Thanks, Dave! So I'll send him to Norwich. Thanks everyone! A final ask - bigger than the last ones!
Your comments and editorial opinions please - the origin of the Volunteer and Raptor
20s and 30s, on Other Earth (Eorth) a world with history very similar to our own, where the biggest difference related to superheroes is that the first really famous superhero (called 'mystery heroes' on Eorth) was a late-middle aged black man (a detective named Iollan Blake) who got powers in an origin somewhat similar to Billy Batson (though his powers were bestowed by the God/Spirit of an African mountain range). This mystery hero is Major Power, perhaps the most powerful of all the mystery heroes and for many years, the most famous. This is an outline of the origins and backstories of two of the other heroes, who followed shortly after Major Power's debut - the Volunteer and his sidekick Raptor.
***
'Duke' DuQuesne was an athletic youth with a history of military service in his family tree, and he was being groomed to attend West Point. He was an upperclassman at Empire State Military Academy, a prep school for potential West Point attendees, when he was infected with polio, which left his left leg almost completely paralyzed. Though he was denied the opportunity to join the military services, he followed up his interests with an honors degree in Military Sciences from Norwich University, and then returned to Empire State Military Academy as an instructor in Strategy and Tactics. He was determined to serve his country, and during World War II, he became an Air Raid Warden and 'blackout monitor' with Civilian Defense.
Duke is cured via a secret one time only process and the process that cures him gives him superior physical abilities, and he decides to become a mystery hero, known as the Volunteer. You'll have to wait for the story for this part!
Some time later, after the Volunteer has had some adventures...
Ron Washington is about 15 years old, a lad growing up in Harlem. Ron is an outstanding athlete, and when he was younger he was an outstanding pupil as well, but his interest in his studies has fallen off lately. His parents have worked hard to instill in him a traditional sense of 'right and wrong' but by his mid-teens he is very disillusioned with the real world and the way black people are treated in Harlem.
He is particularly upset at the business practices of some new, rich merchants and service providers who don't live in Harlem but own important businesses there. They originally appeared to be a boon to the neighborhood, with incredibly low prices for their goods and services. But this quickly impacted the local merchants, most of whom were operating on shoestring budgets, putting them in a money bind. And coincidentally, each of these local merchants then experienced a string of bad luck (suppliers raised their prices, fires broke out in their stores, vandals robbed and trashed their stores).
Fewer customers and all of these other expenses quickly drove the original merchants out of business, and as soon as the new merchants had monopolies, they raised their prices well above what the local merchants used to charge. All of the local customers are poor and most of them are black; all of the non-resident merchants involved in this scheme are rich and most but not all of them are white.
Ron decides to punish the rich merchants - he creates a costume (a green hooded sweatshirt, blue jeans, a domino mask from a costume store) and and begins stealing from these merchants only. He quickly realizes he has no way to return the money to individuals, so he decides to donate to local charitable organizations, spreading his 'earnings' around among a bunch of different charities.
Betsy Blake, a reporter for the New Amsterdam News, the biggest paper in Harlem, is following up on both the rash of robberies and the unexpected increase in anonymous charitable donations in Harlem and she notes that the total stolen over a few day period, and the total donated over the next few days, is very similar, and she decides to run with the story of the Robin Hood of Harlem. In an earlier Editorial (guest Editorial written by Betsy), The Amsterdam News has wondered why the police haven't investigated the new merchants, but the police are giving people the runaround because 'selling low, and then raising your prices, isn't breaking any laws - and there is no proof that the bad luck is anything but bad luck...'
One day, for some reason I need to find out, Duke is in Harlem. Perhaps the baseball team from Empire State Military Academy is playing Ron's high school? (Is this realistic?). Perhaps he is in Harlem to interview a prospective Academy student? Anyway, while he is there, he sees Ron do something very noble and idealistic (what?).
Anyway, later on, Duke is somehow alerted to a robbery and the Volunteer responds, and he captures the Robin Hood of Harlem. Who he recognizes as the kid who had done something noble and selfless earlier. Duke tries to find out more, Ron explains why he robs. Duke thinks it is significant that so many new merchants are doing the same thing; he suspects they are part of some kind of syndicate. And so many local merchants are experiencing simultaneous bad luck; again, sounds like the actions of a criminal syndicate.
"Tell you what, young Ron, instead of me arresting you, why don't the two of us investigate and bust up this syndicate? But not with you as the 'Robin Hood of Harlem' - how about as my partner Raptor?"
