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JOE BOMB

Real Name: Unrevealed, presumably Joe

Identity/Class: Human mutant

Occupation: X-Cellent member

Group Membership: X-Cellent (Hurt John, Mirror Girl/Jenny Spiegel, Pood, Uno, Zeitgeist/Axel Cluney)

Affiliations: None

Enemies: X-Statix (Dead Girl/Moonbeam, Doop, Gone Gal/Katie Sawyer, Rosa Lemper, Mister Sensitive/Guy Smith, Phatty, The A/Mike Alicar, Vivisector/Myles Alfred)

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: Zeit House (X-Cellent headquarters), Mojave Desert, California

First Appearance: (cameo) back cover of Giant-Size X-Statix#1 (July, 2019); (fully seen) The X-Cellent I#1 (2022)

Powers/Abilities: Joe Bomb was a mutant with the ability to create explosions out of thin air. Joe could harness the explosions into red colored blasts which he could fire at will. Unable to fully control his abilities he would occasionally unleash random explosions which would send shockwaves from his body.

Height: Unrevealed (approximately 6'1")
Weight: Unrevealed (approximately 220 lbs.)
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Blond

History:

(The X-Cellent I#2 (fb) - BTS) - After manifesting his mutant ability to create explosions out for thin air Joe Bomb used his powers to blow up his neighbors cat.

(The X-Cellent I#2 (fb) - BTS) - While assembling a new supergroup of mutants, Zeitgeist (Axel Cluney) searched for mutants he could easily manipulate and found Joe Bomb to be a disturbing underachiever with questionable hygiene, just what he was looking for.

(The X-Cellent I#1 - BTS) - Joe Bomb was chosen by Zeitgeist to become part of his new supergroup the X-Cellent. A team of mutant oddities whose sole purpose was to become popular mutant celebrities rivaling X-Statix. Or so was his team to believe, in reality Zeitgeist planned to achieve 500 million acolytes (or online followers) to perform the Rite of Apotheosis and become a god.

(The X-Cellent I#1) - Joe Bomb, Hurt John and Mirror Girl were present when Uno filmed Zeitgeist latest speech for his online following declaring how the X-Cellent fought for a free cyber world, suggesting that X-Statix were untrustworthy. Following his speech the X-Cellent uploaded fake footage of how X-Statix attacked them to disrupt their "freedom work".

(The X-Cellent I#1) - Several weeks later the X-Cellent performed, what could only be described as, happenings to gain more followers. Joe Bomb and the others crashed the star-studded premiere of the latest Thom Helmson movie. Gorging on canapés while Hurt John used his mutant abilities to "analyse" (attack) Helmson. The video of their escape went viral.

(The X-Cellent I#1 - BTS) - In the following weeks the X-Cellent made many more happenings. Appearing at the Hero Comic Book Convention, the light-heavyweight championship of the world, the soccer mom riot, the Frank Sinatra appreciation debacle and the Venice Beach Dada farce. Although it's been unrevealed if Joe Bomb was present it seems very likely. All while X-Statix was kept guessing at Zeitgeist's true motives.

(The X-Cellent I#1) - Feeling proud of their achievements, Zeitgeist gathered Joe Bomb and the others to raise the glass and congratulate his team. Unable to fully control his mutant abilities Joe Bomb accidentally created an explosion, shocking his teammates. Joe Bomb quickly apologized, believing the champagne had tipped his blood pressure over the edge.

  Joe and the others then followed Zeitgeist as he explained they badly needed a teleporter on the team, revealing he'd put a team of scientists together to reform X-Statix's former teleported Venus Dee Milo whose molecules had been scattered across all known universes. The X-Cellent, however, were in for a shock when Zeitgeist spewed his acidic barf at the lead scientists face after he revealed it would take up to five years to restore Venus Dee Milo. A begruntled Zeitgeist then handed the task over to another scientist who promised to speed up te process.

(The X-Cellent I#1) - Joe Bomb joined the X-Cellent during another happening as the crashed the "live" hologram tour of deceased British rock legend, Rick Ragger. Equipped with mechanic wings, the X-Cellent disrupted the concert attacking the musicians until X-Statix to oppose them. A fierce fight soon followed during which Joe Bombs used his fists to fire several concussive blasts at the oplossing team. It was during the fight that the X-Cellent's Uno severely injured Vivisector by blowing a large hole to his abdomen with his optic blast.

(The X-Cellent I#2 (fb)) - As the fight continued Joe Bomb was hit in mid-air by Mister Sensitive after which Zeitgeist seemingly disfigured Gone Gal's face. Joe Bomb then opposed the wall-like mutant Rosa Lemper but his powerful explosion backfired on him, causing Joe Bomb to become seriously injured. Just as X-Statix teleported away, Hurt John and Mirror Girl rushed to Joe Bomb's side. Although his teammates feared he would died if he was moved, Zeitgeist couldn't care less and ordered his team to carry the seriously injured Joe Bomb while he hailed a cab.

  Back at the Zeit House the non-responsive Joe Bomb was quietly bleeding out while his teammates bickered over Zeitgeist's leadership. With no intention of saving Joe, Zeitgeist ordered Pood to keep him alive long enough for Uno to upload a nice slow death scene that would excite his following.

  After his death, Mirror Girl, Hurt John and Uno joined to bury and mourn their friend outside Zeit House. In an attempt at a eulogy, Hurt John noted his uploaded death scene had gotten almost four hundred thousand hits. Zeitgeist, however, was nowhere to be seen.

Comments: Created by writer, pencils, inks.

The X-Cellent was first announced in 2019 when Milligan and Allred reunited for the Giant-Size X-Statix one-shot. But although the series was to debut in 2020 it was sidetracked by the COVID-19 pandemic. Luckily the publication still happened albeit in 2022.

The name Joe Bomb is a reference to the RDS-1, the nuclear bomb used in the Soviet Union's first nuclear weapon test. The United States assigned the bomb with the codename Joe-Q, in reference to Joseph Stalin. The Joe Bomb was detonated on 29 August 1949 at 7:00 a.m., at the Semipalatinsk Test Site, Kazakh SSR, after topt-secret research and development as part of the Soviet atomic bomb project. As such it would be even be possible for Joe Bomb to be Russian.

Profile by MarvellousLuke

CLARIFICATIONS:
Joe Bomb has no known connections to


Images: (without ads)
X-Cellent I#1, p5, pan3 (main image)
X-Cellent I#1, p10, pan2&3 (causing an accidental explosion)
X-Cellent I#2, p4, pan5 (explosion backfiring, leading to his death)


Appearances:
Giant-Size X-Statix#1 (July, 2019) - Peter Milligan (writer), Mike Allred (pencils, inks), Lauren Amaro, Darren Shan, Danny Khazem (editors)
X-Cellent I#1 (February, 2022) - Peter Milligan (writer), Mike Allred (pencils, inks), Lauren Amaro, Kat Gregorowicz, Darren Shan (editors)
X-Cellent I#2 (March, 2022) - Peter Milligan (writer), Mike Allred (pencils, inks), Lauren Amaro, Kat Gregorowicz, Darren Shan (editors)


First Posted: 09/17/2023
Last Updated: 09/17/2023

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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