Thanks to #JamesGunn 's Easter Egg in the new #Superman movie...
...specifically, this image on a multi-character mural at the Justice Gang HQ of a costumed hero with a World War I bi-plane overhead and a field of red poppies at his feet, we see that the head of the DC Cinematic Universe has plans for a certain obscure character who never appeared in a DC comic called Ghost of Flanders!
His strip ran for eight issues in Quality Comics' Hit Comics 18 thru 24 (1941-42).
Keeping in mind that this 1941 story (published before Pearl Harbor) appeared only 23 years after the end of World War I (considered the War to End All Wars) and taught extensively in American schools, and you might understand the significance of his nom du guerre.
Keeping in mind that this 1941 story (published before Pearl Harbor) appeared only 23 years after the end of World War I (considered the War to End All Wars) and taught extensively in American schools, and you might understand the significance of his nom du guerre.
Note: Though the costume design remained the same throughout the character's series, the coloring changed several times.
The color scheme seen in the mural is something of a compromise!
The color scheme seen in the mural is something of a compromise!
1) Why is the red poppy so frightening to German spies?
It ties in to Flanders Field as explained HERE!
It ties in to Flanders Field as explained HERE!
2) How, you may ask, did Ghost of Flanders end up at DC?
DC purchased all of Quality's assets when the company folded in 1956.
They continued publishing Blackhawk without interruption thru 1968 (as we showed HERE), but held off on using any of the other characters until they revamped/revived Plastic Man in 1966 as we showed HERE.
In the 1970s, with the development of the 100-Page Super-Spectacular format, they began reprinting some of Quality's Golden Age characters including Quicksilver (renamed "Max Mercury" since Marvel has a super-speedster named Quicksilver since 1963), Black Condor, The Ray, Doll Man, and Phantom Lady, among others.
This led to a revival of the Quality characters in an annual JLA-JSA "Crisis on..." story involving "Earth X", where the Nazis had won World War II...and killed the Blackhawks and Plastic Man (and, presumably the rest of the Quality heroes and heroines except for these six!)
DC purchased all of Quality's assets when the company folded in 1956.
They continued publishing Blackhawk without interruption thru 1968 (as we showed HERE), but held off on using any of the other characters until they revamped/revived Plastic Man in 1966 as we showed HERE.
In the 1970s, with the development of the 100-Page Super-Spectacular format, they began reprinting some of Quality's Golden Age characters including Quicksilver (renamed "Max Mercury" since Marvel has a super-speedster named Quicksilver since 1963), Black Condor, The Ray, Doll Man, and Phantom Lady, among others.
This led to a revival of the Quality characters in an annual JLA-JSA "Crisis on..." story involving "Earth X", where the Nazis had won World War II...and killed the Blackhawks and Plastic Man (and, presumably the rest of the Quality heroes and heroines except for these six!)
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| Art by Nick Cardy |
This led to the featured Quality heroes coming to Earth-One and receiving their own title!
Since then, post-Crisis on Infinite Earths, almost all the Quality heroes and heroines have been integrated into whatever the DC Universe currently is, largely thanks to Roy Thomas' integrating the Golden Age Quality/Fawcett/Fox characters into the All-Star Squadron!
But Ghost of Flanders didn't even make it to a group shot in any of those stories!
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| Art by Ernie Chua/Chan |
But Ghost of Flanders didn't even make it to a group shot in any of those stories!
Ghost of Flanders Will Return!
