The Ravers came together as one of many cliques who frequent the intergalactive
rave called the Event Horizon. It's operator, Kindred Marx chose super-powered
teens to whom he bestowed a hand stamp. The stamp, when touched, would transport
the individual from their home to the rave (which moved from place to place).
Superboy first visited the Event Horizon with his friend, Sparx (D.C.
Force). There he met many others, some of whom would become friends and foes.
Among his new friends were:
Kaliber, a young Qwardian who is considered an anarchist and rebel
on his homeworld. Kaliber can shrink or grow himself and other objects.
He is also keenly interested in the heroic history of Earth.
Aura (Lindsey Wah), a Chinese-American girl with magnetic abilities.
Originally, she hung with a clique nicknamed the Fashion Police.
Hero Cruz, who possessed the Achilles Vest which produces a force
field.
Rex the Wonder Dog. Smarter than your average dog!
And of course, Sparx, who weilds electric energy.
On Superboy's first day, Sparx made the mistake of angering another clique,
the Red Shift (Klo, Drrt, Red Death and Whoon). They were a group of
teen Khunds. Their extra-normal abilities made them reviled on Khundia. Hero
brushed off repeated romantic advances from Sparx until ultimately revealing
his homosexuality to her. (Ravers #14) Another clique
was called the
Corpse Corp; it was led the vampire girl, Pyra. All in all, it was an
eventful day. The rave was interrupted by a police group called InterC.E.P.T.
(Interdimensional Cooperative Enforcement Police Team; Ravers #1) By
their own description, InterC.E.P.T.'s duty is to patrol the interdimensional
borders, plug rifts and stop illegal transports. It's original members included:
Their leader, Captain Beta Tos, a woman who can produce an energy
shield.
Ephyra, an alien "ultramarine" who can create hard water
shapes.
The Darkstar, Jack Nebula (later revealed to be Kindred Grim, Marx's
brother)
The Earth heroine, Nightshade. She joined the group to help protect
her Nightshade Dimemsion while it "healed."
Shaar Q, a female non-humanoid who can teleport between dimensions
They sought to confront Kindred Marx about his illegal activities involving
the Event Horizon. The Ravers stepped into the fray, however, which allowed
Marx time to transport the rave to a new location. When Sparx and Hero returned
to Earth, the vengeful Red Shift followed them. In the southwest, they discovered
a crashed space ship and it's sole survivor: the Earth boy, Byron Stark. Stark's
family had been killed by the aliens and he'd been turned into a skeletal
freak. With the intervention of Aura and Stark (dubbed Half-Life),
the Red Shift met their match. (#2) Marx eventually
caught up to them and revoked the Red Shift's membership in the rave. This
returned them to Khundia where a grim fate awaited. Marx then offered Half-Life
a hand stamp, and Aura left the Fashion Police to hang with Sparx, Hero and
Half-Life. Next, the rave moved to Rann. It was bad luck, as they arrived
in the middle of a takeover attempt by the galactic conqueror, Hyathis. She
had kidnapped Adam Strange's daughter, Aleea and pitted the Rannians against
a band of Darkstars. After helping to end this conflict, Superboy and his
new friends officially formed their own group. (#3-4)
When they returned to Earth, Hero was accosted by the Scavenger. The villain
stole Hero's Achilles Vest. When he pursued the Scavenger to his lair, Hero
instead acquired the legendary H-Dial. (#5) On Ungara (Abin Sur's homeworld),
Pyra made one of numerous attempts to recruit Half-Life for her clique. Also,
Jack Nebula began trying to recruit ravers to spy on Kindred Marx. It was eventually
revealed that Nebula was actually Marx's brother and rival, Kindred Grim.
Grim killed one raver and another escaped to warn others. (#6) When the Event
Horizon returned to Earth, Superboy's group decided to take a road trip across
America. They encountered Flash and Impulse in California (#7), snuck into Warriors
in New York City (#8) and met Superman himself in Metropolis (#9). The young
hero known as Hardrock also helped the team a couple of times (#7-9,11).
While in New York, Hero and Sparx shared an indiscreet moment. While in a hero's
guise, Hero made romantic advances on Sparx. This could only lead to heartache,
as Hero himself was gay.
InterC.E.P.T. next appeared while stopping a band of thieves who had stolen
an shipment of Thanagarian shadow generators. Following this, they set out to
reclaim Nebula's team belt (with new members, Strata and Twelfth Knight). Kindred
Grimm's crusade against Kindred Marx had begun interfering with his duty to
InterC.E.P.T. and his membership was revoked. Kindred Grim recruited the Red
Shift and finally attacked Marx. (#11) It was then that Grim's disguise and
history was revealed. Grim sought Kindred Sol (Marx's mate) in order to add
Sol's power to his own. InterC.E.P.T. caught up with Marx but Grim fled. Marx
was imprisoned on Starlag which effectively ended the rave. (#12) Most of the
Ravers returned home. Rex the dog (who had no hand stamp) instead accompanied
Kindred Sol, who appeared on Ogyptu after everyone had gone. On Earth,
Hero was attacked by Vicki Grant, who wanted to reclaim the H-Dial. She also
revealed that emotions can effect the dial's outcomes. While at Sparx's family
home, Hero finally told her he was gay. (#13,15) Note:
Grant first used the Dial in Adventure #479 and lost it in New
Teen Titans #46.
During the cosmic crisis Genesis, the Ravers were abducted by Highfather. Kaliber
was chosen to be a part of a team to venture into the Source. In the process
he lost his sight. Marx had coerced Superboy to break him free of Starlag and
was instrumental in teleporting Earth's heroes into Darkseid's compound. (#14,
Genesis #2-4) Half-Life's "deader" parts were also affected
by this battle. He experienced a vision of his family's death: appaprently Kaliber
had shot down the ship which crushed his family. (#15) Marx restarted the Event
Horizon with live music (featuring Scare Tactics!).
For various reasons, all but Sparx agreed to rejoin. While on Earth, Faust unsuccessfully
attempted to restore Half-Life to full strength. (#16)
Half-Life lived up to his name when the group ventured to Qward to rescue
Kaliber and Kindred Sol. (#17-18) In battle with Kindred
Grim, the Ravers spent their last, most crucial energies. Sparx depleted all
her electromagnetic power; in the end, she still would not acknowledge respect
for Hero and Leander's relationship. Kindred Marx also lost his teleportational
powers. As a result, the Ravers' hand stamps disappeared. Marx's Mother Box,
however, remained with Aura, who contemplated using it's power to start a
new rave. Kaliber remained on Qward, presumably to help guide his people in
the aftermath of the battle. (#19)
Recently, a new villain called Repulse confronted Aura and nearly
killed her. Lindsay's final condition is unknown. (Action
#827)
»
FIRST APPEARANCE:
All Teams:Superboy
and the Ravers#1 (Sept. 1996)
»
FEATURED APPEARANCES: Ravers:Genesis #2-4 • Superboy v.3
#41 •
Young Justice #49-50 InterC.E.P.T.:Suberboy & the Ravers
#1-2, 11-12, 18, 19 Red Shift:Suberboy & the Ravers
#1-3, 11-12, 16-19
»
SERIES:
The Adventures of Rex the Wonder Dog, 46 issues (1952-59) Superboy v.3, 100 issues (1994-2002) Superboy and the Ravers, 19 issues (1996-98)
When the Weinberg children's parents are killed in a car crash, they do what
comes naturally: they become super- heroes! (A common occurrence among DCU orphans.)
Their plan was to travel to Metropolis in search of Superman's aid. Superman,
of course, would be able to bring them back to life. This close-knit group consists
of Joel Aaron Weinberg (Houston), the team's leader and elder sibling;
his younger sister, Aviva Joby Weinberg (Temper), who possesses powers
of electricity; Aviva's baby-sitter, Damara Sinclaire (Allure) who was
charmed by the god Eryx with powers of persuasion; adoptive brother Tyson Gilford
(Blindside, who may be the grandson of the Invisible Hood) can become
invisible; adoptive brother Cameron Begay (Omni) who can manifest the
metahuman gifts of those around him; and Cameron's plant Chloe.
This group was immediately pursued by Team A (Girth, Napalm & Kittyhawk) —
agents of the D.E.O. It seems that Cameron had been
entrusted to the now-deceased Mr. Weinberg, but was at one time a part of Team
A, under the code name Cypher. They were then attacked by Eryx, who
had been contracted to spend eternal life together with Damara. They escaped
him by pointing out that as Eryx was already technically dead. En route to
Manchester, Alabama, to see Impulse, they encountered the wannabe super-villain Metalhead.
They were saved by Impulse, who took them to he and Max Mercury's house.
Max attempted to talk Houston around, and Blindside was mentioned on America's
Most Wanted in connection with a murder.
A brief stopover in New Jersey brought them into contact with Catwoman, who
helped them avoid the D.E.O. On the way to Blüdhaven, they cleared Blindside's
name, and met up with their Grandfather. When they arrived in Blüdhaven,
where they were captured by the D.E.O. and taken to Metropolis' S.T.A.R. Labs.,
just as Chloe mutated into a humanoid shape.
At S.T.A.R., they were told the truth about Cypher. Both he and Chloe were
members of an alien race known as the "Es." The Weinberg's father,
Oren, was allowed to look after Cypher by the D.E.O until the Es returned.
The rest of the team, and their grandfather, were asked to leave the S.T.A.R.
facility, as the Es were returning for Cameron and Chloe. Outside they meet
a huge group of followers and fans (including a young man called Rive).
They soon realized that they had wrongly abandoned Cypher to the S.T.A.R
Labs, and returned inside (with Rive). There, after some assistance from
Superman, they were beamed aboard the Es' spaceship and discovered that the
aliens were shape-shifters. They convince the Es to allow them to return
to Earth with Cypher and Chloe, and to leave the Earth alone. They returned
home and attended their parent's funeral. At the funeral was a group of their
fans and Rive, who appeared to have begun dating Houston. Gossip from among
their fans maintains that the Weinbergs have given up on their super-hero
lives. But time will tell.
»
FIRST APPEARANCE: Relative Heroes #1 (March 2000)
»
FEATURED APPEARANCES: Batman Chronicles #20 • Young Justice #49-50
In essence, this group was originally comprised of Barry Allen's (the Flash)
nemeses. They were at different times less or more orgainized as a unit. After
Allen's death, they continued to menace Allen's successor, Wally West. Five
of them (Cold, Heat Wave, Mirror Master, Weather Wizard and Boomerang) died
together in service of Neron. (Underworld Unleashed #1) They
were all returned to life by Neron. (Flash v.2 #127-129)
The new team was assembled by the Blacksmith, former wife of the Flash's foe,
Goldface. (Flash: Iron Heights)
Died in service of Neron, Underworld Unleashed #1. Resurrected
by Neron, Flash v.2 #127-129; killed by Jack Drake Identity
Crisis #5 ; resurrected Blackest Night #8
The Royal Flush gang was originally assembled by Professor Amos Fortune.
As a portly child, Fortune's skill at cards became his trump.
As if
cosmically predestined, Fortune and his childhood friends came together and
each took a card that suited their names: Ace/Amos, King/Kerry, Queen/Queenie,
Jack/Jack, Ten/Tom. As the Royal Flush Gang, the friends took to larceny
and caught the attention of a local mobster, Jimmy the Gent. They soon turned
their fortunes into high-tech weaponry. (JLofA
v.2 #36) Fortune's plan for continued success hinged on his discovery
of "stellaration
energy," a force which, when harnessed, allowed him to control probability.
This energy was channeled through playing cards. Fortune's Gang was named for
the suit of clubs, which symbolized bad fortune. (JLA: Classified
#22-24) In time, they also began recruiting an entire deck of 52 gangsters
in various cities. This larger gang appeared off-and-on
through the years, fluctuating in power.
After two defeats at the JLA's hands (JLofA
#43, 56),
they clashed with the Joker as well. (Joker #5) The entire gang was eventually jailed, with Fortune receiving five-year longer sentence. The
only member to continue his crime career was Jack, who went on to join the Secret
Society of Super-Villains as Hi-Jack. (SSoSV #2)
The Spades
Years later, a completely new deck of Spades appeared, this time backed
by the telepath,
Hector Hammond. Hammond's Gang was defeated when Hammond himself was
subdued by Martin Stein (Firestorm) on the astral plane. Hammond's Ace
of Spades was an android developed by otherwise-good Derek Reston. (JLofA
#203-205) Though the original android was destroyed, it would be rebuilt
(and destroyed) several times. (Crisis #9) This Gang was also leaderless after their defeat, and they separated as well.
Not long after, however, both Gangs made simultaneous bids to destroy the
Justice League.The original Ten of Clubs, Tom Dillon, had been paying an informant
to keep tabs on the new JLA in Detroit. Dillon was also adept at the technology
that Fortune used to create his stellaration devices. Tom convinced his old
friends to reform the Clubs and attack the new Detroit Justice League, who
were on a retreat in the Ontario wilderness. With stellaration power, each
card in a deck could manifest its potential (as prescribed by the ancient Tarot).
They moved quickly against the new League, but tipped their hand and Steel
damaged their device. A resulting rock fall crushed Ten and Queen to death,
but King and Jack escaped with the device. (JLA:
Classified #22)
Jack and King soon ran into their old friend, Amos Fortune, who had also come
to that forest and once again wore the suit of the Ace, but for Spades.
He revealed that he was now leading the Spade Gang and had sabotaged
the Clubs' plot against the JLA. Fortune let his old friends go, but the Jack
and King of Clubs wanted revenge. Both Gangs then attacked the fledgling JLA
and a forest fire was started amidst the fracas. The villains turned
tail and the JLA were trapped. (#23)
The Royal Flush Gang used their good luck generators to escape handily. Once
safe, Fortune killed the
King the of Clubs, but Jack escaped once again. (#24) Luck
was on the JLA's side at last when they made their way into the RFG's cave
hideout. This time, Fortune used the stellaration energy in a totally new way,
transforming the Gang into avatars of the Tarot. They were successful until
King's collapsed from his failing health. As he went unconscious, the team's
energy was dispersed and they were easily captured. (25)
Ten of Spades went on to found her own gang of thieves
called "Ten's Little Indians." These Spades were
regrouped by the second Gambler, who claimed to be the Joker. Jack
of Spades reformed after the Gang's encounter with the JLA, and was hesitant
to return to a career in crime. But the Gambler gored Jack in the eye and replaced
it with an optical laser. Thus he was now a true one-eyed Jack of Spades.
The trauma pushed Jack into criminal psychosis.
This Gang was infiltrated by the Titan Danny Chase and all its members
were arrested by the Titans. (New
Titans #68-69) Later, they played a minor role in Sonar's quest for
world domination (JLE #50) and
plagued Superman during the "night
of a thousand thieves." (Adv. of Superman #520) NOTE: The
Gambler II is
the cousin of Hazard (of Injustice, Unlimited),
grandson of the original Gambler.
Apparently the Spades maintained ties and kept a base of operations. King also
apparently survived his collapse and apparent lung disease. During the Dominators'
alien invasion, King gained immortality when gene bomb activated his metahuman
powers. (??) But when the Justice League was reformed
with the world's most powerful heroes, King retired from a life of crime. The
others joined a massive new grouping of the Secret
Society of Supper-Villains, all
of whom were lured into a trap by this new JLA. (JLA 80-Page
#1)
Since then, the Royal Flush Gang has expanded nationwide, beyond one simple
"flush." Their leaders began co-opting other major gangs under the
RFG umbrella. Entire "decks"
of gang members now exist in every major city. A particularly ballsy unit of
Diamonds recently ran up against Superman in Metropolis. He managed
to expose their safe-house and arrest many of the members, but the higher
ranking
"face cards" escaped. The group remains widespread and elusive to
authorities. They have also perfected the means to mass produce the Ace androids.
(Superman: Man of Steel #121)
When Alex Luthor of Earth-3 broke free of his crystal fortress outside of
time, he began organizing a super-villain Society.
He freed Deuce (a
new Gang 's Jack), from Enclave M metahuman prison by blackmailing the warden.
Soon Black Adam was leading a new Royal Flush Gang of Spades (King, Queen,
Deuce as Jack and Ten) to stop the Secret
Six. This team wore more casual, gang-like uniforms. (Villains
United #4) The Queen and Jack from this Gang
also went freelance and accepted a job to kill mobster Joseph Bull. They were
stopped by the Birds of Prey. (Birds of Prey #91) NOTE: From
his comments, it appears that Deuce was not either of the previous Jacks, though
he did willingly have his eye cybernetically replaced like his predecessor.
Not long after this, the Joker left an entire Gang of Spades for dead because
he was upset that he'd not been invited to join the Society — too much
of a wild card. (Infinite
Crisis #2)
This Gang appeared to be the original Spades (and included an android Ace), not
the more recent team assembled by the Society, so it is unclear who may have
died. Since then, the Spades have shown themselves again. This Gang also wears
uniforms resembling the original team, and has a larger hierarchical structure
whereby members move their way up the ranks. (JLofA
v.2 #35)
Another known member of the Gang is the unnamed father of Courtney Whitmore, Stargirl. (JSA:
All-Stars #4, died in JSA #81)
The Arcana
Another similar group is also known to exist, the Arcana.
This is a much broader network of operatives
encompassing more of the entire deck of cards. (JLA
Spectacular) The
Arcana began in Europe hundreds of years ago as a mystic branch of Christianity.
They were crushed by the Catholic church, but went underground and developed
a deck of cards as symbols for their beliefs. They survived to modern day and
became power-brokers who also used card terminology. Each suit in the organization
has a different domain: politics for the Clubs; mind and emotion for Hearts;
battle for the Spades; and finance for the Diamonds.
One might speculate that the two groups are somehow connected because of their
common associate, Maxwell
Lord. Lord is known to have staged both the RFG attack with the purpose
of admitting Booster Gold to the JLA, (JL #4) and the
one to reform the League itself. (JLA. Spec.) He is
also known to have officially joined the Arcana soon after this. (JLA
Annual #9) He was still a junior member when he learned that he had
brain cancer. (JLA
#94) To cheat death, Max stole the power of the Kilg%re (who'd brought
him back to life) and called himself Lord Havoc (II) (#98-99).
Subsequently, a funeral was held for Max (#95). The
Arcana's Queen of Spades was sent to try to stop him (JLA
#108) but Max was too powerful and he assumed
leadership of the Arcana (JLA #111). In the end, Max's
agent, Judgment, killed the Aracana's ruling "four Aces." The
Arcana hasn't been heard from since, but Lord went on to similarly murder his
fellow "royalty" in his next organization,
Checkmate. The
Arcana was also behind the push for Blue
Devil's
JLA membership.
Official links from this group to the Royal Flush Gang, if any, have yet to
be revealed.
»
FIRST APPEARANCE: Justice
League of America #43
»
FEATURED APPEARANCES: Adventures
of Superman #520 • Infinite Crisis #2 • Joker #5 • Justice
League of America
#54, 203-205 • Justice League #4 • Justice Leauge Europe
#50 • JLA 80-Page Giant #1 • JSA All-Stars #4 •
New Titans #68-69 • Villains United #4. Arcana apps.:Justice League America #94-99, 101, 104-105, 108, 110, 111, 113 and
Annual #9.
Member
Affiliation
Status & Info
TEAM 1 (Clubs)
Professor Amos Fortune ("Pudge," the
Ace of Clubs, Wild Card II)
JLofA #43, 54
Active in villainy
King of Clubs (Kerry,
last name unrevealed)
Killed by Amos Fortune,
JLA: Classified #24
Queen of Clubs (Queenie,
last name unrevealed)
Deceased JLA: Classified #22
Jack of Clubs (Jack, last name unrevealed,
Hi-Jack)
Status unknown; broke with the Gang and joined the Secret
Society; escaped death JLA: Classified #24
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