Star Brand

On July 22, 1986, the Earth was bathed in a blinding flash of light. In the wake of this “White Event” people all over the world began developing strange paranormal powers, some mutated physically in ways which seemed to defy medical science.

The White Event was triggered when someone (presumably the Old Man) attempted to pass on the Star Brand onto an inanimate object, in this case an asteroid in order to get rid of the power. The brand released a huge amount of energy which bombarded the Earth. Realizing that that he would not be free of the Star Brand so easily, the Old Man came to Earth and gave the Brand to the first person he met, Ken Connell.

Connell was a car mechanic from Pittsburg; he often tried to use the Star Brand’s power to help others, but was often thwarted by the complexities of the real world. Though given a suit by the Old Man, but he found he rarely had the time to change in the face of a real emergency and supposedly it was as invulnerable as he, its invulnerability was exposed as an illusion. He later donned a spandex body suit and mask to openly fight terrorists, but this led to disaster. Though intelligent, he was self-involved and lacked the imagination and curiosity that would allow him to understand and wield the brand to its fullest potential. He eventually decided that he would be better off without his powers, and unintentionally caused the destruction of all of Pittsburgh the “Black Event” when attempting to transfer the brand to a bar-bell.

While possessed of the Star Brand, Connell conceived a child with Debbie “The Duck” Fix. The child was born fully conscience of its power, growing at an accelerated rate physically and mentally through the influence of the Brand. Despite being painfully naïve to the ways of the world, the child was much more selfless and had a much more instinctual grasp of the power than his father ever did. After several attempts to better the world through direct usage of his power, the child retreated out into space to meditate onto how to best use the power. He soon realized that the Brand was a cosmic anomaly which no good could come from, therefore should be locked away for all eternity. However, the Star Child neglected to isolate the power which had accidentally been transferred to pilot Jim Hanrahan, who later, when Quasar was blasted into the New Universe, transferred his portion of the power to Quasar.

Later the child chose an elderly man who was less impulsive; deciding that the key to proper use of the Brand was to give it to someone was more wise and experienced in worldly matters. Jacob Brumley was a retired janitor and veteran of World War II, who only used his power after much consideration and put it to many new uses. In time he de-powered the power-hungry President of the United States and attempted to rebuild Pittsburg.

When Quasar took the Brand back to his universe, he accidentally passed it on to his secretary, Kayla Ballentine, who quickly found herself in the middle of a cosmic power-struggle, during which the Brand was stolen by the Deviant, Ereshkigal, and the Stranger. Eventually the Living Tribunal ruled (as the Star Child had before) that the Star Brand should be quarantined from the main universe. It was therefore returned to Kayla and she was marooned on the same Earth that the Star Brand first manifested upon.

Powers imparted by the Star Brand

• Flight

• Super-Strength

• Invulnerability

• Destructive blasts, up to the equivalent of nuclear explosion in force (this last power is problematic, as the blast manifests as a sphere centered on the wielder indiscriminately destroying everything in his vicinity).

• Immortality

• Regeneration

• Healing

The brand itself is roughly the size of the palm of the hand and as far as has been shown is immaterial and effectively only two-dimensional. The Brand is utterly black in color and is smooth and warm to the touch. As long as it is somewhere on their skin the bearer may wield its powers. The brand can be transferred to another part of the body if the bearer wills it by skin-to-skin contact, thus the bearer can choose to place the Star Brand anywhere on his person, willing it into his hand then placing it anywhere on their body. However, this transfer involves some energy discharge, and the brand will burn off any hair it is placed over. The Star Brand and its power can be transferred to another person, but former owners are always left with a remaining residue of about 10% of its power, a residue which regenerates and in time will grow to equal that of the original. In the series it was stated that the power of the brand is infinite. So 10% of infinite power is still infinite power. dupe