Open-Window Man

Open-Window Man was born Jed Oliver. As a young boy he watched his parents get gunned down by a mugger in a dark alley. The trauma of that event caused Jed to devote his energy and resources to become a crime fighter. He spent years honing his skills and abilities before he needed to find a symbol to define himself. Inspired by an open window one breezy night, Jed then did all he could to study open windows and their abilities by becoming Open-Window Man. He developed the ability to turn open windows into portals, leaping from building to building, city to city, all by finding an open window to manifest in.

At some point Open-Window Man joined Team House, a team of superheroes who also modeled themselves after household fixtures. He fought alongside them against Rake Dragon, and in another battle he was forced to watch his teammate Boy Chimney die when his powers suddenly disappeared and he was overcome. Open-Window Man would later be contacted by a strange alien woman named Bansa, who explained that she had accidentally stolen Boy Chimney’s powers and identity when she used a mysterious “H” Dial. Open-Window Man believed that Bansa had sought him out as a form of suicide due to the guilt of not knowing how many other heroes she may have doomed by accident, but instead the two formed a group of similar men and women connected to the mystical dials and the event known as the Exchange. These people became known as the Dial Bunch, and began hunting a sinister being known as the Fixer, an agent of the Exchange hunting across worlds for dials to shut off.

The Dial Bunch tracked the Fixer to Earth, where it had allied itself with an agent known as Centipede. Open-Window Man saved Nelson Jent and Roxie Hodder from the two with his Defenestration Punch. He then brought Nelson and Roxie with him back to the Dial Bunch and they then left Earth in search of the Fixer and the Centipede, who had accidentally been shunted back to where it came from.

The Dial Bunch made a last stop in a world of living graffiti, where Open-Window Man was forced to watch as a young boy lost his parents in the exact same incident. Somehow, the boy was able to see Open-Window Man, and he became a sort of mentor towards him. Open-Window Man explained to him the origins of himself and the Dial Bunch while training him to be a hero. The boy mentioned that a hero from his world, Captain Random, had a similar dial but was killed. Open-Window Man explained that the Dial Bunch was conversing with the other heroes of this world to get the Dial Captain Random had stolen from the Fixer as it stole hers, though they couldn’t remove it. A chance comment from the boy made Open-Window Man realize how to do it, and had his ally Nem conjure up a device with windows so he could travel into the graffiti world and take the dial. Before he left, Open-Window Man had drawn the boy a cave headquarters. The boy was touched, but he said he didn’t need it. Although, he thanked Open-Window Man for inspiring him to do good and try and change the world, and Open-Window Man erased the cave and told the boy not to worry about it before he left.