Air Wave

Edit links
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
This article is about the DC Comics characters. For other uses, see Airwave (disambiguation).
Air Wave
Larry Jordan as Air Wave.
Publication information
PublisherDC Comics
First appearance(Larry)
Detective Comics #60 (February 1942)
(Helen)
DC Comics Presents #40 (December 1981)
(Hal)
(as Air Wave)
Green Lantern (vol. 2) #100 (January 1978)
(as Maser)
Firestorm, the Nuclear Man #88 (August 1989)
Created by(Larry)
Murray Boltinoff or
Mort Weisinger
Harris Levey a.k.a. Lee Harris[1]
(Helen)
Bob Rozakis
Alex Saviuk
(Hal)
Dennis O'Neil
Alex Saviuk
In-story information
Alter ego- Lawrence "Larry" Jordan
- Helen Jordan
- Harold Lawrence "Hal" Jordan
Team affiliations(Larry)
All-Star Squadron

(Hal)
Captains of Industry
Suicide Squad
Notable aliases(Hal)
Maser
AbilitiesSee below

Air Wave is the name of three

American comic books published by DC Comics. The first two were active in the Golden Age of Comic Books
(albeit the second Air Wave had only one appearance). The third appears in comics in the 21st century.

Publication history

The original Air Wave (Larry Jordan) debuted during the period fans and historians call the Golden Age of Comic Books. His first appearance was in Detective Comics #60 (December 1942) by artist Harris Levey, who signed his work under the pen name "Lee Harris", and a writer tentatively identified as either Mort Weisinger[2] or Murray Boltinoff.[1] Harris Levey (aka Lee Harris) drew the character's seven- to eight-page adventures from Detective Comics #60 (February 1942) to at least #74 (April 1943), and then following World War II in Detective Comics #114-137 (August 1946 - July 1948). In September 1942, Levey (aka Lee Harris) left the series to join the US Army Airforce (UAAF) as a Photographer for the 15th Tactical Reconnaissance Photo Unit, turning the artwork over to his friend George Roussos for the 1943-46 issues.[3] Levey returned to DC and resumed illustrating the Air Wave (July 1946, #113) and left DC and his Air Wave drawing duties in 1948 to pursue a career in advertising.

Fictional character biographies

Larry Jordan

Franklin Roosevelt to request his participation in the All-Star Squadron
.

Larry Jordan retired from his career as Air Wave in 1948 and married Helen soon afterward. Their son, Harold (Hal), was born as Jordan continued his research into radio wave conversion.

In DC Comics Presents #40 (December 1981),[6] it was revealed that Larry was killed by a man he had once prosecuted as a district attorney. Joe Parsons was an escaped convict who took revenge by breaking into Jordan's home. Larry's costume malfunctioned as he tried to protect his family and he died from a shotgun wound to the chest.[7]

During the "Dark Nights: Death Metal" storyline, Air Wave is among the superheroes that were revived by Batman using a Black Lantern ring.[8]

Helen Jordan

Helen Jordan was the wife of Larry Jordan, the original Air Wave. After Larry's death, Helen donned the Air Wave costume and brought the killer Joe Parsons to justice, but never wore the suit again.

When her son Harold entered

high school, Helen sent the boy to live with his cousins in Dallas
as she slowly succumbed to mental illness.

Harold Jordan

Air Wave legacy
Art by Dick Giordano and Alex Saviuk.

At a young age, Harold was found to exhibit the power to transmute into energy. Just as his father had modified his helmet and was preparing to train him to use his powers, Larry was killed. Eventually, Harold decided to follow in the footsteps of his father's career and took up the mantle of Air Wave. When his character was introduced, it was also revealed that he was a cousin of the Green Lantern Hal Jordan, with whom he shares the name. Air Wave continued as a supporting character, though not in every issue, of Green Lantern and his co-stars of the time, Green Arrow and Black Canary, showing young Harold how to be a superhero.[a] Starting in Action Comics #488, Hal was featured in adventures of his own.[9] For the next couple of years, he appeared in the secondary stories of Action Comics (the cover story almost always starred Superman), often alternating with the Atom. At some point, he became able to control his transmutation to energy without relying upon his father's equipment.[10]

When Air Wave was recruited by the Institute for Metahuman Studies to join a group of highly capitalist superheroes called the Captains of Industry, he used the code name Maser after undergoing extreme gene-modification at the hands of Doctor Moon. This group was relatively short-lived and he soon resumed using Air Wave as his moniker.

Kobra's plot to seize control of the world's media resources. When freed by the JSA, the seriously weakened hero destroyed Kobra's satellites, which were targeted to annihilate many of Earth's cities.[12]

Later, Air Wave joined the JSA reserve in battle during the

Obsidian, and Eclipso.[13]

During the

Cyborg, and others that travel into space to help investigate a destructive spatial warp. Air Wave almost instantly detects the cries for help coming from the ships being affected. These cries overwhelm him, and he splits into millions of radio waves that fly off in different directions.[14]

During the event known as the

Omaha. Air Wave is then destroyed by the combined efforts of the various Lanterns corps, who had just arrived to battle the Black Lanterns.[16]

In 2016, DC Comics implemented another relaunch of its books called "DC Rebirth" which restored its continuity to a form much as it was prior to "The New 52". Hal is again presented alive and as a neophyte superhero. In the same issue, it is hinted that Harold may not be straight. While Green Lantern was not up for Air Wave being his sidekick, he later gave him some approval after seeing how he defeated the Radio People of Kwyzz.[17]

During "

Boom used this diversion to free everyone. Following Time Master and Childminder's defeat and Wing being sent back to his own time, Air Wave is among the Lost Children that are brought to Stargirl's time by the Hourman android due to paradoxical reasons.[22]

Powers and abilities

Enemies

His enemies were mostly Nazis and criminals, but he also fought some sound-based supervillains:[24]

  • Dr. Silence
  • Parrot
  • Talker

Further reading

Notes

  1. ^ As depicted in Green Lantern (vol. 2) #100.

References

  1. ^ a b Air Wave (1942) at Don Markstein's Toonopedia. Archived from the original on March 15, 2012]
  2. ^ Detective Comics #60 at the Grand Comics Database
  3. Fictioneer Books
    . pp. 45–51.
  4. ISBN 978-1893905375
    .
  5. ISBN 978-1605490892
    .
  6. ^ Wells, John (May 2013). "Flashback: Whatever Happened to...?". Back Issue! (#64). TwoMorrows Publishing: 51–61.
  7. ISBN 978-0-7566-4119-1
  8. ^ Dark Nights: Death Metal #5. DC Comics.
  9. ^ Wells, John (August 2018). "No Static At All: Air Wave in the Bronze Age". Back Issue (#106). TwoMorrows Publishing: 26–31.
  10. ISBN 978-0-7566-4119-1
  11. ^ Firestorm #88. DC Comics.
  12. ^ JSA #11-12. DC Comics.
  13. ^ JSA: Our Worlds at War #1. DC Comics.
  14. ^ Infinite Crisis #4. DC Comics.
  15. ^ Blackest Night #6 (December 2009). DC Comics.
  16. ^ Blackest Night #7 (February 2010). DC Comics.
  17. ^ Green Lantern Annual #1. DC Comics.
  18. ^ Stargirl: The Lost Children #2. DC Comics.
  19. ^ Stargirl: The Lost Children #3. DC Comics.
  20. ^ Stargirl: The Lost Children #4. DC Comics.
  21. ^ Stargirl: The Lost Children #5. DC Comics.
  22. ^ Stargirl: The Lost Children #6. DC Comics.
  23. ^ The Green Lantern Annual #1 (2019)
  24. ISBN 978-1-61318-023-5
    .

External links
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Air_Wave&oldid=1166800272"