Starbright (Chet Markham)

Starbright (Chet Markham) © Juke Box Productions AstroFacts Status: Deceased Real Name: Chet Markham Personal Data Occupation: High school student & football player Hair: Blond InfoDump Appearances (in Publication Order): Astro City #16 Event Timeline Starbright (Chet Markham) Once upon a time, in a small, idyllic town, there was a teen super hero named Starbright. But "once" was a long time ago. History Chet Markham was a popular teenager in his home town, a friend to almost everyone and secretly the energy-powered superhero Starbright before his untimely death. Chet grew up in a small, stereotypical town with two rival high schools with a robust tradition of kids teasing others who were different. Unlike most of his peers, however, Chet was a helpful and compassionate individual. When he was in seventh grade, he helped free his outcast classmate Simon Siezmanski from being tied up, in a bra and tutu, to a monument in the middle of town, even as onlookers cruelly teased him and called him slurs. In high school, Chet became a star football player for the Markham High School Lions. At some point, he also gained a set of energy-related super-powers that allowed him to become a local hero known as Starbright. He frequently clashed with Simon Says, the super-villain persona assumed by Simon Siezmanski, who had years ago hidden away from the town in order to plan revenge on its cruelty. Despite their opposition, one evening, Simon proposed a 24-hour truce in exchange for Starbright escorting some of Simon's old friends to a party for the scientist's upcoming sixteenth birthday. So, for an entire day, Simon assisted Starbright in locating dangers, thwarting criminals, and otherwise preventing all manner of disaster. That evening, Simon hosted a party for the kids that had been his friends, and they seemed to actually enjoy the event (in part, for some, because Starbright was nearby as guard). After the party ended, Starbright tried once more to sway Simon to give up a life of super-crime. Simon responded with a half-hearted centrifuge trap, and after Starbright escaped, he advised Simon not to be the thing everyone misunderstood him to be, and then he wished Simon a happy birthday. It was the final conversation the two would have. A month later, Starbright was killed while combating gunrunners on a boat in the nearby sound. The gunrunners had been smuggling something powerfully explosive for Pyramid, and Starbright was unsuccessful in deactivating it. The ensuing blast killed him, and his secret identity was revealed. Simon Says would later go on to take up Starbright's mantle in order to pay the hero's compassion forward.

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