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Since the introduction of the Flash in 1940, the speedster has become a superhero archetype. However, some speedsters are deliberate homages to the original.

Big Bang Comics is an attempt to recapture the feel of DC’s Silver Age. Their main heroes are based on the classic JLA: Ultiman (Superman), Knight Watchman (Batman), etc.

The Blitz (Silver Age)

[The Silver-Age Blitz]
Real Name: Jimmy Travis
Known Relatives:
Base of Operations:
Group Affiliation: Round Table of America
Hair: Red
Publisher: Big Bang Comics (through Caliber Comics, later Image, now self-published)
First Appearance: Big Bang v.1 #3 (Caliber Comics)

American race car driver Jimmy Travis was run off the race course by an East German competitor. As his car skidded to a halt, it uncovered a trap door in the ground. Travis investigated, and found an abandoned Nazi lab, complete with shattered vials of chemicals and a lightning-themed costume in a display case.

A gunshot outside distracted him while he held up the only intact vial—labeled “Blitz-Geschwindigkeit”* (lightning-speed)—and he spilled the chemical on himself. It started dissolving his racing suit, so he put on the costume...just in time for a pair of killers to arrive. Making a desperate lunge toward his attackers, he discovered he could move at incredible speeds. Travis fought off the gunmen, then headed off to stop the cheating racer. Taking his name from the formula that had given him his speed, Travis continued to battle crime as...the Blitz!

Other Big Bang Speedsters

I don’t have much information (yet) about the other speedsters of the Big Bang universe. Here’s what I have so far.

Troy Desrosiers writes:

His counterpart, on a parallel Earth, is also called The Blitz and wears a yellow-and-green costume, and is (presumably) an homage to Jay Garrick, as his adventures take place in the 1940s with the Knights of Justice, while the RTA has its adventures in the 1960s and afterwards. The RTA Blitz has a kid sidekick, Cyclone (honouring Wally West), a member of The Whiz Kids (Teen Titans), who later takes over for his retired mentor, but is killed in action sometime in the 90s.

I have also found a website, International Superheroes, with profiles of the Big Bang heroes:

More recently, it turns out that Big Bang Comics now has character biographies on their own site. The Golden-Age Blitz bio is essentially the same, but the Cyclone/Overdrive bio is a bit different.

Text by Kelson Vibber (expect where otherwise noted). Do not copy without permission.

Top of Page Primary Sources

  • Big Bang Comics Vol. 2 #5 (October 1996): “The Top-Secret Origin of the Blitz,” - Terrance Griep, Jr.

Art

  • Silver Age Blitz: Big Bang Comics Vol. 2 #5 (October 1996) - no credit, but interior art is by Darren Goodhart and Jim Brozman

Notes

*In “The Top Secret Origin of the Blitz,” the vial is labeled and referred to as “Blitz-Geschindigkeit.” I have corrected the spelling.