Darwin Jones
Encyclopedia
Darwin Jones is a fictional
scientist
, a comic book
character published by DC Comics
. He first appeared in Strange Adventures
#1 (August 1950), and was created by David V Reed and Paul Norris
.
made no attempt at continuity with the production team on the stories. In thirteen stories Darwin Jones was penned by no less than eight authors: his creator David V Reed, Gardner Fox
, Sid Gerson, Bill Finger
, Joe Samachson, Otto Binder
, John Broome
, and Ed Herron, and an equally large number of artists, including Carmine Infantino
, Sy Barry
, Gil Kane
, John Giunta, Joe Giella
and Murphy Anderson
.
An oddity of the series is that none of the stories were actually headlined as Dawin Jones tales, and many do not even mention him until part way through the story.
Since then there have been no further Darwin Jones stories as such; he has only made a small number of minor appearances in other titles - Daring New Adventures of Supergirl #7 (May 1983), a cameo role in the DC Comics cross-over story Crisis on Infinite Earths
#9 (1985), the out-of-continuity DC staff round robin adventure DC Challenge
#4-6 (February 1986 - April 1986), Power of the Atom
#15 (August 1989), Action Comics
#683 (November 1992) and Underworld Unleashed: Patterns of Fear
#1 (December 1995).
The character resurfaced during the 'Final Crisis' storyline and is referred to in the recent Justice League series JL: Cry for Justice (2009).
Later Darwin was made made Director of the D.S.I.. He had also made the acquaintance of a group of youths called the Young Scienceers, who had made him an honorary member, and together with the club President, Tommy Dane, Jones once again defeated an alien plot. After this, nothing is known of his exploits until he was contacted by Lois Lane to help the Metropolis police solve a murder.
Later, during the Crisis on Infinite Earths, he was one of the team of superheroes and scientists investigating the time and space anomalies caused by the Anti-Monitor. By 1989 Jones and other scientists had created a computer mind, 'The Gestalt' - a 'revolutionary brain implant that links our minds to the Gestalt and each other' so they can share their knowledge directly. Unfortunately the Gestalt began working autonomously, creating a cyber-villain, Humbug which took The Atom to defeat. He next encountered Superman while investigating cattle mutilations and a mysterious plane crash in Ohio, his last actual appearance to date.
Fiction
Fiction is the form of any narrative or informative work that deals, in part or in whole, with information or events that are not factual, but rather, imaginary—that is, invented by the author. Although fiction describes a major branch of literary work, it may also refer to theatrical,...
scientist
Scientist
A scientist in a broad sense is one engaging in a systematic activity to acquire knowledge. In a more restricted sense, a scientist is an individual who uses the scientific method. The person may be an expert in one or more areas of science. This article focuses on the more restricted use of the word...
, a comic book
Comic book
A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...
character published by DC Comics
DC Comics
DC Comics, Inc. is one of the largest and most successful companies operating in the market for American comic books and related media. It is the publishing unit of DC Entertainment a company of Warner Bros. Entertainment, which itself is owned by Time Warner...
. He first appeared in Strange Adventures
Strange Adventures
Strange Adventures was the title of several American comic books published by DC Comics, most notably a long-running science fiction anthology that began in 1950.-Original series:...
#1 (August 1950), and was created by David V Reed and Paul Norris
Paul Norris
Paul Leroy Norris was an American comic book artist best known as co-creator of the DC Comics superhero Aquaman, and for a 35-year run as artist of the newspaper comic strip Brick Bradford.-Early life and career:...
.
Publication history
The first Darwin Jones story appeared in Strange Adventures #1 (August 1950), written by creator David V Reed, (better known for his war and fantasy stories), and drawn by artist Paul Norris and inker Bernard Sachs. This was a single appearance as opposed to the start of a series - there were no further stories until Strange Adventures #48 (September 1954). His further appearances in the 1950s were irregular - Strange Adventures #58 (1955), #66 and #70 (1956), #76, #77, #79 and #84 (1957), then #88 and #93 (1958), after which no Darwin Jones stories were published until he eventually re-appeared in Strange Adventures #149 (February 1963) and a last story in Strange Adventures #160 (January 1964). Although he utilised many of the classic National writers and artists of the day, Strange Adventures Editor Julius SchwartzJulius Schwartz
Julius "Julie" Schwartz was a comic book and pulp magazine editor, and a science fiction agent and prominent fan. He was born in the Bronx, New York...
made no attempt at continuity with the production team on the stories. In thirteen stories Darwin Jones was penned by no less than eight authors: his creator David V Reed, Gardner Fox
Gardner Fox
Gardner Francis Cooper Fox was an American writer best known for creating numerous comic book characters for DC Comics. Comic-book historians estimate that he wrote over 4,000 comics stories....
, Sid Gerson, Bill Finger
Bill Finger
William "Bill" Finger was an American comic strip and comic book writer best known as the uncredited co-creator, with Bob Kane, of the DC Comics character Batman, as well as the co-architect of the series' development...
, Joe Samachson, Otto Binder
Otto Binder
Otto Oscar Binder was an American author of science fiction and non-fiction books and stories, and comic books...
, John Broome
John Broome (writer)
John Broome , who additionally used the pseudonyms John Osgood and Edgar Ray Meritt, was an American comic book writer for DC Comics.-Early life and career:...
, and Ed Herron, and an equally large number of artists, including Carmine Infantino
Carmine Infantino
Carmine Infantino Carmine Infantino Carmine Infantino (born May 24, 1925, in Brooklyn, New York is an American comic book artist and editor who was a major force in the Silver Age of Comic Books...
, Sy Barry
Sy Barry
Seymour "Sy" Barry is an American comic strip artist, best known for his work on The Phantom comic strip, which he drew for three decades.-Career:...
, Gil Kane
Gil Kane
Eli Katz who worked under the name Gil Kane and in one instance Scott Edward, was a comic book artist whose career spanned the 1940s to 1990s and every major comics company and character.Kane co-created the modern-day versions of the superheroes Green Lantern and the Atom for DC Comics, and...
, John Giunta, Joe Giella
Joe Giella
Joe Giella is an American comic book artist best known as a DC Comics inker during the late 1950s and 1960s period historians and fans call the Silver Age of comic books.-Early life and career:...
and Murphy Anderson
Murphy Anderson
Murphy Anderson is an American comic book artist, known as one of the premier inkers of his era, who has worked for companies such as DC Comics for over fifty years, starting in the 1930s-'40s Golden Age of Comic Books...
.
An oddity of the series is that none of the stories were actually headlined as Dawin Jones tales, and many do not even mention him until part way through the story.
Since then there have been no further Darwin Jones stories as such; he has only made a small number of minor appearances in other titles - Daring New Adventures of Supergirl #7 (May 1983), a cameo role in the DC Comics cross-over story Crisis on Infinite Earths
Crisis on Infinite Earths
Crisis on Infinite Earths is a 12-issue American comic book limited series and crossover event, produced by DC Comics in 1985 to simplify its then 50-year-old continuity...
#9 (1985), the out-of-continuity DC staff round robin adventure DC Challenge
DC Challenge
DC Challenge was a 12-issue comic book series produced by DC Comics from November 1985 to October 1986, as a round robin experiment in narrative...
#4-6 (February 1986 - April 1986), Power of the Atom
Atom (comics)
The Atom is a name shared by several fictional comic book superheroes from the DC Comics universe.There have been five characters who have shared the Atom codename. The original Golden Age Atom, Al Pratt, was created by Ben Flinton and Bill O'Connor and first appeared in All-American Publications'...
#15 (August 1989), Action Comics
Action Comics
Action Comics is an American comic book series that introduced Superman, the first major superhero character as the term is popularly defined...
#683 (November 1992) and Underworld Unleashed: Patterns of Fear
Underworld Unleashed
Underworld Unleashed was a multi-title comic book cross-over event released by DC Comics in 1995. As well as the core story-line of the three-issue Underworld Unleashed mini-series, most of the DC titles published in November and December 1995 and a number of one-off titles were part of the...
#1 (December 1995).
The character resurfaced during the 'Final Crisis' storyline and is referred to in the recent Justice League series JL: Cry for Justice (2009).
Fictional character biography
As originally created, Darwin Jones "science detective" was the Chief of Staff of D.S.I. (The Department of Scientific Investigation), a top secret U.S. Government Bureau which is 'called on to solve the unsolveable...to explain the inexplicable...and to understand the things that few men on this Earth have understood.' In his first known case he investigated the puzzle of a famous film star who could not die, finding that a radioactive pool in Mexico that she had swum in while filming may have been the cause. His later investigations mostly involved investigating aliens, most notably rampaging alien snowmen, although an eyeless creature from inside the Earth, a robot from ancient Atlantis, and the obligatory evil super-intelligent gorilla (actually a hoax by aliens bent on world domination) also featured.Later Darwin was made made Director of the D.S.I.. He had also made the acquaintance of a group of youths called the Young Scienceers, who had made him an honorary member, and together with the club President, Tommy Dane, Jones once again defeated an alien plot. After this, nothing is known of his exploits until he was contacted by Lois Lane to help the Metropolis police solve a murder.
Later, during the Crisis on Infinite Earths, he was one of the team of superheroes and scientists investigating the time and space anomalies caused by the Anti-Monitor. By 1989 Jones and other scientists had created a computer mind, 'The Gestalt' - a 'revolutionary brain implant that links our minds to the Gestalt and each other' so they can share their knowledge directly. Unfortunately the Gestalt began working autonomously, creating a cyber-villain, Humbug which took The Atom to defeat. He next encountered Superman while investigating cattle mutilations and a mysterious plane crash in Ohio, his last actual appearance to date.
Notations
- Who’s Who Update Vol 1 #2 (DC Comics, 1987)
- Who's Who of American Comic Books
- Grand Comics database