DALE JOHNSON

Real Name: Dale Johnson

Identity/Class: Human

Occupation: Drug Enforcement Agency (D.E.A.) agent;
    former soldier

Group Membership: Drug Enforcement Agency;
    an unspecified branch of the US military (likely the Army or the Marines)

Affiliations: Andy Prentiss (aka Illuminator), Jay Prentiss

Enemies: Drug-dealers, enemy soldiers

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: Henderson, Tennessee;
    formerly Southeast Asia (presumably Sin Cong; see comments)

First Appearance: Illuminator#2/2 (April, 1993)

Powers/Abilities: Dale Johnson has no superhuman powers.

    A man of faith, he strongly valued human life, and he risked his own life to save a fellow soldier he barely knew after that soldier had been injured holding off enemy soldiers so the rest of their group could board evacuation helicopters.

    As a DEA agent, he wore a bulletproof vest.

History:
(Illuminator#2/2 (fb)) <Approximately 23-years before the main story (see comments)> - Dale Johnson served alongside Jay Prentiss in an American military operation in Cambodia, although the two barely knew each other. As helicopters arrived to evacuate the American soldiers, enemy troops fired on them, and Jay tried to hold them off so that the others could get aboard the helicopter.

    When a grenade or some other explosion took down Prentiss, Dale ignored an order to leave him behind and instead rushed to Jay's rescue, giving him his cross and telling Jay he needed it more at the moment. As the other soldiers provided covering fire, Dale helped Jay aboard the helicopter. Their superior officer told Dale he had earned himself six months of K-P (kitchen patrol) for his gross insubordination, but Dale replied that he would gladly pay that for saving a human life.

(Illuminator#2/2 (fb) - BTS) - A surgeon removed the shrapnel from Jay's body. Dale refused to leave Jay's side until he recovered.

(Illuminator#2/2 (fb)) - After recovering, Jay thanked Dale, who told him to thank the savior on the cross.

(Illuminator#2/2 (fb) - BTS) - After the war, Dale moved to Henderson, but he and Jay initially kept in touch. Eventually, Dale stopped writing.

    Dale became an agent of the Drug Enforcement Agency.

    More recently, Dale sought to capture a group of criminals who had supplying drugs to school kids. To this end, a newspaper article seemingly from 9 years before was fabricated that reported Dale's arrest for drug trafficking.

(Illuminator#2/2 - BTS) - When Andy Prentiss was trying to think of a Christmas present for his father, Jay, Andy asked his dad if he wanted to replace his beat-up old cross, but Jay told him about Dale Johnson, who had given it to him and how he would never replace it. Jay let Andy borrow the cross, telling him it might give him luck on his mid-terms.

    Seeking to locate Dale for his father, Jay, who was the super-powered Illuminator, flew to Henderson and looked up Dale in the computer at a local library (see comments) and found him to have been arrested for drug trafficking nine years earlier. Andy subsequently traveled to the local sheriff's office and, pretending to be doing a research paper, asked about the history of Dale Johnson. Attempting to scare Andy away, the sheriff threatened to run him out of town for conspiring with a known felon. Subsequently wearing his Illuminator costume and glowing brightly, Andy confronted the sheriff, claiming to be the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come and telling him to grant the information to the boy to prevent him from growing resentful of all uniforms and taking his repressed anger out on him. The sheriff told the "Ghost" to tell the boy (Andy) that Johnson barely served any time and that he now owned a farm on Cash School Road.

(Illuminator#2/2) - As Dale met with the drug dealers in a greenhouse in which was growing marijuana, his DEA back-up got stuck in a snow drift. As the Illuminator arrived and secretly observed the meeting, the dealers offered Dale a briefcase full of cash, and he excused himself, allegedly to "call his Swiss bank account and tell them to expect a large deposit."

(Illuminator#2/2 - BTS) - The Illuminator subsequently confronted and subdued three of the dealers.

(Illuminator#2/2) - As Dale called his DEA associates and learned that his back-up was stuck in the snow somewhere, the fourth dealer overhead him and shot him as a double-crosser. Arriving too late to stop the shooting, the Illuminator subdued the last dealer, after which Dale, who had been wearing a bulletproof vest, recognized the cross he had given Jay and realized that Andy must be Jay's son.

    Confirming the story about his drug trafficking to have been a ruse to capture these dealers, Dale told Andy that he couldn't have done it without his help and asked how he could thank him.

(Illuminator#2/2 (fb) - BTS) - Andy asked Dale to come to his house to reunite with his father.

(Illuminator#2/2) - Andy gave his father his Christmas present, reuniting him with Dale, who told him "Long time no see, compadre." The elated Jay hugged Dale, telling him that it was so good to see him. Jay told Andy to keep the cross Dale had given him.

Comments: Created by Glenn Herdling and JB Jones.
    The Illuminator series was published in conjunction with Nelson, a company devoted to Christian books, but Marvel fully owned and created the characters in the story.

    The military action as written in the story took place in 1970, and the VC (Viet Cong) were referenced, which confirms it to have been intending to be the Vietnam War. However, the sliding timescale makes that a topical reference, and they were more likely involved in the Sin-Cong...or perhaps they were involved with Viet Nam, just not the Viet Nam War.

    I believe 1993 was around when the internet was getting its start with the World Wide Web, but it was in its infancy, and Andy had to travel to Dale's hometown to look up information on a local computer.

    Dale previously had a sub-profile under the Illuminator, originally published 03/27/2007.

   This profile was completed 02/16/2026, but its publication was delayed as it was intended for the Appendix 25^th anniversary 's celebratory event to represent the Illuminator.

Profile by Snood.

CLARIFICATIONS:
Dale Johnson should be distinguished from:

• other "Dale" or "Johnson" characters, groups, items, events, races or places...

First posted: 09/04/2026
Last updated: 02/16/2026

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

Non-Marvel Copyright info
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