Halo (comics)

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caption=Halo from Batman And The Outsiders #16.
Art by Jim Aparo
character_name=Halo
publisher=DC Comics
debut="Brave and the Bold" vol. 1 #200, (July 1983)
creators=Mike W. Barr (writer)
Jim Aparo (artist)
alter_ego =
full_name =Gabrielle Doe
species =
homeworld =
alliances=Outsiders Strike Force Kobra
aliases=Violet Harper, Marissa Baron, Spect
supports =
powers=Can generate various colored aura which have different functions like flight, energy blast, stasis field etc.|:"For the Halo series comics by Marvel Comics, see Halo Graphic Novel and ."Halo is a fictional superheroine published by DC Comics. She first appeared in "Brave and the Bold" vol. 1 #200 (July 1983), and was created by Mike W. Barr and Jim Aparo.

Fictional Character Biography

Halo is a gestalt of a human body and an "Aurakle", an energy-being resembling a sphere of iridescent color. When sociopath Violet Harper was murdered by Syonide, an operative of the 100 and Tobias Whale, the Aurakle, who had been observing her out of curiosity, was sucked into the newly-vacant body, which it found itself animating. The shock of death and resurrection induced a profound amnesia in the new combined entity. As such, she was a complete innocent who was discovered by Batman who recruits her for the Outsiders. Regardless of her state of mind, Halo later has adventures in which she had to deal with the consequences of her body's previous occupant's actions, which required the assistance of the team to resolve. In one incident, early in her existence, Halo accesses the memories of the long lived Aurakle and becomes emotional over the tendency of human beings to kill each other in battle.

It would be a mistake to assume she is naive. Halo is very reliable in battle; she helps an army of humans fight the Anti-Monitor at the beginning of time.

The young Halo is watched out for by her team-mate and friend Katana. Halo has maintained a general air of innocence, despite many traumatizing adventures. For example, Halo and the other Outsiders spent some time imprisoned in a mining camp. Halo was forced to slave in the kitchens, her powers negated by mind-altering drugs. Directly after the mining camp incident, their plane was shot down by the Bad Samaritan, stranding them on a lush, jungle island. Here, Halo came to fear mortality, specifically, dying on the island. In an attempt to escape, she uses her powers to shoot high into the sky, searching for land. She almost did die, if not for the cooperation of her teammates. Later, teamwork did rescue them. During her stint in the Outsiders, she gains a friend in new member Windfall.

Death

Halo did die, in a manner, in a much later incident. After the team was framed for the murder of Markovia's Queen, which was caused by Roderick and his vampire forces, they were forced to flee. Technocrat's evil ex-wife, Marissa Barron hires an old associate named Ryer who believes Technocrat had abandoned him in Markovia. As the cyborg Sanction, he nearly kills the team in Switzerland. Later, in Gotham City, he attacks again, slaying both Marissa and Halo. As with Violet Harper, Halo's essence is sucked into Marissa's body, reanimating it.

During an attempt by the Outsiders to create a new headquarters, other Aurakle would return to reclaim Halo. Halo would later strike up a relationship with Sebastian Faust, a fellow Outsider that not many on the team trusted. The entire team is eventually cleared of wrongdoing. Halo later returns to Markovia. There she assists in combating a portal to hell that had opened as part of the Day of Judgment incident.

Infinite Crisis

During the Infinite Crisis, supervillain prisons around the world are opened as their respective wardens are targeted and blackmailed. Halo is part of a makeshift team of heroes battling a breakout at the Alcatraz prison in San Francisco. She later joins the Battle of Metropolis, which takes place in issue #7, helping other heroes protect the city from an army of super-villains bent on its destruction. During the battle, two of Halo's friends, Looker and Technocrat are seemingly killed in an explosion.

Soon after the events of the crisis, she assists a team of astronauts in a space station searching for heroes missing in action. She detects traces of Zeta radiation, a sign of Adam Strange, one of the many missing.

She is part of another multi-hero battle, this time against the murderous Black Adam. This takes place on Chinese soil, during the limited series "World War III".

Powers and abilities

Halo has the ability to fly, and to create auras of different colors around herself which have different effects:

*Red aura/halo: Heat beams
*Orange aura/halo: Concussive force beams
*Yellow aura/halo: Brilliant light
*Green aura/halo: Stasis beam
*Blue aura/halo: Holographic distortion effect
*Indigo aura/halo: Tractor beam
*Violet aura/halo: Gave the sociopathic personality of Violet Harper control of the body, enabling her to use any/all of Halo's powers.

*The auras provide a measure of defense against similar effects directed against her. For instance, her green stasis aura protected her from being immobilized by the Cryonic Man's freezing gas, and her orange concussive aura can repel physical attacks.
*Halo can alternate between her costume and civilian clothes instantly. This transition is accompanied by an aura of primarily black color, with white blotches of light.
*The negation of the color spectrum will negate Halo's powers; the DC universe has many villains with just such abillities.
*In the 1990s, it was shown that, should the human body be destroyed, the Aurakle can merge with another freshly-dead human.

Other versions

*The "Elseworlds " contains an alternate Halo, in the body of a African-American woman; her name and background are unrevealed.

External links

* [http://www.dcuguide.com/who.php?name=halo DCU Guide: Halo]
* [http://www.dcuguide.com/chronology.php?name=halo DCU Guide: Halo Chronology]
* [http://www.mykey3000.com/cosmicteams/outsiders/chron1.html Outsiders Chronology Project: Volume five]