JSA #81 (2006)

In the Dugan household Courtney Whitmore eats breakfast with her half-sister and mother who insists upon taking Courtney's picture, embarrassing her. In their basement, Pat Dugan, her step-father, and Mike Dugan, her step-brother, are fixing up S.T.R.I.P.E as Mike expresses his want to be a superhero like his father. Courtney reminisces about how her father left when she was young and how life was distant between her and her mother. She also remembers how she disliked Pat when he was first brought home, secretly hoping that her biological father would come back. After being ignored for so long and her mother and Pat marrying, Courtney became the Star-Spangled Kid with Pat soon adopting the mantle of S.T.R.I.P.E. The duo are soon summoned to help the JSA with Liberty Belle whose powers were going haywire. Courtney witnesses Jesse Chambers, Liberty Belle's daughter, pleading for help for her estranged mother, this inspires Courtney to brave the deafening sound-waves that Belle is emanating. Meanwhile, in Opal City, Shade fails to save the life of a man as lightning strikes his building. Courtney forces her way toward Liberty Belle and calms her down by mentioning her daughter. In the aftermath she consoles Pat, telling him that he is a good father to both her and Mike. Shade then appears before the two and informs Courtney that her father, Sam Kurtis, was the man inside the building and is now dead. Courtney begins to cry, asking why she feels sad to which Pat replies that it's because she is a wonderful daughter like she wished she could be.