Son of Vulcan
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Son of Vulcan is the name of two fictional characters, one created by Charlton Comics in 1965, the other by DC Comics in August of 2005. Son of Vulcan was one of the characters DC Comics purchased from defunct Charlton Comics in 1983.
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[edit] Johnny Mann
[edit] Charlton Comics
Son of Vulcan first appeared in Mysteries of Unexplored Worlds # 46 (May 1965), retitled Son of Vulcan with issue # 49, and was created by writer Pat Masulli and penciler Bill Fraccio. Charlton staff writer Joe Gill would write most of his stories. Predating the Charlton "Action Heroes" line, Son of Vulcan is not properly part of that group. His final Charlton story, "The Eye of Horus" in Son of Vulcan # 50 (Jan. 1966, the last issue), was the first professional work of writer and future Marvel Comics editor-in-chief Roy Thomas.
[edit] History
The original Charlton character was Johnny Mann, a reporter who was crippled in one leg during a war. When he complained aloud that the gods play with men's lives, Vulcan, the Roman god of fire, appeared and argued that men's destinies were their own. Finally, Vulcan agreed to give Johnny powers that would help him fight injustice by himself. By calling on Vulcan's name, Johnny would transform into a (healthy) warrior with one power granted by each of the Roman gods (a concept similar to that of the original Captain Marvel). As the Son of Vulcan, Johnny had several adventures, but remained a little-known hero.
[edit] DC Comics
DC has made very little use of Son of Vulcan. He appeared briefly (and apparently died) in the War of the Gods miniseries that followed the "Crisis on Infinite Earths fictional crossover. DC then published a new Son of Vulcan miniseries who title character was unrelated to the original, but this new series has nothing to do with the original.
[edit] History
At DC, during the War of the Gods, the Roman gods wanted Son of Vulcan (Johnny Mann) to be their champion against the Greek gods' champion, Wonder Woman, but he refused, so they chose Captain Marvel instead. Son of Vulcan investigated the cause of the war, and met Harmonia, daughter of the Greek god Ares, who was also investigating it. They learned the war was part of a plan by the sorceress Circe to gain absolute divine power. Son of Vulcan and Harmonia fell in love, but the two apparently died in battle.
[edit] Miguel Devante
- See also: Vulcan (DC Comics)
[edit] Brief synopsis
Orphan Miguel "Mikey" Devante, 14, is taken hostage by Jason Woodrue a.k.a. the Floronic Man at the Big Belly Burger in Miguel's hometown of Charlton’s Point. A relatively unknown hero named Vulcan tells Mikey to free the other hostages while he battles the Floronic Man. Miguel stays back after freeing the other hostages to ensure Vulcan is safe. Miguel saves Vulcan from danger by chopping off Floronic Man's arm with Vulcan's sword. Vulcan chooses Miguel to be his successor.
After their adventures, Miguel and the restored Pandora later go to San Francisco, where Miguel is seen talking to Beast Boy of the Teen Titans and presenting himself as simply Vulcan. However, he was not seen as a member of the "missing year" Titans as seen in the scrapbook. He was in Infinite Crisis #6 as one of the spellcasters who summon the Spectre at Stonehenge. Seeing as Miguel's powers stem from a transferable Metagene virus it has yet to be revealed why he was there.
He recently appeared in an issue of JSA Classified written by his creator, Scott Beatty. He is one of the competitors at Roulette (comics)'s fight.
[edit] Trivia
- Darkseid once masqueraded as a Son of Vulcan knockoff named Janus, Son of Jupiter. As Janus he possessesed great strength and the ability to fly. He also carried a supposedly indestructible shield and a high-tech mace. As Janus, Darkseid appeared to be as a handsome, blonde human. He first appears in Super Powers series 3 #3 (Nov 1986).
