Comic Title: Secret Origins #3
Publisher: DC (National Periodical Publications, Inc.)
Address: 909 Third Avenue, New York, NY
Cover Date: Jul/Aug 1973
On Sale Date: April 5, 1973 Newsstand Date April 5, 1973
Source: Comic Reader, #95

Copyright Date April 5, 1973
Source: Library of Congress, Periodicals 1973

Frequency: Bi-monthly
Cover Price: $0.20
Page Count: 32
Editor: E. Nelson Bridwell

Title: (The Origin of Wildcat)
Pages: 10

Feature(s):
Wildcat (of Earth-2)

Writer: Bill Finger
Artist: Irwin Hasen

Reprinted From:
Sensation Comics #1 (1942)

Feature Character(s)

• Wildcat (Ted Grant; origin and first appearance; next appearance in Sensation Comics #2)

Supporting Character(s)

• Joan Fortune (Socker’s girlfriend; first appearance; next appearance in Sensation Comics #2)

Villain(s)

• Flint and Skinner (boxing managers; no further appearances)
• Fain (a henchman; no further appearances)
• Two unnamed hoodlums (no further appearances)

Other Character(s)

• Joe Morgan (identity revealed in All-Star Squadron Annual #1; next appearance in All-Star Squadron Annual #1)
• Socker Smith (a boxing champ; dies in this story; no further appearances)
• Henry Grant (Ted's father; no further appearances)
• An unnamed boy (no further appearances)

Comments:
Wildcat’s origin is told in this story. Additional details were added, including the involvement of Joe Morgan as Ted’s trainer, in the flashback in All-Star Squadron Annual #1.

This story originally was not titled; the title shown here was given on the contents page of JSA All Star Archives Vol. 1 in which this story is reprinted.

Synopsis:
Ted Grant a promising boxer is forced to give up his college career when his parents die. However, he helps boxer Socker Smith fight off two holdup men and gets a job as Smith’s sparing partner.

Grant soon proves to be a good enough boxer to earn his own bouts. Flint and Skinner, Smith’s managers, arrange fights for Grant including a title shot against Smith himself.

During the bout, the managers plant a needle in Grant’s glove which kills Smith. Grant is accused of murder, but he escapes custody when the managers try to silence him. Inspired by Green Lantern, Ted dons a costume and forces confessions from the men responsible for Smith’s death. In doing so, he clears his own name and decides to continue as the costumed Wildcat.