Young Allies (DC Comics)
| Young Allies | |
|---|---|
 The Young Allies, left to right Squire, Kuei, Fireball, Phantasmo. Artist Michael Bair | |
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | DC Comics |
| First appearance | Young All-Stars #22 (January 1989) |
| Created by |
Roy Thomas (writer) Dann Thomas (writer) Michael Bair (artist) |
The Young Allies are a team of DC Comics superheroes who operated during World War II, created by Roy Thomas, Dann Thomas and Michael Bair. The team and most of its members debuted in Young All-Stars #22 (January 1989).
History
This band of young heroes first appeared on a morale-boosting mission to the United States in a story set in 1942. They were inadvertently involved in one of the All-Stars' cases when Axis Amerika attempted to steal plutonium from Albert Einstein and his colleagues in St. Louis (Young All-Stars #22-26). After this case, these heroes returned to their homelands and have not made any appearances in modern times.
Members
Each member hailed from a country allied with the U.S. during World War II. Of the team's members, only the Squire originally appeared during the 1940s (Batman #62), the others having been retconned (retroactively inserted into continuity).
- Fireball - (Sonya Chuikov), from Russia, gained her power to wield fire after exposure to the Tunguska event on June 30, 1908. Her family was murdered during a Nazi invasion.
- Kuei - (real name unrevealed) was a Chinese hero. This former soldier was shot during the war by a Japanese soldier. Trying to end his suffering through suicide by drowning, he was possessed by a traditional Chinese demon called a Kuei[1] and transformed to look like it.
- Phantasmo - (Jean-Marc de Villars), able to pass through solid objects, was a Frenchman descended from an earth elemental and a human man. Though he has not appeared since 1942, his postwar activities have been hinted at in Teen Titans Spotlight #11. Note: This character was Thomas's homage to writers Randy and Jean-Marc Lofficier. "De Villars" is the name of a Catholic priest, the author of the occult novel, Comte de Gabalis.[2]
- The Squire - (Percival "Percy" Sheldrake) was the English apprentice of the Shining Knight. After the War, Sheldrake took the code name of The Knight, and his son Cyril became the second Squire. In the 1950s, he was among the founders of the Dome (see Global Guardians; Infinity, Inc. #34). Cyril became a second Knight alongside the third Squire, his female ward Beryl Hutchinson, and they appeared among the newly formed Ultramarine Corps (JLA #26).