Particle Man
Particle Man is a net.hero and one-time demiurge created by Jameel al Khafiz. | |
Alter Ego: | Person Man |
Aliases: | None |
Primary Writer: | Jameel al Khafiz |
Status: | Member of the LNH (Classic Team), former member of the Secret Dvanders |
Usability: | Not Reserved |
Contents
History
Left in a basket on the steps of an orphanage in the poor neighborhood of Net.ropolis known as the Garbage Can [1], Person Man grew up to be a teenager who was constantly bullied and harassed by his fellow students. But his life was changed when he was hit on the head by a frying pan from space, granting him the TheyMightBePowers. He gained a companion and familiar in the form of Blue Canary. Unfortunately, his girlfriend Lucinda (AKA Lucky Ball and Chain) couldn't handle his new powers and broke up with him. Ever since, he has pursued a career as a reluctant superhero.
Eventually he joined the LNH, where he made friends with Master Blaster, developed a hopeless crush on Sing-Along Lass, and volunteered for a particle physics experiment for Doctor Stomper. The experiment went wrong and transported him to a succession of messed-up alternate universes. He narrowly escaped from the first of many Evil LNH universes into the Astral Plane, where he accidentally created the world of the Oddball Legion.
He made friends with his fellow TMBG-based dimensional traveler Constellation and joined him as a founding member of the Secret Dvanders, but left before it evolved into Dvandom Force.
Over time his overwhelming experiences with parallel universes and cosmic beings began to weigh on him and, when he found that Sing-Along Lass didn't return his romantic feelings, he distanced himself from the Legion and began to succumb to Angst. Ultimate Ninja sent Catalyst Lass to sort him out. Catalyst Lass, with the help of Webster (as Augmenter) went into his mind and helped him come to terms with what he'd been through.
Eventually he decided to seek out more knowledge of his powers and history, bringing him back to the orphanage where he was raised. There he found Lucky, now transformed into an angelic superbeing by the sinister Project Serra, which captured and experimented on him for a month. With Blue's help he broke free, troubled by his experience but having gained a certain amount of closure, as well as spiffier muscles. After this, he took on the plots of Project Serra and began a relationship with Cat.
According to Easily-Discovered Man Lite, he eventually left Net.ropolis to take a teaching position. He hasn't been seen much since, although he did pitch in to give Lite advice for his date with Mouse, and later aided him against a zombified James K. Polk in Dead Presidents.
What is He Like? It's Not Important
Has usually been hyper-tense as a result of a quick succession of adventures. His traumatic history of poverty and bullying definitely didn't help. The isolation he experienced in the orphanage where he grew up left him with constant overwhelming anger and made it hard for him to connect with people. He experienced a bout of Mutant Angst (which he blamed on another universe's Scowling RACelestial he'd encountered, but which seems consistent with everything he'd been through before), but over time he grew to accept himself more.
Powers and Abilities
Doing the things a particle can; specifically, Particle Man can raise his personal Planck's Constant, resulting in an inability to know his position and momentum at the same time. He also has the TheyMightBePowers, which allow him to create things and draw on abilities based on They Might Be Giants songs, including knowing World's Addresses.[2]
He uses a personal flight ring (created by Occultism Kid), and has a pretty strong amateur knowledge of science, which is helpful for managing his particle powers.
Appearance
Originally, wore a skintight yellow wrestling outfit with a dot-in-a-circle chest symbol, along with a belt with pouches. When he started going through a bout of Mutant Angst, changed to a black spandex skiing outfit under a trenchcoat with combat boots and shatter-resistant mirrored sunglasses; after resolving quite a few things, he switched out the bodysuit for his original outfit and a pair of jeans.
Swelled to become highly muscular (though in a natural way rather than a Liefeld way) after lab experiments were performed on him.
Relationships
Blue Canary, his closest companion and main source of emotional support, lives in the birdhouse in his soul.
His high school girlfriend was Lucky Ball and Chain. Once pined after Sing-Along Lass, but the relationship was unrequited; eventually they became platonic friends. (He also frequently went to a karaoke joint named after her, the Sing-Along Cafe.) Ana Ng had an intense unrequited crush on him in turn.
After a psychic encounter, he started getting close to Catalyst Lass. They went on a date several times, but their dates were always interrupted by net.hero business.
Arch-enemies with Rabid Child and the Pencil Rain, his former high school bullies who had also gained the TheyMightBePowers. Good friends with Master Blaster. He took guidance from and played Magic: The Gathering with Occultism Kid, and helped advise Easily-Discovered Man Lite.
Appearances
- First Appearance: Particle Man (series) #1
- Particle Man (series) #2-21, Annual #1, Interlude
- What If Kid Kirby Had Died During The Comics Connection?
- LNH Comics Presents #13, 15, 17, 19 (Looniverse Adrift! Parts 1, 3, 5 and 7)
- Catalytic Conversions
- Miss Ng in Action #1-3
- Birds Fly
- The Adventures of Easily-Discovered Man #8, 15-16, 25
- Constellation #4, 8-9, 11-16, 22-24
- Kid Kirby/Particle Man Robot Invasion Special
- LNH Comics Presents #504, 506 (Dead Presidents Parts 2 and 4)
Footnotes
- ↑ Particle Man #16 gives his birthday as January 1, 1975.
- ↑ Particle Man speculated that his particle powers, which were a much greater drain on him than the TheyMightBePowers, were inherent since birth and he was a latent mutant. (Notably, his mirror counterpart didn't have the TheyMightBePowers.)