Independents: Living Assault Weapons, The Paragons, The Joker, Wild Dog, Michael Mauser, Redstar

1960s

Secret Origins: Redstar Rising

by Starsky Hutch 76
published August 8, 2000

Igor Kriss was the Soviet Union’s greatest cosmonaut — that is, until the day he embarrassed the Motherland! But when a KGB spymaster offers him the chance to gain great power and become a hero through a risky experiment, will it be the beginning of a new career or a one-way ticket to the grave?

1985 (July to December)

Michael Mauser, Private Eye: War and Peacemaker

by CSyphrett
published September 26, 2000

Life is never easy if your name is Michael Mauser. How does a simple larceny investigation become a fight to the death with the Mars Council? And when Mauser, New York’s dirtiest P.I., is served up as bait to capture the Weapon — the world’s deadliest hitman — will the Peacemaker, serving as his bodyguard, show up in time to keep Mauser from meeting his final reward? The action culminates in a toe-to-toe fight in the sewers of New York.

L.A.W.: Living Assault Weapons

by CSyphrett, with Doc Quantum of the Time Trust
published February 17, 2001

Hank Hennessy has just been recruited by Sarge Steel and Tiffany Sinn to lead a new team of metahuman agents connected to the Checkmate division of CHESS, a secret agency. But will he be able to keep from exacting revenge on the man responsible for the destruction of the Fightin’ Five, the team he formerly led? Featuring the Red Knight (former Checkmate agent and expert martial artist), John “Specs” Anders (a telepath and former member of the Tyro Team), Syntac (a super-android), the new Puppeteer (grandson of the 1940s mystery man by that name), and Destiny Fox (a Native American with the power of a river god) as the first LAW team.

L.A.W.: Origins of Law

by CSyphrett and Doc Quantum of the Time Trust
published June 27, 2001

While their leader is out of town, the LAW team begins discussing how each of them began their career and was recruited as a super-agent. But when Emil Forsa, the nuclear menace known as Major Force, goes in search of a cure for the radiation poisoning that is slowly killing him and LAW attempts to capture him, has the team bitten off more than it can chew?

The Paragons: Deus Ex Astra, Book 1: Visitations

by Doc Quantum of the Time Trust, CSyphrett, Libbylawrence and Bradley Cobb
published March 6, 2002

The Crisis on Infinite Earths is over, but a new crisis of mythological proportions has begun all across Europe. Has a new heroic age struck the continent? The strange and powerful alien being known as the Super-Wizard believes it has, and he begins watching as a new breed of European action-heroes debut, taking steps to nudge a few in the right direction. Who is the mysterious Black Lion of Scotland, and what demons drive him on to act as a vigilante? Will Dr. Lorenzo Puzzini’s desire to continue his uncle’s heroic legacy as the new Dart of Italy make up for his father’s crimes as the villainous Barbarik? How will Lucille Michaud, the French heroine known as Psyché, escape from her mysterious captor? Has Jack Bicci, the former Sinistro, Boy Fiend, finally turned on his old ways and embraced the heroic destiny others predicted for him long ago? Will the power granted to Rafael Guerra make him the new hero Stardust of Spain? Will the Kenyan-born Austrian teenager Madeleine Fehr inherit the powers of her grandmother, Marga the Panther Woman, to become Panthera? Will the Swedish artist and new father Alvar Sundin be able to embrace the idea of becoming the new vessel for Thor, God of Thunder? Will Jock Gruffud make it through the night as he battles numerous mythical baddies throughout Wales and the West Midlands as the strongman wizard hero Jock o’ Kent? And what will finally bring all these new heroes together as the Paragons?

1986

Showcase: Wild Dog: Running Wild

by CSyphrett
published May 14, 2001

Auto mechanic Jack Wheeler is the masked vigilante called Wild Dog. While investigating a Mob gathering in the Quad Cities, he finds himself narrowly escaping a death trap instead. When the M.O. turns out to be that of a professional hitman named Wormwood who is currently still in prison, the mystery leads to a woman who seems to be following in the killer’s footsteps. However, when she uses Police Lieutenant Andy Travis — Wild Dog’s best friend — as bait, the vigilante decides to take a bite out of crime.

Showcase: Chi Lin: Fire and Ashes

by Drivtaan
published April 21, 2004

Officers of the Chinese Army arrive at the doorstep of a poor family and take their young daughter away. But Chi Lin is no ordinary 10-year-old girl. As a mutant with powerful telepathic abilities, she is highly prized by the Chinese government’s fledgling metahuman program. And when Chi Lin is sent to track down a new target for that program, a young man who apparently has power of his own, she runs across something that no one had expected to find. Also introducing the hero known as the Celestial Lion.

Showcase: The Joker: Mad Men and an Annoyed Woman

by Libbylawrence
published April 6, 2005

Rei Suzaki is an ordinary young woman who is bored by her job as a librarian. But after the death of her beloved grandfather, she discovers that he was more than just a small shop repairman — he was, in fact, the tech supplier to super-villains everywhere! Using an assortment of gizmos, she begins a career as the crime-fighting Joker to make up for her grandfather’s misdeeds. But when the Blue Beetle’s old foes the Madmen seek to recover one of the devices her grandfather was commissioned to build for them, the Joker may have her hands full trying to stop them.

Timeless

The Many Ghosts of Doctor Graves: The Storms

by Drivtaan
published October 28, 2008

This tale from Dr. M.T. Graves will remind you that it isn’t always just the dark, stormy nights that you have to fear.

Comments are closed.