Human Bomb
1919 - Roy Lincoln is born in Missouri, the son of Benjamin Lincoln, chemistry professor at the University of Missouri School of Mines & Metallurgy, who is working with the US Chemical Weapons Program.
1931 - 12-year-old Roy’s mother dies of pneumonia. He begins spending his time in his father’s labs, working as an errand boy.
1934 - 15-year-old Roy pitches for his high school baseball team, going to the state championship, and is scouted by the St Louis Cardinals farm team.
1937 - 18-year-old Roy graduates High School and becomes a pitcher for the St Louis Cardinals.
1941 - 22-year-old Roy goes to work for his father Professor Benjamin Lincoln full time as they attempt to create an experimental new explosive compound. They succeed in creating compound 27-QRZ, but when their lab is raided by nazi saboteurs his father, the only person who knows the formula for 27-QRZ, is killed. Shot in the chest and desperate to keep the saboteurs from acquiring the compound, Roy swallows the only existing sample, altering his body to produce massive chemical explosions upon contact with his skin. Surviving the initial explosions, Roy dons an experimental fibro-wax suit to contain his powers. Despairing that he can’t be allowed to survive, Roy is instead contacted by Uncle Sam who gives him a new purpose to fight overseas with the Freedom Fighters as the Human Bomb.
1944 - 25-year-old Roy's biological sample is used by Delores Winters to create 100 superhuman embryos.
1945 - 26-year-old Roy sacrifices himself, unleashing his entire explosive potential and bringing down an entire mountain on Vandal Savage's secret laboratories.
Those original years of creating superheroes must have been a wild time. There were really no rules for what they were supposed to look like, and you have to imagine people came at it from every angle possible. The Human Bomb was created by Paul Gustavson, the original artist for the very first publication of Marvel Comics #1... and I imagine he actually created this character by starting with the name and working backward.
I mean it's an AWESOME name. It almost sounds more like a thrash band than a superhero, but it certainly creates certain challenges from a storytelling standpoint. Those classic stories seemed to just sidestep them completely, but we actually think embracing them and seeing where they take us makes for a cool addition to the larger mythology of our world.
I mean it's an AWESOME name. It almost sounds more like a thrash band than a superhero, but it certainly creates certain challenges from a storytelling standpoint. Those classic stories seemed to just sidestep them completely, but we actually think embracing them and seeing where they take us makes for a cool addition to the larger mythology of our world.
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The Human Bomb's Comic HistoryLike quite a few of the original Quality Comics heroes, the Human Bomb's first appearance was in Police Comics #1 in 1941. He was a chemist working with his famous father on an experimental explosive compound whose lab was raided by nazi saboteurs, who swallowed the compound to keep them from acquiring it. (I'd like to think he ran through all the other options first, but it really does read like it was the first idea he had. Like he was just waiting for his chance to drink it.) He develops his explosive powers, dons a fibro-wax containment suit (which really does not look like a superhero costume at all), and proceeds to fight other nazis... largely by just fistfighting them? This is something I've noticed happens with a lot of Golden Age heroes; they develop unbelievable, often physics-defying powers, but seem to prefer punching people over using them.
The Human Bomb's publication history is very similar to a lot of the other Quality Characters. He appeared in 58 issues of Police Comics until 1946, and then essentially disappeared until he was brought back by DC with the introduction of the Freedom Fighters in Justice League of America #107 in 1973, followed by the Freedom Fighters series in '76, and their appearances in Roy Thomas's All-Star Squadron. |
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The big difference with the Human Bomb is that his costume wasn't exactly dynamic, and his powers left him permanently separated from everyone, so of the various Freedom Fighters he probably saw the least amount of personal development. There was no new version of the character introduced as they approached the Crisis. he continued to just be the original character, really only appearing when the Freedom Fighters gathered, often alongside new versions of the other members. When the team was killed in 2005's Infinite Crisis, he died being punched to death by Bizzaro.
Interestingly, it's really after the death of the original Human Bomb that we started to see some more compelling interpretations of the concept, almost always by Jimmy Palmiotti & Justin Gray. They rebooted the Freedom Fighters in the aftermath of Infinite Crisis and created Andrew Franklin, a new Human Bomb with a cool new sinister costume by Dan Jurgens. This take on the Freedom Fighters persisted in several series until the New 52, when Palmiotti & Grey started creating all new versions of the Freedom Fighters, this time using ex-marine Michael Taylor in a story involving alien invaders that is actually surprisingly readable as a standalone story. Even later, when we got a whole new Freedom Fighters series in 2019 set in the new Earth X, the new Human Bomb is David Mathis, the grandson of Roy Lincoln (which raises... certain questions?). Artist Eddy Barrows managed to take the original Human Bomb costume and make it look way more heroic just with some minor tweaks updating the helmet and adding a belt... Suddenly taking this long-time background character and elevating them to a much more heroic status. |
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Our Human Bomb StoryThis is a character that presents quite a few challenges in trying to adapt. Setting aside the substantial storytelling limitations presented by his powers (how does this guy even EAT?), it's actually remarkable just how many permutations there have been of this character without ever really giving him his own narrative. Aside from his original Quality appearances in which he's treated as a pretty run-of-the-mill comic hero, he really doesn't have ANY stories of his own. He really only persists as a member of the Freedom Fighters without his own story.
Rather than try to build up his own adventures and try to make them make sense with a guy who basically can't touch anyone, we decided to lean into those limitations. Our Roy Lincoln is a very young man, a baseball player who returned to work with his father during wartime rather than being a chemist himself. We don't try to work out a way for him to live with his explosive powers. He is, rather, a tragic victim of them, but he is given a chance to use them by joining the Freedom Fighters. His entire heroic story happens as part of that team, during wartime, and ends when he sacrifices himself. Attempts to use the character anywhere else tend to just feel tacked on. This is where the Human Bomb makes the most sense, and where we believe he belongs. |
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