The Jade Dragons

Gary Novak © Juke Box Productions AstroFacts Status: Unknown Real Name: Gary Samuel Novak (Hokkaido) Earliest Appearance: 1976 Personal Data Date of Birth: August 17, 1958 InfoDump Appearances (in Publication Order): Astro City: The Dark Age Book Two #1, 2, 4 Event Timeline Keiko Takamura © Juke Box Productions AstroFacts Status: Unknown Real Name: Keiko Shimasa Takamura Earliest Appearance: 1976 Personal Data Date of Birth: August 17, 1958 InfoDump Appearances (in Publication Order): Astro City: The Dark Age Book Two#1, 2, 4 Event Timeline The Jade Dragons History Excerpt from an E.A.G.L.E. file: Real Name(s): Gary Samuel Novak (Hokkaido), Keiko Shimasa Takamura DOB (in both cases): - 8/17/1958 Novak and Takamura are half-siblings, children of the Japanese crimelord Leyasu Takamura, aka the Dragon Shogun (see EAGLE File 1WMT3333FCL), born at the same moment to different mothers. According to legend, the Dragon Shogun's power would be inherited by his eldest child when he died -- and it appears that, when Takamura was killed by rival Yakuza ganglords, his power was split between the two children, allowing them to access the full measure of it only when together. The twins were raised separately, unaware that they were siblings. No indication that the Dragon Shogun's power was shared at the time. But there were simultaneous earthquakes in northern California and Japan at the moment of the half-siblings' twin birth. Since their father's murder, the pseudo-twins discovered that their strength, speed and reflexes have been heightened, along with their resistance to injury and ability to heal. Once drawn together, they discovered that when they combine their tattoos to form a single image of a dragon, they are able to manifest that dragon in energy form, directing it to strike at their foes or to bear them to safety. Keiko Takamura's tattoo was created at the behest of her father and the Dragon Society, but Gary Novak's was done in an Oakland tattoo parlor, apparently over the same months. Novak could not explain to his mother and adoptive father why he had gotten the tattoo, and it caused much strife between them. Powers Both twins have heightened strength, speed and reflexes, along with a resistance to injury and ability to heal from wounds. In addition when the line up their complementary tattoos, they are able to project a green dragon, in energy form, that they can command. Observations Despite vigilante activities, they have also acted to prevent violence in times of chaos. During Black Velvet's madness descending upon the city during the 1977 Gang War, the duo was part of the group of heroes trying to contain the city's populace.