PERSONAL DATA
Alter Ego: John Smith
Occupation: Mentor to Young Justice
Base of Operations: Happy Harbor, Rhode Island (JLA Cave)
Marital Status: Married
Known Relatives: Traya Smith (step daughter), Kathy Sutton (wife)
Group Affiliation: Young Justice, Justice League of America, Primal Force
Height: 6'5 Weight: 280lbs Eyes: Blue Hair: None
First appearance: (Tornado Tyrant) Mystery in Space #61, (Tornado Champion) Justice
League of America #17, (Red Tornado) Justice League of America #64.
HISTORY
Originally a sentient cyclone that terrorized the planet Rann, the Red
Tornado became heroic under the influence of Rann's champion, Adam
Strange. It was later infused into an android body created by T.O.
Morrow, losing its memories in the process. Although Morrow sent the Red
Tornado to destroy the Justice League of America, his heroic nature prevailed and
he was accepted as a valuable JLA member. Adopting the guise of "John
Smith," he sought to explore his human nature. He even fell in love, with
a woman named Kathy Sutton, and together they adopted a daughter.
But duty forced Red Tornado to sacrifice himself on several occasions. Each time,
he reconstituted after a long period of dormancy. Ultimately, Red
Tornado assumed the mantle of Air Elemental of Earth.
Now, Red Tornado is the mentor of Young Justice. Relearning humanity
as he watches over a group of super powered kids. Red Tornado, has began
having more interaction with his wife and step daughter. Through these events,
Tornado has opened up a weakness that the A.P.E.S. and Old Justice,
have both used to try to get Red Tornado to work for them.
So, he starts off as the brainchild of the father of artificial
intelligence, T.O. Morrow, nemesis of the Justice League of America.
Morrow sent his creation to destroy the JLA, pretending to be a hero, the
Red Tornado. Morrow had infused the android body he created, with the
life-force of a creature that had encountered the JLA early in their
career, as the Tornado Champion. The Tornado Champion was an alien
sentient cyclone, whose first contact with humans came when he invaded
Rann, home-away-from-home of Adam Strange. Strange's example
caused the then Tornado Tyrant to change his ways and become a hero, in his own
right.
Like clockwork, Red Tornado attacked the JLA, as planned, but turned
on his creator before the battle was over. In his first appearance, he bore more
than a passing resemblance to a certain android Avenger, down to the
red skin and the high-collared cape. The color scheme was different, of
course. Reddy, as he became known to the less formal JLA members, well
his "taste" in clothing could probably be said to be more influenced by the
Martian Manhunter's outfit, than the aforementioned android appearing
in Avengers. Like the Vision, Reddy's "skin" was red, but he only wore
trunks, boots, gloves and the cape, all in that muddy purple they used in
comics before the improvements in paper and inks made better, more
vibrant colors possible. He also had those strange shoulder-rings that were a
staple of "sci-fi" style clothing in the Silver Age, also purple.
Later, Red Tornado was damaged and rebuilt by Morrow, given more
human-looking features and he took on a secret identity using the
cleverest of aliases, John Smith. Destroyed and rebuilt so many times that
it has become a cliche, he eventually learned that the Tornado Champion
was a part of him.
During the Crisis on Infinite Earths, Red Tornado was captured by the
Anti-Monitor and altered in unknown ways. It was about this time, when
he took on the mantle of the Air Elemental, as was the fashion, in those
days. (It was a popular bandwagon, once Alan Moore introduced the
concept of the elementals, in Swamp Thing)
In recent years, a few new androids have cropped up. Tomorrow
Woman, who could be said to be a literal descendant of Red Tornado and the first
Morrow android, Amazo (considered the grand-daddy of them all). Like
Red Tornado, Tomorrow Woman was meant to ingratiate herself with the
heroes and then destroy them. Like Red Tornado, she was too well-made to be
truly evil. Personally, I think Morrow and his partner in the Tomorrow Woman
incident, Professor Ivo, are unconsciously good guys. Like a lot of brainy
guys, they wish they could be the "bad boys", because everyone knows
that girls like "bad boys", only these two have enough of an ethical bypass to
commit a few crimes, but always seem to trip themselves up. Only with
Amazo did Morrow forget to put in the secret ingredient that would turn
his creation good, in the end.
During DC's One Million event, a few years back, we were introduced to
a new Hourman, who was also an android, based on the original Hourman,
Rex Tyler. He has since returned to the future and there's a new Hourman in
the JSA. For a moment there, androids were all the rage. All they could
find for the Red Tornado to do was to baby-sit Young Justice.
It's not such a bad gig, though. His current costume is sleeker and
simpler, but I think it's pretty boring. The cape's cool, I'll give you
that, but the rest dull. Plus, I like big chest emblems, if you're going
to have them at all. I will say that I like the way they define the "T"
using the yellow negative space.
Of course, I can't just leave it alone. I wanted to bring more
contrasting color into the costume. I liked the yellow striping on his earlier
costume, so I used that to outline a "T" across the whole chest. My idea
was to make it look more like he's wearing a costume, than sporting a new
paint job.
I don't know how he manages to keep that cape from twisting around his
body when he's flying.
