused. Freda took an old school banner off her wall and sewed it on to Eddie's jumpsuit over the experimental designation telling him "You're not just an experiment anymore, you're Eddie."
After a couple run-ins with other experiments sent to retrieve Eddie, Freda added a mask to the jumpsuit. When Eddie asked what the 'T' was for Freda said "It's for 'Terrific' as you're just about the most terrific man I've ever met."
The more I'm thinking about it, with Bob Haney creating Mister Terrific (II), the more I'm thinking about the television series John Doe with Dominic Purcell and the movie Danny the Dog with Jet Lee and Bob Hoskins. In this case, unlike the series, a lab grown "Perfect Man" with a "computer-like brain" stuffed full of "All the Knowledge of Humanity". In '58, still not out of the science fiction b-movie craze, and Julius Schwartz wanting science fiction heroes, the artificial man fits that mighty mighty well. And naming a guy with a computer brain Wit/Whit? That's pretty Haney.
Lots of fish-out-of-water comedy potential with this guy... would actually make a pretty good television series in the vein of the Adam West Batman with the random educational bits (because he knows EVERYTHING), the action with the criminal organization always looking to get their experiment back and the villain of the week they send after him, and the situational comedy of him only being a couple years old. And there's no way Frank Miller would take a run at a guy called Mister Terrific. Alan Moore on the other hand would probably give him the "Hitler's sex midgets" treatment.
Captain America (II)
Frederick “Fred” Davis
Tales of Justice v1 #68 1958 All-American Comics
Created by Robert Kanigher and Ramona Fradon
Fred Davis was a researcher for the United States Air Force working on a formula to make American troops competitive with the Super Soldiers coming out of the USSR. When Warhead (Rupert C. Nall) attacked the base and overpowered the soldiers on duty with his fantastic weaponry Davis knew he had to do something and swallowed the experimental serum he'd been working on. After minutes of pure agony Davis found he had gone from a five foot six and one hundred and twenty pound scientist to a six foot four three hundred pound CHAMPION OF JUSTICE.
Wearing only a white clean room suit (as he had far outgrown his own clothes) Davis took on and defeated Warhead, but in the process his lab was destroyed and the notes for the formula with it. The only one who would know of Davis' miraculous transformation would be Major Vincent Harrower, who would swear Davis to secrecy to keep the truth that the greatest American hero was created not born out of Communist hands.
Davis would find that with a bit of concentration he could change back and forth from his usual form the enhanced super-soldier at will. Major Harrower named Davis' alter-ego Captain America (after a comic book character who inspired Harrower in his youth) and provided a costume to conceal Davis' identity, as well as a special lab so Davis could change unseen when evil threatened.
In time Captain America would help found the Justice League of America and gain a military handler and assistant in Susan Hilton who would become his partner Golden Girl.
Doctor Midnight
John Dolan
Sensation Comics v2 #30 1959
Created by John Broome and Carmine Infantino
This one was a pain in the tuchas.
Got the purple from the goggles in lurch's version, but the visor from the Five Colors version, the togs are damned near an inverse of Mister Satan (with more'n a bit of Beth Chapel), so I made sure the legs and arms were yellow instead of Satan's black, and the gun's supposed to be a black-light ray a la Black Condor or Phantom Lady with some design elements from Mirror Master. The beard's because I figured to put a little more 'doctor' in the Doctor Midnight.
Victor Creed
Iron Fist v1 #14 1977 Charlton
Created by Chris Claremont and John Byrne
This is one of those places where Earth L diverges from the Five Colors for a Dime Universe quite a bit. One of my biggest arguements (and one of the things I'm sure encouraged lurch-jr to suggest just scrapping the whole thing and starting from scratch) is that the OP just seemed to gloss over the talent he'd stuck at Charlton at what would have been (some might argue) the height of their comics careers. Chris Claremont, Len Wein, and John Byrne (amongst others) cut loose under Editor-in-Chief Roy Thomas in the mid '70s. Everything they collectively contributed to the DC and Marvel Universes in a setting with Ditko's Action Heroes and Thomas' love of Legacy? The mind, it whirls.
Thinking in this particular instance is there's no Hulk, so the Wolverine could have come in elsewhere, but I'm likeing that Iron Fist still happened pretty much as written and Sabretooth was likewise introduced, but in this case became popular enough to become a hero in his own right. At some point Byrne starts talking a Canadian super team and Thomas says "Hey, Len... Remember that idea you had for the hyperactive Canadian psycho a while back? Well, John's got this idea..." And Roy Thomas created adamantium, Len Wein created Weapon X...
The original version of the Wolverine Wein described as "Spider-Man like" (and having just gone back and reread that issue of the Hulk, yeah, that little bastard is a flea with pointy bits), and the claws were intended to be strap-on. Byrne said he specifically never gave Wildchild a definitive origin (despite the obviously derivative features), so this sets up an interesting potential dynamic where poppa's a freaking beast, one kid kind of takes after him, and the other kid has to go through significant experimentation and strap on his cutlery because he lost out in the genetic lottery.
Version 1 didn't work out so well, here. I was told "This does not look anything like a hero." *more or less* "Try something like Vincent from Beauty and the Beast."
Okay, sure. Ron Perlman as Victor Creed would be dreams coming true, yeah? And Creed was more'n a bit strange looking in the original Iron Fist version (which carried over to Wildchild in Alpha Flight). In the OTL Byrne had submitted a sketch of what Wolverine might look like under the mask (but Dave Cockrum beat him to the punch) but that sketch would inform Sabretooth, so I went with the hair from that and the more feline features. Then lurch-jr says "I meant Jay Ryan of the recent series..." and I have no idea who that is.
Scarab (I)
Peter Ward
Scarab v1 #1 1964 Charlton
Created by Joe Gill and Bill Fraccio from the original Nedor Scarab
Scarab (II)
Ted Kord
1970 Charlton
Created by Steve Ditko
The thinking here being that with Charlton owning the Nedor characters in the Five Color AU, and the Scarab Peter Ward being almost exactly the Charlton Blue Beetle Dan Garrett (with two 't's you see) as the archeaologist with the magical Egyptian bug tchotchke (in this case a ring) there's no reason Gill and Fraccio couldn't have carried on as written in the OTL. The series may well have lasted just a wee bit longer and then when Ditko went back to Charlton in 1970 Ted Kord still happens almost as written, but as a Scarab (I seem to be making a habit of this).
I know the Bug (and specifically its arms) to be dodgey as hell, but I never claimed to be an artist, yeah?
Scarab (Peter Ward) originally published by Better/Nedor/Standard, but is now in the Public Domain. Blue Beetle originally published by Fox then Charlton, but any versions published before 1977 are now in the Public Domain. The initial design for Kord here, was lurch-jr. The picture is mine.
Escape Comics
Spiderman
Based on Jack Kirby's design of Spider-Man
Mighty Comics
Comet
The Web
Thor
Hercules
Mr. Satan