Alter ego: James Jesse (real name - Giovanni
Giuseppe)
Known Relatives: Unnamed father and other members of
the Flying Jesses, Billy Hong (son), Jaime Kyle
(Wylie, daughter).
Occupation: Con artist, special effects designer
Base of Opperations: The Station
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.
It was during his time with the Watchmen that
Trickster first met and became enamoured with
Catwoman. Catty impressed him as no other woman
had before. They flirted quite intensely with one
another, but just after the Bad Friday event in 1999,
Catwoman became a reserve member of the Watchmen.
However, she did return to the team in 2001, and much
to Trickster's shock and delight, he and Catwoman had
a brief fling. Trickster got another delightful shock
a couple of months later, when she reported to him
that she was pregnant with his child. Since he never
really got to know his son Billy, Trickster asked
Catwoman if he could raise their child and she agreed.
Their daughter, Jaime Kyle was born on April 1st,
2002.
Trickster took a leave of absence from the Watchmen
in order to raise his daughter, whom he spoiled
mercilessly. He was able to get Jaime enrolled in the
Theodore Knight Academy, but removed her from the
school when she was 13, in order to complete her
education himself. They travelled all over the world
together, including a couple of stopovers in Zhutan,
so they could look in on Billy.
Years later, Trickster and Anarky had a falling out
due to the direction Anarky was taking his career.
When Anarky refused to turn from his current course
of action, Trickster returned to the Watchmen and
swore that the team would now be a thorn in Anarky's
side.
Trickster still lives with the fear that he hasn't
done enough good in his life and so will meet up with
Neron again in the afterlife. However, Trickster now
worries far more that Neron will strike back at him
through his daughter, and so Trickster has made sure
that Jaime is a hero, and not following her old man's
initial forray into crime. In trying to set a good
example for his daughter, Trickster has mellowed
somewhat in the last few years and is pretty much an
out and out hero now, but he's still the same,
irrepressible rogue that's he's always been at
heart.
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.
