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Celeste Rockfish CELESTE ROCKFISH BIOGRAPHY
Created by Keith Giffen

Celeste Rockfish.png
Celeste Rockfish
The Original Universe


PERSONAL DATA


Full Name: Celeste Rockfish / Celeste McCauley
Occupation: Legionnaire
Homeworld: Earth... later Zamba
Known Relatives: Unnamed father, Leland McCauley III (uncle), Leland McCauley IV (cousin)
Group Affiliation(s): Legion of Super-Heroes
Gender: Female
Eyes: Blue (later white)
Hair: Reddish-brown (later none)
First Appearance: Legion of Super-Heroes Vol. 4 #6 (April 1990)
Creators: Keith Giffen


HISTORY

In the late 30th century, a woman named Celeste McCauley left her wealthy family to strike out on her own. Despite the economic collapse of many United Planet worlds, the McCauley family remained financially secure and politically powerful. Celeste's father warned her of the harsh conditions she might encounter, but the young McCauley did not want to be controlled by money like so many of her relatives had been.

Celeste eventually reached the planet Twilo. The rugged country was an escape from the business world, and she could explore the beautiful wilderness. She was warned of a possible meteor strike the night before, but discovered it was something else entirely. Celeste had found the remains of a Green Lantern. How the humanoid alien died remains a mystery. The Green Lantern still wore its power ring when Celeste found the body. It appears the power ring may have detonated upon contact with Celeste. Little else is known, as Celeste's mind apparently blocked all recollection of the event.

She later settled on Earth and opened a private investigation firm. Her cases were mostly simple domestic disputes, but her most famous case involved Dirk Morgna, the ex-Legionnaire Sun Boy, in a paternity suit. Morgna narrowly won the case.

Later, The Daily Planet uncovered evidence suggesting Earthgov was involved in the death of ex-Legionnaire Blok of Dryad. Earthgov denied the allegations and hired Celeste Rockfish to find Roxxas The Butcher. The Dominators wished to divert all suspicion of Earthgov's connection to the murder.

Celeste went to Trom, the world that had been decimated by Roxxas years before. Along with Daily Planet reporter Devlin O'Ryan, the investigator hoped the former Legionnaire Jan Arrah would help them track down the butcher. Arrah led the investigators to the planet Winath. Since Roxxas had sent the dismembered body of Blok to the Rannz plantation, Winath was the most logical place to start looking. More importantly, the former Element Lad wanted to pay his respects to his fallen friend.

Out in deep space, the J586 research station at Yucatan VIII was tracking an energy source from Earth heading for Trom. One of the researchers noticed some similarities to another energy source but considered the idea preposterous. Of particular note was the energy's path. After it reached Trom, the course altered ninety degrees, heading straight to Winath.

Earthgov was dismayed that the Roxxas situation was slipping out of their hands. The Butcher of Trom learned of Celeste Rockfish and her investigation.

Yucatan Station continued to monitor the energy anomaly from Trom to Winath. The anomaly had the same reading that grazed the mainland about twelve revolutions ago. Though they had listed its origin point as Earth, J586 had projected the point of origin as somewhere in the central cluster. There has been speculation that the energy was the same as the ring power wielded by the Green Lantern Medphyll in the twentieth century. The anomaly was no threat to J586, its course and speed would lead it directly to Winath.

Roxxas believed the Dominion had double crossed him. He wanted to know why they had sent Celeste after him. His answers would be found on Winath where he hoped to kill a few more Legion members. His advanced Dominator weaponry eliminated Legionnaires Bounty and Reep Daggle, leaving Celeste virtually defenseless. The Butcher of Trom tried to beat the answers out of the detective, but realized Celeste did not know of the Dominion's involvement with Earthgov. Roxxas managed to escape Legionnaire Jo Nah by sending the former Ultra Boy back in the distant past.

Above Winath, the green energy kept on its course. A planned defense from Winath's electro-tower defense system was foiled when the energy cloaked itself.

Despite his best efforts, there was nothing Brainiac 5 could do. Celeste suffered from multiple skull fractures, severe cerebral lacerations and contusions, widespread cerebral hemorrhaging, five broken ribs, massive internal hemorrhaging and her right lung had collapsed. Her condition was not helped by a complete lack of prior medical records. All Brainiac 5 could do was wait for the inevitable.

The green energy descended on the Winath medi-center, flooding Celeste's room in emerald light. Brainiac 5 and Kono forced their way through the glow, to find Celeste fully healed, and the energy had destroyed the bed's medical equipment. Brainiac 5 didn't have much of an opportunity to study Celeste's condition when she was sent on a mission to Earth. He and other Legionnaires fought a Khund invasion of Xolnar.

On Earth, rebellious factions threatened the Dominion controlled Earthgov. The inadvertent activation of the Dominator Triple Strike Program led to the destruction of Luna. Part two of the program shut down the Earth's defense net while the third part detonated the power spheres of dozens of Earth cities.

Brainiac 5 considered Celeste potentially dangerous and sent Laurel Gand to bring her back to headquarters. The investigator put up some resistance, so Laurel was forced to teleport Celeste there. The teleporter was only a working model, though it did its intended job, Celeste's clothes were left behind. This did not help Brainy's reputation with his would-be test subject.

A short time after, Brainiac 5 brought Brin Londo to Zuun for medical testing. He ran into some difficulties, as Zuun had declared martial law. Magical forces were disrupting his communique, and he required the assistance of Legionnaires. Though Brainiac 5 still considered Celeste potentially dangerous, Jo Nah thought she might be of some use on Zuun.

Their Legion cruiser was intercepted in Zuun's orbit, they were to be detained until further notice. Naturally, Jo Nah thought otherwise. The security forces were set against Jo Nah and Kent Shakespeare while Celeste was considered less of a threat.

The crew of the starship was attempting to capture Aria Campbell, a young girl important to the plans of Darkseid. Aria was on the surface of Zuun, her power was disrupting the ship's transporters. A Boom Tube was used, but Aria's friend, Lori, was brought on board instead. Modified industrial droids were about to kill Lori when Celeste's powers erupted. A flash of green eliminated all hostile forces. This was as big a shock to Shakespeare and Jo Nah as it was to Celeste. She turned transparent and slumped to the floor. It did not surprise Brainiac 5.

Aria was part of the "Gemini Matrix," a legendary procedure or formula for advancing the species. The matrix would create a "meta-form," the step between man and God. The Legionnaires saw the fruition of the Gemini Matrix, at Darkseid's request, the Gemini entity eliminated him from existence.

Back on Earth, humans were in open revolt against the Dominion. After weeks of fighting, the resistance fighters had driven off the Dominators. Victory came at a heavy price. The Dominators' underground genetic experiment chambers were detonated by a renegade resistance fighter, touching off a chain reaction of explosions within ancient buried toxic wastes. These twenty-fourth century elements combined with Earth's molecular bonds, threatening the destruction of the entire planet.

The evacuation of Earth was understandably difficult on the Legion. Though they had saved the majority of the world's population, two billion were left behind. Celeste was haunted by the faces of those she had to turn away.

A strike on the time villain Glorith gave Celeste the opportunity to get back at Brainiac 5. She teleported the Coluan Legionnaire into battle without clothes. Despite embarrassment, Brainiac 5 and the Legion were able to defeat the Empress of Baaldur.

A trip to the medical world of Quarrantine led to the Legion's battle with Grimbor, the Chain Master. Celeste's power was ineffective against the villain, but Grimbor was ultimately stopped by the young metahuman patients of the medical facility.

While assisting the Legion in a laying a trap for Glorith, Celeste was attacked by the time-controlling sorceress. Glorith was especially vicious in her attack on Celeste. She claimed Celeste had betrayed her, and Glorith paid her back by aging her to the point of death.

Glorith tried to eliminate Devlin O'Reilly, but was unprepared for his "reflective" powers. The Empress of Baaldur was cast into the timestream, to return another day and face the Legionnaires.

The Legion regrouped and tended to their casualties. Teammates were either advanced or reverted in physical age by Glorith. Celeste's body was dead, but she quickly returned as a creature of pure green energy. Brainiac 5 later tested Celeste on the medical world of Quarantine. She had died when the green energy first merged with her body. Unconsciously, she was using most of her energy to keep her body alive. Glorith had aged Celeste's body beyond her power's ability to protect it. She had struck at Celeste fiercely, though Brainiac 5 did not know why.

The LSH had other problems. The population of the United Planets were led to believe some of the Legionnaires had aided a Khund invasion force.

The Legionnaires were captured, but managed to escape. They adopted new identities to investigate the situation and clear their names. Celeste could not change her appearance, but she adopted the codename "Neon." It was later revealed that Universo had been working with the Khunds in an elaborate plot to discredit the Legion.

The instability of the time stream caused many changes for the Legionnaires. The chronal disturbances altered the past as well as the present. Celeste was changed from her energy form to a Darkstar from Zamba.

For many years, a temporal force had been subtly shifting the Legion's reality. With each shift, another element of their history was contradicted. This went unnoticed by the team until Glorith and Mordru pooled their magical powers. The two sorcerers pulled Legions from other timelines to battle their foes. Celeste was brutally attacked by a Saturn Girl from another universe.

The Time Trapper had attempted to shield the 30th Century from Mordru and Glorith, but even his plans were failing. The revisions of time caused by his enemies made things worse. In the new reality that was unfurling, the Time Trapper was battered by the former Green Lantern Hal Jordan, who had become the being known as Parallax.

The actions of Parallax resulted in the elimination of this alternate branch of the thirtieth century.

While not a member of the Green Lantern Corps, Celeste still embodied the power of the Emerald Energy in a heroic sense as well as a physical one.


CHRONOLOGY

For a definitive list of appearances of Celeste Rockfish in chronological order click here



GLCWP NOTE

Additional information was taken from 2995: The Legion of Super-Heroes Sourcebook published by Mayfair Games. Although I've found fault with other role playing game sourcebooks, this particular Legion book was written by Tom and Mary Bierbaum, writers of the LSH book at that time.

The story of Celeste, intriguing as it was, always seemed to be on the back burner. While there were many questions and possibilities, few if any were dealt with. Celeste was seen infrequently after the second year. By Legion of Super-Heroes Vol. 4 #52, Celeste had returned and new facets of her power were revealed.

Unfortunately, she degraded into the teams' resident energy wielder/walking special effect. The repercussions of Emerald Twilight in the Green Lantern title and the upcoming Zero Hour saw Celeste change into a Darkstar, DC's "replacement" for the Green Lantern Corps. Of course, this version of the Legion didn't last long, it was all wiped away by Zero Hour.

According Eddie Berganza in the Green Lantern Corps # 40 letter column, a special issue of the now-cancelled Green Lantern Corps Quarterly would have explained why there were no (or at least, very few) Green Lanterns in the 30th Century. The fall of the Green Lantern Corps was to happen during the Legion's time, as told by Keith Giffen. It was mentioned elsewhere, I believe it was to be called "The Last Green Lantern."

Anyways, Green Lantern stories set in the pre-Zero Hour 30th Century are not part of the current continuity.