History
Sarah Juspeczyk: 1920 - 1936
Born Sarah Juspeczyk, a young Polish girl with dreams of fame and fortune. Sarah ran away from her abusive home at age 16.
Silk Spectre: 1936 - 1939
After lying about her age, Sarah found work as a waitress and burlesque dancer for a couple of years. Changing her surname to hide her Polish heritage whenever it interfered with her ambition. She met Laurence Schexnayder during her travels in Europe, with him offering to represent her. As proof of his ability as a talent scout, Larry landed Sally a gig as an entertainer to a prince, who commented that Sally was the most beautiful woman in Europe.
Impressed by Larry's work, Sally agreed to travel with him to America where she took on the stage name of Sally Jupiter. As she and Larry were looking for a market for Sally to make her big splash in, Larry read an article about Hooded Justice and wondered if there were commercial opportunities to be exploited in costumed crimefighting. Sally entered into action as an adventurer at 18 years old, using it to boost her modeling career, and possibly pave the way to Hollywood films.
At first, Larry paid retired actors to stage crimes to be hindered by Sally costumed as the Silk Spectre. The police were also in on the trick. Larry would then have the press spin that the Silk Spectre was a sex symbol who could capture hearts and criminals alike.
Silk Spectre: 1939 - 1947
Before long, Captain Metropolis sent a letter to Larry with an invitation to have Sally be the first costumed adventurer to join a group of costumed heroes. Sally thought it was a ridiculous idea, but Larry thought it would be great for publicity. Sally was more celebrity than a vigilante and is rumored to have provided a cover for Hooded Justice's homosexuality by posing as his glamorous girlfriend.
On October 2nd, 1940, after a meeting of the Minutemen, Sally was assaulted by Edward Blake (the Comedian). Fortunately, he was soon stopped by Hooded Justice, who gave him a vicious beating. The event would have a profound impact on Sally's life. Larry persuaded her not to press charges against the Comedian for fear of damaging the group's image. After this, Sally began training in actual hand-to-hand combat techniques.
Sally butted heads with the team's other female member, Ursula Zandt, who believed that Sally's denial of her Polish heritage was deceptive. Ursula insisted Sally should be proud of who she was. When Ursula's lesbianism was outed by the press, Sally quickly voted her off the team, feeling happy she left, and snidely remarking to Ursula that "You should be proud of who you are."
Ursula was soon murdered by the Liquidator. Sally was overcome with regret. She swore vengeance at Ursula's graveyard and was overheard by Eddie Blake. The two had coffee. Eddie mostly talked about his war-time experiences and Sally talked about the circumstances of Ursula's expulsion from the Minutemen and her murder. The two decided to reconcile their troubled past by hunting down the Liquidator together, an anti-Semitic serial killer. While history records that it was Captain Metropolis and Hooded Justice that found Liquidator in 1947, he was already dead when they tracked him down. The corpse was found in a bathtub in an otherwise spotless motel room. Sally retired from the Silk Spectre persona that same week.
Having retired from crimefighting, Sally married (or rather "partnered up" with) Schexnayder. She kept in touch with Hollis Mason, Byron Lewis, and Nelson Gardner. She also kept in touch with Eddie Blake and the two began a drawn-out secret affair.
Sally Jupiter: 1947 - 1956
Sally gave birth to her daughter Laurel Jane, commonly known as Laurie. It was known to Larry that Laurie was not his and this led to conflict in the family. The two attempted to bridge this division by having two more children, but ultimately their marriage ended in divorce in 1956.
Sally Jupiter: 1956 - 1987
With the arrival of Dr. Manhattan, Sally and other former adventurers were interviewed frequently for their insight. Sally expressed skepticism about the true magnitude of his abilities originally but became very impressed when she had a chance to marvel at him in person during a charity event that both attended.
In 1962, Sally moved her family to Los Angeles, where Hollis Mason would regularly visit to discuss his work on a book about their time as Minutemen. These visits caused Sally to become nostalgic and drove her to act out a desire to recapture the excitement of her glory days by molding her daughter Laurie into a new Silk Spectre.
To finance Laurie's training and education, Sally sold the movie rights to the Silk Spectre to Edmund Taylor, an up-and-coming Hollywood director (or so Sally thought). When his first "Silk Spectre" movie hit some financial difficulties, Taylor shifted gears and transformed the film into an adult movie. Sally actually enjoyed the end product but became upset that it damaged her brand for years to come.
Moving back to New York, Sally secured Laurie a place in Captain Metropolis' newest team: the Crimebusters. Throughout Laurie's tenure as Silk Spectre of the Crimebusters, Sally would often ask for detailed nightly reports, working as her daughter's agent, trainer, handler, and even medic (or at least, hiring people to fulfill these roles). Sally also repeatedly cautioned Laurie to stay clear of her teammate, the Comedian, all the while Sally was carrying out an affair with the man.
When Laurie left the Crimebusters with Dr. Manhattan, Sally broke off things with the Comedian and moved back to California, moving into a luxurious retirement community. There Sally was visited regularly by Laurie and Hollis Mason, who Sally developed a romantic interest in. She and Hollis would flirt over long-distance phone calls for years, though neither ever confirmed if their relationship exceeded that. Sally would be on the phone with Hollis when he was attacked and beaten to death by members of the Knot Tops gang. This devastated Sally so much that she almost did not register the devastation of the Manhattaning just hours later which leveled much of the city just outside her window.
Sally Jupiter: 1987 - 2006
Sally spent the rest of her days in a luxurious estate in Coast City. She made a few public appearances for charity events, particularly with the return of costumed adventurers - even famously appearing on a magazine cover, in her original costume, with the first generation of Teen Titans.
The only stress in Sally's life was the FBI and other agencies insistence that she was in contact with Laurie Juspeczyk and the new Nite-Owl. Sally denied that was the case, though Sally's neighbors were quite adamant they saw Sally on her estate grounds walking with her daughter and several unidentified children.
Sally died of natural causes.[1]
Threat Assessment
Resources
- Acting: Sally received critical acclaim for shows on Broadway in the late 1940s and early 1950s.
- Dancing: Sally was known to be a world-class dancer.
- Seduction: Sally was regarded by many of her era as being the "perfect woman". Sally was a big flirt and was never afraid to show a little skin to distract the male gaze or coerce men into doing as she desired.
- Deception: Sally's daughter was known to claim her mother lied as easily as fish swim.
- Weaponry: Sally was a capable fighter in the use of weapons such as lassos, brass knuckles, and knives.
- Gymnastics: Sally trained as a gymnast in her youth and developed those dormant skills during her time as a crimefighter.
- Brawling: Over the years, Sally became skilled in hand-to-hand combat using trickery, deception, and her overall agility to overcome opponents. She trained extensively in grappling and utilizing such methods as wrestling, jujitsu, judo, and kickboxing.
Weaknesses
Missing Data
Analytics
Missing Data
Trivia and Notes
Trivia
- Sally was known to wear a long black glove on her right arm as Silk Spectre. Even in her more revealing photoshoots, Sally always kept her right arm covered or hidden. This was done to conceal scars from acid burns on her forearm and elbow, inflicted on her in her youth in Poland. Exactly who was responsible and the story behind it has never been publicly divulged.
- There is a theory that Nelson and Hooded Justice convinced Sally to seduce Comedian after a photoshoot, only for Sally to then shift gears and scream for help. This rumor was denied repeatedly by Hollis Mason and Sally Jupiter, but it is worth mentioning that Nelson was the one who sent Hollis with Hooded Justice to go find Sally and it was Hooded Justice who beat the Comedian to submission, all the while with the Comedian revealing his belief about Nelson and HJ's relationship to the rest of the team. [Further evidence for this rumor would be Sally's own reversal of opinion on the Comedian in her later years].[2]
- Her marriage problems with Laurence caused so much trauma for young Laurie she blocked out huge chunks of her early childhood memories.
- After Byron Lewis committed himself to a mental asylum she sometimes visited him, usually as a sort of annual Minutemen reunion event, making the drive with Hollis and Nelson.
- She expressed concerns about Hollis' memoir "Under the Hood".[3]
- Her efforts to create the successor and the Watchmen phenomena were a great influence on her son Loren who after the Manhattaning tried to repeal the Keene Act and then created the "Crime-Blasters" and Blasters.[4]
- She was one of the inspirations for Laurel Drake into becoming a costumed adventurer.[5]
Notes
- Sally Jupiter is a character from the Watchmen comic.
- Her portrait is based on her appearance in the Watchmen movie portrayed by Carla Gugino. She's making a pose from the Minutemen photo.
- Sally and Eddie killing the Liquidator is a nod to Before Watchmen: Minutemen.
Gallery
.jpg "Silk Spectre (Classic).jpg (502 KB)")
Appears In
_Silk_Spectre.jpg "(E27 Legacy) Silk Spectre.jpg (276 KB)")
.jpg "Minutemen (Classic).jpg (221 KB)")
Links and References
- Appearances of Sally Jupiter