Joshua Clay is a fictional character, a member of the Doom Patrol in superhero comic books published by DC Comics. Tempest was created by Paul Kupperberg and Joe Staton, he first appeared in Showcase #94 (August, 1977).
| Joshua Clay | |
|---|---|
 Tempest in action, art by James Fry | |
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | DC Comics |
| First appearance | Showcase #94 August (1977) |
| Created by | Paul Kupperberg (writer) Joe Staton (artist) |
| In-story information | |
| Alter ego | Joshua Clay |
| Team affiliations | Doom Patrol |
| Notable aliases | Tempest Jonathan Carmichael |
| Abilities | kinetic energy blasts, flight |
Fictional character biography
Early years
A member of the second Doom Patrol, Joshua Clay was the first DC Comics hero to use the name Tempest. Along with Captain Comet, he was one of the few DC Comics heroes initially identified as a mutant.
Joshua Clay was born in the Brownsville section of Brooklyn, New York, he was the youngest of five children. His parents struggled to keep their family together in the middle of what was at that time in the 1960s, one of the worst slums in the country. Despite his parents' best efforts, sixteen-year-old Joshua joined a street gang named the Stompers.
Soldier
Due to fallout from his time in the Stompers, seventeen-year-old Joshua Clay was given a choice between prison and service in the United States military, he chose the army. Joshua was trained as a combat medic and shipped off to Vietnam.
On patrol less than a month before the end of his tour, Joshua witnessed the attempted massacre of an entire village of Vietnamese non-combatants by his sergeant. Horrified, Joshua unconsciously triggered his powers blasting the noncom into unconsciousness. The stress of this discovery led Clay to go AWOL and fled the country, eventually returning to the U.S. Clay spent the next ten years living as a fugitive.
Hero
Arani Caulder tracked down Joshua Clay and enlisted him as a member of the new Doom Patrol. Clay was active with this incarnation of the Doom Patrol for a year before it disbanded due to internal dissent.[1]
Swearing off superheroics, Clay used his underworld connections secure a new identity for himself as Jonathan Carmichael, M.D. Due to years of private study and his previous military training, Clay easily passed his New York medical board examination. As Carmichael, using funds gained from a local loanshark, he purchased a small Park Avenue medical practice. He proceeded to live a quiet respectible life treating rich hypochondriacs.
Cliff Steele tracked down Jonathan Carmichael, and confronted Clay. Due to Robotman's threat to reaveal his true identity to the NY medical board he reluctantly returns to superheroics. He again retired from active service during the Grant Morrison scripted era to become the team's physician.
Joshua Clay was murdered by a temporarily deranged Niles Caulder (The Chief) in Doom Patrol (vol. 2) #55 (May 1992). [2]
Trivia
- Two years after Joshua Clay's death, a man named Martin Ellis, who looked like the Steve Lightle rendition of Joshua Clay wakes from a seven year coma with an active metagene. [1] In combat with Captain Atom, Ellis exhibited the exact same powers as Joshua Clay. Ellis reunites with his wife Yvonne at the end of the story. This was his only appearance.[3]
Powers and abilities
- Joshua Clay could generate and radiate powerful blasts from his hands, able to melt steel.
- Tempest could control his blasts's volume and intensity to the extent that he could ignite the head of a match from twenty feet away.
- Properly focused and controlled, his energies allowed Tempest to propel himself through the air at 90 miles per hour.[4]
- Trained as a combat medic by the U.S. Army, he later became a licensed physician.
Bibliography
- Showcase #94 - 96
- Superman Family #191- 193
- DC Comics Presents #52
- Daring New Adventures of Supergirl #7 - 10
- Crisis on Infinite Earths #9 - 12
- Doom Patrol Vol. 2 #1- 27, 31, 55
- Invasion #2 - 3
Resources
- The Unofficial Tempest Biography
- Fanzing #32: Diversity In The DC Universe: 1961-1979
- Sequential Art review of Doom Patrol #31
- Doom Patrol Online: Review of Issue #55
- DCU Guide: Justice League Quarterly #17
- Cosmic Teams: Doom Patrol
- ^ Justice League Quarterly #17 (Winter 1994), The Sleeper Awakens written by Charlie Bracey and drawn by Carlos Franco