Pat Dugan

A natural-born tinkerer and brawler, Pat Dugan first fought crime in the 1940s as Stripesy, the adult partner to the Star-Spangled Kid. Decades later, he built himself a powerful robotic exo-suit—S.T.R.I.P.E.—to watch over his stepdaughter Courtney Whitmore when she took up the hero's mantle as Stargirl.

Debuting in the pages of Action Comics #40 in 1941, Pat Dugan is a genuine Golden Age original — a DC stalwart born from the creative minds of Jerry Siegel and John Sikela at the very height of comics' founding era. Over an extraordinary span stretching from 1941 all the way to 2025, he has racked up 100 catalog appearances across landmark titles like Star Spangled Comics, All-Star Squadron, and JSA, sharing pages with luminaries such as Stripesy, Sylvester Pemberton, The Star-Spangled Kid, Robotman, and The Guardian — a roster that speaks to just how deeply woven into DC's heroic tapestry this character truly is. Eleven of those appearances carry key-issue status, making Pat Dugan a figure that serious collectors have every reason to seek out. Few characters can claim a presence spanning eight-plus decades of superhero history, and that kind of longevity is its own compelling argument for getting acquainted with him.