Richard Dare

Richard Dare steps onto the DC stage in 1988, debuting in Firestorm the Nuclear Man #69 courtesy of writers John Ostrander and artist J. J. Birch — right in the thick of the Copper Age, when DC was pushing its titles into grittier, more complex territory. With only three catalog appearances, he's a rare and fleeting presence, but the company he keeps is anything but small-time: his pages are shared with the likes of Green Lantern, Ronnie Raymond, Felicity Smoak, and the formidable Soviet powerhouse Stalnoivolk. For collectors with a completionist streak or a deep love of late-'80s Firestorm lore, Richard Dare is exactly the kind of blink-and-you'll-miss-him figure that makes digging through back issues such a rewarding hunt.