The Strangers

History

Jumpstart

On a normal day in San Francisco, fifty-nine passengers boarded the street car to go about their day-to-day business. One person in particular, a wealthy businessman named J.D. Hunt, and his female companion rode the street car and took that opportunity to kiss and publicly display their affection, much to the chagrin of the fellow passengers. Two art students and best friends decided to grab the man and throw him off the street car. At that very moment, the street car was struck with what appeared to be a lightning bolt from a clear sky. The street car lost control and darted helplessly down the street and into a vehicle, which finally caused it to stop. Miraculously, no one was seriously injured except for the driver of the other vehicle, Johnny Domino. A piece of metal from the street car lodged itself into Mister Domino's brain and he fell into a coma. Mister Domino would go on to recover from the coma and become the ultra hero known as Night Man.

The passengers of the street car went about their business that day, surprised that they were alive and curious about the bolt of lightning. Some of the passengers begin to notice strange things as they went about their day. One man, David Castiglione burst into a yellow flame that did not burn. A young teenager, Leon Balford, found that he could run quicker than he could have ever imagined. The two art students also discovered new talents. One of the students, Hugh Fox, found that he could shoot exploding shrapnel from his skin. The other student, Bob Harden, transformed his art supplies into a bag of apples. The female companion of J.D. Hunt, Candy, realizes she is a very sophisticated android and begins to think for the first time, independent of her programming.

That evening, a mysterious flying woman arrived at the scene of the Jumpstart and soon a crowd of spectators gathered, including some passengers from the street car accident. The police tried to question the mysterious woman, Yrial, but found that she does not speak their language. She used magic to repel the police officers, who took her actions as an act of aggression, and tried to apprehend her. Six spectators in the crowd believed that Yrial must be the one behind the lightning bolt that granted their powers and they demanded answers. Yrial fights back against the six strangers before taking flight straight into a large cloud in the sky. The six strangers are approached by the police but the speedy youngster uses his newfound ability to whisk them away to a private area. The six strangers meet each other properly and decide to chase down Yrial, who must hold the answers to their newfound powers. One of the strangers, Elena LaBrava is a wealthy fashion designer and offered to fly her personal jet into the sky. The others accept and take the jet straight into the sky.

Yrial's Sky Island

The gathered strangers find that the cloud is shrouding a large, floating island. Upon landing, they give chase to Yrial but are suddenly attacked by magic. They are contained and wake up to find Yrial arguing with her Chieftan. Bob Harden is able to transform their language into English, so the strangers are all able to understand the natives of this Sky Island. David Castiglione gained super strength by changing his fire to the color red, but he goes berserk. In his rage, he damaged a large jewel the Sky Island inhabitants call the "Star Foam", the source of their magic. The island began to sway and careen but the strangers used their powers to balance the island again as well as subdue David and saving the Star Foam from falling. The Chieftan realized the humans are not there for ill means and agreed to hear them out. The Chieftan told the humans that the Sky Island was not the source of the Jumpstart and that the bolt of energy came from the moon. The Chieftan then ordered Yrial to go with the gathered strangers and find the source of the Jumpstart, to be their emissary. Yrial refused but realized she must obey her Chieftan's command. The six strangers are now seven, and they return to the ground.

The Strangers vs. TNTNT

Upon returning to Earth, the seven gather together and discuss their future. It is suggested that they remain together as a group, using their ultra powers responsibly. Elena LaBrava, being business savvy, explains that they could also financially benefit from this endeavor. The others agree and decide to call themselves the Strangers. Elena LaBrava goes on to design uniforms for each of them, except for Leon Balford, who liked what he was already wearing. The group then spoke to the media, unveiling themselves to the world. J.D. Hunt, upon seeing his female android, now named ElectroCute, as part of this team, feels that she is his property and decides to send a group of ultra humans to get her back.

Before too long, the Strangers first test of being heroes arrived when they are attacked by TNTNT, a group of ultra-powered mercenaries that work for J.D. Hunt. The Strangers are successful in fighting TNTNT back and are able to save ElectroCute from capture. After the battle, the Strangers realize they could use advice from someone who is experienced in crime fighting. They all travel to visit the ultra hero known as Hardcase, one of the first and most popular ultra humans in America.

Battle Against Aladdin

Hardcase, his partner Choice, and the Strangers become acquainted and he goes on to discuss the origin of his powers. Hardcase revealed his past as an ultra human and a crime fighter, as well as his time with The Squad, his old team. Upon completing his story, Hardcase realized they may find some answers with a secret, shadowy government organization known as Aladdin, a group that keeps track of ultra humans. ElectroCute reveals that she knows where their facility is, due to her time with J.D. Hunt, and they decide to go the

re and examine. The combined group arrived at the facility but are attacked by ultra-powered Aladdin agents. The heroes are captured and held in confinement as an official of Aladdin tells them to either join their group or die. The Strangers, Hardcase and Choice are able to break free from their imprisonment and rush to Aladdin's computers, where Atom Bob informs them that he will transform all their data on ultra humans if they do not let them go. Aladdin concedes and the heroes go free, though it won't be the last time Hardcase and Choice cross paths with them.

Deathwish

The Strangers soon enjoyed some down time, adjusting to being ultra powered as well as celebrities, when they learned of a disturbance in San Francisco. The team united to battle an ultra foe called Deathwish, a being who was on the same street car that gave the Strangers their wild powers. Deathwish had power over death and decay, having killed several people in his vicinity. Spectral used his green power, the power to grow, to cause Deathwish to grow rapidly and then explode. The Strangers seemingly defeated Deathwish, but he returned with boasts that he is immortal and the personification of death. Yrial used her magic to unleash the ultra abilities of another person from the Jumpstart, the Lady of Light. The Lady of Light appeared to be the exact opposite of Deathwish, a personification of life. She arrived to Deathwish and was able to stop his deadly rampage. The two beings embraced and then they both vanished in a blinding light, never to be heard from again.

Break-Thru

The Strangers decided that it was finally time to go to the Moon to uncover the source of their powers. The team planned to simply "borrow" a rocket owned by J.D. Hunt without his acknowledgment and go straight to the Moon, and they did just that. J.D. Hunt, infuriated, called in a favor from an associate named Stanley Leland to send Prototype, a hero with technologically advanced armor, after the Strangers and retrieve his rocket. Prototype reached the Strangers at a Russian space station where they were attacked by an alien being. After the battle, Prototype is convinced that the Strangers aren't actually criminals and are searching for the source of their power. Prototype, who secretly had ultra powers as well, decided to join them to find out what is going on. They arrived on the moon, along with many other ultras, both bad and good, to find the source and meet The Entity. The Entity was the source of power for all the ultras on Earth. The Strangers learned that the Entity was actually a part of an ancient space craft that crashed on the Moon a long time ago and it created ultra humans on Earth to help assist the Entity with its objective, as well as freeing it from the Moon. The Strangers finally understood why they had their abilities.

The Strangers vs The Sky People

The Strangers returned to Earth and were soon greeted by the Chieftan, Yrial's tribal leader from Sky Island. He told the Strangers that Yrial was to return back to her people since her mission was complete, having found out about the source of the Jumpstart. Yrial refused to go with the Chieftan, wanting to remain as part of the Strangers, but the Chieftan was very stern with her. She begrudgingly relented and went with him. The rest of the Strangers decided that Yrial was one of their own and they could not just allow her to be taken away. The Strangers flew to Sky Island and were immediately immersed in battle against its natives. After the battle, they find Yrial and urge her to come back with them. She agreed, touching by the genuine concern of her teammates, but they were soon found by the Chieftan again. Yrial decided to stay on Sky Island, under threat of the Strangers being harmed. Yrial embraced Lady Killer before they parted ways. Soon afterwards, Lady Killer realized that during the embrace, Yrial slipped a small stone with longitude and latitude coordinates written on its surface. The Strangers decided to go investigate, finding the coordinates are near the Bermuda Triangle. After they arrived in the area, they are assaulted by the Raiders, a team of supervillains that gained their abilities from Jumpstart as well, who decided to use their newfound abilities for personal gain: the Raiders decided to become pirate.

Members

• Zip Zap - the young speedster.
• Grenade - the volatile hero that can literally explode
• Electrocute - the beautiful android with the electrifying touch
• Spectral - the man of many colors
• Atom Bob - the ideal hero who can transform anything, including himself to evil
• Lady Killer - the leader of the Strangers who has an unerring aim
• Yrial - a sorceress who literally lives in the clouds
• Teknight - the soul of an ancient warrior in the form of a modern robot