Brian Augustyn, Mark Waid, and Howard Porter created Triumph though writer Christopher Priest may be the name most associated with the character because of his four-part mini series. The character was revealed to be a founding member of the Justice League via a ret-con as shown in a three-part story that ran in Justice League #92 – 94 as part of the Zero Hour event.
Triumph (Will MacIntire) is included in this list because of statements made by writer Christopher Priest. Priest mentioned at one time on his site that many fans and DC staffers alike hated the character for being inserted into the JLA’s origin story. What wasn’t apparent to readers at the time was that Priest viewed Triumph as gay. Priest also shares how the late Neal Pozner, DC’s director of Creative Services, served as inspiration for some of “Triumph’s energy.”
“Triumph was gay, something probably only Brian and I knew since we didn’t have an appropriate storyline to deal sensitively with that issue, but that was my subtext for his emotional center: how out of place and out of sync Triumph was with the DC Universe.”
While Priest viewed the character as gay, this notion did not affect Brian Augustyn writing a short story involving a girlfriend named Melissa in Showcase ’94 #12 or heterosexual romantic elements with Gypsy and later Fire that Priest himself wrote. Further evidence that DC considers Triumph to be heterosexual, or at least ignoring Priest’s view, appeared in Brave and Bold #17 and 18 vol 2 (2008). Marv Wolfman reveals Triumph to be the long lost father of his villain du jour.
On an ironic note, Phil Jimenez and the CG aligned artist whose initials are MSM have drawn Triumph. Jimenez work appeared in Justice League International #68 and Miller was the artist on the mini series.
Please refer to Wikipedia’s Triumph entry for an informative character bio. At one time Priest shared his scripts for the Triumph mini series but they are no longer available. Comic Book Urban Legends Revealed also wrote about Priest’s intents.
Triumph first appeared in a brief cameo in Justice League International #67. Created by Brian Augustyn, Mark Waid and Howard Porter, though the character is primarily associated with writer Christopher Priest. Art by Phil Jimenez, John Stokes, and Gene D’Angelo from Justice League International #68.
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