Manhunter (comics)
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Manhunter is the name given to several different DC Comics superheroes/antiheroes, as well as an entire race of androids created by the Guardians of the Universe, as a forerunner to the Green Lantern Corps. (Not to be confused with the more well known, similarly named, DC Comics superhero Martian Manhunter.)
Dan Richards
The first Manhunter actually didn't appear in a DC comic proper. Quality Comics told the story of Dan Richards starting in March of 1942 in Police Comics, running from issue #8 to issue #101.
Donald "Dan" Richards attended the police academy with his girlfriend's brother, Jim, who was at the top of the class, while Dan was at the very bottom. After Jim was framed for a crime he didn't commit, Dan took up the identity of Manhunter to track down the actual killer. He caught the perpetrator and cleared Jim's name. Afterwards, however, he continued to operate as Manhunter. His sidekick was a dog named Thor, who was later revealed (decades later in a DC story) to be a robotic sentry operating under the auspices of the Manhunter cult. Dan Richards died in a recent Manhunter comic along with Thor.
Dan's granddaughter, Marcie Cooper, became the third Harlequin after he convinced her to join the Manhunters.
The Quality Comics characters were purchased by DC in 1950.
Paul Kirk
The following month after Dan Richards appeared, DC decided to have one of their pre-existing characters, big game hunter Paul Kirk, put on a costume and take the name Manhunter as well. This happened in April 1942's Adventure Comics #73, written by Jack Kirby and drawn by Kirby and Joe Simon, although Paul Kirk had first appeared in Adventure #58. Kirk was a wealthy hunter who lost a friend to a murderer, and decided to hunt a more dangerous quarry: outlaws.
Although Richards and Kirk never met in golden age stories, they did meet in All-Star Squadron #31, from 1984, and argued over who should get the Manhunter name. They resolved the dilemma by joining different teams: Dan Richards became a member of the Freedom Fighters, while Paul Kirk stayed as a member of the All-Star Squadron.
Paul Kirk appeared in Adventure Comics from issue #73 to #92, which appeared to end his career in 1944, but it was not to be. Many years later, in 1973's Detective Comics #437, Paul Kirk was literally resurrected in a story by Archie Goodwin and Walt Simonson. He had been killed by an elephant on safari in the 1940s, but his body had been saved by the Council, a secret society dedicated to the control of the world. After his return from death, Kirk had a healing factor (it was later revealed that this was due to an injection of nanobots) and was trained extensively in the martial arts by Asano Nitobe. He was also the genetic source for many clones, which the council intended to use as their paramilitary arm, with the original Paul Kirk as their leader.
The Council underestimated Kirk's morals, though, and when he refused to kill a police officer, they realized he couldn't be their assassin and decided to have him terminated.
In a classic series of short vignettes and a single issue crossover with Batman, Manhunter defeated the Council, but not before they managed to kill him. Interpol agent Christine St. Clair and Nitobe believed that all the clones were killed, but swore to kill any they found in the future.
Paul Kirk's story ran from Detective Comics #437 through #442 as a backup, and #443 (1974) was the aforementioned full-length crossover with Batman. These stories are considered as classics of the comic-book form and have been reprinted several times; first, in 1979 and in black and white format by Excalibur, and then in color by DC in 1984. The Simonson/Goodwin Manhunter was reissued again in 1999, with some additional material (namely, a silent story illustrated by Simonson from notes by Goodwin, who had died prior to the issue of the new collection; as such, the new collection was dedicated to Goodwin's memory).
Third Manhunter
In 1975, the story that introduced us to Mark Shaw, we were introduced to his mentor, an unnamed Manhunter that Shaw replaced. This character's only appearance was in First Issue Special #5. This story was written and illustrated by Jack Kirby, who had illustrated a handful of Paul Kirk's adventures in the 40's. The outfit worn by this Manhunter is based on Paul Kirk's outfit from the 40's.Mark Shaw
Also first appearing in First Issue Special #5, Mark Shaw became Manhunter in that issue, and the interrelation between the Manhunter android cult and the various characters known as Manhunter begins.Mark Shaw was a public defender, unhappy about how easily criminals manipulated the system and got off without punishment. Shaw's uncle Desmond introduced him to an ancient sect of crime fighters called the Manhunters. Shaw contacted the Grand Master, the sect's leader, through a magical lion medallion. Shortly, he assumed the Manhunter name and costume.
Mark Shaw reappeared in March 1977's Justice League of America #140, which expanded on the Manhunter sect and established ties to the Green Lantern mythos. The sect was shown to be comprised of androids, created billions of years before by the Guardians of Oa to police the galaxy; for millennia, they served the Guardians well. However, the Manhunters became obsessed with the act of 'hunting' criminals. Their code, "No Man Escapes The Manhunters", became more important to them than seeing justice done. Eventually, the androids rebelled against the Guardians, but were swiftly defeated by their creators; those that survived went into hiding.
The latter-day Manhunters attempted to disgrace the Guardians with Mark Shaw at their side. They were opposed by the JLA, especially by League member Green Lantern (Hal Jordan). Shaw realized that he had been duped by the Manhunters and turned on them, killing the Grand Master, who was revealed to be a robot. Mark Shaw quickly returned in Justice League of America #143, as a new hero called the Privateer, but it was soon revealed that he was also working as a villain called the Star-Tsar, in league with the Key. The Red Tornado discovered this deception, and Shaw went to prison.
While in the midst of serving his sentence, Shaw was offered the chance to accompany the Suicide Squad on a mission as the Privateer (in issues #8 through 10 of that series), and was released when the mission was completed. In the wake of the "Millennium" crisis, he donned a new costume (to distance himself from the Manhunter cult), and had his own adventures, as shown in his solo series (1988 to 1990; 24 issues); most of the stories written by John Ostrander. Shaw now hunted costumed criminals for the bounty; he kept insisting that he was just operating for the money, but he kept finding himself doing the right thing.
During this time, he and his family were threatened by two shape-shifters named Dumas. Shaw killed the first Dumas, and his battle with the second led him to give up the Manhunter identity at the end of his series. However it was later revealed that Mark Shaw was actually himself Dumas, and much of his history is actually the result of mental programming by the US Government. Shaw joined The Shadow Fighters, in order to battle the supervillan Eclipso. In issue 13 of the Eclipso series, it seemed that Mark Shaw was killed opposing Eclipso alongside his other team members in The Shadow Fighters; this was soon revealed not to be the case.
Mark Shaw was not killed facing Eclipso. He was actually undercover at the time, masquerading as his old enemy Dumas at the behest of Sarge Steel. When the call went out for heroes to fight Eclipso, Sarge Steel believed that it would raise too many questions as to where Mark Shaw was if he did not answer the call, and so Sarge Steel sent along a ringer. The ringer thus only appeared in Eclipso's solo title, in issues #11 through #13, and is not known to have done anything but attack Eclipso and die. This assumed retcon happened in the last issue of the 1994/1995 Manhunter series.
Clone of Paul Kirk
In 1976, one of the remaining clones, calling himself Manhunter and wearing the same outfit that Paul Kirk wore in the 1970s series, masterminded the creation of the Secret Society of Super Villains. However, he died trying to kill Darkseid in issue #5 of the SSOV's title.Chase Lawler
Spinning out of DC's 1994 event miniseries Zero Hour was a new Manhunter title (by Steven Grant and Vince Giarrano), one unrelated to any of the previous Manhunters. Chase Lawler was a musician who summoned the Wild Huntsman to save himself and his girlfriend from harm. He did not understand the commitment he was making to the Wild Huntsman, and found himself compelled to hunt the lonely. He tried to resist the urge by hunting villains, with limited success.
In the final issue of his series (which ran thirteen issues), Lawler suffered a heart attack, and Mark Shaw attempted to resuscitate him. It was thought that this transferred the bond with the Wild Huntsman and the compulsion to hunt to Shaw. However the concept of the Wild Huntsman was later revealed to be false, with Lawler having undergone the same type of experimentation and programming as Mark Shaw. Lawler was drugged and then murdered by Shaw who had fallen back into his Dumas persona.
Kirk DePaul
Kirk DePaul was the last surviving clone from the Goodwin/Simonson Manhunter stories. As revealed during the Power Company series, DePaul was roaming through Africa when his progenitor was killed. The Kirk DePaul Manhunter was created by Kurt Busiek and Tom Grummett. This Manhunter was a partner in the superhero for hire firm known as Power Company, fellow partner in the firm Celia Forrestal Skyrocket despised him for his shallow and cutthroat ethics.He wore a variation of Paul Kirk's Manhunter costume. His role in the Power Company attracted the attention of Asano Nitobe and Christine St. Clair, who confronted him in Power Company #5. However, they established that he was not evil and, although St. Clair continued watching DePaul, decided not to kill him. However, DePaul was later murdered by Mark Shaw who had suffered a breakdown and resumed his Dumas persona.
Kate Spencer
Kate Spencer, like Mark Shaw, is a lawyer, but instead works as a prosecutor. Outraged by the ability of super criminals to escape justice, Spencer assembled a costume from a variety of devices left over from various heroes and villains. These included a Darkstars suit, the gloves from the Azrael version of Batman, and the power staff used by Mark Shaw. The costume gives Spencer superhuman strength, agility, and resistance to injury, while the power staff allows her to fire bolts of energy. Spencer has taken on several minor league supervillains including Copperhead and the Shadow-Thief. She is aided in fighting crime by Dylan Battles, a former inventor of gadgetry for supervillains who now repairs and augments her equipment and who seems to have an inexplicable success in bedding a variety of women. Recently Spencer fought her father, a minor league super villain who claims to be the son of Al Pratt - the Golden Age Atom. Most recently Kate Spencer, in her heroic identity as Manhunter, began working with the US government's Department of Extranormal Operations, headed by the former criminal Mister Bones. The new Manhunter series in which she appears began in 2004. This current series has featured appearances by Dan Richards, Mark Shaw, Chase Lawler and Kirk DePaul.
During the events of Infinite Crisis, Kate Spencer participated in the Battle of Metropolis. One year later, she is still working for Mister Bones although now as a defense attorney specializing in superhuman cases. Her latest case involves defending Doctor Psycho who she fought in Metropolis. Kate began to doubt whether her father told her the truth about her heritage and contacted Doctor Mid-Nite to help discover the truth. Mid-nite discovered that Kate is descended from a golden age superhero but not the Atom. Rather, kate is the grandaughter of Sandra Knight the original Phantom Lady and her husband Iron Munro
Manhunter was initially slotted to be cancelled due to extremely low sales. However, a massive and organized fan campaign, along with support from the upper ranks of DC's management, allowed for another five-issue arc to be commissioned. Dan DiDio has promised that the arc will be very important to the DCU and will hopefully increase Manhunter's sales.
Collections
The Manhunter stories from Detective Comics were collected into a trade paperback entitled Manhunter: The Special Edition. This collection won the Comics Buyer's Guide Fan Award for Favorite Reprint Graphic Album for 2000.The most recent Manhunter series, featuring Kate Spencer in the title role, had its first five issues collected in a trade paperback entitled Manhunter: Street Justice.
External links
- [Comics Nexus] - Near Mint Memories: Manhunter (Jan. '05)[link]
- [News-a-Rama] - A history of manhunting @ DC (Aug. '05)[link] [link]
- [Power Company Chronology at DC Cosmic Teams]
- [The Manhunter 20K Challenge: Help ensure the continued publication of Manhunter]
- [Comics Buyer's Guide Fan Awards]
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