The 1970's saw a genesis of African American superheroes in comic books. Luke Cage, Black Panther, Black Lightning, John Stewart, Storm, the list goes on. As every superhero community started to invite these diverse new heroes, The Teen Titans were the next to open their ranks. This Week's Z-Lister is a Teen Titan known as Mal Duncan, and many other names too!
(He's had a lot of costumes, I picked "the best ones")
Malcolm Arnold Duncan first appeared in 1970's "Teen Titans #26" as a hostage of The Hell Hawks. The Hell Hawks were a savage street gang who only let Mal go after Robin defeated their leader in a boxing match. Mal joined The Teen Titans, but felt useless to the team until he stumbled upon the armor of The Guardian, a superhero who's suit contained a super-strong exoskeleton and who's design was modeled after Marvel's Captain America. As The Guardian, Mal was able to help his fellow Titans in the field, however nobody would suspect Mal's greatest opponent to be Azrael the Angel of Death! And no Bat-Fans, this isn't the lunatic who became Batman during "Knightfall", this was the actual biblical angel! Mal miraculously defeated the angel and received with a gift from Azrael, Gabriel's Horn. This magical horn allowed Mal to blast sonic waves and create teleportation portals, Azrael told Mal he could keep it as long as he never lost a fight. He assumed the name Hornblower for a time, but later returned to the name Guardian. Not because Hornblower was a stupid name, but because while Mal kept his win steak he mistakenly lost Gabriel's Horn. Losing your keys? Day becomes a little harder. Losing your girlfriend? A few months of bitterness. Losing a magical horn with super-powers given to you by the angel of death!? Yeah, I'd change my name too. Mal later gets hitched to Karen Beecher-Bumblebee of The Teen Titans-and moves to California to open his own Jazz club called Gabriel's Horn. Great idea, Mal. Bury your mistakes by plastering them on your business cards. Which reminds me, I need to open my new sports equipment shop, "Dead Hooker's Sporting Goods".
But that's not all, loyal readers! After the event "Crisis on Infinite Earths", Mal received a slightly revamped origin. Mal was never Guardian, Gabriel's Horn was a teleportation device designed by two super-villains to access a dimension called Limbo, and Mal assumed the name Herald. Mal eventually destroys the horn after the mentioned villains attempt to misuse it and he retires to Cali with Karen (again). Only this time the two of them return to help The Teen Titans and Mal builds another horn. Herald, Bumblebee and several other heroes join Donna Troy (the former Wonder Girl) on a space mission and everyone aboard either dies or goes missing. Mal and Karen returned to Earth thanks to a cosmic teleportation beam (The Zeta Beam), but during their mission Mal's horn blew up in his face and damaged his vocal cords. Thanks to the efforts of Red Tornado and Steel, Mal received a cybernetic organ grafted from Red Tornado and based off the technology of Gabriel's Horn. He and Bumblebee joined The Doom Patrol and Mal took the name Vox, now with a synthesized voice and the ability to create sonic blasts and teleportation portals just like before. The last note on Mal Duncan is that later during The Doom Patrol series, he and Karen had gotten a divorce. Why? Because comic book writers hate marriage. Seriously, look at Peter Parker. What a sad ending to the character, I was hoping he'd retire to California and open a jazz club. What a Hornblower!
The older Teen Titans stories often dealt with social issues like gang-war and street violence, it's commendable that they'd save and enlist a young african american given the time period, more so when you consider Mal Duncan was just a regular citizen for a long time before becoming a hero, he was The Teen Titans' only support member. His identity crisis reminds of me of Hank Pym, but for a guy who's unpowered and relatively average he still accomplished some amazing feats. He beat up an angel! Batman needed like fifteen years of training to even physically and mentally prepare himself to fight beside Gods and aliens, but Mal Duncan whooped an angel when he was eighteen! Guardian, Hornblower, Herald, Vox, it doesn't matter what Mal Duncan calls himself. Because clearly he was meant to be more than the average man. Thanks for reading!
Come to think of it, Mal Duncan's character in "Young Justice" makes a lot more sense now. Oh Rao, I just mentioned "Young Justice". Now I can't stop crying!
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