Joshua Clay
| Joshua Clay | |
|---|---|
 Tempest in action, art by James Fry | |
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | DC Comics |
| First appearance | Showcase #94 August (1977) |
| Created by | Paul Kupperberg (writer) Joe Staton (artist) |
| In-story information | |
| Alter ego | Joshua Clay |
| Team affiliations | Doom Patrol |
| Notable aliases | Tempest Jonathan Carmichael |
| Abilities | kinetic energy blasts, flight |
Joshua Clay was a member of the Doom Patrol a superhero comic book published by DC Comics. He first appeared in Showcase #94 August (1977), written by Paul Kupperberg and drawn by Joe Staton.
History
Early Years
Joshua Clay was the first DC Comics hero to use the name Tempest as a member of the second Doom Patrol. Along with Captain Comet he was one of the few DC Comics heroes initially identified as a Mutant.
Joshua Clay was born in the Brownsville section of Brooklyn New York, he was the youngest of five children. His parents struggled to keep their family together in the middle of what was at that time in the 1960's, one of the worst slums in the country. Despite his parents best efforts, sixteen year old Joshua joined a street gang named the Stompers.
Soldier
Due to fallout from his time in the Stompers, seventeen year old Joshua Clay was given a choice between prison and service in the United States Military, he chose the army. Joshua was trained as a Combat Medic and shipped off to Vietnam.
One day while on patrol less than a month before the end of his tour, Joshua witnessed the attempted massacre of an entire village of Vietnamese non-combatants by his sergeant. Horrified Joshua unconsciously triggered his powers blasting the noncom into unconsciousness. The stress of this revelation led Clay to go AWOL, he deserted his commission and fled the country, eventually returning to the US. Clay spent the next ten years living as a fugitive in the underground, constantly moving from city to city.
Hero
Arani Caulder tracked dow Joshua Clay while he was still on the run, she sought to re-activate the Doom Patrol and offered Clay refuge, a real home, and family. Clay was active with this incarnation of the Doom Patrol for a year before it disbanded due to internal dissent and general bad feelings.[1]
Clay decided to swear off superheroics, and used his underworld connections secure a new identity for himself as Jonathan Carmichael M.D. due to years of private study and his previous military training, Clay easily passed his New York medical boards. As Carmichael, using funds gained from a local loanshark, he purchased a small Park Avenue medical practice. He proceeded to live a quiet respectible life treating rich hypochondriacs.
Cliff Steele tracked down Jonathan Carmichael, and confronted Clay. Due to Robotman's threat to reaveal his true identity to the NY medical board he reluctantly returns to superheroics. He again retired from active service during the Grant Morrison scripted era to become the team's physician.
Joshua Clay was murdered by a temporarily deranged Niles Caulder (The Chief) in Doom Patrol #55 May (1992).[2]
Bibliography
- Showcase #94 - 96
- Superman Family #191- 193
- DC Comics Presents #52
- Daring New Adventures of Supergirl #7 - 10
- Crisis on Infinite Earths #9 - 12
- Doom Patrol Vol. 2 #1- 27, 31, 55
- Invasion *2 - 3
Trivia
- Two years after Joshua Clay's death in Doom Patrol #55, a man named Martin Ellis, who looked exactly like the Steve Lightle rendition of Joshua Clay wakes from a seven year coma with an active metagene. From the pages of Justice League Quarterly #17 Winter (1994), The Sleeper Awakens written by Charlie Bracey and drawn by Carlos Franco.
- Martin Ellis exhibited the exact same powers as Joshua Clay while engaged in combat with Captain Atom. Ellis reunites with his wife Yvonne at the end of the story. This was his only appearance.[3]
Powers & Abilities
- Joshua Clay had the ability biologically generate and radiate powerful blasts from his hands, these blasts could disintegrate solid steel.
- Because of his twenty years of experience, Tempest could control the volume and intensity of his blasts to the extent that was able to ignite the head of a match from a distance of twenty feet.
- Properly focused and controlled, his energies allowed Tempest to propel himself through the air at 90 miles per hour.[4]
- Joshua Clay was trained as a Combat Medic by the US Army. He was also an accredited physician, with a private practice under the alias of Jonathan Carmichael M.D.