Alter ego: James Jesse (real name - Giovanni Giuseppe)
Known Relatives: Unnamed father and other members of
the Flying Jesses, Billy Hong (son).
Occupation: Con artist, special effects designer
Base of Opperations: Keystone City, Kansas
Group Affiliation: former member of the Rogue's
Gallery, now a member of the Watchmen
History:
Giovanni Guiseppe, or James Jesse as he came to be
known, was a circus acrobat and the youngest member
of the Flying Jesses, a renowned group of arialists.
Unfortunately, young James harboured a fear that would
normally spell the end of such a career, he was afraid
of heights. To guard against this fear and still be
able perform in the family act, he eventually invented
his famous "Airwalker Shoes" (patent pending), which,
as their name implies, allowed him to walk on air.
Armed with this wonderous invention, James honed his
skills as an acrobat, and continued with his
inventing.
However, his arialist act was not enough and James
eventually turned to crime in order to give himself
greater thrills and challenges. Calling himself the
Trickster, he began his career by holding up a few
airplanes mid-flight. He eventually picked Central
City as his new base, where he quickly ran afoul of
the second Flash (Barry Allen) and found the thrill
he needed in matching wits against a superspeed foe.
James eventually became part of the loose-knit band of
criminals known as the Rogues Gallery, a group whose
main mission was to make the Flash's life as miserable
as possible and to make as much money as possible at
the same time.
After Barry's death, James travelled to LA where he
fought the Blue Devil several times, until that hero
convinced him he could make a fortune in the movie
business as a special effects artist. The Trickster
became a part-time persona, taking up less and less
time till he saw in the newspaper a quintuple
obituary.
Five of his former cohorts, most of the Rogues
Gallery, had died under very mysterious
circumstances, and not in a battle with the Flash.
James decided, in order to honour the memory of the
Rogues, to cruise for the biggest score ever. And he
found it. He followed along when dozens of villians
were invited to Hell by the demon Neron and offered
tantilizing deals in exchange for their souls. Neron
took a strange interest in James, and didn't even
offer him a deal. As a result, James was the only one
around who knew Neron's weakness without owing him
anything, and so, almost single-handedly defeated
Neron.
James has decided he'd better start earning some good
karma, because he doesn't dare go to Hell and face
Neron. He's still playing his con-artist games, but
for the side of light instead of just personal gain.
Not long after he tricked the Devil, James agreed to
help an old girlfriend, Mindy Hong, rescue her son
Billy from warlords in the small Himalayan country
of Zhutan. The warlords believed Billy to be the
Majee, a human agent appointed by their god, Meshta.
During the rescue it turned out that not only was
Billy the Majee, but that he was also James' son.
James returned to the U.S. when he attempted to steal
an artifact known as the Eye of God. The Eye of God
was a hotly contested artifact being kept at a college
library in the town of Manchester, Alabama, home town
of Impulse. After a complicated game of "Who's got the
Eye", which led to the arrest of a mobster, Trickster,
with the help of White Lightning, returned the Eye to
its rightful owner, a small church in Peru. This was a
doubly good karmic deed, for Trickster was the one who
originally stole the Eye from the church.
After many such good deeds, Trickster was approached
by the vigilante known as Anarky. Anarky was putting
together a team of costumed individuals who were known
to walk on the darker side of the law in order to help
him take down the United Nations sanctioned
supergroup, the Doom Patrol. Seeing this as one of the
ultimate ways to collect some good karma, Trickster
joined the team which would come to be known as the
Watchmen.
Skills and Equipment:
The Trickster's trademarks (aside from walking on air)
are his biting sense of humour and a wide range of
dangerous but harmless looking gadgets that he would
use in his crimes. Some of the gadgets he uses have
been liberated from his fellow Rogues. While trying to
steal the Eye of God, Trickster was in posession of
one of the Weather Wizard's weather rods, and he also
has a couple of Mirror Master's mirrors.
