Hero Alliance

''The Hero Alliance'' is a fictional American team of comic book superheroes in an eponymous series published by different companies. It was created by writer Kevin Juaire.

Publication history

''Hero Alliance'' was first published in 1986 as ''Hero Alliance: End of the Golden Age'', a graphic novel by Pied Piper Comics. It continued directly into a ''Hero Alliance'' one-shot (described as "published 8 times per year in the indicia") by Wonder Comics in 1987. The original graphic novel was reprinted in 1989—with minor edits and additional pages—by Innovation Publishing, as a three-issue mini-series. Innovation then released a regular series, written by David Lawrence, which ran for seventeen issues from 1989 to 1991, plus an annual and a ''Justice Machine'' crossover in 1990. The regular series was followed by four issues of ''Hero Alliance Quarterly'' released from 1991 to 1992, and the series concluded with a ''Hero Alliance Special'' in 1992.

In the early 1990s, Innovation publisher David Campiti published a newsletter announcing that further adventures of ''Hero Alliance'' would be published by Extreme Studios and drawn by Glass House Graphics artists, but no comics ensued.

Bibliography

* ''Hero Alliance: The End of the Golden Age'' (1986), TPB (Pied Piper Comics)
* ''Hero Alliance'' v1 (1987), #1 (Wonder Comics)
* ''Hero Alliance: The End of the Golden Age'' (1989), #1–3 (Innovation Comics)
* ''Hero Alliance'' v2, #1–17 (Innovation Comics)
* ''Hero Alliance Annual'' (1990), #1
* ''Hero Alliance & Justice Machine: Identity Crisis'' (1990), #1
* ''Hero Alliance Quarterly'' (1991–1992), #1–4
* ''Hero Alliance Special'' (1992), #1
* ''Innovation Spectacular'' #1
* ''Sentry Special'' #1

Characters

Victor: A character similar to Superman. He withdrew from the Guardsmen when he became disappointed by the new membership's lack of heroic standards. He regarded the Golden Guardsman as his mentor and role model, and after the current Guardsmen were all killed, his guilt at writing them off led him to try to establish a similar mentoring role over the less experienced and powerful heroes all around him. In his secret identity he was the owner of a chain of fitness centers and a former bodybuilding champion.

Kris (Golden Guard): Daughter of the original Golden Guardsman, she inherited his superhuman strength and was targeted for murder by her brother, jealous that she had inherited powers and he apparently hadn't. Although she adopted a version of her father's costume early on she took a while to adopt a version of his pseudonym, superheroing for a while just as "Kris".

Sepulchre: Self-confessed murderer of the Guardsmen (by planting bombs in their headquarters), Sepulchre was up until that point regarded as a minor, easily defeated villain. He was later revealed as a knife-wielding serial killer who had never been caught.

Sentry: A Batman pastiche, he kept his powers (or lack of same) a secret.

Apostate: Growing up apparently without powers, Kris' brother developed a resentment against his father and sister because his father was lavishing attention on his presumed successor as a superhero. He stole his father's helmet, which apparently had electrical powers, and used it to kill the old retired superhero, as well as another randomly encountered hero named Predator; and to try to kill his sister and Victor. He later learned his electrical powers were innate and the helmet simply a psychological crutch.

Gemini +: A pair of identical twins who possessed super strength shared between them, and a force field which operated only when they were in close proximity to each other; it was their capture of Sepulchre and the unimpressed reactions of the other heroes to their feat that led to Sepulchre's confession to having killed the Guardsmen. Bob was an obnoxious loudmouth, and his brother Steve apologetic for Bob's behavior.

Hover: A telekinetic who lost the use of his legs in action and had to fly to get around out of a wheelchair.

Tawny Winters: An empath, her appearance altered to become the perfect woman for everyone who saw her.

Gossamer: A woman with the power of intangibility over herself and anyone with whom she has contact.

StarCorp Man: Sponsored by a major corporation. Out of ethical concerns, his abilities were linked to an "empathic limiter" that would cause him to experience pain equal (or at least proportional) to any he inflicted using these granted powers, to encourage restraint. This control method backfired when he began to develop a psychological addiction to the induced sensations.

References

Grand Comics Database: ''Hero Alliance''

Innovation Publishing titles
Superhero comics