Null & Void Part II

WORLD'S FINEST COMICS #304, DC Comics, June 1984
In their second appearance, we finally learn the secret origin of Null & Void, though some details remain mysterious.

During WWII, they escaped a POW camp in Martinique and found themselves caught by a native tribe, painted up, and forced to participate in a voodoo ritual where they had to touch a stone with a mystic symbol on it. As they do so, they get those tattoos on their hands. When they touch palm to palm, they become Null & Void, and the natives try to kill them. Except now they can't, which seems to be a fatal flaw in the natives' plan. Escaping the island, the two friends embark on a criminal career that brings them to the present.

And after meeting Batman and Superman in Word's Finest #293, Void is put on trial and chosen to represent himself in the case. He picks apart the heroes' testimony and the case is thrown out of court.
He's got some major league balls. But Batman's a sore loser...
He stalks Void for a couple of days until the master thief leaves for Costa Rica with Null to steal a "treasure" (a guy with the same mystical symbol on his chest, found underwater in what looks like - but can't possibly be - a block of ice). How do you know you're in the pre-Crisis DC Universe? 1) Batman walks down the street in clear daylight!
And 2) Superman uses "super-hypnosis" on him so that he can better remember the tattoos on Void's hand as the same that's on the frozen guy. And what's more, Batman is cool with it.

So they're off to Costa Rica too. Superman finds a couple of pirates frozen in "ice" on the sea floor.
Batman fights Null & Void on the boat.
And then Void makes the frozen guy disappear into his "void"... along with Superman!
Uh-oh, this is going to have to be continued tomorrow!

Well, can't say this one was as good as their first appearance, but still a nice pair of characters. We'll see if the next couple of issues ruin them for me.