| DARK STAR (TANGENT) (Todd Rice) | BIOGRAPHY |
| Created by Todd Dezago and Gary Frank - Tangent based on concepts by Dan Jurgens |
PERSONAL DATA
Real Name: Todd Rice
Homeworld: Earth-9 (planet) (52 Multiverse) AKA Tangent Earth
Group Affiliation(s): Nightwing
Gender: Male
Eyes: Yellow
Hair: None
First Appearance: Tangent Comics / The Flash #1 (December 1997): "Premiere"
Creators: Todd Dezago and Gary Frank - Tangent based on concepts by Dan Jurgens
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, the Flash has made plans of her own.
Dark Star Todd Rice has not been seen again. - Tangent Comics / The Flash #1
To be continued...
CHRONOLOGY
For a definitive list of appearances of Dark Star (Tangent) in chronological order click here