Inertia (DC Comics)
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Inertia is a comic book character in the DC Comics universe.
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[edit] Publication history
[edit] Creation
When questioned as to who created Inertia, Ethan van Sciver wrote that he could only accept five percent of the credit. The rest was offered to Mike Wieringo (twenty percent), Grant Morrison (twenty-five percent), and Todd Dezago (fifty percent). He also states that Inertia's appearance is just Impulse's inverted, like a Reverse Flash.[1] This fits the character's original role as a "Reverse Impulse" created to antagonize the title character.
[edit] Initial appearances
Inertia's inital appearance came in Impulse #50: “First Fool’s” (July 1999), followed by 51: “It’s All Relative” (August 1999), with Dezago observing. Then, Dezago wrote for Impulse 52: “Tumbling Down” (September 1999). The most character development came in #53: “Threats” (October 1999), with Dezago also writing. Inertia wasn't featured again until Impulse #62 and 66: “Mercury Falling” (July, November 2000), by Dezago. After this, Inertia would not be notably featured again for half a decade.
[edit] Revival
About five years since his debut, writers suddenly took new interest in Inertia for stories to be released in late 2006 and early 2007. First, Inertia appear in The Flash: The Fastest Man Alive #5 and 6: “Lightning in a Bottle, Parts 5 and 6” (December 2006, January 2007), by Danny Bilson & Paul DeMeo. The formula was largely the same. Inertia acted as an antagonist to the title character, Bart Allen, who had changed since his days as Impulse. Inertia's next Flash appearance will be in The Flash: The Fastest Man Alive #7 (“Speedquest Chapter 1: Angel City,” February 2007) by Danny Bilson & Paul DeMeo.
On top his Flash appearances, Inertia was used a different format. Teen Titans (volume 3), a team-based series, features Inertia as part of an enemy team, Titans East. The story arc began in Teen Titans #43 (January 2007) written by Geoff Johns, with art by Tony Daniel and Jonathan Glapion. The arc will conclude with #46 (April 2007), written by Geoff Johns and Adam Beechen.
[edit] Character biography
[edit] Beginnings
Thaddeus Thawne is a clone of Bart Allen, and was created in the 30th century by Bart's maternal grandfather, President Thawne. Thawne, being the descendant of the Flash's enemy Professor Zoom, got tired of his grandson's crime fighting activities in the 20th century and decided to create a clone of Bart using more Thawne blood so that he would be more ruthless. In addition to this modification, Thaddeus's growth and development was slowed. This is in contrast to Bart's accelerated development, (becoming physically 15 at chronological age 2). This was done to give Thad more training and knowledge than Bart ever would. His mission as the "Reverse-Impulse" was to go back in time and replace Bart, but he was easily defeated.
In his second attempt, upon realising Impulse was prepared to sacrifice himself to save Max Mercury, he fled, apparently horrified by the contrast between Bart's adopted family and his own grandfather's treatment of him as a weapon.
[edit] Return
Appearing again after the One Year Later event, Inertia worked with Manfred Mota.[2] Inertia stated that his agenda involved stealing the speed of all other speedsters in order to become the next "Fastest Man Alive". His first targets include his old rival Bart Allen, who is now a Flash and the original Flash, Jay Garrick. After betraying Mota, Inertia used his daughter Valerie Perez as a bait in a trap he set for Bart. Bart escaped and successfully rescued Valerie. After this defeat, Inertia began to gather the Rogues for his next attack.
Inertia is also working with Deathstroke. Due to Bart's encapsulation of the Speed Force, Inertia has been forced to inject himself with Velocity 9, a notoriously unstable substance invented by The Rival which allows the user to move at superhuman speeds. However, Inertia's Velocity 9 has been specially made by Deathstroke, and has thus far shown no ill effects.[3]
After being defeated in The Flash: Fastest Man Alive #8, he returned in #10 when he confronted the captive Heat Wave. He recruited Heat Wave into his newest mysterious plan, telling him that he was talking about something that would "change the world". Getting rid of the Flash would "just be a bonus."
He is also now a member of the new Titans East team in exchange for Deathstroke's help.[4][5] He begins the attack on the Teen Titans with Titans East teammate Match. Disguising himself as Impulse and Kid Flash, he defeats Robin and Raven, then toys with Wonder Girl in Robin's secret facility. Ultimately, he lets Match to knock Wonder Girl unconscious. During the assault, Inertia mentioned that he was going to call himself Kid Zoom after Bart renamed himself from Impulse to Kid Flash, but decided to stick with the name Inertia.
[edit] Powers and abilities
A partial clone of Bart Allen, Inertia is primarily a speedster. He has not demonstrated any other speed related powers, including Bart's resilience to alterations in the time stream. Since Infinite Crisis, Inertia is no longer connected to the Speed Force. Instead, he has begun injecting himself with Velocity 9, a substance that helps him maintain his superhuman speed. Velocity 9 has been notoriously unstable in the past, but Deathstroke's new variant seems to offer no negative side effects.
[edit] References
- ^ http://www.comicbloc.com/forums/showthread.php?t=31402&page=4
- ^ Flash: Fastest Man Alive #5
- ^ Flash: Fastest Man Alive #7
- ^ http://www.comicbookresources.com/news/newsitem.cgi?id=7930
- ^ http://comics.ign.com/articles/720/720516p1.html
