Northwind is a fictional character appearing in

American comic books An American comic book is a thin periodical literature originating in the United States, commonly between 24 and 64 pages, containing comics. While the form originated in 1933, American comic books first gained popularity after the 1938 publ ...

published by

DC Comics DC Comics (originally DC Comics, Inc., and also known simply as DC) is an American comic book publisher owned by DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC is an initialism for "Detective Comics", an American comic book seri ...

. Created by

Roy Thomas Roy William Thomas Jr."Roy Thomas Checklist" ''Alter Ego'' vol. 3, #50 (July 2005) p. 16 (born November 22, 1940) is an American comic book writer and editor. He was Stan Lee's first successor as editor-in-chief of Marvel Comics and possibly bes ...

Jerry Ordway Jeremiah Joseph Ordway (born November 28, 1957) is an American writer, penciller, inker and painter of comic books. He is known for his inking work on a wide variety of DC Comics titles, including the continuity-redefining ''Crisis on Infinite E ...

and Mike Machlan, Northwind first appeared in ''

All-Star Squadron The All-Star Squadron is a DC Comics superhero team that debuted in ''Justice League, Justice League of America'' #193 (August 1981) and was created by Roy Thomas, Rich Buckler and Jerry Ordway. Although the team was introduced in the 1980s, its s ...

'' #25. He also appeared in the ''Infinity Inc.'' comic, although he left the team partway through the run.

Creation

Thomas spoke on the creation of the character stating "As a longtime Hawkman fan, I wanted

Carter Carter(s), or Carter's, Tha Carter, or The Carter(s), may refer to: Geography United States * Carter, Arkansas, an unincorporated community * Carter, Mississippi, an unincorporated community * Carter, Montana, a census-designated place * Carter ...

and Shiera Hall represented in the new group, even if not by a blood relative. After all, for an offspring of theirs to have real wings, we'd have had to jump through some hoops, since the Halls strapped on synthetic wings and belts of

Nth Metal Hawkman (Carter Hall) is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. He is the first character to use the name Hawkman. There are two separate origins of Carter Hall; the Golden Age origin and the Post-Hawkworld (or curr ...

when they went trolling for criminals. Instead, we settled on a godchild. For years I had been enraptured by the

Gardner Fox Gardner Francis Cooper Fox (May 20, 1911 – December 24, 1986) was an American writer known best for creating numerous comic book characters for DC Comics. He is estimated to have written more than 4,000 comics stories, including 1,500 for DC ...

Joe Kubert Joseph Kubert (; September 18, 1926 – August 12, 2012) was a Poland, Polish-born Americans, American comic book artist, art teacher, and founder of The Kubert School. He is best known for his work on the DC Comics characters Sgt. Rock and Hawk ...

Hawkman tale "The Land of the Bird People" in ''

Flash Comics ''Flash Comics'' is a comics anthology published by All-American Publications and later by National Periodical Publications (DC Comics). The title had 104 issues published from January 1940 to February 1949. Despite the title, the anthology featu ...

'' #71 (May 1946); so Dann and I came up with Northwind, a half human, half Arctic bird-person."

Fictional character biography

Northwind is the son of the Feitheran Osroro and human anthropologist Fred Cantrall, who seeks to study the species. Learning that

Hector Hall Hector Sanders Hall (also known as Hektor Hol) is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics DC Comics (originally DC Comics, Inc., and also known simply as DC) is an American comic book publisher owned by DC Entert ...

is the Silver Scarab who will destroy the world, Northwind's grandfather Worla infuses him with the essence of Feithera's founder

Thoth Thoth (from , borrowed from , , the reflex of " eis like the ibis") is an ancient Egyptian deity. In art, he was often depicted as a man with the head of an African sacred ibis, ibis or a baboon, animals sacred to him. His feminine count ...

to stop him. After leaving Feithera at age 15, Northwind travels to

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

, where the Halls adopt him. He later returns to Feithera and learns that Worla intends for him to succeed him as Feithera's spiritual leader, but he refuses and becomes a founding member of

Infinity, Inc. Infinity, Inc. is a team of superheroes appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The first incarnation is mostly composed of the children and heirs of the Justice Society of America (JSA), making them the Society's analogue to t ...

''Infinity, Inc'' #37 Northwind later battles Hall, who has been possessed by the Scarab. Hall is killed in the battle, but is eventually resurrected and becomes the

Sandman The Sandman is a mythical character originating in Germanic and Scandinavian folklore who puts people to sleep and encourages and inspires beautiful dreams by sprinkling magical sand onto their eyes. Representation in traditional folklore The San ...

Kahndaq

Through yet undisclosed events, Northwind and the Feitherans evolve into a more bird-like state and New Feithera is destroyed. As a result, they move to

Black Adam Black Adam (Teth-Adam) is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. He was created by Otto Binder and C. C. Beck, and first appeared in the debut issue of Fawcett Comics' '' The Marvel Family'' comic book ...

's home country of Kahndaq.

Powers and abilities

Northwind is a bird-like humanoid who possesses superhuman physical abilities and can communicate with birds and sense weather patterns. He additionally wields Feitheran magic that enables him to generate mystical fire, a spear, and a balance-disrupting Globlass Gun.

In other media

Northwind appears as a character summon in '' Scribblenauts Unmasked: A DC Comics Adventure''.

References

External links

DCU Guide: Northwind

{{All-Star Squadron Comics characters introduced in 1983 DC Comics characters who can move at superhuman speeds DC Comics characters with superhuman strength DC Comics superheroes Earth-Two Fictional Native American people in comics DC Comics characters who use magic DC Comics metahumans DC Comics hybrids Fictional human–animal hybrids Fictional birds Characters created by Roy Thomas Characters created by Jerry Ordway