IDENTITY: Todd Rice

BASE OF OPERATIONS: mobile

FIRST APPEARANCE:
TANGENT COMICS/THE FLASH # 1
(December 1997)
"Premiere"

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION:
Formerly male human
Height: approx. 6' 5"
Weight: unknown
Hair: none
Eyes: yellow

KNOWN RELATIVES: none

GROUP AFFILIATION: Nightwing

HISTORY:
In their bid to capture and neutralize Lia Nelson, better known to the public as the Flash, the covert agency Nightwing sent the Flash's father, Terrance Kelly with a support team to contain the celebrity super-hero. Nightwing's leaders knew Kelly was an inept bungler but kept him on this one mission to better keep an eye on him while they made other plans. Assistant Director Francis "Black Lightning" Powell oversaw Project Dark Seed, the creation of their newest operative, Todd Rice aka Dark Star.

Altered by Nightwing labs on a cellular level, Dark Star now possessed the ability to absorb and contain all light, physical objects and even souls. Rice was codenamed "Dark Star" after the Darkstars, a strike force of aerial villains that had attacked Adam Clay aka Captain Boomerang and his team of fliers at an air exhibition some years earlier.

A mechanism on Dark Star's face would iris open, drawing everything into the void his body had become. This required precise control and Rice had gone over many simulations. Powell was a hard master, and did not want mistakes to be made.

Powell chose the night of the Flash's movie premiere to strike, unaware that Kelly and his operatives chose to capture her during the movie as well. Kelly had been operating "Metallo," a twenty foot tall automaton he could manipulate by remote control on a frequency used only by Nightwing.

When Kelly tried to operate Metallo, he found the joystick control was not working. Instead of moving Metallo, the remote control's signal was controlling Powell's hoverchair, smashing it back and forth, side to side. When Powell screamed, "Stop this thing!... Stop it now!" Dark Star took the command "now" to open the portal to the void within him. He quickly lost control as Moore's support agents and even his hoverchair were sucked into his maw. Moore yelled at Dark Star to stop the chair but it was too late. Trying to hold back the chair from being absorbed, Dark Star's own hand got in the way and he completely absorbed himself.

Kelly's plans, as ever was unsuccessful. Powell's back up plan, that of a dark twin, or a "Reverse-Flash," was a failure as well. The Flash has discovered Nightwing's intentions and with her friends in the Secret Six has made plans of her own.

Dark Star Todd Rice has not been seen again.
[TANGENT COMICS/THE FLASH # 1]

CREATIVE TEAM:
Writer: Todd Dezago
Penciller: Gary Frank
Inker: Cam Smith
Colorist: Patricia Mulvihill
Separations: Jamison
Letterer: Chris Eliopoulos
Assistant Editor: Frank Berrios
Associate Editor: Dana Kurtin
Editor: Eddie Berganza
Tangent based on concepts by: Dan Jurgens

KNOWN APPEARANCES:
TANGENT COMICS/THE FLASH # 1

'mouse note -

Though I would have liked to tie the Dark Star Todd Rice story a bit tighter to the TANGENT COMICS/GREEN LANTERN # 1 Captain Boomerang story there really wasn't much information in the Tangent line for me to work up a larger profile for the team of villainous fliers. I would suspect, from Moore's naming of Todd Rice, that Nightwing had some involvement in the attack on Captain Boomerang.

Though there is a Jade as well as an Obsidian in the Tangent Universe, there appears to be no connection between them and Dark Star Todd Rice.

GREEN LANTERN © 2000 DC COMICS, INC. Profile copyright  © 2000 Michael Bond