Just when the heck did Phil Darnell first appear??????

[Spidercide]

I'm trying to figure out when Phil Darnell first appeared.

All the sources I've consulted tell me the Golden Age/Earth Two version showed up in Sensation comics #3.

But Wikipedia tells me the Earth One version showed up in WW #282 and DC's Wiki says it was WW #99.

When did he first appear

[Carabas]

It's actually All-Star Comics #8, from 1941, which is also Wonder Woman's first appearance.

http://dc.wikia.com/wiki/All-Star_Comics_Vol_1_8

[Vaffrey]

I'm trying to figure out when Phil Darnell first appeared.

All the sources I've consulted tell me the Golden Age/Earth Two version showed up in Sensation comics #3.

But Wikipedia tells me the Earth One version showed up in WW #282 and DC's Wiki says it was WW #99.

When did he first appear

Just to pick up on the Earth-One version --

There's no clear dividing line when the stories in WW ceased being the original, Golden Age WW who was retroactively said to live on Earth Two. (Same is true for Batman, Superman, and the small number of characters who were continuously published from the Golden Age on.)

Saying that the Earth One Darnell showed up in WW #99 is a possible convenient place, because it was the Kanigher-Andru team who bridged the Golden/Silver Age gap, and Kanigher's stories had just retold the origin. It was published in the late 50s, when the Silver Age was more or less coming into being, and a retelling of the origin had preceded it, so why not pick that as the debut of the Earth-One Darnell?

(Reasons why you might not say so: the retelling of the origin was framed as a look back, not a reboot, and continuity was fairly fluid then anyway.)

A reason someone might say the Earth One Darnell debuted in WW #282 is that it was part of a soft reboot. Very convoluted plot details, but basically there was a new Steve Trevor, and the writers were creating a new setting, new supporting cast based on the Golden Age cast, etc., and suddenly after years of absence Darnell was again in the supporting cast. Darnell didn't recognize this Diana Prince as someone he had worked with in the past, but then again there was a plotwavium (the Mists of Nepenthe) that had altered the world's memories to set the stage for the soft reboot, and blah blah blah.

There's no reason to pin any of this down or argue one way or the other, but I'm just offering some of the messy reasons why you might have seen two different sources pinning different debuts for the Earth One Darnell.

[SeanT]

I thought he was introduced in WW #99 as General Dartwell, not Darnell, then later changed back to Darnell.

I also remember a story where he has a son named Lee, and perhaps he had a different first name? A Wonder Woman story around WW #46 or so.

As for the Phil part, I don't think he got a first name until the late Bronze Age. Maybe it was Dan Mishkin who gave him a first name.

This is all from memory so I'll have to go check.