Synopsis for ”Quest for Genesis”

Superman chairs the regular monthly meeting of the JLA during which Wonder Woman explains the United Nation’s concern with the JLA’s membership increase from their charter’s stated 10 to 14 in recent months. The discussion is interrupted by the appearance of Red Tornado who attempts to kill them for his ”master.” He succeeds in injuring Batman but when his efforts are thwarted, he explodes injuring Flash. While the injured heroes are taken to the infirmary, Green Lantern scans the androids remains and verifies it was the real Red Tornado. However a second Red Tornado appears and attacks again, this time exposing Superman to Kryptonite but Flash manages to push the android into the airlock and blowing him into space where he also explodes. The explosion is observed, via high-powered telescope, by T. O. Morrow outside his Colorado HQ. The super-computer’s analysis of the androids’ failure suggests a design flaw which appears contradictory with the original Red Tornado’s repeated successes. Thus Morrow wants to find the original and analyze him. He transports himself to New York City and enacts a program which forces Red Tornado to come to him. Morrow takes him to an abandoned restaurant and, while he eats, explains his history to him:

Morrow was inspired by his name to devote himself to studying the future. After years of work he invented a device with which he could view the world 100 years into the future. Inspired, he developed a ”Fourth-Dimensional Grapple Beam” which allowed him to transport future technology to him. One of those inventions he stole was a super-computer which could predict the future. The computer advised him to use a ”humaniztron” to create the Red Tornado and destroy the Justice Society of America on Earth-2. The attempt failed when Red Tornado asserted his own independence, something the computer did not predict and Morrow went to prison. He eventually escaped and sought refuge in one of the Queen Bee’s hidden headquarters. Soon thereafter, a damaged Red Tornado landed there as well and Morrow repaired and reprogrammed him to destroy the Justice League of America due to another prediction by the computer, this one predicting in 28 days either the JLA would be destroyed or Morrow would die. When the JLA won and the 28 days ended, Morrow appeared to fade away. Morrow later learned that the computer, unable to accept that it’s prediction of Morrow’s death was incorrect, forced it to happen by remotely controlling other future technology. However, because of faulty programming (in binary code) Morrow was accidentally spliced into two beings and shunted into alternate dimensions.

The ”original” Morrow was transported to an alien planet which, eventually, Morrow discovered he could control mentally with help from a Power Sceptre he found there. He managed to lure three heroes to his world but was ultimately defeated and returned to Earth and imprisonment.[1]

The mutated Morrow, which called himself ”Future Man”, discovered his mutation to be killing him and attempted to save his life by switching minds with Red Tornado, which failed and resulted in Future Man’s death.[2] This was the last time Red Tornado had seen him.

When the original Morrow heard of the existence and death of Future Man, he escaped prison, returned to his super-computer and examined it until he had learned the truth of what had occurred. He then attempted to build two additional Red Tornado’s and unleashed them onto the JLA with poor results. His analysis led him to believe that his original design for Red Tornado was flawed. However, if that is true, how could he explain the first Red Tornado’s success? He deduced that some ”outside force” interfered and he summoned Red Tornado to him for dissection and analysis.

Meanwhile the JLA had come to Kathy Sutton’s apartment, where the real Red Tornado was, and followed him to the abandoned restaurant.

Jul 1981

DC Comics

192

1981

Origin Of Red Tornado

Direct

United States

$0.50

Copper Age

English

Magazine

Justice League of America (1960-1987)

Rise of the Olympian

~$10.75

2024-07-10

2018-07-02 22:17:29