A
super-hero published by DC Comics. He first appeared in
Star-Spangled Comics #1 in October 1941.
Two heroes have gone by the name the Star-Spangled Kid. The first
was Sylvester John Pemberton III, the son of a wealthy industrialist.
Pemberton was a brilliant student, finishing high school by the
time he was twelve. He was studied in many varied fields, including
biology, physics, and psychology.
One July 4th, 1941, Pemberton was attending a movie when Pro-Nazi
protesters began to shout in the theater. When Pemberton and
others began to shout them down, the protesters turned violent and
and Pemberton had to help in fighting them back. When he found
out that they were saboteurs, Pemberton fashioned a patriotic
costume and tracked them down to stop them. He found another
man in the crowd had done the same thing, a mechanic named
Pat Dugan. The two quickly stopped the men and decided that
they worked well together. And so the partnership of
The Star-Spangled Kid and Stripesy came into being.
Pemberton got his father to hire Dugan as their driver and the
two continued to fight injustice in their patriotic-themed identities.
They joined other heroes as the Seven Soldiers of Victory and later
at the behest of FDR, joined the All-Star Squadron.
Later, Pemberton's parents believed that he was missing the
companionship of people more his age, so they adopted a girl named
Merry. When Merry discovered the secret identities that Pemberton
and Dugan hid, she fashioned her own identity as Merry, the
Gimmick Girl. She aided Pemberton on a couple of occasions
when Dugan was recovering from injuries sustained during one of their
adventures.
While in battle with the Nebula Man, the Seven Soldiers of
Victory were hurled into different parts of the timestream, trapping
them in different times in history. The Star-Spangled Kid was
trapped in 50,000 BC. He was rescued by members of The Justice
Society of America and the Justice League of America. Unfortunately,
for Pemberton, while only weeks had passed for him, forty years
had passed in the normal time flow.
Feeling like a man out of step with the world, he hung up his
costume and concentrated on managing his family's fortune. When
the children of the original Justice Society fought the Ultra-Humanite
to save their parents, Pemberton used a converted version of
Starman's Cosmic Rod, called the Cosmic Converter Belt and
fought again as the Star-Spangled Kid. When they had defeated
their foe, Pemberton invited these young heroes to join him
in California to start a new team. This team was called Infinity, Inc.
Infinity, Inc. fought together for many years, based out of a
studio owned by Pemberton. During this time, Pemberton changed
his name from the Star-Spangled Kid to Skyman. Pemberton was
eventually killed by the cyanide touch of his teammate Mr. Bones.
Bones was later exonerated for Pemberton's death when it was
discovered that he was being controled by the Harlequin.
Recently, a new Star-Spangled Kid has broken onto the scene.
Using the Cosmic Converter Belt, Courtney Whitmore, the step-daughter
of Pat Dugan has become the newest person to fight under
this name.