CLYDE
Real Name: Clyde Bodtchik
Identity/Class: Human technology user
Occupation: Lab assistant, Criminal scientist
Group Membership: None
Affiliations: Claude (former friend), Dr. Rarque (former employer) Enemies: Claude, Speedball (Robbie Baldwin), Speedball (Darrion Grobe)
Known Relatives: None
Aliases: Clyde planned to take the name "Rebound" once he get Speedball's powers.
Base of Operations: Springdale, Connecticut
First Appearance: Speedball#10 (June, 1989)
Powers/Abilities: Clyde was a skilled scientist. It's uncertain if his failed attempt to syphon the powers out of Speedball and Niels had any effect on him.
History: (New Warriors I#66 (fb) - BTS) - Clyde claimed to have been responsible for many of the "lame, half-baked stupid-villains" who operated in Springdale (See comments).
(Speedball#10) - Working with Dr. Rarque, Clyde helped create an accelerated growth formula. The first successful test animal, a pig, got out of control and injured Rarque and started a fire that destroyed many of his notes. Clyde was determined to get fame and fortune however, so he decided to try to recreate the formula using the few notes he saved and what he could remember.
Using his friendship with Claude, Clyde got access to Hammond Labs and stole the chemicals he needed. Hiding in an abandoned barn Clyde attempted to duplicate the formula, throwing his failures into the mud behind the barn. But when a group of students on a field trip spot ted a giant chicken, Clyde realized he may have been too hasty with one of the batches he had discarded. He gathered up the mud and attempted to find more animals to test on.
Meanwhile Claude had noticed the missing chemicals in Hammond Labs and Speedball has begun investigating the giant chicken. They arrived at the barn at the same time. Clyde knocked out Claude and was forcing Speedball to taste the formula when a giant rat broke through the wall and slashed Clyde open. Speedball killed the giant rat and then discarded of all the giant animals to prevent an investigation that might lead to Hammond Labs, and then to him.
(New Warriors I#66 (fb) - BTS) - After recovering from his injuries, Clyde somehow learned about Niels, Dr. Benson's cat who has powers similar to Speedball's. Breaking a number of super-villains out of jail, Clyde built a machine that would steal Niels's powers for himself.
(New Warriors I#66) - Clyde's henchmen seached for and captured Niels and brought him to Clyde. When Speedball also showed up, Clyde added him to the machine with Niels so that he'd recieve the power of them both. After explaining his plans and activating the machine he was foiled when Niels coughed up a super-charged hairball that made the device go hawire. The machine shook Clyde around violently until Speedball unplugged it.
Comments: Steve Ditko, Jo Duffy and D. Day
At the end of the Speedball issue, Robbie and Claude both identify Clyde as being dead. I guess medical help must have come and revived him, because he was much aliver when next seen. Between he and the Sticker, the New Warriors story went managed to bring two Speedball villains back from the grave. Speedball villains! Honestly, I think this proves that no character is ever safe to rest in peace.
Clyde's claim to be behind the villains of Springdale? I can't buy it. There was nothing in his first appearance to suggest it. Sure he was more interested in wealth and fame then he was solving world hunger, but he still seemed to genuinely want Dr. Rarque to get recognition. Plus, there's the fact that so few of Springdale's villains actually seem to have super powers for him to have given them.
My understanding is that the Speedball in the New Warriors issue wasn't really Speedball, but Darrion Grobe, who actually thought he was Speedball. That doesn't make much difference to Clyde though.
The "Speedball Revenge Squad" was never actually called that aside from the cover of the issue and they were not grouped together for the purpose of getting revenge on Speedball, but it's a better name than "A Bunch of Weird Crooks Working For A Guy Named Clyde".
Clyde received a last name in the Dark Reign Files.
by
Employed the "Speedball Revenge Squad"
CLARIFICATIONS: --Speedball#10 --New Warriors I#66 Images taken from: Last updated: 09/12/04
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
Non-Marvel Copyright info
Clyde should not be confused with:
Dr. Rarque was a scientist working with Clyde on a accelerated growth formula to end world hunger. The formula proved successful and they had managed to create a very large pig, but it got out of control and injured the doctor. Rarque suffered brain damage and lost his mind.
The "Speedball Revenge Squad" (the Basher, Bonehead, the Bug-Eyed Voice, Fred Caskey, Harlequin Hitman, Leaper Logan, the Sticker, the Two-Legged Rat) was a group of villains employed by Clyde to find and capture Dr. Benson's cat Niels so that Clyde could steal it's kinetic powers. When the cat was caught the group brought it to Clyde's base. They were attacked by Speedball and defeated. Clyde captured Speedball, but the group managed to get beat up again when he and Niels escaped. They were all turned into the police.
Speedball#10, page 4, panel 1
New Warriors I#66, page 29, panel 3
Speedball#10, page 1
New Warriors I#66, page 19, panel 6
Speedball#10 (June, 1989) - Steve Ditko (plot/pencils), Jo Duffy (script), D. Day (inks), Terry Kavanagh (editor)
New Warriors I#66 (December, 1995) - Evan Skolnick (writer), Patrick Zircher (pencils), Andrew Pepoy (inks), Tom Brevoort (editor)
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