Contributed by Tom Peyer
Danny is a phenomenon unto himself. Neither man nor machine, fish nor fowl, flora nor fauna, he is in fact a sentient transvestite street – a short, two-lane avenue flanked by dozens of strange and eccentric shops and storefronts. Thanks to his mystical space-warping properties, Danny is quite the world traveler, having visited cities all over the globe – usually at night, when no one is looking, when he can surreptitiously shuffle city streets and make room for himself and become anything from a back road in Bangkok to an alleyway in Denver. Though no one knows precisely how Danny came to be, those poor and downtrodden souls to whom he has given shelter over the years love him dearly and trust him with their lives.
Through a series of unrevealed circumstances, Danny somehow ran afoul of Darren Jones, a self-proclaimed “normalcy agent” who sent a platoon of Men from N.O.W.H.E.R.E. to eradicate Danny. Jones knew Danny’s habits; he also knew that, in between his continental jaunts, Danny invariably returned to the estate grounds of his only real friend, writer Sara Furness. It was there that the Men from N.O.W.H.E.R.E. launched a surprise attack on Danny and his many inhabitants, among them the odd performers of the Danny the Street Perpetual Cabaret. Panicked, Danny took the battle to New York City; when the disturbance began to attract attention, the Doom Patrol came to investigate and found themselves defending Sara and the others from the N.O.W.H.E.R.E. Men.
The ensuing struggle was fast and furious, but the Men from N.O.W.H.E.R.E. made a fatal mistake when they tried to kill Sara. Enraged, Danny took himself and the Doom Patrol straight to Darren Jone’s house, where the performers of the Perpetual Cabaret exacted a strange and terrible vengeance on the man.
Since then, Danny has freely associated with the Doom Patrol and (over the protestations of Sara, who doesn’t much care for leader Niles Caulder) has volunteered to serve as the team’s mobile headquarters. With his powers at their disposal, they can travel anywhere on Earth – and beyond, for Danny knows many places that aren’t on any map.
Danny is kind, compassionate, and in his own way quite the poet. Though he has no voice, he communicates by forming his words out of anything from ambient manhole vapors to the letters of street signs. Morrison took inspiration for Danny the Street’s name from performer Danny La Rue.
Danny first appeared in Doom Patrol #35, volume 2. Danny recently resurfaced as a single brick in Doom Patrol #8 (current 2009 volume) and after being rescued by the team from “enforcers” from its home dimension, recreated itself as Danny the Bungalow (issue #9). Danny the Street has resurfaced post DCnU in the pages of Teen Titans.
© and ® DC Comics. Used without permission.
