Turpin was introduced back in Jack Kirby's original New Gods series from the 70's.
Actually, Turpin goes way back to Kirby's WW2 comic, Boy Commandos.
He's the one with the bowl hat (originally named "Brooklyn").
He was Maggie Sawyer's partner at the Metropolis S.C.U. for a long time, until she was transferred to Gotham (and the Bat-books) and the Superman books sorta lost track of him.
