Martha Sullivan

This Herocopia entry discusses events that occurred in an issue of Astro City Comics published within the last 90 days. Feel free to "comment out" this alert anytime after 12/15/2013.

Martha Sullivan © Juke Box Productions AstroFacts Status: Still working, but also enjoying her private moments as she bridges to retirement Real Name: Martha Sullivan Origin: Astro City #4 Affiliation: Sideliners Personal Data Relationships: She mentions someone named Jen. A daughter? Roommate? Lover? Aliases: Sully, Mattie. Mind-Over-Mattie Occupation: Special effects technician Date of Birth: mid-1950s Height: 5'7" (estimate) Weight: 145 lbs (estimate) Eyes: Hazel Hair: silver-blue InfoDump Appearances (in Publication Order): Kurt Busiek's Astro City Vol.2 #22 Astro City #4 Event Timeline 199y/mm/dd     Flashback Sideliners, Sully and Magda Spend a Night On the Town When They Spot Starpower Streaking Overhead. 2000/??     Curent Taping Exterior Scene for TV Series "Tomorrow's Dawn". 2013/09     Current Magda's Heightened Tech-skills Infiltrate Majordomo's Flying Fortress. Martha Sullivan When her meager telekinesis powers first manifested, Martha "Sully" Sullivan daydreamed playing the role of a new super-hero, Mind-Over-Mattie. She later tempered those goals, choosing instead to use her "powers" for special effects in movies and television shows. History Sully grew up in Astro City. She first discovered her powers when she was fourteen years old. (Their exact source is unclear, though her best theory is her mother's exposure when pregnant to a mento-field during a fight between Prof. Borzoi and the Gentleman). Her first thought was to become a superhero, Mind-Over-Mattie, but after a few nights on patrol, she realized she didn't have the mental constitution for such a risk-filled vocation. In the summer before college, she went to Las Vegas to try her hand at being a supervillain instead. Her plan was to use telekinesis to win at slots, but just one jackpot was enough for her to know she couldn't deal with the guilt. The young girl was torn up inside, possessing superpowers but completely confused as to what to do with them. After college, she moved to Los Angeles and became a bartender. Her co-worker was an aspiring director, and she ended up using her powers to help him with special effects for his low-budget project. This, in time, grew into a steady career at TK-generated special effects for TV and film. She moved back to Astro City to work on the soap opera "Tomorrow's Dawn." The show had a superhero character, the Crimson Cougar and it was her job to produce his aerial stunts. One day, she assisted her friend, Cougar actor Mitch Goodman, in preventing a local AstroMart robbery. This incident kicked off a rapid rise in popularity for Mitch and when that proved to be too much for him, even a danger to his life, Sully's powers helped him stage a PR nightmare to rip his new-found glamor to sheds. ("Great Expectations") Over time, Sully met others like her, superpowered individuals who wished to just lead ordinary civilian lives. She became part of this extended community of "sideliners," making good friends among them. A new supervillain, the Majordomo, once kidnapped her and various other sideliners, intent on creating a super-army (just the latest in a list of supervillains who've tried such a thing). Sully and the others were able to escape their bonds and handily defeat him. ("Life on the Sidelines") Powers telekinesis Her telekinesis power is strong enough to move objects that are within line-of-sight distances. She can aid a person's gymnastics feats, giving them the illusion of flying, or that they possess superior strength by "lifting" what would otherwise be tremendously heavy objects. Observations She seems like a very down-to-earth individual. A good-hearted soul, with simple desires. She is very "comfortable in her shoes." She owns a boat, the Sweatshop Gal. Speculations, Theories Her powers seem to register at medium telekinetic levels. This could be due to a lack of practice, or not much desire to push them beyond a comfortable threshold. Perhaps she just needs a motivating event to activate them at higher levels. For there seem to be times when she might indeed be wondering what could have been.