Breach (comics)
Encyclopedia
Breach is a fictional character
, a superhero
published by DC Comics
. He first appeared in Breach #1, (March 2005
) and was created by Bob Harras
and Marcos Martin
.
of Captain Atom
, until management at DC decided not to revise the character, who was last rebooted during the late 1980s. With the development of Breach already underway, the decision was made to partially rewrite the plot and characters and create a brand new superhero
. Evidence of the change remains in the first issue, where the protagonist, Major Zanetti, is called "Major Adams" twice.
comic book
series from DC Comics
. written by Bob Harras
with art by penciller Marcos Martin
and inker Alvaro Lopez
. The series is centered on a US Army
Major named Tim Zanetti, who gains superpowers in a scientific experiment gone wrong. Zanetti was working for "Project Otherside," a secret sub-Arctic nuclear reactor
where scientists are probing other dimensions
. In an accident at the facility, Zanetti is caught in a dimensional rift and afterwards is found in a coma with his body forever changed. His body is placed in an isolation chamber for the next twenty years, at which point he awakens. His body has become a conductor for a mysterious and deadly energy, able to "melt" biological substances with only a touch, and so he has to be dampened with a special containment suit. Left behind while Zanetti is comatose and presumed dead, are his wife Helen and son Tate.
Like Captain Atom before him, Zanetti wakes years after the experiment which transformed him. He discovers that his former colleague, Major Mac McClellan, has taken his place in his former family, marrying Helen, and has risen in the military to the rank of General. For some still unknown reasons he decides to tell Zanetti that his family had died the very moment he came to contact with the rift. MacClellan plans to use Zanetti, now dubbed "Breach" as a tool against invasion by the race of transdimensional creatures called the Rifters.
The Rifters are creatures from the far side of the dimensional rift that created Breach. They need to inhabit and take over human bodies in order to take a physical form. Once in human form, they also possess the same deadly attributes of Breach himself, but are totally enslaved by their natural instincts. The declared goal of the Rifters is the global destruction of what they refer to as "the weak ones," the humans, and a particular Rifter agent, Jakob Kekana.
Kekana was a young herdsman in Africa
when he was possessed and deformed by a Rifter. Now known simply as The Herdsman, he has been sent to track down Zanetti and probe him to discover why he is not bound to the parasitic Rifter mind. He has acquired an unsurpassed power, strong enough to take down even Superman
. For still mysterious reasons, Talia al Ghul
is helping the Herdsman, who far from considers her a "weak one".
Breach distances itself from the standard superhero formula by focusing on the tragedy, rather than the triumph, of its title character. Constantly driven to the verge of madness by the Rifter infection in his body and mind, Breach holds onto the memories of his family to keep him sane. This binds him to a strict moral code that, for example, has stopped him from killing two Rifters that possessed innocent children.
Breach has tangled with the Kobra
organization and has met up with members of the JLA
, including fights with Superman on more than one occasion.
The Infinite Crisis
limited series
revealed that if the Multiverse had survived up to the present, Zanetti would have been a native of Earth-Eight
as its version of Captain Atom
. Breach escapes from imprisonment by Alexander Luthor. In issue #7 of the series, he joins a makeshift army of heroes defending Metropolis from the dozens of members of the Secret Society of Supervillains. Breach is seen battling the evil construct Amazo
. Soon later, Superboy-Prime
ruptures Zanetti's containment suit and apparently kills him. The resulting explosion appears to kill the superheroine Looker
and the superhero Technocrat
as well, but Looker was later revealed to have survived thanks to her telekinesis. Upon Breach's detonation, Captain Atom materializes in the position where Breach had been.
During the events of Blackest Night, Breach is reanimated as a member of the Black Lantern Corps
along with the other heroes killed by Superboy-Prime and head for Earth Prime
to torment him. Superboy-Prime destroys them by using the black ring cycling through the power set of emotions resulting in a burst of colored energy that destroys Black Lanterns.
Countdown: Arena
#2 depicts a supposedly new Breach, suggested to exist on the new Earth-8, also known as Angor. In Countdown: Arena #4 however, Monarch
reveals that he found a brain-dead Breach floating in the Quantum Dimension from which Captain Atom's powers derive after the events of Infinite Crisis, and rebuilt his consciousness to serve him. Breach eventually broke free of Monarch's control, only to be killed by him.
Tim Zanetti Jr., son of Tim Zanetti, some time later joins the military-funded Project 7734, under the command of General Sam Lane, upon discovering a subproject aptly named Project Breach, dealing with a powerful weapon, a planet breaker. Project Breach however is soon revealed to be a red herring
, or rather an example of the twisted logic of Sam Lane: the planet breaker is an amnesiac, brain-dead Captain Atom
, now paralleling Breach both as secret origins, and as final fate.
Fictional character
A character is the representation of a person in a narrative work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr , the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749. From this, the sense of...
, a superhero
Superhero
A superhero is a type of stock character, possessing "extraordinary or superhuman powers", dedicated to protecting the public. Since the debut of the prototypical superhero Superman in 1938, stories of superheroes — ranging from brief episodic adventures to continuing years-long sagas —...
published by DC Comics
DC Comics
DC Comics, Inc. is one of the largest and most successful companies operating in the market for American comic books and related media. It is the publishing unit of DC Entertainment a company of Warner Bros. Entertainment, which itself is owned by Time Warner...
. He first appeared in Breach #1, (March 2005
2005 in comics
- January :* January 3: Will Eisner, creator of The Spirit, dies at age 87.-April:*April 13:**DC Comics announces the discontinuation of its Humanoids and 2000 A.D. titles....
) and was created by Bob Harras
Bob Harras
Robert "Bob" Harras is an American comics writer and editor, who was editor-in-chief of Marvel Comics from 1995 to 2000 and currently serves as editor-in-chief of DC Comics.-Career:...
and Marcos Martin
Marcos Martin
Marcos Martín is a Spanish comic book artist who worked for American comics, illustrating Batgirl: Year One, Doctor Strange: The Oath, Breach. He is the current artist of The Amazing Spider-Man...
.
Publication history
Breach was originally intended to be a rebootReboot (continuity)
The verb reboot, in media dealing with serial fiction, means to discard much or even all previous continuity in the series and start anew with fresh ideas...
of Captain Atom
Captain Atom
Captain Atom is a fictional comic book superhero that has existed in three basic incarnations. Created by writer Joe Gill and artist/co-writer Steve Ditko, he first appeared in Space Adventures #33 . Captain Atom was created for Charlton Comics but was later acquired by DC Comics and revised for...
, until management at DC decided not to revise the character, who was last rebooted during the late 1980s. With the development of Breach already underway, the decision was made to partially rewrite the plot and characters and create a brand new superhero
Superhero
A superhero is a type of stock character, possessing "extraordinary or superhuman powers", dedicated to protecting the public. Since the debut of the prototypical superhero Superman in 1938, stories of superheroes — ranging from brief episodic adventures to continuing years-long sagas —...
. Evidence of the change remains in the first issue, where the protagonist, Major Zanetti, is called "Major Adams" twice.
Fictional character biography
Breach is a 20052005 in comics
- January :* January 3: Will Eisner, creator of The Spirit, dies at age 87.-April:*April 13:**DC Comics announces the discontinuation of its Humanoids and 2000 A.D. titles....
comic book
Comic book
A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...
series from DC Comics
DC Comics
DC Comics, Inc. is one of the largest and most successful companies operating in the market for American comic books and related media. It is the publishing unit of DC Entertainment a company of Warner Bros. Entertainment, which itself is owned by Time Warner...
. written by Bob Harras
Bob Harras
Robert "Bob" Harras is an American comics writer and editor, who was editor-in-chief of Marvel Comics from 1995 to 2000 and currently serves as editor-in-chief of DC Comics.-Career:...
with art by penciller Marcos Martin
Marcos Martin
Marcos Martín is a Spanish comic book artist who worked for American comics, illustrating Batgirl: Year One, Doctor Strange: The Oath, Breach. He is the current artist of The Amazing Spider-Man...
and inker Alvaro Lopez
Álvaro López
Álvaro López is the drummer from British post trip hop band Second Person. His most well-known project to date has been as drummer/programmer on Second Person's 2004 debut release Chromatography and its follow up The Elements with band-mates Julia Johnson and Mark Maclaine.The Madrid-born...
. The series is centered on a US Army
Army
An army An army An army (from Latin arma "arms, weapons" via Old French armée, "armed" (feminine), in the broadest sense, is the land-based military of a nation or state. It may also include other branches of the military such as the air force via means of aviation corps...
Major named Tim Zanetti, who gains superpowers in a scientific experiment gone wrong. Zanetti was working for "Project Otherside," a secret sub-Arctic nuclear reactor
Nuclear reactor
A nuclear reactor is a device to initiate and control a sustained nuclear chain reaction. Most commonly they are used for generating electricity and for the propulsion of ships. Usually heat from nuclear fission is passed to a working fluid , which runs through turbines that power either ship's...
where scientists are probing other dimensions
Dimensions
Dimensions is a French project that makes educational movies about mathematics, focusing on spatial geometry. It uses POV-Ray to render some of the animations, and the films are release under a Creative Commons licence....
. In an accident at the facility, Zanetti is caught in a dimensional rift and afterwards is found in a coma with his body forever changed. His body is placed in an isolation chamber for the next twenty years, at which point he awakens. His body has become a conductor for a mysterious and deadly energy, able to "melt" biological substances with only a touch, and so he has to be dampened with a special containment suit. Left behind while Zanetti is comatose and presumed dead, are his wife Helen and son Tate.
Like Captain Atom before him, Zanetti wakes years after the experiment which transformed him. He discovers that his former colleague, Major Mac McClellan, has taken his place in his former family, marrying Helen, and has risen in the military to the rank of General. For some still unknown reasons he decides to tell Zanetti that his family had died the very moment he came to contact with the rift. MacClellan plans to use Zanetti, now dubbed "Breach" as a tool against invasion by the race of transdimensional creatures called the Rifters.
The Rifters are creatures from the far side of the dimensional rift that created Breach. They need to inhabit and take over human bodies in order to take a physical form. Once in human form, they also possess the same deadly attributes of Breach himself, but are totally enslaved by their natural instincts. The declared goal of the Rifters is the global destruction of what they refer to as "the weak ones," the humans, and a particular Rifter agent, Jakob Kekana.
Kekana was a young herdsman in Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
when he was possessed and deformed by a Rifter. Now known simply as The Herdsman, he has been sent to track down Zanetti and probe him to discover why he is not bound to the parasitic Rifter mind. He has acquired an unsurpassed power, strong enough to take down even Superman
Superman
Superman is a fictional comic book superhero appearing in publications by DC Comics, widely considered to be an American cultural icon. Created by American writer Jerry Siegel and Canadian-born American artist Joe Shuster in 1932 while both were living in Cleveland, Ohio, and sold to Detective...
. For still mysterious reasons, Talia al Ghul
Talia al Ghul
Talia al Ghul is a fictional character in the DC Comics universe, the now-estranged daughter of the supervillain Ra's al Ghul, a love interest of Batman, and the mother of his son Damian Wayne, the fifth Robin...
is helping the Herdsman, who far from considers her a "weak one".
Breach distances itself from the standard superhero formula by focusing on the tragedy, rather than the triumph, of its title character. Constantly driven to the verge of madness by the Rifter infection in his body and mind, Breach holds onto the memories of his family to keep him sane. This binds him to a strict moral code that, for example, has stopped him from killing two Rifters that possessed innocent children.
Breach has tangled with the Kobra
Kobra (comics)
Kobra is the name used by two fictional supervillains published by DC Comics. The Jeffrey Burr Kobra first appeared in Kobra #1 , and was created by Martin Pasko, Steve Sherman, Jack Kirby, and Pablo Marcos...
organization and has met up with members of the JLA
Justice League
The Justice League, also called the Justice League of America or JLA, is a fictional superhero team that appears in comic books published by DC Comics....
, including fights with Superman on more than one occasion.
End
Breach was cancelled by DC and the eleventh and final issue was released in November 2005.The Infinite Crisis
Infinite Crisis
Infinite Crisis is a 2005 - 2006 comic book storyline published by DC Comics, consisting of an eponymous, seven-issue comic book limited series written by Geoff Johns and illustrated by Phil Jimenez, George Pérez, Ivan Reis, and Jerry Ordway, and a number of tie-in books...
limited series
Limited series
A limited series is a comic book series with a set number of installments. A limited series differs from an ongoing series in that the number of issues is determined before production and it differs from a one shot in that it is composed of multiple issues....
revealed that if the Multiverse had survived up to the present, Zanetti would have been a native of Earth-Eight
Multiverse (DC Comics)
The DC Multiverse is a fictional continuity construct that exists in stories published by comic book company DC Comics. The DC Multiverse consists of numerous worlds, most of them outside DC's main continuity, allowing writers the creative freedom to explore alternative versions of characters and...
as its version of Captain Atom
Captain Atom
Captain Atom is a fictional comic book superhero that has existed in three basic incarnations. Created by writer Joe Gill and artist/co-writer Steve Ditko, he first appeared in Space Adventures #33 . Captain Atom was created for Charlton Comics but was later acquired by DC Comics and revised for...
. Breach escapes from imprisonment by Alexander Luthor. In issue #7 of the series, he joins a makeshift army of heroes defending Metropolis from the dozens of members of the Secret Society of Supervillains. Breach is seen battling the evil construct Amazo
Amazo
Amazo is a fictional character that appears in comic books published by DC Comics. The character first appears in The Brave and the Bold #30 and was created by Gardner Fox and Murphy Anderson. An android, Amazo's special ability is to replicate the special abilities of various superheroes and...
. Soon later, Superboy-Prime
Superboy-Prime
Superboy-Prime, also known as Superman-Prime, or simply Prime, is a DC Comics superhero turned supervillain, and one of several alternate Supermen. The character first appeared in DC Comics Presents #87 , and was created by Elliot S...
ruptures Zanetti's containment suit and apparently kills him. The resulting explosion appears to kill the superheroine Looker
Looker (comics)
Looker is a fictional character, a superhero in the DC Universe of comic books. The character's first appearance was in Batman & the Outsiders #25.-Emily Briggs:...
and the superhero Technocrat
Technocrat (comics)
Technocrat is a superhero in the DC Comics and a former member of the Outsiders. His first appearance was in Outsiders Alpha v2, #1 . written by Mike W. Barr and drawn by Paul Pelletier.-Markovia:...
as well, but Looker was later revealed to have survived thanks to her telekinesis. Upon Breach's detonation, Captain Atom materializes in the position where Breach had been.
During the events of Blackest Night, Breach is reanimated as a member of the Black Lantern Corps
Black Lantern Corps
The Black Lantern Corps is a fictional organization of revenants appearing in comic books published by DC Comics. The group is composed of deceased fictional characters that seek to eliminate all life from the DC Universe.-Publication history:...
along with the other heroes killed by Superboy-Prime and head for Earth Prime
Earth Prime
Earth Prime is a term sometimes used in works of speculative fiction involving parallel universes or a multiverse, and refers either to the universe containing "our" Earth, or to a parallel world with a bare minimum of divergence points from Earth as we know it...
to torment him. Superboy-Prime destroys them by using the black ring cycling through the power set of emotions resulting in a burst of colored energy that destroys Black Lanterns.
Countdown: Arena
Countdown: Arena
Countdown: Arena is a four-issue American comic book mini-series published by DC Comics. Written by Keith Champagne with art by Scott McDaniel, that ran for four weeks in December 2007....
#2 depicts a supposedly new Breach, suggested to exist on the new Earth-8, also known as Angor. In Countdown: Arena #4 however, Monarch
Monarch (comics)
Monarch is the name of three fictional DC Comics supervillains. The first Monarch is Hank Hall, formerly Hawk, who later renames himself Extant for the Zero Hour crossover. The second Monarch is Nathaniel Adam, a U.S. Army Captain. The third Monarch is Captain Atom, a former superhero...
reveals that he found a brain-dead Breach floating in the Quantum Dimension from which Captain Atom's powers derive after the events of Infinite Crisis, and rebuilt his consciousness to serve him. Breach eventually broke free of Monarch's control, only to be killed by him.
Tim Zanetti Jr., son of Tim Zanetti, some time later joins the military-funded Project 7734, under the command of General Sam Lane, upon discovering a subproject aptly named Project Breach, dealing with a powerful weapon, a planet breaker. Project Breach however is soon revealed to be a red herring
Red herring
A red herring is a deliberate attempt to divert attention.Red herring may refer to:* Red herring , the informal fallacy of presenting an argument that may in itself be valid, but does not address the issue in question....
, or rather an example of the twisted logic of Sam Lane: the planet breaker is an amnesiac, brain-dead Captain Atom
Captain Atom
Captain Atom is a fictional comic book superhero that has existed in three basic incarnations. Created by writer Joe Gill and artist/co-writer Steve Ditko, he first appeared in Space Adventures #33 . Captain Atom was created for Charlton Comics but was later acquired by DC Comics and revised for...
, now paralleling Breach both as secret origins, and as final fate.