relativeness parentage reopening sonic,...

As to Sovereign Seven: I own a full run of the title, although I think it's far from being Claremont's best work. At the time that I went through a list of the group's members and double-checked against lists of Marvel characters to find any matches, I was working on the assumption that the characters were owned by DC. A quick online search in Wikipedia suggests you have a point about Claremont's ownership -- if I ever knew that, I had long since forgotten. I'll have to address this somehow whenever I get around to doing a Third Draft.

As to Milestone, I know very little about it, I'm afraid. Now that you've called "Kobalt" to my attention, I can dig into it a bit more, but I did have the impression that those characters were creator-owned and -controlled, that Milestone was a separate company (not just an in-house "imprint" the way I think "Vertigo" is, for instance), and that its books were distributed alongside DC's regular titles about Superman, Batman, etc., as part of some sort of deal. Or something like that. As I said, I'll look into it.

Of course, I'm not entirely clear on how the DC/Milestone relationship works. Perhaps they are creator-owned, or just plain owned by Dwayne "The Maestro" McDuffie?

About Darwin: Yeah, I think I typed that entry out several months ago, and then only noticed my mistake shortly after this list was posted. By then, I had no way to get into it and edit it further. The next draft of the list (whenever I inflict that upon the world) will definitely fix that problem.

About Merlin . . . you've reminded me that somewhere, sometime, maybe in one of the older editions of "Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe," I think I've seen statements to the effect that the well-known name of Merlin seems to have been used by several different magic-powered entities in the Marvel Universe at various times . . . logically, any of those beings who were not actually THE Merlin who hung out with King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table would be fair game for my list despite the ban on mythological figures in the public domain. (If I can ever sort out the "original" Merlin from the others, that is.)

Incidentally, you've also reminded me that over on the DC side of the fence, Baron Winters (star of a couple of short-lived "Night Force" titles, one written by Marv Wolfman in the 80s and one in the 90s) has a leopard companion called "Merlin" whom he regularly converses with. I think we even saw paraphrases of Merlin's viewpoint in narrative captions once or twice, suggesting to me that he actually had real intelligence and formed critical judgments of the humans around him, but that for some reason Baron Winters was the only one who could hear and understand the sometimes-scathing comments the leopard was allegedly making in their conversations. (We readers never heard Merlin say a word, but the Baron could get downright touchy in his rebuttals to what he had evidently just heard.)

Lorendiac

On the subject of characters who call themselves "Belladonna": I'm already familiar with both of the Marvel characters you refer to, but I'd never heard of a DC namesake. I'll look into it. Likewise, I'll double-check on all the other cases you brought to my attention, but I just want to warn you that you won't see the results of that right away. Now that I've given this Second Draft a test drive here on this blog, I'm planning to post it on some other forums as well and invite more feedback from any interested parties who didn't see it here. That means that, except for fixing up a couple of typographical errors and stuff, I won't be seriously rewriting it just yet. I figure sweating over a Third Draft can wait a few months, after everybody and his brother has had the chance, on one forum or another, to gleefully point out all the little things I missed in this version!

So if you (or anyone else on here who's offered suggestions) happen to see a copy of this draft posted on some other forum within the next few days, please don't think I'm simply ignoring your ideas about how it can become more comprehensive! I'm just postponing the next big rewrite for awhile longer, but all constructive criticism WILL be carefully considered, double-checked, and (if accurate) incorporated into the next version of this list, when the proper time comes!

Lorendiac

DC: Merlyn. Archer, prominent Green Arrow villain, member of the League of Assassins.
Marvel: Merlin, sometimes called The Mad Merlin. Oneshot Thor villain from the Lee/Kirby days. May be the 'real' Merlin(as indicated during Alan Moore's run on Captain Britain) but who knows?

Void(mentioned before) was also a member of WildCATS.

You mentioned Gog, so I'll mention Magog;
DC: main villain in "Kingdom Come", helped create Gog for the Superman titles.
Marvel: demon who fought the Hulk once.

And another Marvel Belladonna is related to Gambit. Or so I'm led to believe.

Acrobat
DC – member of the Luck Lords along with Strongman and Cyclone mentioned in your post
Marvel – Human Torch villain who masqueraded as Captain America

Belladonna
DC – aka Angela Wainwright who fought Vicki Grant of Dial “H” for Hero fame
Marvel – enemy of the Jessica Drew incarnation of Spider-woman

Capricorn
DC – one-shot enemy of the World’s Finest team, Superman and Batman.
Marvel – several, all members of the villainous Zodiac

The Collector
DC – aka Balthazar T Balthazar, a villain from the pages of The Brave and the Bold
Marvel – Elder of the Universe

Flasback
DC – one-shot villain from The Brave and the Bold #158
Marvel – member of Omega Flight

Maestro
DC – four different music themed villains two of whom were also referred to as “The Mad Maestro”
Marvel – future incarnations of the Hulk

Omega
DC – a robot created by Brainiac 5 that went haywire and attacked the Legion of Super-Heroes
Marvel - several. The most prominent a creation of Steve Gerber from the pages of Omega the Unknown

Saber-Tooth / Sabretooth
DC - Flash villain whose shtick was disguise IIRC.
Marvel – Prominent mutant villain

Venom
DC – one-shot villain of Ronnie Raymond / Martin Stein version of Firestorm
Marvel – fan-favorite Spider-man villain.

Blackwing:
DC – Earth 2 hero from the pages of the Huntress back-ups in Wonder Woman
Marvel – trained bat using member of the Circus of Crime and Maggia

Jackhammer:
DC – member of Demoltion Team, enemy of Green Lantern
Marvel – member of Hydra

Lamprey:
DC – student at Legion Academy in Pre-Crisis LoSH continuity
Marvel – villain turned (actually brainwashed into being a …) hero in Gruenwald’s Squadron Supreme

Lion-Mane / Lionmane:
DC – at least 2, the more prominent an enemy of the Silver Age Hawkman, the other a villain from the aforementioned Huntress back-ups
Marvel – identity used by Lo Chien in the pages of Heroes for Hire

Nightrider / Night Rider:
DC – aka Dagon, vampiric member of short-lived Team Titans
Marvel – one of many aliases used by the western Ghost Rider / Phantom Rider

Nightwind:
DC – student at Legion Academy in Pre-Crisis LoSH continuity
Marvel – a mutant from the pages of Generation X

Null:
DC – partner of Void and reluctant enemy of Batman and Superman from the pages of World’s Finest
Marvel – The Living Darkness and demonic enemy of the Defenders

Void:
DC – see Null
Marvel – already cited on your list

Yesterday I posted a plea for help on a couple of forums, asking if somebody who had the original of that story (or a reprint, if there ever was one?) would be kind enough to haul it out of a box and look through it and please tell me EXACTLY how the assassin spelled and punctuated his own silly alias during his very brief career -- since that was allegedly the only comic book in which he ever appeared, inasmuch as he was shot dead by Dum Dum Dugan in that same issue and has never been heard from since.

One fan has kindly posted a response in which he firmly states that all throughout the story, beginning to end, the assassin consistently used the alias:
"Bulls-Eye."

No space and no apostrophe. IF this guy is giving me the straight scoop, then I was wrong to trust the online sources that claimed there was a space in the middle, and Mr. Busiek was also mistaken in thinking that this particular guy preferred to use an apostrophe. It would be very nice to get this confirmed from another source, though. Has anyone reading this got a copy of that story lying around, gathering dust, that you feel like double-checking to see if my source has his head screwed on straight?

Lorendiac

If the honorific -- such as a military-sounding rank or other title -- is something the character always (or almost always, I suppose) uses to introduce himself, then I figure it's all one distinct alias as a package deal that just happens to include more than one word. I did say that "Pronunciation trumps spelling," by which I meant that if the way a character normally introduces himself is pronounced EXACTLY the same as the way another character does, then that's a clear-cut case of duplication. So I wouldn't count any of the "Captain Marvel" characters as "duplicates" of anyone simply named "Marvel," or any of the "Captain America" characters as duplicates of anyone named "America," because those characters aren't in the habit of saying to their acquaintances, "My name is just plain Marvel [or just plain America], but on more formal occasions I prefer to be addressed with my rank of Captain." No, they simply ARE "Captain Marvel" or "Captain America" whenever they're on duty and in uniform!

Or to put it another way: As I recall, there were Golden Age heroes named "Captain Midnight," "Doctor Mid-Nite," and just plain "Midnight" (that last one being a Will Eisner creation). But I never even considered listing all three of them together as versions of the SAME alias!

Likewise: I am not a big expert on Doom Patrol continuity, but I have the impression that General Immortus always (or almost always?) thnks of himself and introduces himself as "General Immortus" -- and not just as a guy named "Immortus" . . . who also happens to claim the rank of general. But if there are numerous times when he's walked up to someone and said, "Hello, I'm Immortus. Who are you?", then I may need to reconsider.

Lorendiac

Immortus:
DC: General Immortus, original foe to the original Doom Patrol
Marvel: Immortus, alternate version of Kang, Avengers foe

Ozymandias:
DC: Watchmen character
Marvel: servant to Apocolypse

About all I can remember about Tarantula's professional life (in his secret identity) from "All-Star Squadron" is references to his being a pretty popular writer of mystery novels. If he ever was said to collect paychecks for journalism (from a "Daily Bugle" or any other publication) then I've long since forgotten. Which doesn't prove you're wrong -- my memory is definitely NOT photographic!

I already have the Ringmaster from the Circus of Crime on my list, so I'm not likely to draw the line at another villain from that same circus whose "alias" is arguably just his job description within the world of a traveling circus!

Besides, even if I were inclined to reject that guy, there's still at least one OTHER villain called "the Clown" in Marvel continuity. He was a member of the Crazy Gang. (Maybe he still is, for all I know.) In early issues of the original Excalibur title, his mind switched bodies with that of Nightcrawler, and then back again. I don't remember the DC villain, though; that must be the only reason I didn't add a listing for "Clown" before now.

Lorendiac

I typed out that listing of "Firefist" characters way back in January, but as I recall, it went something like this:

When I started the First Draft, I didn't remember ANY characters ever using that exact alias. (Even though I think I have read all of Rusty's early appearances in the old "X-Factor" and "New Mutants" titles.) I simply decided that "Fire-" is a popular beginning for names in the genre and so I was going to find and compare lists of all DC characters and all Marvel characters who used that as the first part of their respective aliases.

I did this by looking at
http://www.dcuguide.com/Who/F.php
and
http://www.marvunapp.com/master/fir.htm

So the credit for dredging up Rusty Collins as a former user of the name "Firefist" doesn't go to my memory for detail -- it goes to whatever eagle-eyed researcher actually compiled material relating to him for inclusion at http://www.marvunapp.com!

I always knew PAD's "Comet" was basically a Complete Reboot of a Pre-Crisis concept, but I'm not clear on whether the Pre-COIE guy ever called himself just plain "Comet" as a full name without the string "the Super-Horse" glued on.

Shortly before I emailed this draft to Brian, I also began wondering if I was neglecting NU characters -- but I decided that any I'd missed would just to wait their turn! I'll go over lists of them when I work up the enthusiasm for a Third Draft.

Lorendiac

One more I thought of, although it might be a bit debatable: The Clown is a minor DC villain (I remember he showed up in Hunter Zolomon's backstory in Geoff Johns' run on Flash, and I'm not sure where else). The Clown is also a member of Marvel's Circus of Crime. (It might be debatable because it could be argued that it's a job description rather than an alias, but that's how his entry in Marvel Universe Deluxe Edition is listed.)

Second, Super-girl's horse was Comet. That's why Peter David used the name for the character he introduced. David was (IMHO, clearly) bringing back old Silver Age elements of the character, re-imagined for today.

Third, wasn't there a DP7 character named Sponge? A female who had the hots for David Landers?

You mention comparing S7 character names, I wonder how many New Universe names show up in DC either before or after the NU time period?

Theno