Aviator

Taking flight in the pages of Firestorm the Nuclear Man in 1988, Aviator is a Copper Age DC creation brought to life by writer John Ostrander and artist J. J. Birch — a duo who clearly knew how to populate a superhero universe with compelling new faces. With only a handful of catalogued appearances, this is a rare, blink-and-you'll-miss-it figure who shares the page with a striking cast that includes the Soviet powerhouse Stalnoivolk, the Steel Wolf, and even Green Lantern, suggesting Aviator moved in consequential circles during their brief time in the spotlight. For collectors who love hunting down the hidden corners of the DC universe, a character this scarce and this intriguingly situated is exactly the kind of discovery that makes digging through late-'80s back issues so rewarding.