by Dan Swanson
In the fog-shrouded San Francisco of the early 1960s, there existed a heroic duo whose super-powers defied the ordinary. They were the AVant Guard, whose Audio-Visual or AV-based name was fitting, as this pair of amazing women had mastered the forces of sound and sight. Palette and Miss Music, as they were known, were the city’s silent saviors, their identities cloaked in mystery, their abilities a symphony of light and sound.
Palette, known as the Princess of Projection, the Photonic Paladin, and the Luminous Legend, was a vision of ethereal beauty. (*) With powers rooted in light, she could conjure images so real they seemed to breathe, so vivid they could pierce through the darkest of shadows. Her mind was a canvas, her imagination a brush dipped in the hues of reality and fantasy. She could make the impossible appear, her illusions so intense they could be seen even through closed eyelids. Her vision was a gift, allowing her to see beyond the spectrum of normal sight, into the infrared and ultraviolet realms. And her memory, photographic in its precision, captured every detail, every nuance, every fleeting moment.
[(*) Editor’s note: See Whiz: Palette: Times Past, 1960: Murder in the Evening.]
Miss Music, nicknamed the Tuneful Titan, the Sonic Superstar, and the Phonic Protector, was a pint-size force of nature. (*) Her powers were the whispers of the wind, the thunder of the storm, the symphony of the universe. She could project sounds from the ether, her voice a weapon that could shatter glass or soothe a troubled soul. Her phonographic memory for sound was perfect, an archive of every note, every cry, every heartbeat. She could replay the past with such fidelity that it seemed the echoes of history were alive in her hands. Her hearing was acute, piercing the veil of silence to hear the whispers of the earth and the songs of the stars. When she concentrated, the world became a symphony, each note distinct, each melody clear.
[(*) Editor’s note: See Secret Origins: Miss Music: Times Past, 1959: Muskrat Creek Confidential.]
Their secret identities were known only to a chosen few. Alex Silverstone (Palette), a tall, slender blonde in her mid-twenties, was an artist whose life was a canvas of light and shadow. She lived in a house high on a hill containing a gallery where her creations spoke in silent whispers. Tammi Page (Miss Music), a short, fit brunette in her early twenties, was a former gymnast who had once graced the stages of competition. She had moved to San Francisco in 1961, her heart still bruised from the failure to make the 1960 Olympic team. It was at the Nationals that their paths had crossed, a meeting that would change their lives forever. (*)
[(*) Editor’s note: See AVant Guard: Times Past, 1960: San Francisco Meet (To Be Published).]
As Palette and Miss Music, they had become founding members of the Super Squad. (*) But together, they were the AVant Guard, San Francisco’s protectors. And as the fog rolled in, they stood ready as a beacon of hope in a world that needed heroes, their hearts a symphony of light and sound.
[(*) Editor’s note: See Super Squad: Times Past, 1961: Origin of the Super Squad.]