Bouncing Beatnik

BOUNCING BEATNIK

Real Name: Unrevealed

Class: Human?

Occupation: Superhero

Group Affiliation: None

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: Astro City, 1950s era, Earth-Astro City

First Appearance: Kurt Busiek’s Astro City I (Image) #2 (September, 1995)

Powers: Bouncing Beatnik was a highly acrobatic hand-to-hand combatant.

History: (Kurt Busiek’s Astro City I (Image) #2) - Max O’Millions formed the Honor Guard, a team of the world’s greatest superheroes, in 1959. Max’s initial team consisted of Cleopatra, N-Forcer, Kitkat, Leopardman, Silver Agent and Starwoman. Bouncing Beatnik assisted the team on several occassions, but never officially joined, as that was not his thing. The Honor Guard confronted the occultist Karnus, who summoned the otherworldly Shirak the Devourer, bringing the entity and a part of his dimension to an Astro City subway tunnel. Shirak planned to make the subway his beachhead and make war against Earth, but the Honor Guard battled him, Karnus and Shirak’s army of sharklike humanoids he called the Ravagers. The battle turned against them until the Old Soldier, who hadn’t been seen in years, appeared because he was needed. He instructed the Honor Guard to destroy Shirak’s alter, which kept him tethered to our dimension. Silver Agent destroyed it with his bare hands, banishing the entity and winning the day.

Comments: Created by Kurt Busiek, Alex Ross & Brent E. Anderson.

Bouncing Beatnik was originally published by Image Comics.

Kurt Busiek’s Astro City I (Image) #2 was reprinted in Kurt Busiek’s Astro City: Life in the Big City #2.

The Broken Man revealed that bouncing ?Beatnik, Mister Cakewalk and the Halcyon Hippie were part of a legacy of manifestations of popular counterculture music. All three of them are hinted to having a connection to the Broken Man in some fashion, but only time will tell the whole story.