Speedball Vol 1 1

United States of America
- Connecticut
  - Springdale
    - Hammond Labs Facility (First appearance)
    - Springdale Maximum Security Prison (First appearance)
    - Hillman High School (First appearance)

Synopsis for "Speedball, the Masked Marvel"

Robbie Baldwin is an ordinary high school student that has a secret. He is well liked at Springdale Central High School, where he gets respectable grades. His father, Justin Baldwin, is a lawyer. His mother, Madeline Naylor, was an actress who went into academics.

The story opens with Mr. Roarke, is flying overhead in a twin plane scouting the town of Springdale, in the tri-state area. Robbie's father is seen in his office, his mother at a speech, and Robbie in the school yard where he avoids playing ball with the other kids, something he enjoyed before. As Robbie tries to get away from his schoolmates he runs into a group of thugs in the park who convince him to "help their buddy" under a bridge. As the thugs try to ambush Robbie, we see his powers for the first time. Robbie has a Kinetic Energy power and anything that hits him releases an equal amount of kinetic energy causing Robbie to bounce around out of control.

As Robbie hides, the thugs are arrested, and we the story moves to Mr. Roarke spying on Robbie's parents as they come back home. As Mr. Roarke pulls his gun on Robbie's parents, Robbie falls down the hillside, turning into The Masked Marvel, and protects his family from Mr. Roarke. The story ends with police and reporters trying to determine who the "Masked Marvel" really is.

Appearing in "The Origin of a Masked Marvel"

Featured Characters:

Speedball (Robbie Baldwin)

Supporting Characters:

Hammond Labs (First appearance)
- Dr. Benson (First appearance)
- Niels the Cat (First appearance)
Al LaGuardia
Don Phipps (First appearance)

Antagonists:

Boss, Nix and two other unnamed thieves (First appearance; dies)

Other Characters:

Lord (Yahweh) (Invoked)

Races and Species:

Humans
Cats

Realities:

Earth-616

Locations:

United States of America
- Connecticut
  - Springdale
    - Hammond Labs Facility (First appearance)

Synopsis for "The Origin of a Masked Marvel"

Robbie Baldwin works at the Hammond Research Lab for Dr. Benson and his cat, Niels Bohr. One day after work, Robbie sneaks into lab 12 with Niels, the cat, to watch an experiment. As the experiment continues, the energy released backfeeds into the generators and shorts them out, and infecting Robbie. Changing him into the "Masked Marvel". Confused, Robbie runs from the lab. Right into the arms of a group of robbers coming to steal secrets from the lab.

As the robbers throw Robbie off the roof, he discovers that he cannot be hurt by impacting the ground. He was absorbing the kinetic energy of the impact and rebounding from the fall. Bouncing around the roof, Robbie keeps the robbers occupied until the cops arrive. As they race away they get into an accident and are killed.

The police are not sure if all of the robbers tried to escape in the van, so they search the lab for more perps. After running inot Robbie, who has changed back, and letting him go, Robbie decides to test his new powers, disastrously... Robbie starts to realize what is happening to him.

Solicit Synopsis

Meet Robbie Baldwin, a boy who has all the problems of a normal teenager, but with one exception — he's secretly the super hero Speedball!

Notes

Robbie's nickname "Speedball" comes from the confrontation with Mr. Roarke on page 11, where he says, "now I gotcha, ya little Speedball!"

Robbie's other persona name "Masked Marvel" also comes from a comment made on page 11.

Links and References

References