| BLUE JAY (Jay Abrams) | BIOGRAPHY |
| Created by Denny O'Neill and Dick Dillin |
 |
PERSONAL DATA
Real Name: Jay Abrams
Occupation: Crimefighter
Known Relatives: None
Base of Operation: Angor, then Paris, London and Happy Harbor, currently unknown
Group Affiliation(s): The Assemblers/Justifyers, Justice League International
Gender: Male
Height: 5'9" (using powers 7")
Weight: 150 lbs. (using powers 3 lbs.)
Eyes: Gray
Hair: Blue
First Appearance: Justice League of America #87 (February 1971): "Batman-King of the World!"
Creators: Denny O'Neill and Dick Dillin
OVERVIEW
A hero of the planet Angor, Blue Jay can shrink to the size of seven inches, growing blue wings which enable him to fly with much precision and agility. Surviving the horrific death of his world, he came to Earth, where he served with the Justice League for some time, even briefly leading the European branch of the organisation. His current whereabouts are unknown.
[Note: Blue Jay was initially created as a parody of the Marvel Comics character Ant-Man/Yellowjacket]
HISTORY
On the otherdimensional world of Angor (a planet so much like Earth that you’d think it was a leftover from the old Multiverse) there were hordes of super-heroes and villains, just like on Earth. And just like on Earth, the heroes were devastatingly superior, none more so than the planet’s premiere super-team, the Assemblers (a.k.a. the Justifyers). Wandjina, Blue Jay, Silver Sorceress, Captain Speed, Bowman, Tin Man, and the others never had much to worry about, their greatest enemy being boredom. Usually beating the villains with ease, they grew increasingly cocky about it for every victory. However, the birth of the Extremists made them regret that. (JLE #16, Justice League Quarterly #3)
In themselves a greater threat than Angor had ever seen before, the Extremists recruited the rest of the world's super-villains and created an army of super-powered criminals. The heroes of the world stood powerless as the villains took control of the planet’s nuclear arsenals, taking the entire world of Angor hostage and demanding that the world's leaders gave up their power in favor of the dictatorship of the Extremists. (JLE #16)
Around this time, Blue Jay and three other members of the Assemblers - the thunder-god Wandjina, the enchantress known as Silver Sorceress and the speedster Jack B. Quick - travelled to Earth’s dimension for reasons that are still not quite clear. At the time, it was said that they sought the people who had destroyed their home planet. Later, they maintained that they had only wanted the assistance of Earth’s heroes to defeat the Extremists. In either case, the encounter didn’t turn out too well. As so often happens, there was a misunderstanding and the heroes fought each other. After a strange battle involving the Justice League of America, Zatanna, a brainwashed Batman who tried to appoint himself “king of the universe”, an evil robot, and villains from the planet Cam-Nam-Lao, the four Assemblers returned to their own world. (JLofA vol. 1 #87, JLE #16)
Upon their return, they were met with a horrifying sight. Too late to help anyone, they realised that the planet’s leaders had refused to give in to the Extremists, who then had made truth of their threats. Angor was completely ravaged by nuclear weapons. The cities lay in ruins. Most of the inhabitants were dead, including all their friends and seemingly the villains as well. As a last effort, the heroes attempted to be of some assistance to the few survivors, who were nonetheless mortally injured by radiation and continued to die one by one. Among the casualties was Jack B. Quick/Captain Speed, who got cancer after exposing himself to the nuclear areas. (JL #2, JLE #16)
When there was no one left to help, the three remaining Assemblers - Wandjina, Silver Sorceress, and Blue Jay - committed themselves to a new goal: They would prevent a disaster of this magnitude from ever happening, ever again, anywhere in the universe. From now on, the powerful trio travelled worlds and dimensions, visiting several planets and destroying their arsenals of mass-destructive weapons, no matter whether the planets’ inhabitants liked it or not. (JL #2-3)
Finally, they arrived on Earth, and attempted to dismantle the world's nuclear stockpiles. Duped by Colonel Rumaan Harjavti, dictator of Bialya, into attacking a Russian nuclear installation, the Assemblers were opposed by the Rocket Red Brigade and the newly re-formed Justice League. The fight came to an abrupt end as one of the Russian reactors experienced a nuclear meltdown. The Assemblers, the League, the Brigade, and a large portion of the Earth would have faced certain death, had it not been for the intervention of Wandjina. Vowing that he would never permit a nuclear disaster to destroy a world - any world - again, the thunder-god went into the reactor and prevented the meltdown with his powers, in the process imbuing his body with lethal doses of radiation. Although he had saved their nation, the Russians took the mortally wounded Wandjina and his two comrades into their custody. (JL #3)
Wandjina never recovered from his injuries, while Blue Jay and Silver Sorceress remained in the Russians’ custody, both struck with despair and unsure what to do next. While Blue Jay could see no point in ever returning to their dead home world, the Silver Sorceress was not as certain, and after months of hesitation, she used her magic to set Blue Jay free and teleport herself to Angor once again, where she encountered the Extremists, who were not killed in the nuclear disaster after all. (JLE #11-12)
Meanwhile, Blue Jay had sought asylum in the Russian JLI embassy. Its liaison, Boris Razumihin, was intent on turning him back to the Russian authorities without notifying the League. Thanks to Razumihin’s assistants, the Rubikskova sisters, the European branch of the Justice League was contacted and Metamorpho intervened and saved Blue Jay. (JLE #13-15) At that point, however, the Extremists arrived in Moscow, thrilled with delight to arrive on a world full of human victims, heroes, and nuclear weapons. They severely wounded Metamorpho, killed most of the soldiers in the Russian Rocket Red Brigade, and tortured one of the Rubikskova sisters to death. When Justice League Europe came to the rescue, the battle was an even one until Dreamslayer, easily the most powerful of them all, used his powers to shut the heroes’ minds off. (JLE #16-17)
The Extremists held the world to ransom following the pattern they had used on Angor. Having heard of the fate of Angor from Blue Jay, the Justice League knew that it was just a matter of time before the Extremists would destroy Earth as they had Angor, deciding to attack the villains - against the orders of every nation of Earth (“and loving every minute of it”, as Metamorpho put it). This time, they engaged themselves more furiously into the battle, but once again, Dreamslayer’s powers proved too much for them as he teleported the entire JLE to the barren world of Angor. (JLE #17) Here they were transported to Wackyland, a bizarre theme park populated by robots, but containing two survivors – Silver Sorceress and 'Uncle' Mitch Wacky, who told them that the Extremists were also robots.
Travelling back to Earth, the three survivors of Angor were able to help the League defeat the Extremists (including Dreamslayer, who was revealed to be the real thing, rather than a robotic duplicate). Shortly later, Blue Jay and Silver Sorceress accepted membership in the JLE. (JLE #20)
Along with the Silver Sorceress, Blue Jay made a short but distinctive career with the League. They assisted against a group of reanimated gargoyles (JLA SHOWCASE 80-PAGE GIANT #1), followed the team when they relocated to London (JLE #21), encountered the criminal organization known as Metawise, Inc. (JLE #23), and battled the threats of Puanteur’s giant worms (JLE #24-25) and Starro the Conqueror (JLE #26-28). Blue Jay also participated in the League’s fight against the powerful Mister Nebula (JLQ #2), and was constantly hunted by Power Girl’s cat. (JLQ #3-4)
Mitch Wacky became the League’s official technical advisor, while Blue Jay and Silver Sorceress continued to serve in the European branch of the League. However, during the time of the Starro threat, the League’s UN liaison Maxwell Lord was fatally shot by Bialyan terrorists and hovered between life and death. (JLA #53). Lord's successor, Rolf Heimlich, re-defined the organization of the JLI. He fired several of the members and deposed Captain Atom as the leader of Justice League Europe. Unexpectedly (not at least to himself), Blue Jay was appointed his successor (JLE #29). As JLE leader, Jay led his team into Bialya on a mission that ended in the death of the Queen Bee, the revelation that she was behind the shooting of Max Lord and that Heimlich was an employee of hers. (JLA #54-55, JLE #30). Captain Atom was reinstated as the leader but, following the “Armageddon incident” (involving the JLE and the super-villain Monarch), he was lost in the time-stream and presumed dead. (JLE ANNUAL #2, ARMAGEDDON 2001 #2). Blue Jay was asked to reassume the leadership, but did not want it. (JLE #31)
As a result of Max Lord's disability and the corruption of his successor Heimlich, the UN decided to revoke their JLI sponsorship. The entire team, including Blue Jay and Silver Sorceress, regrouped on their own and took residence in the original JLA HQ in Happy Harbor, the so-called “Secret Sanctuary”. (JLA #56)
Dreamslayer took advantage of the chaos that followed, taking over the mind of Maxwell Lord and forcing members of the League to battle each other. He was eventually stopped by Silver Sorceress, who challenged Dreamslayer in psychic battle. Dreamslayer accepted and defeated the Sorceress, but to his astonishment, he was now trapped in her dying mind, seemingly forever, something that the Sorceress had counted on all along. The Sorceress died with the satisfaction of ending the threat of her hated enemy. Max Lord's mind was returned to his body and the Silver Sorceress was put to final rest on the island of KooeyKooeyKooey. (JLE #34-35, JLA #59)
With both the Silver Sorceress and Uncle Mitch dead, Blue Jay was now the sole survivor of Angor. Grieving, he attempted to continue his career with the League to honor the Sorceress’ memory. However, the League was gradually disbanding during this time, and when the remaining members (Blue Jay, Blue Beetle, Fire, Ice, Oberon, and Max Lord) could not even defeat the mind of Despero in the trashed body of the little robot known as L-Ron, their dreams were shattered and they all went their separate ways. Blue Jay departed for places unknown. (JLA #60, JLE #36)
When Sonar (I) later threatened international peace in Russia, Blue Jay reappeared as part of the Justice League Reserves. The Reserves were defeated by members of the Rocket Red Brigade, and then themselves added to Sonar’s army of brainwashed heroes. Blue Jay, however, was left behind, unconscious but unseen by his enemies. He was found by the JLA who thus realized what had happened. This was the last time that Blue Jay contributed to the Justice League. (JLE #47-48) Blue Jay has been strangely absent from super-hero gatherings and Justice League reunions, such as the “Mageddon War”, for reasons unknown. Some rumors say he has taken residence in Canada, but this has not been confirmed.
POWERS AND WEAPONS
Blue Jay can shrink to the size of 7”, grows wings that give him the ability to fly, has increased speed, agility, and stamina, and possesses leadership abilities.
CHRONOLOGY
For a definitive list of appearances of Blue Jay in chronological order click here
PROFILE REFERENCES
Who's Who in the DC Universe #12 (September 1991)