| Paco Ramone was born in the city
of Detroit to a large family. Paco was also born with the power to generate
shock waves, though he did not learn the ability to channel them until his
teens. At this time, Paco joined a Detroit street gang, named Los Lobos, and
soon rose to become head of the gang. As leader of the gang, Paco took the
street name "Vibe" and had a protective stance on his "turf," Cameron
Street. Vibe was protective of the people of Cameron Street, but hated its
rival gang, the Skulls. During this time,
Aquaman disbanded the original Justice League of
America, and reformed it with members willing to give it a full-time
commitment. The roster of this "new" Justice League of America consisted of
Aquaman, Zatanna,
Elongated Man, Martian Manhunter, and
new members Vixen and Steel.
Steel's grandfather, the Golden Age hero
Commander Steel, donated his Detroit Bunker to the League. This Bunker
was situated in a warehouse on Cameron Street.
After the League moved in to the Bunker, members Steel and
Vixen were returning from a shopping trip when they first met Vibe, who was
performing a break dancing routine. When the Devil Dogs, another gang,
attacked, Vibe used his powers and his acrobatic skills to repel the other
gang with no violence. Seeing this display, both Vixen and Steel decided to
approach League leader Aquaman and ask him to invite Vibe to join the
League.
While Aquaman was telling Steel and Vixen that Vibe would
not make a good member, Vibe had heard about the League's new headquarters
and infiltrated it to check them out. After sparring with Aquaman, the Sea
King decided that Vibe had potential and invited him to join the team.
Vibe's career with the Justice League was tumultuous. He
was often at odds with most of the other Leaguers, mainly because he felt
that he was a "second rate" hero. Paco's closest friend on the team was
Steel, and Paco introduced Steel to his sister Rosita, who started seeing
Steel shortly thereafter. Vibe proved himself in battle, fighting with the
League against such threats as the Overmaster
and the Cadre, Anton
Allegro and the Mad Maestro, and old League
villain Amazo. Vibe fought alongside the heroes of
Earth during the Crisis on Infinite Earths, and was a member when the League
was evicted from the Bunker.
From there, the League set up shop in its original
headquarters, the Secret Sanctuary. When
Batman
took over leadership of the League, he began to train Vibe to better use his
powers and helped to hone his hand-to-hand combat skills. Though Vibe held
his own against a revamped
Despero, there was still tension between Vibe and his fellow Leaguers,
especially elder Leaguers Martian Manhunter, Elongated Man, and Zatanna.
The tension came to a boil during Darkseid's plan to
destroy Earth's legends. Darkseid succeeded in turning Earth's populace
against its heroes. During this time, US President
Ronald Reagan issued a Presidential Order forbidding Earth's heroes to
operate. Whilst this was going on, Darkseid sent the monstrous Brimstone to
Earth to attack Earth's heroes. Defeating a time-traveling Cosmic Boy,
Brimstone was still on the rampage when
Firestorm
appeared on the scene with the Justice League of America. All the heroes
were badly defeated, and the League returned to the Sanctuary heartbroken
and bitter. Keeping in line with the Presidential Order, Martian Manhunter,
then League leader, disbanded the Justice League of America. The younger
heroes objected, Vibe being the most strongly offended. Vibe felt that this
League was the "Joke League of America" and paled to Manhunter's friends
Superman
and Green
Lantern. Vibe had had enough with the hero business and left for home
and the life he knew.
Once there, Paco realized how wrong it was to blow up at
the other Leaguers. However, this realization came too late.
Professor Ivo, old League villain, decided to strike at his old enemies
through this younger team. Ivo sent an android to kill each of the four new
Leaguers. The first android attacked Vibe on the street, and Vibe held him
off for a while. However, thinking the android defeated, Vibe let his guard
down. The android attacked again, and strangled the young super-hero.
Martian Manhunter, Steel, and Vixen found the body and
sought revenge. Steel was eventually destroyed by another android, but Vixen
and Martian Manhunter tracked down Professor Ivo and forced him to face the
consequences of his actions. |
