Stormchild

Stormchild is the child of Dr. Templar and Miss Twilight, two members of the first Danger Squad, and his origin stretches back to one of their last cases. In 1951 the Danger Squad was having their final encounter with the mad Dr. Lorenzo Longfellow Lazarus, who had created electromagnetic duplicates of prominent officials and was trying to overthrow Parliament. During these events, Lazarus captured Miss Twilight and used her as fodder for one of his experiments, electrically changing and trying to modify her body. The experiments had no discernable effect on her, and Lazarus was captures again, going to jail for over a decade (a new record).
    Unknown to everyone involved, Miss Twilight was 3 weeks pregnant at the time.
    David Hassan Jones was born without incident eight months later. David's parents always seemed to know where the boy was, and the family showed a remarkable talent for guessing what one another were thinking, but that's not too odd for a close-knit family of former adventurers, is it? No one worried. Not until 13 years later, in 1965, when young David accidentally kicked a rock through the Jones' house. It was a seven pound stone he had tripped against, and it went through three walls.
    A short period of experimentation followed, in which David's full powers were explored and their origins surmised. In July of 1965, two months shy of his 14th birthday, he appeared as Stormchild, making him the one of the youngest variants on record, and certainly the youngest with such a high power level.
    Stormchilds powers focused around the generation and control of electromagnetic energy. Already superhumanly strong, he could create EM fields around his body that further increased his strength and durability, not to mention repelling attacks. He could fly through EM propulsion and fire electrical blasts from his eyes (Lightning Vision). His skill with these powers grew as he aged and became more experienced, eventually letting him sense EM energy, short out or control conventional electronics (always accompanied by the flaring eyes of his Lightning Vision), and magnetically lift items without touching them. His strength also improved dramatically, in part from his growing EM powers, but also in his maturation from a 13 year old boy to a 100 kilo man.
    Stormchild's least publicized but perhaps most important power was his ability to create electro-pathic links, sensing and reading the brainwaves of other minds. These were apparently difficult to form, but once created had vast ranges. This power was critical in his early years, as Stormchild was telepathically linked with both of his parents until their deaths. This gave the 13-year-old boy access to the knowledge, experience and skills of a half century of combined experience, with scientific, medical, historical, linguistic and tactical skills from two of England's premier costumed adventurers. During these early years this led people to believe that Stormchild was inhuman, or an unparalleled genius. This might have caused problems, but the youth had sufficient charm, poise, and enthusiasm (not to mention parental support!) to make overwhelmingly positive first impressions.
    Dr. Lazarus broke out of jail a month after the boy's first appearance, instinctively recognizing the new era in his war (game?) with the followers of Danger Asante. The mad doctor was a persistent foe of Stormchild for his entire career, and is the foe most associated with the Lad of Lightning. He was not, however, Stormchild's worst foe.
    That position was held unequivocally by Greer from the Unseelee Prince's first appearance in London in 1969. Six months after that, Greer killed Dr. Templar, Stormchild's father, and attempted to corrupt Lynn Jones, his sister (see Balance of the new Danger Squad), leading to her sequestering away from society for over a decade. Greer was obscenely powerful, able to mold reality to his twisted whims. Stormchild battled him without a clear victor for over a decade, until finally, with the aid of the mysterious Journeyman and the remaining Flower Children, he managed to outwit and trap Greer. In the end, Greer was imprisoned in a magically warded tower outside of London, unable to escape or interact with the world. The heroes had won, but at a very high price.
    Stormchild's life.
    Stormchild was buried in July of 1980, 15 yeas to the day after the beginning of his career as a variant hero. He was a knight when he died, and his funeral was attended by the entirety of the royal family, heads of state from around the world, and various variant national heroes. While the general public are still not entirely clear as to the nature and reason for their hero's death, they mourned him, and each found their own culprits to blame, leading to various conflicting legends about the hero's death.
    Greer was an oddity among Stormchild's opponents. Most of his rogues gallery consisted of thieves and super-scientists, and it was more often seen as a game—a challenge of wits and technology—harkening back to the American pre-war years of variant activity. Even the alien invaders seemed innocuous and playful when dealing with the Lad of Lightning. Unfortunately, this attitude seems to have died along with Stormchild. Much of his rogues gallery retired. Those remaining are either the worst of the bunch, or legacy villains using the technologies, powers or agendas of his old opponents to combat Balance (Stormchild's sister) and her new Danger Squad.
    Obviously, Stormchild was loved by the British people, and had official standing with the British Crown, even if he had only unofficial standing with the government.

(Stormchild is an unashamed mishmash of Superman, Captain Marvel and the Flash from the Silver Age. But he's so damn much fun to come up with stuff for! - Brian)

Visit Stormchild's Rogues Gallery.

| Top |