Son of Vulcan is the name of two

comic book A comic book, also called comicbook, comic magazine or (in the United Kingdom and Ireland) simply comic, is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are of ...

characters Character or Characters may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''Character'' (novel), a 1936 Dutch novel by Ferdinand Bordewijk * ''Characters'' (Theophrastus), a classical Greek set of character sketches attributed to The ...

, one created by

Charlton Comics Charlton Comics was an American comic book publishing company that existed from 1945 to 1986, having begun under a different name: T.W.O. Charles Company, in 1940. It was based in Derby, Connecticut. The comic-book line was a division of Charlton ...

in 1965, the other by

DC Comics DC Comics, Inc. (doing business as DC) is an American comic book publisher and the flagship unit of DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC Comics is one of the largest and oldest American comic book companies, with thei ...

in August 2005. Son of Vulcan was one of the characters

purchased from defunct

in 1983.

Johnny Mann

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 artist

Bill Fraccio William Fraccio (July 9, 1920 – October 24, 2005)William Fraccio

. Charlton staff writer

Joe Gill Joseph P. Gill (July 13, 1919 – December 17, 2006)_Goodman.html" ;"title="/nowiki>Martin/nowiki> Goodman">/nowiki>Martin/nowiki> Goodman – who wnedMarvel later – into comics, and did the first omicsin my brother's office". Gill is reporte ...

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 Second Trojan War" in ''Son of Vulcan'' # 50 (Jan. 1966, the last issue, after which the title became ''

Peter Cannon, Thunderbolt Peter Cannon, Thunderbolt is a fictional superhero character originally published by Charlton Comics. Publication history Charlton Comics The character debuted in ''Peter Cannon ... Thunderbolt'' #1 (Jan. 1966), part of Charlton editor Dick Gior ...

'' for another ten issues), was the first professional work of writer and future

Marvel Comics Marvel Comics is an American comic book publishing, publisher and the flagship property of Marvel Entertainment, a divsion of The Walt Disney Company since September 1, 2009. Evolving from Timely Comics in 1939, ''Magazine Management/Atlas Co ...

editor-in-chief Roy Thomas, with the previous issue having seen the character being given a new and more ornate costume designed by a young, cover-credited

Dave Cockrum David Emmett Cockrum (; November 11, 1943 – November 26, 2006) was an American comics artist known for his co-creation of the new X-Men characters Nightcrawler, Storm, Colossus, and Mystique, as well as the antiheroine Black Cat. Cockrum was ...

History

The original Charlton character was Johnny Mann, a scrawny but courageous reporter for an international news syndicate who had lost a leg while serving during the

Korean War , date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...

. Covering a bloody civil war on the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western Europe, Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa ...

island of Cyprete, he complained aloud while standing in the ruins of an ancient temple that the gods play with men's lives while leaving them defenseless against the forces of war and crime. Taking offense, the

Roman gods The Roman deities most widely known today are those the Romans identified with Greek counterparts (see ''interpretatio graeca''), integrating Greek myths, iconography, and sometimes religious practices into Roman culture, including Latin lite ...

transported him to

Mount Olympus Mount Olympus (; el, Όλυμπος, Ólympos, also , ) is the highest mountain in Greece. It is part of the Olympus massif near the Thermaic Gulf of the Aegean Sea, located in the Olympus Range on the border between Thessaly and Macedonia, be ...

where he was put on trial before

Jupiter Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the largest in the Solar System. It is a gas giant with a mass more than two and a half times that of all the other planets in the Solar System combined, but slightly less than one-thousandth t ...

, all-powerful king of the gods, for his impudence. The war god

Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and the second-smallest planet in the Solar System, only being larger than Mercury. In the English language, Mars is named for the Roman god of war. Mars is a terrestrial planet with a thin at ...

argued for his immediate destruction, but

Vulcan Vulcan may refer to: Mythology * Vulcan (mythology), the god of fire, volcanoes, metalworking, and the forge in Roman mythology Arts, entertainment and media Film and television * Vulcan (''Star Trek''), name of a fictional race and their home p ...

, lame-legged god of fire and forge, spoke up in his defense, and Venus, goddess of love, agreed with Vulcan. In the end, bonding with the orphaned newsman over their similar disabilities, Vulcan agreed to adopt Johnny and share with him god-like powers that would help him fight injustice in the mortal world. By calling on Vulcan's aid, Johnny would transform into a superhuman

demigod A demigod or demigoddess is a part-human and part-divine offspring of a deity and a human, or a human or non-human creature that is accorded divine status after death, or someone who has attained the "divine spark" ( spiritual enlightenment). A ...

, whole again and mightily muscled and clad in indestructible Roman-style armor and shield with the power to summon both fire and powerful ancient weapons from his adopted father's forge. However, it was the judgment of Jupiter that his powers could be removed from him at any time if the gods ever decided he was unworthy of them. Mars often plots against him to make him lose favor with Jupiter or destroy him and was exiled from Olympus for this. As the Son of Vulcan, Johnny had several adventures where he battled both a jealous Mars and the Asian arch-criminal Dr. Kong (the so-called "meanest man alive" who resembled a cross between

Fu Manchu Dr. Fu Manchu () is a supervillain who was introduced in a series of novels by the English author Sax Rohmer beginning shortly before World War I and continuing for another forty years. The character featured in cinema, television, radio, com ...

and Dracula) but remained a little-known hero.

DC Comics

DC has made very little use of Son of Vulcan. He appeared briefly in '' DC Challenge'' #9 where he was introduced into the DC universe by the aforementioned Roy Thomas and returned to take a more pivotal part in the ''

War of the Gods ''War of the Gods'' is an album by soul singer Billy Paul. The album was produced by Gamble & Huff, Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff and arranged by Bobby Martin (producer), Bobby Martin and Lenny Pakula. Released in 1973, the album reached number 12 o ...

'' miniseries that followed the ''

Crisis on Infinite Earths "Crisis on Infinite Earths" is a 1985 American comic book crossover storyline published by DC Comics. The series, written by Marv Wolfman and pencilled by George Pérez, was first serialized as a 12-issue limited series from April 1985 to Mar ...

'' crossover only to be killed off in the last issue. In 2005, DC published a new ''Son of Vulcan'' miniseries whose title character and series premise was unrelated to the original.

History

During the ''War of the Gods'', the Roman gods wanted Son of Vulcan (now known on Olympus as Halciber Filius, a Latinized version of his name, and endowed with all their divine powers rather than just those of Vulcan) to be their champion against the

Greek gods The following is a list of gods, goddesses, and many other divine and semi-divine figures from ancient Greek mythology and ancient Greek religion. Immortals The Greeks created images of their deities for many purposes. A temple would house th ...

' champion,

Wonder Woman Wonder Woman is a superhero created by the American psychologist and writer William Moulton Marston (pen name: Charles Moulton), and artist Harry G. Peter. Marston's wife, Elizabeth Holloway Marston, Elizabeth, and their life partner, Olive Byr ...

, but he refused, so they chose Captain Marvel in his stead. Son of Vulcan investigated the cause of the war and met

Harmonia In Greek mythology, Harmonia (; grc, Ἁρμονία /Ancient Greek phonology, harmoˈnia/, "harmony", "agreement") is the immortal goddess of harmony and concord. Her Rome, Roman counterpart is Concordia (mythology), Concordia. Her Greek op ...

, daughter of the Greek god Ares, who was also investigating it, and they learned the war was part of a plan by the sorceress

Circe Circe (; grc, , ) is an enchantress and a minor goddess in ancient Greek mythology and religion. She is either a daughter of the Titan Helios and the Oceanid nymph Perse or the goddess Hecate and Aeëtes. Circe was renowned for her vas ...

to gain absolute divine power. Son of Vulcan and Harmonia fell in love, but the two eventually died in battle and their souls were personally escorted by Vulcan himself to the eternal paradise of Elysium.

Miguel Devante

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 android Pandora later go to San Francisco, where Miguel is seen talking to

Beast Boy Garfield Mark Logan, better known as Beast Boy, is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. He has also gone under the alias Changeling. Created by writer Arnold Drake and artist Bob Brown, he is a shapeshifter who po ...

of the

Teen Titans The Teen Titans are a superhero team appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics, frequently in eponymous monthly series. As the group's name indicates, the members are teenage superheroes, many of whom have acted as sidekicks to DC ...

and presenting himself as simply ''Vulcan''. While he evidently did not join the Titans during the One Year, he does appear in the line-up for the new ''

Titans East Titans East is the name of several DC Comics superhero teams. The teams appear in the ''Teen Titans'' comic books and Teen Titans (TV series), animated series. The comic book incarnation of Titans East first appeared in ''Teen Titans'' (vol. 3) #1 ...

'' one-shot, released in November 2007. Son of Vulcan was also in ''

Infinite Crisis "Infinite Crisis" is a 2005–2006 comic book storyline published by DC Comics, consisting of an eponymous, seven-issue comic book limited series written by Geoff Johns and illustrated by Phil Jimenez, George Pérez, Ivan Reis, and Jerry Ordway, ...

'' #6 as one of the spellcasters who summon the Spectre at Stonehenge. Seeing as Miguel's powers stem from a transferable metagene virus it is unknown why he was there. He appeared in '' JSA Classified'' #19 written by his creator, Scott Beatty. He is one of the competitors at Roulette's fight, but, apparently, manages to survive and flee the scene. Son of Vulcan was left badly injured, seemingly dead at the end of the ''

'' one-shot. ''Titans'' #1 revealed that he was still alive, but in a coma.

Other versions

* Darkseid once masqueraded as a Son of Vulcan knockoff named ''Janus, Son of Jupiter'' (the name is probably also a reference to Jemm, Son of Saturn). As Janus he possessed great strength and the ability to fly. He also carried a supposedly indestructible shield and a high-tech mace. As Janus, Darkseid appeared as a handsome blond human. He first appears in '' Super Powers'' series 3 #3 (Nov 1986). * In Grant Morrison's '' Animal Man'' storyline "Deus Ex Machina", Psycho-Pirate, while in Arkham Asylum, recreated characters removed from continuity. Son of Vulcan (or a Pre-Crisis version of him) was one of them. He appears as he originally did in Charlton Comics. Presumably, this character vanished from existence when the Psycho-Pirate's episode of madness ended, along with his colleagues.

References

External links

International Catalog of Superheroes: Son of Vulcan
at Don Markstein's Toonopedia
Archived
from the original on October 25, 2011.

* *

Johnny Mann

Charlton Comics

History

DC Comics

History

Miguel Devante

Brief synopsis

Other versions

References

External links

Further reading