MISS SHADY

PERSONAL DATA 

REAL NAME: Regina Warren 

OCCUPATION: Adventuress, thief 

IDENTITY: Secret 

CLASS: Mutant (unconfirmed) 

LEGAL STATUS: Citizen of USA 

OTHER ALIASES: Fay Shady 

PLACE OF BIRTH: NA 

MARITAL STATUS: NA 

KNOWN RELATIVES: NA 

GROUP AFFILIATIONS: Shady Quartet (leaderess) 

BASE OF OPERATIONS: Mobile 

FIRST APPEARANCE: Hi-Lite Comics #1 (Nov. 1945) 

HEIGHT: 5' 6" 

WEIGHT: 120 lbs 

EYES: Blue 

HAIR: Blonde 

HISTORY 

Miss Shady is a tall, slender blonde adventurer and thief, intelligent, amoral, and careful to stay three steps and two jumps ahead of the law. She ran a jewelry theft ring but the police managed to disrupt her operations, although she managed to escape. From that moment on, Shady approached her business from a new perspective. She decided to associate with other individuals with paranormal abilities who were in the same line of work as her. And where did she find them? In a federal prison for criminals with paranormal abilities, of course. Mr. Onyx, Inferno and Twisto were chosen to be part of the Shady Quartet. She organized their escape and despite their reluctance, she led them in a series of successful heists. Although everything was complicated by the inevitable intervention of the paranormal heroes. 

POWERS & WEAPONS 

Shady can change her body into an intangible, two-dimensional "shadow state". She can move quickly and silently across most surfaces and materials, while remaining immune to physical contact and attacks. In her "shadow state", She can move through solid objects. Shady can teleport anywhere in the world instantly by warping into shadows. 

INFERNO

PERSONAL DATA 

REAL NAME: Frank Verrano 

OCCUPATION: Cicus performer (formerly), professional criminal

IDENTITY: Secret 

CLASS: Mutant 

LEGAL STATUS: Citizen of USA 

OTHER ALIASES: NA 

PLACE OF BIRTH: NA 

MARITAL STATUS: NA 

KNOWN RELATIVES: NA 

GROUP AFFILIATIONS: Shady Quartet 

BASE OF OPERATIONS: Mobile 

FIRST APPEARANCE: Zip Comics #10 (1941) 

HEIGHT: 5' 10" 

WEIGHT: 170 lbs 

EYES: Blue 

HAIR: Black 

HISTORY 

Frank Verrano was a pyrokinetic mutant who worked as a fire-eater in a circus, under the pseudonym Inferno. Verrano teamed up with two circus buddies, Karl Biro (aka Twisto the Rubber Man) and Hefto (the Strongman) to form a criminal gang "The Three Kings of Crime". Biro had devised a plan whereby they would deactivate Pep City's electrical system and take advantage of the resulting chaos to steal as they pleased. However, they had to face the paranormal heroes and the trio did not emerge well from the encounter. Inferno and Twisto went to prison and Hefto died after falling into the void when he tried to escape. In prison, Biro and Inferno teamed up with another supercriminal, Jericho Ornitz (aka Mr. Onyx), in an escape attempt with the outside help of thief Miss Shady. The four would later be known as the Shady Quartet. 

POWERS & WEAPONS 

Inferno was a pyrokinetic, that is, he was capable of generating and controlling fire at will, so in addition to being an exceptional fire eater, he could use flames as a weapon to melt steel or as a shield to protect himself from bullets or other types of attacks. 

ORNITZ

PERSONAL DATA 

REAL NAME: Jericho Ornitz 

OCCUPATION: Professional criminal 

IDENTITY: Secret 

CLASS: Human mutate 

LEGAL STATUS: Citizen of USA 

OTHER ALIASES: Mr. Onyx 

PLACE OF BIRTH: Nedor Pines, USA 

MARITAL STATUS: NA 

KNOWN RELATIVES: NA 

GROUP AFFILIATIONS: The Shady Quartet 

BASE OF OPERATIONS: Mobile 

FIRST APPEARANCE: America's Best Comics #4 (February 1943) 

HEIGHT: 6' 7" 

WEIGHT: 650 lbs 

EYES: White irises 

HAIR: None 

HISTORY 

Doctor Thomas Clark was a university professor who discovered a super resistant prehistoric bacterium. A criminal named Huber, who attended Clark's classes, mistakenly believed that the bacteria was actually a serum that Dr. Clark was secretly developing, and that it would be capable of giving powers to whoever injected it. The bad guy stole a vial of the bacteria, but since he wasn't a complete idiot, he had it injected first in one of his goons, a guy named Ornitz. Inexplicably, the bacteria eventually worked, turning Huber's thug into an unstoppable creature. Ornitz destroyed the rest of the vial, got rid of Huber and became the leader of the gang, now naming himself "Mr.Onyx". For a time the Onyx gang was quite successful in their criminal activities, but crime doesn't pay, and in the end Ornitz was arrested and found with his bones behind bars in a high security prison for supercriminals. There he met Twisto and Inferno, with whom he would team up to escape, helped from outside the prison by Miss Shady. The four would become known as "the Shady Quartet". 

POWERS & WEAPONS 

Ornitz's body underwent a mutation that transformed him into a stone-like creature and endowed him with superhuman strength, invulnerability, and increased his natural aggressiveness. 

TWISTO

PERSONAL DATA 

REAL NAME: Karl Biro 

OCCUPATION: Circus performer, professional criminal 

IDENTITY: Secret 

CLASS: Mutant 

LEGAL STATUS: Citizen of USA 

OTHER ALIASES: The Rubberman 

PLACE OF BIRTH: Padukah, Kentucky (USA) 

MARITAL STATUS: Widowed 

KNOWN RELATIVES: Lillian Tamer (deceased wife) 

GROUP AFFILIATIONS: The Shady Quarter 

BASE OF OPERATIONS: Mobile 

FIRST APPEARANCE: Zip Comics #9 (1940) 

HEIGHT: 6' 1" 

WEIGHT: 180 lbs 

EYES: Brown 

HAIR: Gray (white at his temples) 

HISTORY 

Karl Biro, alias Twisto the Rubberman, was a circus performer who took ownership of the circus after murdering the legitimate owner. When he confessed to his wife (Lilli, the lion tamer) what he had done, she threatened to report him to the police. Biro prepared his death (and that of Gaston, his wife's lover) in the jaws of her lions. After murdering his wife (and her lover), Twisto enlisted the help of Inferno (fire eater) and Hefto (strongman) to form a criminal gang "The Three Crime Kings". Biro had hatched a plan by which they would disable Pep City's electrical system and take advantage of the resulting chaos to steal at will. However, they had to face the paranormal heroes and the trio did not come out of the encounter well. Inferno and Twisto went to prison and Hefto died when he fell into the void when he tried to escape. In prison, Biro and Inferno joined another super-criminal, Jericho Ornitz (aka Mr. Onyx), in an escape attempt with the outside help of thief Miss Shady. The four would later be known as the Shady Quartet. 

POWERS & WEAPONS 

Biro was a mutant, the ultimate contortionist, since he was capable of stretching and twisting any part of his body to truly incredible limits. He was a real rubber man. All of his body tissues (skin, muscles, organs, bones, etc.) had an amazing elasticity. Another effect of that elasticity was the ability to change his facial features at will.