Dan Turpin

Daniel "Terrible" Turpin is a character published by DC Comics. He first appeared as Brooklyn (due to him being born in New York City) in Detective Comics #64 (June 1942), and first appeared as Dan Turpin in New Gods #5 (November 1971).

Publication history

Due to a recent retcon, Dan Turpin was made the adult version of Jack Kirby's Golden Age "kid-gang" character Brooklyn, of the Boy Commandos.

Character biography

In Turpin's first appearance he is one of the few citizens of Metropolis aware that a secretive war is taking place in the city between super-powered beings. When this war turns violent, Turpin's boss tries to take him off the case, but he is ignored. Dan leads the fight against the rampaging Kalibak, using the energy of the entire city to assist Lightray and Orion in defeating him. Turpin suffers multiple injuries but survives.^[1]

He keeps his job and becomes Lieutenant Inspector of the Metropolis Special Crimes Unit. In the third Superboy series, Dan Turpin is sent to Hawaii to investigate whether or not they needed a Special Crimes Unit of their own. While initially skeptical, a visit from the violent Darkseid faction, the Female Furies convinces Dan that the islands need an SCU.^[2] In current Superman titles, Turpin is extremely loyal to Inspector Sawyer, before her transfer to Gotham City. His romantic feelings for her fall apart when he learns she is a lesbian. Turpin has a daughter named Maisie.

He has spent a long time fighting threats in Metropolis; such as the rampaging group of mutants called the 'Underworlders'.^[3]

Current status

Dan Turpin returns in Final Crisis #1 (May 2008). He had been called back from retirement to investigate the case of several missing kids; this evolves into investigating the death of the New God Orion. Orion passes on several cryptic phrases to Turpin, telling him that "He is in you all!" before finally passing away.

In the second issue, he follows clues given to him by Renee Montoya and The Mad Hatter, investigating The Dark Side Club and journeying to the devastated city of Blüdhaven. There he meets up with Reverend Good, and begins to realize that "there's someone in my head."

In the fourth issue, Turpin, after much inner struggle, is turned into the new host body for Darkseid; Darkseid later reveals that he selected Turpin rather than Batman as a host because Batman would have resisted longer than he wished, while Turpin struggled just enough to make his victory sweeter.

In the sixth issue, Batman uses a gun loaded with a Radion bullet, which is poisonous to the New Gods, to shoot Darkseid in the shoulder. Barry Allen and Wally West, managing to outrun the Black Racer—currently after Barry—so that it takes the currently-weakened Darkseid during a confrontation with Superman. After Darkseid is claimed by the Black Racer, Turpin is reverted back to normal and regains control over his body, breathing "In us... in all of us..." in apparent recognition of the meaning of Orion's last words.

Other Versions

Superman: Dark Side

In Superman: The Dark Side, an alternate reality where Superman's rocket crashed down on Apokolips and was raised by Darkseid, Dan is shown as a member of the Metropolis Special Crimes Unit, who greets Superman when he arrives on Earth from Apokolips.

Superman's Metropolis

In Superman's Metropolis, an alternate reality where Clarc Kent-son is the adopted son of Jon-Kent and Marta, the founders of Metropolis, who rules a dystopian Metropolis, Dan Turpin was among the lower working class who was part of Lois's workers' revolution. He was very impatient to wait for a prophesied mediator who would bridge a peaceful relationship between the workers and the rich, and was willingly to start a potential uprising. When Lois was captured by Lutor and replaced by Futura, Turpin was swayed by the impostor into destroying the city's machines which would flooded the undercity with molten metal, killing everyone living there.

Elseworld's Finest

In Elseworld's Finest, Inspector Turpin is a Metropolis detective who frequently comes into contact with reporter Clark Kent. He was put in charge of the case on Thaddeus Lang's kidnapping by the League of Assassins, although they were unable to turn up any leads. Lana Lang was forced to form her own search party using Clark Kent and Bruce Wayne.

Amalgam

In the Amalgam Comics universe, Brooklyn of the Boy Commandos was amalgamated with Bucky into "Brooklyn Barnes." In the early days of World War II, school boy "Brooklyn" Barnes joined up with the Young Commandos and became the official kid mascot of the All-Star Winners Squadron. In February 1942, young "Brooklyn" Barnes was present in the All-Star Winners Squadron's Midtown Clubhouse in Metropolis when Super-Soldier (Clark Kent) returned from a top-secret mission briefing in Washington, D.C. Super-Soldier informed his fellow Winners that he had been ordered to follow a consignment of stolen government equipment being smuggled overseas. "Brooklyn" Barnes offered to come along with the Young Commandos (although American Belle thought that this was merely an excuse for Barnes to skip school), but Super-Soldier turned down the young boy's offer because it was an undercover mission. Decades later, "Brooklyn" Barnes (now an adult) became a member of the New York Special Crimes Unit, a division of the New York Police Department that specializes in dealing with metahuman criminals. Along with the rest of the New York Special Crimes Unit, "Brooklyn" Barnes opened fire on the villain King Lizard as he battled Spider-Boy (Pete Ross) on Kesel Street in New York City. Although they temporarily stunned the massive villain, King Lizard retaliated by ripping the pipes out from under the street, causing the entire New York Special Crimes Unit to come crashing to the ground. Afterwards, "Brooklyn" Barnes and the Special Crimes Unit were forced to regroup and leave King Lizard for Spider-Boy to handle on his own.

Smallville

In the Smallville: Season Eleven comic, Dan Turpin appears in the comic book continuation of Smallville. He first appeared in "Detective," when some thug wearing a LexCorp teleporter vest takes a schoolbus with children hostage which is suspended in the air by a crane. Across town, the Metropolis Special Crimes Unit headed by Dan Turpin along with Maggie Sawyer, is dealing with a hostage situation. There's a school bus suspended high above the streets by a crane and some thugs wearing high tech teleportation vests are holding young children hostage. One child decides to get Super heroic, opens up his shirt to reveal a Superman logo underneath, as well as thinks he can zap one of the bad guys with heat vision. Instead of getting his head blown off, the boy is saved by real heat vision melting the gun and the real Superman ripping through the roof and hefting the bad guy into the sky. The rest of the thugs teleport away then reappear and open fire on the police. Superman saves the kids and is ready to go to LexCorp. After he takes care of the bomb, Superman round up the teleportation thieves who apologize to the children for kidnapping them, hitching their school bus up on a crane, as well as then trying to blow them up with a bomb. As Superman politely soars off with one of the teleportation vests, Dan Turpin meets Bruce Wayne and Barbara Gordon visiting Metropolis who got to see Superman in action first hand. Barbara is more impressed than Bruce is, or more impressed than Bruce is letting on. He next appears in "Lantern," months later at Metropolis National, Dan Turpin and Maggie Sawyer as well as other members of the Metropolis police department are pinned behind the car wondering where Superman is at, to which they see him fly in his new Green Lantern uniform. As the criminals duck in shock, they proceed to fire their missiles. Clark and the police look on in shock as Superman attempts to get all the missiles, when all of a sudden the ring creates a giant Superman construct thus destroying the remain weaponry, causing the terrified bank crooks to flee surrendering to the police. Oliver confronts Officer Turpin and Sawyer at the crime scene that Superman intervened in. He questions the officers trying to figure out what were the criminals trying to steal in the first place. Both officers refuse saying that they can't because then they have to tell their superiors they told capes sensitive information. Which leads Ollie to bluff, saying that his tech team is sifting through their crime data as they speak. Turpin revealed they don't know much, and Maggie says the amount of cash didn't warrant the giant robot, leading Oliver to wonder the motives of the mastermind. He then appears in "Chaos," where at Metropolis P.D., Dan Turpin asks Maggie Sawyer if Bryce Gordon, who is still in custody, has said anything but she says they are waiting for his lawyer and Dan suggests they should call for a priest instead, as the spell should have been lifted from Gordon when Superman smashed the gem. Suddenly, a possessed man enters the police station saying "No spell can leave his wrath from this mortal coil" and then a group of also possessed civilians attack the surprised police officers. Sawyer and Turpin are ready to fight the intruders but they also get attacked by Gordon, who shouts along with the others "We are Eclipso".

In other media

Television

• In the 1990s cartoon Superman: The Animated Series, Turpin was modelled on Jack Kirby^[4] and voiced by Joseph Bologna. He appears often in the early part of the series. At first highly critical of Superman, he becomes more appreciative of him after he and Superman save each other's lives from Intergang.^[5] Turpin eventually stands up to and is killed by the alien tyrant Darkseid using his Omega Beams, in the latter half of the two-part episode "Apokolips ... Now!", just before Darkseid leaves Earth. The character's funeral was presided over by a rabbi who recited a kaddish. Out of respect for the legacy of Kirby, the character's creator, producer Bruce Timm found a genuine religious leader for the voiceover, the cantor of a large Conservative temple in LA.^[6][7] He also modeled the cemetery after the real-life one where Jack Kirby is buried. Among the attendees of the fictional funeral in the original TV airing were some of Kirby's Marvel comics creations, such as the Fantastic Four and Nick Fury, as well as the likeness of Kirby's frequent collaborator Stan Lee (these were edited from the DVD release to avoid infringement issues with Marvel).^[8] Superman watches the funeral at a distance and delivers the words "In the end, the world didn't need a Superman...just a brave one." The episode ends with a dedication to Kirby with the afterword "Long Live the King."^[9] In "Legacy" Pt. 2, Superman punches Darkseid repeatedly, then launches into a tirade about killing Dan Turpin.
• In "Bulletproof", a season 8 episode of Smallville, Danny Turpin (portrayed by David Paetkau) is a street cop who is partnered with an undercover Clark Kent. Dan Turpin is first seen helping detective John Jones catch a recently escaped convict. When Jones is shot, Turpin investigates with Clark Kent disguised as officer "Joe Fordman". With Clark's help, Turpin apprehends yet another escaped convict, although Clark is left uncomfortable at Dan's expressed distaste of vigilantes due to their lack of rules. Later, Dan invites Clark to a barbecue where Clark meets Turpin's son and his wife Suzie, Suzie telling Clark about the recent loss of Dan's partner. Dan later joins a group of cops in assaulting the man who killed his partner, but Green Arrow intervenes before they can finish the job. Recalling Clark's earlier questions about Jones, Dan tracks Clark to the hospital after learning his true identity, Clark attempting to appeal to Dan to be better than the others as he recognised Dan's better nature. Having caught Clark on charges of attempting to kill Jones, Talbert hatches a plan to take down Green Arrow with Dan pulling the trigger. Talbert sits on a nearby roof with his sniper rifle when Dan arrives with the thug who robbed the Pharmacy and start beating the crap out of him. The thug screams for help and Green Arrow arrives and saves that day. Dan get the drop on Green Arrow but hesitates to kill him, giving Ollie the chance to talk Dan out of his current action by telling him how Clark considered him to be a decent man. Although Talbert tried to shoot Dan with the intention of framing Green Arrow for the attack, Green Arrow pushed him to safety, the two taking over long enough for Clark to overhear about the attack on the police dispatch. Having disarmed Talbert of the sniper, Clark allowed Talbert to shoot him with a handgun, only for the bullet to ricochet back and hit Talbert. Dan subsequently arrested one of the other cops, recognising his status as one of the 'good guys'. Clark later visited Dan at home while Dan's son was dressed as Robin Hood, Dan noting that Robin Hood was a good guy who didn't appear to be so at a casual glance, helping him reconcile the tactics of vigilantes like Green Arrow and the Red-Blue Blur.^[10]

Film

• Dan Turpin has an uncredited cameo in the 2013 direct-to-video film Superman: Unbound. He appears as one of the police officers attempting to save Lois Lane from being kidnapped by terrorists. In this version, he looks very similar to his Superman: The Animated Series counterpart.

Graphic audio

• Inspector Turpin also appears in the Graphic Audio production of Superman: The Never Ending Battle.

References

External links

• Dan Turpin at the DCU Guide