PIXXPIXX
Real Name: Penny Burka
Identity/Class: Extra-dimensional (Earth-Ultraverse) Human mutate (Ultra)
Occupation: Warrior; former student
Group Membership: Ultraforce (Contrary, Ghoul, Prime, Prototype (Jimmy Ruiz), Topaz)
Affiliations: recruit of Contrary;
loose connection to the Academy of the New
Elite and the Freex
Enemies: Aladdin, Atalon, and the Fire People
Known Relatives: parents
Aliases: None
Base of Operations: formerly Mount
Shasta;
formerly Ultraforce headquarters I (Miami,
Florida);
Ultraverse
First Appearance: Giant-Size Freex#1/2 (July, 1994)
Powers/Abilities: Pixx can project
convincing three-dimensional visual and auditory illusions,
possibly by accessing the subconscious of her victims to
determines interests, fears, etc.
However, Pixx was also occasionally a victim
of her own power. At unexpected moments, she would be plagued by
maddening hallucinations, and she could no more tell that they
were harmless illusions than could her victims. Her powers would
also lash out at others according to her subconscious desires,
even without her direct effort.
In addition, Pixx is extremely intelligent and is a prodigy with all things mechanical, electrical, and computerized. She mastered the technology of the Fire People within minutes, and she was able to deactivate several hundred nuclear warheads within a period of less than an hour.
History: Pixx's origin is unclear. She may have gained her power via a "jumpstart" from the Entity, or it may have been from the nanotech derived from the Fire People, a result of Wetware Mary (Contrary).
(GS Freex#1/2 (fb) - BTS/ Ultraverse Premiere#6/5) - Penny Burka was initially quite popular. When her powers surfaced, they were not completely under her control and she was as much a victim of them on occasion as were any others on whom she focused her powers. She sometimes began babbling hysterically, and when her friends turned against her, she used her powers to terrorize them.
(GS Freex#1/2 (fb)) - At school Penny subconsciously created the illusion of a wave of blood to terrorize a group of students making up stories about her. Penny's parents soon found that they were unable to handle her anymore, and so they contacted Contrary, so that Penny could join her Academy for the New Elite. Unbeknownst to Contrary, however, the Burkas also contacted the US government for assistance.
(GS Freex#1/2) - Contrary met with the Burkas and introduced
the idea of the Academy to Penny. However, Aladdin, a government
group that had been informed of Penny's existence after the
Burkas' call, arrived to take Penny by force. Aladdin's forces
threatened to overwhelm Contrary, when Penny created the illusion
of Prime arriving to assist her. The troops regrouped to call
reinforcements, allowing Contrary time to take Penny and flee in
her ship. Penny was most interested in learning to work with
Contrary's high-tech equipment, and she adopted the new name of
Pixx.
Contrary then revealed that Pixx would not be
taking classes in the Academy just yet, but rather serving as
Contrary's pilot and technician.
(Prototype#13/Ultraverse Premiere#6/5) - Contrary brought Pixx to her Mount Shasta base where she met the members of the Academy--Boom Boy, Feline, Flygirl, and Waver. When some of the members challenged her toughness, Pixx generated the illusion of a pack of dogs chasing after Feline, who fled in horror. After realizing it was an illusion, Feline was furious, but Flygirl stopped her from attacking Pixx. The rest of the group welcomed Pixx to the Academy.
(Freex#12, 13) - In Mount Shasta, Pixx set a boobytrap with green paint in hopes of nailing Feline, but instead hit Boom Boy. Contrary then took Pixx with her to investigate an uprising of the Fire People. Under Pixx's guidance, they zeroed in on several groups of Fire People, raiding military nuclear bases across the country.
(Ultraforce I#0A+B) - On that mission, Pixx and Contrary encountered Hardcase and Ghoul and discovered that they had similar interests. Pixx was really creeped out by by the way Ghoul kept staring at her. Unbeknownst to her, he could detect the shroud of death around her.
(Ultraforce I#1) - Ghoul continued to creep Pixx out. He ended up joining Ultraforce with she and several solely so that he might save her, though he kept that to himself. All members consented to join under Hardcase.
(Ultraforce#2) - Pixx and the rest of Ultraforce met with President Clinton. When Topaz flipped out at the mention of Mantra, Pixx caused the illusion of a spectral form of Hillary Clinton, which "revealed" itself to be the true power behind all men, calming the man-hating Topaz. Later, Pixx again calmed Topaz by offering to accompany her on a mission to recruit Mantra, rather than having Topaz go with Prime, as originally recommended.
(Ultraforce#3) - Pixx learned of Topaz's origins, and stopped short of questioning how much she really liked women. Later, when Ultraforce confronted Atalon and the Fire People, Pixx coordinated all communications from the ship Contrary had sent her out in. When Atalon unleashed a nuke, Pixx talked Prototype through disabling the missile. In retaliation, Atalon destroyed the ship Pixx was in. She nearly drowned, but was saved by Prime.
(Ultraforce#4) - Pixx
attended a press conference, along with the rest of Ultraforce.
Afterwards, Pixx felt really guilty for treating Ghoul so badly,
as he was now a captive of Atalon. Prime helped talk her through
it. Finally, as the group made its plans against Atalon, Pixx
insisted that she was the only one who could disable Atalon's
entire arsenal of nuclear missiles swiftly enough to make a
difference. She was proud of herself for volunteering for such an
important mission, but she then suffered from a nasty
hallucination brought on by her powers. She hoped she could hold
it together long enough to save the world.
(Ultraforce#5) - On Zenalla, the island of the Fire People, the rest of Ultraforce occupied Atalon and the Fire People while Pixx sneaked into the cavern containing all of the missiles. Pixx's illusions enabled her to get past all of the guards, but then one of her illusions turned against her, terrifying her enough to make her cry out. One of the Fire People then saw her and blasted her. Though Topaz took care of Pixx's attackers, her radiation protection suit was destroyed. Though a previous nuke set off by Atalon had rendered the entire island highly radioactive (to which the Fire People were virtually immune), Pixx continued on her mission. Despite the pleading of Ghoul, Pixx leapt from missile to missile, rendering each inoperable in rapid succession. The ravages of the radiation were soon apparent, and Pixx's skin began to blister, she began to weaken, and she soon lost her site. Eventually, the radiation killed her, but not before she disabled the last of the missiles, effectively eliminating Atalon's number one attack in his plans for world conquest.
(Ultraforce#6) - Furious over the loss of his missiles, Atalon collapsed the entire cavern on Ultraforce. Ghoul leapt into the rocks to prevent Pixx's corpse from being buried and thus lost. Prime pulled Ghoul out from under the boulders, but he had only managed to recover her scarf.
Comments: Created by Gerard Jones and Jeff Parker.
Pixx was an interesting, three-dimensional character, but her role in Ultraforce was primarily to be the young one slated to die to prove that there are permanent consequences in the Ultraverse
If'n yez cares, Ultraverse Premiere was a somewhat novel concept, in which it wasn't an actual title, but a flip-book feature that ran across various issues of Ultraverse titles, sort of like Marvel's 100 Page Monster feature.
CLARIFICATIONS:
No known connection to:
images: (without ads)
Other appearances:
Prototype#13/Ultraverse Premiere#6/5 (August, 1994) - Mark Paniccia (writer), Brian O'Connell (pencils), Scott Reed (inks)
Freex#12 (June, 1994) - Gerard Jones (writer), Scott Kolins (pencils), Jon Holdredge (inks), Hank Kanalz (editor)
Freex#13 (September, 1994) - Gerard Jones (writer), Scott Kolins (pencils), Jon Holdredge (inks), Hank Kanalz (editor)
Ultraforce I#1 (August, 1994) - Gerard Jones (writer), George Perez (pencils), Al Vey (inks), Chris Ulm & Hank Kanalz (editors)
Ultraforce I#0A-B (September, 1994) - Gerard Jones (writer), George Perez (pencils), Al Vey (inks)
Ultraforce I#2 (October, 1994) - Gerard Jones (writer), John Statema & George Perez (pencils), Jeff Whiting & Barb Kaalberg (inks), Chris Ulm & Hank Kanalz (editors)
Ultraforce I#4-6 (January-March, 1995) - Gerard Jones (writer), George Perez & Steven Butler (#6) (pencils), Al Vey, Keith Aiken, Terry Austin (#5) & Dennis Jane (#6) (inks), Hank Kanalz (editors)
First Posted: 07/26/2003
Last updated: 04/20/2014
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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