Johnny Chambers
Johnny Chambers is a male comic superhero who features in DC Comics.
Contents |
Biography
Pre-Crisis
Johnathan Chambers
Professor Gill then revealed his great discovery to his charge where he showed a papyrus from King Amen's tomb. This contained a formula for coordinating gravity and electricity with this being the secret of space and time. (More Fun Comics v1 #71)
He spent the following years to train himself as a mystery crime-fighter where he became a masked superhero named Johnny Quick. Chambers brought foes to justice as a lone avenger with him becoming a scourge of the underworld. Johnny assumed the costumed identity of Johnny Quick to fight crime, and he entrusted the secret of his dual identity with his friend Tubby Watts, who acted as his sidekick. Among the cases he solved as a costumed crimefighter included one involving the Armored Truck, the Money Mad Miser, the Murderous Musician and the Pharaoh's Mummy. One day, he was with Watts in his civilian guise at the circus when he witnessed a beast tamer nearly being killed by his lion Nero. Using the formula, Johnny stopped the beast using a burst of superspeed before anyone could notice anything. Afterwards, photos taken at the circus revealed that the lion had been triggered into a rage through a dart sent at it by a circus clown. As Johnny Quick, he went to investigate the circus again where he saw a number of the members looking to kill the clown for his failure. They sent forth Tantor the killer elephant but Quick managed to stop the large animal using superstrength endowed to him by the formula. Questioning the clown, the man refused to reveal anything as he feared to be killed by a mysterious crime czar known as the Caesar. Looking to uncover this crime boss, Johnny decided to disguise himself where he offered to be a strongman for the circus. They came to hire him where he worked for them for a short time until the Caesar called for a meeting. He had been using the circus as a means to rob the wealthy and had dispatched them once more on another job. In the midst of the job, Johnny Quick acted but was caught and gagged by the agents of the Caesar. They intended to kill him but Quick managed to free himself where he used his powers to capture the Caesar who was revealed to be Sam Leroy the circus manager wearing a rubber mask disguise alongside a suit that made him appear as a fat man to hide his true identity. This led to the criminals arrest with Johnny Quick having now solved the case of the Crying Clown. (More Fun Comics v1 #71)
Afterwards, Chambers and Watters attended the world premiere show of a 'modern Macbeth' when the lead singer Clive Taylor suddenly caught on fire after speaking into his mic. Using his formula, he became his superpowered alter-ego Johnny Quick and used superspeed to put out the flames around Taylor thus saving his life. Back in his civilian persona, Chambers decided to speak to some of the attendees about the incident where he came to learn that Taylor had been the target of the Murder Maestro. From there, Johnny came to learn that the mysterious murderer had been targeting the members of the Tin Pan Alley Club with two of Clive's colleagues having already been killed. Johnny Quick went to meet the surviving members of the club that included the lyric writer Rollo Martin, the swing composer Blind Harry Thorpe, the song publisher Hugo Humbolt and the ex-orchestrate leader Danny Smith. All of them had been masters of music that composed the nation's smash song hits. Johnny came to save the blind Martin after finding out that his cats claws had been poisoned in a bid to kill him. Afterwards, the Murder Maestro made another death threat against Smith where Quick saved him from small miniature planes targeting him. Puzzled at the mystery, Quick came to believe that a member of the club was the Murder Maestro and went through their ranks the next afternoon. Saving the musicians lives, he came to learn that the killer was Thorpe who suffered from a malady called nemeralopia that blinded him in light but allowed him to see at night time. Knocking the man out, he came to solve the case of the Murder Maestro who was sent to jail afterwards. (More Fun Comics v1 #72)
Post-Crisis
Following the Crisis on Infinite Earths, a new version of reality was created with a different history of events. Jonathan Chambers
During his career, he was battling a criminal gang when the last culprit was killed by another speedster named Savitar. He had approached Johnny Quick for his secrets about his speed as he was looking for a way of entering into the Speed Force. Quick had no great answer for the other speedster and simply said that it was because he uttered an equation. This angered Savitar who had become a zealot that worshipped the speed field where he came to see Johnny Quick as being a blasphemer. As a result, he attacked the hero who struggled against his opponent but then was aided by the timely arrival of Max Mercury. This caused Savitar to flee but both Johnny Quick and Max Mercury pursued him where they found his lair at a new makeshift temple created by his followers. The two superheroes battled their foe but it was Max Mercury who decided on a means of stopping their foe where he ran into the speed field with Savitar in pursuit. Whilst there, Mercury caused his opponent to become lost within the timestream where it was expected that he would be trapped there for decades as he was catapulted into the future thus ending the threat posed by him for a time. (The Flash v2 #109)
At some point, he and Libby had a daughter who they named Jesse Chambers. (Justice Society of America v2 #3)
He came to uncover evidence that the Ultragen corporation was conducting inhuman experiments on innocent people and mutating them in the process with these being secretly overseen by the Ultra-Humanite. Johnny faxed this information to Jesse who was then sent to inform the Justice Society of the threat. (Justice Society of America v2 #5)
Johnny Quick visited Max Mercury in the hospital after his battle with Savitar and told Max he'd lost his power. Savitar was responsible and Quick finally admitted that Max was right, and his mathematical formula connected him to the Speed Force. Savitar's avatars attacked them, as well as Jay Garrick, XS and Impulse. The speedsters powers returned thanks to the actions of Flash and Jesse Quick, allowing them to defeat the avatars. The speedsters then went to confront Savitar. (Impulse v1 #10)
At last, in their final battle with Savitar, Johnny realized that what Max was trying to say made sense and realized that instead of his "higher dimension" and the Speed Force being two separate power sources they were basically one and the same, and that his accessing it was limited to his conscious demands and permissions. Right after this epiphany, however, Chambers gave his life saving his daughter from Savitar, by overwhelming Savitar with the sheer power of the Speed Force dimension as he embraced the Speed Force wholly, which in turn consumed Chambers completely and supposedly forever the same as Barry Allen and many other superspeed beings. (Impulse v1 #11)
What looked as Johnny's ghost began to appear to Wally West as the latter ran close to its top speed, much to Wally's fear as he felt himself somewhat responsible for Johnny's death. However, Wally soon realized that Johnny only wished to say goodbye to Jesse once and for all, which he had not managed to do when battling Savitar, and was using him because he had a direct link with the Speed Force; therefore Wally helped Jesse reach the outskirts of the Speed Force, where the Quicks could finally say goodbye to each other. (The Flash Annual v2 #11) Johnny Quick briefly resurfaced from the Speed Force during the Infinite Crisis, when Bart Allen was struggling to trap Superboy-Prime in the Speed Force itself, helping him in his task together with Barry Allen and Max Mercury. (Infinite Crisis v1 #4) Johnny fell victim to the machinations of Professor Zoom, which orchestrated the return of Barry Allen from the Speed Force only to have him slowly corrupted by Zoom's own Speed Force and expecting him to become a deadly threat to his fellow speedsters. When Barry tried to avoid this by returning into the Speed Force, he met Johnny and Max being engulfed by Zoom's dark energies; Johnny grabbed Barry and was consumed by the latent energies still present in his system. As he decayed into a skeleton, he begged for Barry to protect Jesse, and to tell his wife that he had never stopped loving her. (The Flash: Rebirth v1 #3) Johnny's death, however, triggered a reaction in the Speed Force that eventually resulted in Jesse having her connection to the Speed Force fully restored and re-embracing her identity as Jesse Quick, ensuring that his legacy would be carried on. (The Flash: Rebirth v1 #5)
During the Blackest Night, Johnny Quick was one of many people that were reanimated by a black Power Ring and made to join the ranks of the Black Lantern Corps. (Blackest Night: JSA v1 #1)
Post-Flashpoint
Following the Flashpoint, a new version of reality was created with a different history of events.
Overview
Personality and attributes
Upon becoming a mystery crime-fighter, he adopted the name of Johnny Quick where he brought criminals to justice. In his era, he came to be referred to as the King of Speed and as the Speed Monarch. (More Fun Comics v1 #71)
The man was his guardian with Professor Gill being a great mathematical genius. He taught him the formula that was the secret of space and time. He urged Johnathan to never repeat it to anyone else and to keep it a secret. Gill told him that the formula was a gift and to use it in the cause of justice. (More Fun Comics v1 #71)
He an Libby later came to have a daughter together who was named Jesse Chambers. When she was young, Johnny's relationship with his wife became strained as they grew distant from one another resulting in them separating. (Justice Society of America v2 #3)
Powers and abilities
Originally, Chambers was an ordinary human being until Professor Gill taught him a formula taken from a papyrus found in King Amen's tomb. According to Gill, the formula was able to coordinate gravity and electricity thus uncovering the secret of space and time. This formula was 3x2(9yz)4a and allowed the person who recited it to attain the secret of space and time thus giving them super-speed. Using this dynamic formula gave Johnny the ability to reach the speed of light and travel as superspeed. (More Fun Comics v1 #71) This formula functions as a mantra that, when spoken, acts as a focus for his brain to tap into the Speed Force. (The Flash v2 #78)
Johnny generates large amounts of electrical Speed Force energy from his body, especially when moving at super-speed. (Impulse v1 #11) It was noted that his speed was too fast for a camera and that if he was caught by one then he would appear only as a blur. Using whirlwind tactics, Quick could run at typhoon velocity and generate vacuums that could put out fires. (More Fun Comics v1 #72)
With his mighty powers, it was shown that he could handle a giant elephant with ease such as lifting one as if it were a sack of straw. (More Fun Comics v1 #71)
His speed allowed Johnny to break through the laws of space and reach the fourth dimension of time. Once in the fourth dimension, he can freely travel to any point in time. (Adventure Comics v1 #123) Chambers came to refer to this process as being the Wheel of Time. (Adventure Comics v1 #137)
After finally accepting the Speed Force, Johnny realized he did not need the formula to access his powers and became faster than he ever was. (Impulse v1 #11)
After merging with the Speed Force, Johnny was able to communicate through the essence of the Speed Force. This allowed him to project his essence through Wally's Speed Force energy. (The Flash Annual v2 #11)
Notes
- Johnny Chambers was created by Mort Weisinger where he made his first appearance in More Fun Comics v1 #71 (September, 1941).
In other media
Television
- In The Flash, Johnny Quick did not appear in the setting of the live-action television series set in the Arrowverse but easter eggs related to him appeared in the show. His daughter Jesse Quick was adapted to be an inhabitant of another Earth where she was the daughter of that world's Harrison Wells.
Appearances
- More Fun Comics v1: (1941)
- Justice Society of America v2:
- The Flash v2:
- Impulse v1:
- The Flash Annual v2:
- Infinite Crisis v1:
- Blackest Night: JSA v1:
- The Flash v1:
External Links
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