Backlash (comics)

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caption="Backlash" #1 1994. Art by Brett Booth and Sal Regla .
comic_color= background: #8080ff
character_name=Backlash
real_name=Marc Slayton
publisher=Wildstorm Comics
debut= "StormWatch" (Volume 1) #3 (1993)
creators=Jim Lee
Brett Booth
alliance_color=background: #ffc0c0
alliances=I.O. Team One Team Zero Team 7 StormWatch Wildcore Department PSI
aliases=Alex
powers=generating psionic whips
turning into mist
immortality
superhuman agility|

Backlash is the name of a fictional character from the Wildstorm universe that first appeared in "StormWatch" #3 in 1993 and was featured in his own comic book series, which ran from 1994 to 1997. His daughter Jodihas adopted the name. Since Worldstorm event that has transpired in the Wildstorm Universe it has been stated that the character will be returning to the printed page. [ [http://forum.newsarama.com/showthread.php?t=154824 Christos Gage On Wildcats: Worlds End - Newsarama ] ]

Fictional character biography

Marc Slayton is born in Atlantis about three thousand years ago, the son of a human mother and Lord S'ylton, an enhanced Kherubim lord of the alien colony Atlantis. When his father sacrifices his life to imprison one-time allies the D'rahn, a race of hostile aliens whose attack leads to the sinking of Atlantis, young Marc is spirited away by Ferrian, his father's former advisor. Ferrian raises the child to adulthood, tutoring him in fighting skills for his protection. Once Marc is old enough to look after himself, Ferrian drops out of sight and leaves him to fend for himself.

Marc spends the next three thousand years travelling around the world, living a life of adventure. He has only fragmented memories of his long life. At one point he is a ninja, at another he is a medieval knight. In World War II, he is recruited for a mission as an intelligence specialist for Team Zero. No rank is seen until the 1960s when he is an Air Force Colonel, working as part of the extraterrestrial threats squad Team One. Later he joins Team 7, a special ops unit which is deliberately exposed to a mutagenic chemical called the Gen-Factor. All of the members develop superhuman powers—in Marc's case some of these are the result of his alien heritage being fully activated. Team 7 finish their final mission and then go AWOL, but Marc makes a deal with their boss, brokering his (and John Lynch's and Michael Cray's) services in return for the rest of the squad and their families being left alone.

tormwatch

Backlash is then assigned to join and spy on StormWatch, the U.N.'s Crisis Intervention superteam. He works as the group's field leader and instructor until he loses several members of the first team (later dubbed Stormwatch Prime) during a mission in Kuwait. After this tragedy he switches to being the full time instructor. When a Daemonite called S'ryn puts Marc's girlfriend, Major Diane LaSalle into a coma, he deserts StormWatch to track her down, breaking a Cabal agent, Taboo, out of prison to help him on his quest. While he eventually catches his prey and revives Diane, he and Taboo become lovers, and both become fugitives.

Subsequent to this, Marc discovers he had fathered twin children—a girl named Jodi Morinaka and a boy known only as Aries—by an old girlfriend from Japan He learns of Jodi when she tracks him down after her mother's death. Like her father, Jodi's alien genes give her superhuman powers, and she takes the identity of Crimson so she can adventure with him. Backlash and Taboo arrange a pardon for their crimes in return for working for the United States' Department of Paranormal Science Investigations (PSI). Taboo's initial approach by the government results in a multi-super-powers fight throughout the house as several of the FBI agents lose their cool and employ violence. "Backlash" #21. In the same issue, Marc is dealing with emotions over Ares, he has recently learned not only that he has a son, but Ares is a cold-blooded, brain-washed assassin.

Marc makes friends with the animal-faced adventurer "Dingo", who helps him out on more than one case. It is around this point Marc finally learns of his Kherubim ancestry—for reasons best known to himself, Ferrian had never told Marc. Marc is placed in charge of forming a team of superpowered operatives codenamed Wildcore for Department PSI.

Around this time Marc battles several of Dingo's associates, a race of animal-people that call themselves "The Kindred".

More Tragedy

In an issue of "WILDC.A.T.s", the long-lived Savant attempts to recruit Marc for a new version of the team. He turns her down

He works with Wildcore until most of this team are killed trying to stop a breakout at the Purgatory Max facility, as seen in the "Gen-Active" series. Marc survives thanks to the assistance of former DV8 member Evo who had been imprisoned for the murder of an NYPD officer. Marc loses a leg, has it replaced with an artificial one and returns to duty.

According to his daughter, Marc gives up the name "Backlash"; seeking, as she put it, to keep it in the family, Jodi uses it herself. Marc Slayton appears in "Sleeper" as a plainclothes agent of Department PSI with the rank of Commander. He has not been seen using any of his old powers for some time now.

Powers and abilities

Thanks to his Kherubim genes, Marc is virtually immortal and has accrued three thousand years of combat experience. He is an expert martial artist and trained in the use of most weapons. His agility is superhuman. Exposure to the Gen-Factor released several latent powers, including the ability to generate psychic energy whips out the backs of his hands. He can use these whips for various purposes; in combat he uses them to constrict his opponents, shocking them with the energy running through the whips or to cut through objects. He can use the energy whips as grappling hooks. The whips are very durable, but beings of great strength can break them, causing painful psionic feedback. He can also transform his body and clothes into mist - as well as being useful for infiltration and defense, this also allows him to swiftly heal most injuries, which tend to vanish after transforming to mist and back. While he could at first use this ability at will, when the Gen-Factor was flushed from his system, his ability to use this power was restricted to only once or twice a day. However, his energy whips had doubled in power as a result. When first exposed to the Gen-Factor, Marc had extensive psionic powers including telepathy and telekinesis, but these powers waned over the years and even completely disappeared together with the Gen-Factor removed from his system. It is possible that his telekenetic powers contributed to the strenghening of his psionic whips, which are in actuality just a visible mental projection that allow Marc to manipulate matter with his mind. For instance, if one did not see the whips, it would appear that Marc was picking up an object, or slicing an object in half with telekenetic abilities, so it can be argued that Marc's stronger psi-whips are due to his telekenetic powers becoming part and parcel of his psychic energy whips.

Appearances

Backlash has appeared in the following comics:

*The Authority #16, 21
*Backlash #1-32
*Backlash/Spiderman #1-2
*Backlash & Taboo's African Holiday
*Cyberforce #0
*Deathblow #1-12, 23-29
*Fire From Heaven #1
*Gen-Active #4
*Gen 12 #1-5
*Gen 13 #41
*Grifter #1, 2
*The Kindred, Preview, #1-4
*The Kindred II #1-4
*Point Blank #2, 3
*Sigma #1
*StormWatch #0, 3-5, 7, 8, 22, 27, 35, 36
*StormWatch v.2 #7, 9
*Sword of Damocles #2
*Team Zero #2-6
*Team One: StormWatch #1, 2
*Team One: WildC.A.T.s #1, 2
*Team 7 #1-4
*Team 7: Objective: Hell #1-3
*Team 7: Dead Reckoning #1-4
*Wetworks #17, 42
*WildC.A.T.s #30
*WildCore, Preview, #1-10
*WildStorm Rising #2
*Wildstorm Thunderbook #1

References

*comicbookdb|type=character|id=2122|title=Backlash
*comicbookdb|type=title|id=3868|title="Backlash"