Posted in: Comics, DC Comics | Tagged: dc comics, kaleidoscope, The Suicide Squad

Kaleidoscope, The Suicide Squad Character Created By Two Fans In 1982

Kaleidoscope first appeared in New Adventures Of Superboy #36 in 1982. And this week popped up in The Suicide Squad. But her story is a fascinating one.

Here she is in a brief scene, seen as we are walking through a prison. She is played by Natalia Safran, who put out a set shot here. But where is she in the comics? Well, the second Dial H for Hero series debuted in the 1980s, and appeared in the back of New Adventures of Superboy #28–49.

A new feature of this series was that the readers could submit new hero and villain characters, which were then used in the stories. The submitters were given credit for their creations (and a T-shirt with the series logo), but the characters became DC Comics' property. New Adventures Of Superboy #36 sees Kaleidoscope created and invented in-battle.

The character is credited to Chris Lawton and Nancy Mae Lawton who wrote in to DC Comics suggest the character. And last week, Kaleidoscope made it into a multi-million dollar movie from Warners, giving the Lawrons a Special Thanks in The Suicide Squad credits. You can read the full creator credits here.

So what happens in the Dial H for Hero comic book? Well, Kaleidoscope gets into the fray…

…but doesn't last long. This was her only appearance, until now.

The comic is available for a couple of bucks on eBay if you think it is worth the investment. All credit to James Gunn for digging this one out, but also whoever it was at Warners who had to track down both Chris Lawton and Nancy Mae Lawton. It's one thing tracking down a creator, but a couple of fans from forty years ago?

There was a Nancy M Lawton of Fall River who died in 2016 at the age of 77. She had three sons, one of which is Christopher G Lawton, who still lives in Fall River. Could this have been a mother and son who write in to suggest Kaleidoscope back in the day? And now immortalised through this scene? If you know more, please let us know.

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