The Star-Spangled Kid is the name of several superheroes in the DC Comics' main shared universe.
| Star-Spangled kid | |
|---|---|
 The Sylvester Pemberton incarnation of the Star-Spangled Kid as depicted in All Star Comics #64 (February 1977). Art by Wally Wood. | |
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | DC Comics |
| First appearance | Sylvester Pemberton: Star Spangled Comics #1 (October 1941) Courtney Whitmore: Stars and S.T.R.I.P.E. #0 (July 1999) Miss Martian: Teen Titans #37 (August 2006) |
| In-story information | |
| Notable aliases | Miss Martian Courtney Whitmore Sylvester Pemberton/Skyman |
| Abilities | Sylvester Pemberton
Courtney Whitmore
Miss Martian To view all abilities click here: Miss Martian’s abilities or White Martians |
Fictional character history
editSylvester Pemberton
editThe original Star-Spangled Kid was Sylvester Pemberton, a Golden Age character, created by Superman co-creator Jerry Siegel. He adopted the identity to battle Nazism during World War II, and was unique in being a child with an adult sidekick, Stripesy a.k.a. Pat Dugan.[1][2] Both he and Dugan were superb acrobats along with having sufficient training in hand-to-hand combat, but the pair regularly bickered about which of them should get top billing.
Decades later, he changed his name to Skyman and led Infinity Inc.[3] He was later killed by Mister Bones's cyanide touch.
Courtney Whitmore
editCourtney is Pat Dugan's stepdaughter, who found Pemberton's gear in his belongings and donned the Cosmic Converter Belt, with a costume of her own design. She begins her career as the second Star-Spangled Kid to annoy Dugan as partial revenge for him marrying her mother and supposedly forcing the family to move from Los Angeles to Blue Valley, Nebraska. Dugan, a skilled mechanic, designs and builds S.T.R.I.P.E., a mecha which he rides in to accompany and protect her. Eventually, she joins the JSA and, after being given Jack Knight's cosmic rod, changes her identity to Stargirl.
Miss Martian
editA third Star-Spangled Kid appears in Terror Titans #1 and is subsequently captured by the Terror Titans team for the Dark Side Club. The Star-Spangled Kid is forced to fight in a tournament against other meta-humans, going on to win the tournament. During the course of the storyline he appears to have a much stronger resistance to brainwashing than the other fighters, although he does eventually succumb. Later, it is revealed that he is the shape-shifting Miss Martian, who is immune to the brainwashing and gradually frees the other combatants.[4]
Other versions
edit- An African-American child based on the Star-Spangled Kid, simply named Stars, appears in Kingdom Come. This version wears a leather jacket, an American flag bandana, a T-shirt with an inverted American flag, and a cosmic belt in addition to wielding the Cosmic Staff. Additionally, he is accompanied by a muscular older man called "Stripes".
- The Star-Spangled Kid appears in Tiny Titans #38.
In other media
edit- The Sylvester Pemberton incarnation of the Star-Spangled Kid appears in the Smallville two-part episode "Absolute Justice", portrayed by Jim Shield.
- The Sylvester Pemberton incarnation of the Star-Spangled Kid appears in a photograph depicted in the Stargirl episode "Brainwave".
References
edit- ^ Green, Paul (2017). Encyclopedia of Weird War Stories: Supernatural and Science Fiction Elements in Novels, Pulps, Comics, Film, Television, Games and Other Media. McFarland & Co. pp. 165–166. ISBN 978-1476666723.
- ^ Benton, Mike (1992). Superhero Comics of the Golden Age: The Illustrated History. Dallas: Taylor Publishing Company. p. 184. ISBN 0-87833-808-X. Retrieved 1 April 2020.
- ^ Markstein, Don. "The Star-Spangled Kid and Stripesy". Don Markstein's Toonopedia. Retrieved 2 April 2020.
- ^ Terror Titans #6 (2008)
External links
edit- DCU Guide: Star Spangled Kid
- Star-Spangled Kid and Stripesy at Don Markstein's Toonopedia Archived from the original on March 16, 2017. Additional WebCitation archive on June 4, 2017.