Fastback (comics)
Encyclopedia
Fastback is a fictional character
in the DC Comics
universe
, an anthropomorphic turtle
. Fastback is a superhero
who lived on the otherdimensional world of Earth-C
(now Earth-26), an alternate Earth populated by sentient
animal
s. His first appearance was in a special insert
in The New Teen Titans #16 (February 1982).
to Kornsas City (a parody of Kansas City, Missouri
), Timmy Joe Terrapin, a resident of the "Okey-Dokey" swamp (a parody of the Okefenoke Swamp) in the American south, found a meteor
fragment lodged in his shell, said fragment launched by Starro the Conqueror
. Ironically, the fragment gave the notoriously slow (both in mind and body) Timmy Joe superspeed powers. Upon hearing of other animals across the country endowned with similar powers from other meteor fragments, Timmy joined them as the superhero "Fastback," and helped to defeat Starro. Afterwards, Fastback joined the others in creating the superhero team the Zoo Crew
.
Despite his increase in physical speed, Timmy Joe Terrapin was still quite laid-back in personality and slow-witted. He was a somewhat stereotypical depiction of an ignorant country bumpkin, but often his ignorance was more naïveté than stupidity. Furthermore, he is inventive using his speed to defeat his enemies.
During a time-travel storyline, Fastback was sent back in time to the Second Weird War
, where he discovered his uncle Merton McSnurtle was in realty the Terrific Whatzit
, a Golden Age
DC Comics funny-animal superhero.
In Teen Titans #30-31 (December 2005-January 2006), Fastback is mentioned in a series of pages purporting to be a Zoo Crew comic published in the mainstream DC Universe
, and follows the adventures of the Zoo Crew teammates in a grimmer, darker version of Earth-C, parodying the recent trend toward "grim and gritty" superhero comics. In these pages, Fastback is shown to have been sent to the future unwillingly by an evil feline magician, "Dark Alley," who impersonated his teammate Alley-Kat-Abra
.
, however, it is unknown if his powers are derived from the Speed Force, including the ability to make superspeed-generated afterimages of himself and (when retracting his body parts inside his shell) launch himself at foes like a torpedo. His shell is highly resistant to damage, and Fastback will instinctively draw his head and limbs into his shell when endangered (though his small tail will often be left exposed). If necessary, Fastback can remove the shell from his body, and his costume has an inner section that covers his inner body that are usually contained by the shell. It is unknown if the unusual strength of Fastback's shell is a result of his powers or a feature of all turtles native to Earth-C.
Fictional character
A character is the representation of a person in a narrative work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr , the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749. From this, the sense of...
in the DC Comics
DC Comics
DC Comics, Inc. is one of the largest and most successful companies operating in the market for American comic books and related media. It is the publishing unit of DC Entertainment a company of Warner Bros. Entertainment, which itself is owned by Time Warner...
universe
DC Universe
The DC Universe is the shared universe where most of the comic stories published by DC Comics take place. The fictional characters Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman are well-known superheroes from this universe. Note that in context, "DC Universe" is usually used to refer to the main DC continuity...
, an anthropomorphic turtle
Turtle
Turtles are reptiles of the order Testudines , characterised by a special bony or cartilaginous shell developed from their ribs that acts as a shield...
. Fastback is a superhero
Superhero
A superhero is a type of stock character, possessing "extraordinary or superhuman powers", dedicated to protecting the public. Since the debut of the prototypical superhero Superman in 1938, stories of superheroes — ranging from brief episodic adventures to continuing years-long sagas —...
who lived on the otherdimensional world of Earth-C
Multiverse (DC Comics)
The DC Multiverse is a fictional continuity construct that exists in stories published by comic book company DC Comics. The DC Multiverse consists of numerous worlds, most of them outside DC's main continuity, allowing writers the creative freedom to explore alternative versions of characters and...
(now Earth-26), an alternate Earth populated by sentient
Sentience
Sentience is the ability to feel, perceive or be conscious, or to have subjective experiences. Eighteenth century philosophers used the concept to distinguish the ability to think from the ability to feel . In modern western philosophy, sentience is the ability to have sensations or experiences...
animal
Animal
Animals are a major group of multicellular, eukaryotic organisms of the kingdom Animalia or Metazoa. Their body plan eventually becomes fixed as they develop, although some undergo a process of metamorphosis later on in their life. Most animals are motile, meaning they can move spontaneously and...
s. His first appearance was in a special insert
DC Comics insert previews
DC Comics insert previews were 16-page comic book stories inserted into issues of existing DC Comics series to promote new series usually debuting the next month. Running from 1980 to 1985, they consisted of a front cover, 14 pages of story, and a back cover that depicted the cover of the actual...
in The New Teen Titans #16 (February 1982).
Fictional character biography
While trying to catch a busBus
A bus is a road vehicle designed to carry passengers. Buses can have a capacity as high as 300 passengers. The most common type of bus is the single-decker bus, with larger loads carried by double-decker buses and articulated buses, and smaller loads carried by midibuses and minibuses; coaches are...
to Kornsas City (a parody of Kansas City, Missouri
Kansas City, Missouri
Kansas City, Missouri is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and is the anchor city of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area, the second largest metropolitan area in Missouri. It encompasses in parts of Jackson, Clay, Cass, and Platte counties...
), Timmy Joe Terrapin, a resident of the "Okey-Dokey" swamp (a parody of the Okefenoke Swamp) in the American south, found a meteor
METEOR
METEOR is a metric for the evaluation of machine translation output. The metric is based on the harmonic mean of unigram precision and recall, with recall weighted higher than precision...
fragment lodged in his shell, said fragment launched by Starro the Conqueror
Starro
Starro is a fictional supervillain that appears in comic books published by DC Comics. The character first appeared in Brave and the Bold #28 , and was created by Gardner Fox and Mike Sekowsky....
. Ironically, the fragment gave the notoriously slow (both in mind and body) Timmy Joe superspeed powers. Upon hearing of other animals across the country endowned with similar powers from other meteor fragments, Timmy joined them as the superhero "Fastback," and helped to defeat Starro. Afterwards, Fastback joined the others in creating the superhero team the Zoo Crew
Captain Carrot and His Amazing Zoo Crew
Captain Carrot and His Amazing Zoo Crew! is a DC Comics comic book about a team of funny animal superheroes called the Zoo Crew. The characters first appeared in a special insert in The New Teen Titans #16 , followed by a series published from 1982 to 1983. The Zoo Crew characters were created by...
.
Despite his increase in physical speed, Timmy Joe Terrapin was still quite laid-back in personality and slow-witted. He was a somewhat stereotypical depiction of an ignorant country bumpkin, but often his ignorance was more naïveté than stupidity. Furthermore, he is inventive using his speed to defeat his enemies.
During a time-travel storyline, Fastback was sent back in time to the Second Weird War
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, where he discovered his uncle Merton McSnurtle was in realty the Terrific Whatzit
Terrific Whatzit
The Terrific Whatzit was a funny animal superhero who appeared in stories published by DC Comics...
, a Golden Age
Golden Age of Comic Books
The Golden Age of Comic Books was a period in the history of American comic books, generally thought of as lasting from the late 1930s until the late 1940s or early 1950s...
DC Comics funny-animal superhero.
In Teen Titans #30-31 (December 2005-January 2006), Fastback is mentioned in a series of pages purporting to be a Zoo Crew comic published in the mainstream DC Universe
DC Universe
The DC Universe is the shared universe where most of the comic stories published by DC Comics take place. The fictional characters Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman are well-known superheroes from this universe. Note that in context, "DC Universe" is usually used to refer to the main DC continuity...
, and follows the adventures of the Zoo Crew teammates in a grimmer, darker version of Earth-C, parodying the recent trend toward "grim and gritty" superhero comics. In these pages, Fastback is shown to have been sent to the future unwillingly by an evil feline magician, "Dark Alley," who impersonated his teammate Alley-Kat-Abra
Alley-Kat-Abra
Alley-Kat-Abra is a fictional anthropomorphic cat in the DC Comics universe. Alley-Kat-Abra is a superheroine who lived on the otherdimensional world of Earth-C , an alternate Earth populated by sentient animals...
.
Powers and abilities
Fastback possesses various superspeed powers, similar to those of DC Comics superhero the FlashFlash (comics)
The Flash is a name shared by several fictional comic book superheroes from the DC Comics universe. Created by writer Gardner Fox and artist Harry Lampert, the original Flash first appeared in Flash Comics #1 ....
, however, it is unknown if his powers are derived from the Speed Force, including the ability to make superspeed-generated afterimages of himself and (when retracting his body parts inside his shell) launch himself at foes like a torpedo. His shell is highly resistant to damage, and Fastback will instinctively draw his head and limbs into his shell when endangered (though his small tail will often be left exposed). If necessary, Fastback can remove the shell from his body, and his costume has an inner section that covers his inner body that are usually contained by the shell. It is unknown if the unusual strength of Fastback's shell is a result of his powers or a feature of all turtles native to Earth-C.
Other versions
- In JLAJLA (comic book)JLA was a monthly comic book published by DC Comics from January 1997 to April 2006 featuring the Justice League.-Publication history:The low sales of the various Justice League spinoff books by the mid-1990s prompted DC to revamp the League as a single team on a single title...
#9, the Key trapped the members of the JLA in false dreamworlds by using a neural virus. In Flash's dreamworld, he mentions that a dying New GodNew GodsThe New Gods are a fictional race appearing in publications by DC Comics, as well as the title for four series of comic books about those characters. They first appeared in New Gods #1 , and were created and designed by Jack Kirby....
named Fastbak gave him a ring which granted him to the Speed Source, a combination of the Speed ForceSpeed ForceThe Speed Force is a concept presented in various comic books published by DC Comics, primarily in relation to the various speedsters in the DC Universe.-Empowered:...
and the SourceSource (comics)The Source was a metaphysical concept created by writer/artist Jack Kirby for his Fourth World series of comic books. It first appeared in New Gods #1, .-History:...
.