CINXE.COM

<HEAD><TITLE>Don Markstein's Toonopedia: The Red Tornado </TITLE> <script language="JavaScript"></script> <META name = "author" content = "Donald D. Markstein"> <META name = "description" content = "Hypertext encyclopedia of comics and animation"> <META name = "subject" content = "Hypertext encyclopedia of comics and animation"> <META name = "keywords" content = "comic books animated cartoons animation comics comix syndicated comic strips"> <META name = "publisher" content = "Donald D. Markstein"> <META name = "format" content = "text/html"> <META name = "language" content = "EN"> </HEAD><BODY> <body onload="if (self!= top) top.location = self.location"></body> <BODY BGCOLOR="FFFFFF" TEXT="000000" LINK="0000EE" VLINK="551A8B"> <TABLE><TR><TD WIDTH=310 VALIGN="CENTER"><IMG GALLERYIMG="NO" ALIGN="LEFT" HEIGHT=266 WIDTH=300 ALT="The Red Tornado." SRC="tornado2.jpg"> <TD VALIGN="CENTER"><H1>THE RED TORNADO</H1><FONT SIZE=4> <B>Medium:</B> Comic books <BR><B>Published by:</B> DC Comics <BR><B>First Appeared:</B> 1968 <BR><B>Creators:</B> Gardner Fox (writer) and Dick Dillin (artist) <FONT SIZE=3> <! BEGIN DONATION CODE> <HR><FONT SIZE=2 COLOR="993366"><CENTER> If this site is enjoyable or useful to you, <BR>Please contribute to its necessary financial support. <BR><A HREF="http://s1.amazon.com/exec/varzea/pay/T1237L0BCY25QA" TARGET="_blank">Amazon.com</A> or <A HREF="https://www.paypal.com/xclick/business=don%40toonopedia.com&no_note=1&tax=0&currency_cod e=USD" TARGET="_blank">PayPal</A> </FONT></CENTER><HR> <! END DONATION CODE> <P><A NAME="cont"> Answer: A red-skinned android invented in 1968 by a master comic book villain as part of a plan to defeat the publisher's  <P ALIGN="RIGHT"><A HREF="#cont"><FONT SIZE=2><I>continued below</A></FONT> </TABLE> <CENTER><! BEGIN ADSENSE "LEADERBOARD" CODE> <script type="text/javascript"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js"> </script> <! END ADSENSE CODE></CENTER> <P><TABLE><TR><TD VALIGN="TOP"> most prominent <A HREF="glossary.htm#superhero">superhero</A> team, who winds up joining the team instead, and named after one of the publisher's more obscure 1940s characters. <P> Who is <A HREF="vision2.htm">The Vision?</A> <P> Correct — but the description also fits The Red Tornado, who first appeared in <A HREF="dc.htm">DC Comics'</A> <I><A HREF="jla.htm">Justice League of America</A></I> #64 (August, 1968), a mere two months before <A HREF="marvel.htm">Marvel</A> unveiled The Vision in <I><A HREF="avengers.htm">Avengers</A></I> #57. Since they debuted so close together, it's hard to believe either was a response to the other. Like <A HREF="xmen.htm">X-Men</A> and <A HREF="doompatr.htm">Doom Patrol,</A> the similarity between the two characters must be chalked up to coincidence. <P> The Red Tornado was created by writer Gardner Fox (who had been behind many DC characters, including <A HREF="flash1.htm">The Flash</A> and <A HREF="hawkman1.htm">Hawkman</A>) and artist Dick Dillin (who had a decades-long association with <A HREF="blakhawk.htm">Blackhawk</A>). <P> Within the story, however, his creator was T.O. Morrow, a mad scientist who had earlier bedeviled <A HREF="flash2.htm">The Flash</A> and <A HREF="lantern2.htm">Green Lantern.</A> Morrow's plan involved sowing confusion by naming his android after <A HREF="tornado1.htm">an early associate</A> of <A HREF="jsa.htm">The Justice Society of America,</A> and imbuing him with false memories about having once been a member of that group. By story's end, he'd become one in fact. A few years afterward, like <A HREF="bcanary.htm">The Black Canary,</A> he switched from the JSA to The Justice League. <P> The Red Tornado had been intended (by Morrow) to be cold and emotionless, but he soon began to develop human-like traits. This, it later turned out, came from having absorbed the life essence of a former <A HREF="adamstr.htm">Adam Strange</A> villain called The Tornado Tyrant, who had similar super powers (mainly, the ability to turn into a living whirlwind). The Tornado Tyrant first appeared in <I>Mystery in Space</I> #61 (August, 1960). Later yet, The Red Tornado was transformed in ways that make sense only in comic books, and shed his corporeal form (artificial tho it was) to devote his full-time attention to being a weather phenomenon. <P> Still later, he got human-like again. Which is about what a guy can expect when he's a comic book character without a series. <P ALIGN = "RIGHT">— DDM <P><A HREF="index.htm">BACK</A> to <I>Don Markstein's Toonopedia</I> Home Page <BR><A HREF="today.htm">Today in Toons:</A> Every day's an anniversary! <P><B>Webring:</B> <! JLA Universe><div align="center"><table borderColor="#3333FF" cellSpacing="0" cellPadding="2" width="300" border="1"> <tr><td noWrap><table cellSpacing="0" cellPadding="1" width="100%" bgColor="#CCCC00" border="0"> <tr><td noWrap><table cellSpacing="4" cellPadding="0" width="100%" align="center" border="0"> <tr><td noWrap><p align="center"><font face="arial" color="#000000"><b> <a href="http://webringo.com/cgi-bin/ringlink/home.pl?ringid=jlu;siteid=toonopedia" style="text-decoration: none"> <font color="#000000">JLA Universe</font></a> </b></font></td> </tr><tr><td noWrap align="middle" colSpan="2"> <font face="arial" color="#000000" size="-1">[ <a href="http://webringo.com/joinring.php?ringid=jlu" target="_top"> <font color="#993333">Join Now</font></a> | <a href="http://webringo.com/cgi-bin/ringlink/home.pl?ringid=jlu;siteid=toonopedia" target="_top"> <font color="#993333">Ring Hub</font></a> | <a href="http://webringo.com/cgi-bin/ringlink/rand.pl?ringid=jlu;siteid=toonopedia" target="_top"> <font color="#993333">Random</font></a> | <b> <a href="http://webringo.com/cgi-bin/ringlink/prev.pl?ringid=jlu;siteid=toonopedia" target="_top"> <font color="#993333"><< Prev</font></a> | <a href="http://webringo.com/cgi-bin/ringlink/next.pl?ringid=jlu;siteid=toonopedia" target="_top"> <font color="#993333">Next >></font></a></b> ] </font></td> </tr></table></td></tr></table></td></tr></table></div> <P><! BEGIN ADSENSE BANNER CODE><CENTER> <script type="text/javascript"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js"> </script> </CENTER><! END ADSENSE CODE> <TD WIDTH=10><TD WIDTH=180 VALIGN="TOP"> <! BEGIN ADLINKS CODE><script type="text/javascript"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js"> </script><! END ADLINKS CODE> <P><! BEGIN ADSENSE REFERRAL CODE><script type="text/javascript"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js"> </script><! END ADSENSE REFERRAL CODE> <P> <form method="get" action="http://www.google.com/custom" target="google_window"> <table border="0" bgcolor="#cccccc"> <tr><td nowrap="nowrap" valign="top" align="left" height="32"> <a href="http://www.google.com/"> <img src="http://www.google.com/logos/Logo_25gry.gif" border="0" alt="Google"></img></a> <br/> <input type="hidden" name="domains" value="www.toonopedia.com"></input> <input type="text" name="q" size="23" maxlength="255" value=""></input> </td></tr> <tr> <td nowrap="nowrap"> <table> <tr> <td> <input type="radio" name="sitesearch" value=""></input> <font size="-1" color="#000000">Web</font> </td> <td> <input type="radio" name="sitesearch" value="www.toonopedia.com" checked="checked"></input> <font size="-1" color="#000000">www.toonopedia.com</font> </td> </tr> </table> <input type="submit" name="sa" value="Search"></input> <input type="hidden" name="client" value="pub-1498877845272586"></input> <input type="hidden" name="forid" value="1"></input> <input type="hidden" name="ie" value="ISO-8859-1"></input> <input type="hidden" name="oe" value="ISO-8859-1"></input> <input type="hidden" name="cof" value="GALT:#008000;GL:1;DIV:#336699;VLC:663399;AH:center;BGC:FFFFFF;LBGC:336699;ALC:0000FF;LC:0000FF;T:000000;GFNT:0000FF;GIMP:0000FF;FORID:1;"></input> <input type="hidden" name="hl" value="en"></input> </td></tr></table> </form>  <FONT SIZE=2><P> <A HREF="boutique/dc-arch.htm">Purchase DC Comics Archive Editions Online</A> <P><A HREF="http://store.yahoo.com/cgi-bin/clink?wickedcoolstuff+e2VdY2+dccomics.html+" TARGET="_blank">Purchase DC Comics Merchandise Online</A> <P></FONT></TABLE> <HR><FONT SIZE=2><I>Text ©2001-08 Donald D. Markstein. Art © DC Comics.</I> </BODY></HTML>