Born in Waymore, Nebraska, Randolph William “Ralph” Dibny grew up admiring escape artists and contortionists. He desperately wished he could emulate their agility and flexibility. When he learned that many of his idols favored a soda called Gingold, which contained the juice of the rare Gingold fruit, Ralph’s natural skill at deduction kicked in. He…
Some people hope to take after their parents—others hope they don’t. For Beautia Sivana the latter seems more likely. Her father, Thaddeus Bodog Sivana, is a crazed scientist bent on world conquest and the utter destruction of his nemesis, Captain Marvel. Beautia’s two younger siblings take after their father in their immorality but Beautia herself—who…
Zatanna Zatara learned early on that magic was in her blood—but she had no idea how right she was. Her father, Giovanni “John” Zatara, was a stage magician whose act concealed his very real magical abilities. Growing up, Zatanna followed in her father’s footsteps, becoming a stage illusionist. Her own power manifested while searching for…
Jack Ryder’s parentage certainly predicted his future—his father was the publisher of a successful union dispatch, while his mother suffered paranoid schizophrenia and died in an institution while Jack was still a child. Growing up, Ryder followed in his father’s footsteps and became a television news reporter. Unfortunately, Ryder had a big mouth. Normally that…
Maxwell Jensen was the classic, small-time crook before his own idiocy transformed him into something far greater. Jensen was working at a plant attached to a research center and opened one of the storage containers, thinking it might contain the company’s payrolls. Instead the biohazardous extraterrestrial materials inside transformed him, staining his skin purple and…
Donna Hinckley Stacey Troy has had as many different origins as any other DC hero, but unlike the rest she currently remembers all of them. In her original origin, Donna was an orphan (her parents were killed in a fire) who had been saved by Wonder Woman and taken to Paradise Island, where the Amazons…
Born in the Bronx, NY in 1930, Howie Schneider is best remembered for Eek & Meek, the comic about two mice (later two men) he created for the Newspaper Enterprise Association (NEA) in 1965 and ran for 35 years. Schneider also published several cartoon books, wrote a daily cartoon called Unschucked for the Provincetown Banner…
Born in Vinci, Florence, Italy in 1452, Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci was the illegitimate son of a local notary and a peasant girl. He showed an early talent for art, and at the age of 14 he was apprenticed to the renowned Florentine painter Verrocchio. In 1472, at the age of 20, Leonardo…
Dinah Drake was born and raised in Gotham City, where her father Richard Drake was a detective with the Gotham City Police Department. He trained his daughter well, and when she was old enough, Dinah applied to the GCPD herself. She was turned down, however, and the disappointment crushed her father, who died a short…
John Sargent became fascinated with magic at an early age—and also gained fearsome powers. This was thanks to his discovery that his mother’s old ruby pendant actually contained the ancient artifact called the Ruby of Life, which let him control anything he touched. As he grew older, Sargent focused his attention on stage magic in…
Alfred Thaddeus Crane Pennyworth was born the son of a butler—his father, Jarvis, worked for the wealthy Gotham City family the Waynes. But the life of a domestic was not for young Alfred, and he fled as soon as he was old enough to strike out on his own. For many years, Alfred made a…
The Bruce Wayne of Earth-Two was born on April 7, 1915. A crook named Joe Chill robbed and killed Bruce’s parents in 1924, when Bruce was only eight years old. Bruce dedicated his life to avenging his parents’ deaths and protecting others from criminals and their evil deeds. After many years of training, Bruce donned…
