REAL NAME: Joyce Church-Blake
OCCUPATION: Anthropologist, adventuress
IDENTITY: Public
CLASS: Human mutate
LEGAL STATUS: Citizen of USA
OTHER ALIASES: Ariel
PLACE OF BIRTH: NYC, USA
MARITAL STATUS: Married
KNOWN RELATIVES: Robert Blake (husband)
GROUP AFFILIATIONS: United States of Matter
BASE OF OPERATIONS: United States of Matter Headquarters
FIRST APPEARANCE: Reg'lar Fellers Heroic Comics #1 (Aug. 1940)
HEIGHT: 5′ 6″
WEIGHT: 120 lbs
EYES: Brown
HAIR: Ginger
Joyce Church was a young anthropologist who was on a remote Pacific island with her fiancé, pilot Robert Blake, her friend, scientist Harry Thurston and Harry's assistant, Tom Kinsman, working on an excavation. While Joyce was studying some strange archaeological remains, the excavation was sabotaged and a terrible explosion occurred. Only Joyce, her fiancé, Harry and the fearless Jack Bradley, foreman of the excavation, survived. The explosion disintegrated them, but somehow, the strange materials of the island combined with the energy of the explosion and something in the DNA of the four made them return from nowhere, transformed into elemental creatures, living representations of the four states of matter: Gaseous (Joyce), Solid (Bradley), Liquid (Blake) and Plasma (Thurston). After a moment of desperation, they discovered that they could control this fantastic change simply with force of will. Using their newfound abilities, the four found and confronted the saboteurs, who turned out to be Lava Man and his acolytes. After defeating them, the four decided to stay together, forming the United States of Matter and choosing colorful nicknames by which they would be known: Fearless Flint, Hydro-Man, Blue Flame, and Ariel.
POWERS & WEAPONS
Joyce was capable of transforming into a gaseous life form. She is usually invulnerable to physical damage, although she can still take damage from unconventional attacks. She can float and move through air molecules, allowing her to fly. She also learned to shoot lightning bolts.
