As a general rule, if I have an issue of a series courtesy of my dad's comics, I use that issue. Problem being, of the two issues of Showcase he had, issue 75 (Hawk and the Dove) didn't have a splash page, and issue 79 (Dolphin) only had one, of two guys in scuba gear looking in shock at something off-panel. So I ended up using a different Ditko issue at least, courtesy of DC's The Creeper by Steve Ditko collection.
I think the book often acted as a test flight for new characters and concepts. Do the origin bit, the powers, a bit of the personality, some sort of conflict that can be resolved, but with a nod to how there could be more adventures later. That way, if fans like it, it's easy enough to do more. The Silver Age Flash is probably the biggest success story, So in The Creeper's case, Ditko and Segall show he's an outspoken and unapologetic TV host, who gets himself in enough hot water with the sponsors he's shifted to "network security", investigating threats to the station.
Except his first gig is taking over for a reporter that got roughed up trying to track down a professor who escaped the Iron Curtain, but is in danger of being taken back, courtesy of some crooks working with those dirty Commies. What that has to do with network security I can only guess, unless we're counting Jack Ryder getting shot so a valuable reporter doesn't. Or, since the station is doing the job for the CIA, maybe it's to keep the CIA from tarring the station as un-American.
Anyway, Ryder gets shot, but finds the scientist, who saves him by injecting a serum into him, while also hiding a device that allows a person to disguise their clothes in Ryder's bullet wound (which seals up shortly after the serum injection, so Ryder can't take it out.) Ryder clobbers the crooks and the Reds, while playing at being kind of nuts by laughing constantly, which freaks out his foes, but doesn't help his image with the cops. So he's considered an enemy of both crooks and the public at large, with powers and a presto-chango costume gimmick the side effects or longevity of which he doesn't know. All of which can act as drivers or conflict if people want to see more.
Hawk and Dove left it open-ended if the teens would even want to keep using their powers, not the least of which because their hardass judge of a father declared that these vigilantes who saved his life should turn themselves in. Dolphin. . .decided she didn't fit in with surface people after all and went back beneath the waves. Which is not as great a hook, but it kind of feels like the hook there was, "cute girl in cut-off jeans and a tight sleeveless shirt."
I don't know what the success rate was for characters taking off with the fans. The Creeper got a series, that died in 6 issues. I guess Phantom Stranger and Spectre got runs in books they shared with other features, if not headliner status. But Dolphin never got above maybe C-list, and I'm not sure characters like Manhunter 2070 or Firehair even got that far. Still, it only takes a couple of successes to make it worthwhile from the company's standpoint.
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