Alan Welles (New Earth)

Alan Welles was a good friend of a previous Vigilante, Adrian Chase, who secretly suffered a nervous breakdown. After Chase's retirement, Welles secretly adopted the Vigilante identity.

History

Alan Welles was brutalized by a police officer as a youth, scaring him straight. His father forced him to become a lawyer, beating him when he brought back anything less than perfect grades.^[1] Alan was a lifelong believer in law and order, growing angry when criminals were released on technicality. He urged his friend, Adrian Chase, to take a vacated judge's seat, as he felt he and Chase had a similar mindset.

Adrian Chase threw away the Vigilante costume after his appointment as a New York City judge. Welles, on his way to visit Chase, found the Vigilante costume in the garbage and saw it as a sign.^[2]^[1] His mental instability led him to gun down not only criminals, but also police officers and innocents. As Chase felt responsible for this new threat to New York, he undertook a lengthy investigation to find and stop this new Vigilante. Welles hunted for a drug kingpin, Trinidad Santiago, killing the lawyer who got Santiago's case dismissed on technicality. In McGraw, a town in the Catskills region, Welles, Chase, Chase's bailiff Dave Winston and the Electrocutioner's paths crossed. Welles and Electrocutioner were hunting Santiago, Chase was hunting Welles, and a concerned Winston had followed Chase. After killing the Electrocutioner in a barn, Chase and Welles faced off. Chase shot and unmasked Welles, who confessed his motives to the shocked Chase as he died.^[1]

Powers and Abilities

Abilities

Firearms
Hand-to-Hand Combat (Advanced)

Other Characteristics

Mental Disorder

Paraphernalia

Transportation

Motorcycle

Notes

Although this character was originally introduced during DC's Earth-One era of publication, their existence following the events of the 1985–86 limited series Crisis on Infinite Earths remains intact. However, some elements of the character's Pre-Crisis history may have been altered or removed for Post-Crisis New Earth continuity, and should be considered apocryphal.
Although Alan Welles was introduced in Vigilante #7, it wasn't until issue #20 that he assumed the identity of the Vigilante.