PRISM

PERSONAL DATA

HISTORY

Kirsten Noble's interest in optics began when she was a young child. Born blind due to a defect that prevented her brain from receiving information from her eyes, she was granted the gift of sight at age four when an operation corrected the problem. Ever since she has been fascinated with the visual world.

Because of her early disability, her parents were very protective of her. Even after the operation they continued to keep her close. As a teenager this overprotective attitude only served to foster a rebellious streak in young Kirsten. When her folks began pushing for her to attend a local, east coast university and settle into a nice, safe (boring) career, like accountancy, she did the opposite instead, moving to California to study film at UCLA.

While at UCLA film school she became fascinated by the realm of special effects, the art of making the impossible seem real. She began to supplement her film studies with courses in electrical engineering as well as psychology and physiology (specifically courses on human perception and how the brain processes visual information). After graduation, Kirsten got a business loan and started up Synergy Systems, a special effects company. Initially, Synergy was just Kirsten and a couple of student assistants but Kirsten's knack for creating great effects for low cost quickly pushed the company to the forefront of the special effects business.

One day while visiting her folks for the holidays, after discovering that having a successful company didn't change her parent's protective attitude toward her one bit, Kirsten made an amazing discovery. To briefly escape from her parent's constant attention she went into the attic and began rummaging through some old boxes. Under a pile of university yearbooks she found a scrapbook of old newspaper clippings, all of which involved a pair of super-heroes who, judging by the dates on the clippings, were around in the late sixties and early seventies. The pair, who were apparently a big hit on New England college campuses but earned little positive press from the mainstream media, were a man calling himself "The Bachelor" aka "The swingingest super-hero around" and a young woman called "Crystal". Beneath the scrapbook was another discovery, a costume. Kirsten was in shock; her mother, a woman so straight-laced she couldn't bend over very far for fear of breaking in two, spent her college years gallivanting around in a domino mask, bathing suit, and thigh-high go-go boots calling herself Crystal. Whoever the Bachelor was, he definitely wasn't her father, she knew for a fact her parents met each other on a blind date after her mother had finished university. Kirsten took the costume with her back to California, figuring she could use it someday to blackmail, or at least seriously embarrass, her mother.

Back at Synergy Systems, Kirsten made several breakthroughs with micro-electronic holographic and laser systems. She incorporated the technology into a small, portable prototype unit and took it to nearby Pacific City to show to potential investors. She never made it to the meeting. On the way she spotted the super-criminal team The Royal Flush Gang committing a robbery. A reckless idea quickly formed and before she could think about what she was about to do Kirsten put on her mother's old costume (still hidden in her suitcase) and, using the prototype holograph generator, went to stop the Royal Flush Gang.

Several other heroes were on the scene as well (lured there by OMEGA it was later revealed). After the Royal Flush Gang was easily defeated Prism (as Kirsten quickly settled on as a hero name) along with Manhunter and Galahad became the newest members of the Enforcers of Justice.

Prism battled several villains alongside the Enforcers, notably the Masters of Disaster and the robotic Annihilator. Though life as a hero was exciting, Prism was never fully comfortable in that role. The reason she stayed with the team for as long as she did was probably more due to the subtle controlling influence of OMEGA than anything else. Finally, after the events in Zero Hour, Prism quit the team and returned to her company in San Bernadino, which was now facing fierce competition from a rival company.

Kirsten did some investigating and found that the the rival company was run by former Flash villain James Jesse, aka the Trickster. When Jesse's company began producing effects using techniques owned by Synergy, Kirsten immediately suspected the Trickster of stealing them from her company. In the investigation that followed she found out that the effects had been stolen, not by Jesse, but by one of his assistants. Jesse's company was finished once word got out of the stolen effects and the assistant got away, eventually using stolen technology to become the super-villain FX. Feeling sorry for Jesse, Kirsten offered him a job at Synergy which he accepted for a short time, but the Trickster was not comfortable working for someone else and eventually left.

While managing Synergy Systems and working on new effects technology keeps Kirsten busy, her thoughts do occasionally drift back to her brief super-hero career. Since she left the Enforcers she has made even more advances to the technology she used as Prism and has incorporated them into a full body suit unit. She was recently asked by the reprogrammed Omega to join the new Enforcers of Justice. Prism agreed, her prime motivation being to track down FX, who had been sighted in Superior City. She stayed with the team for a short time, long enough to see FX captured, but was reluctant to leave her company unattended. Though she discovered she had missed being a hero, Prism was not willing to leave her business behind. When Silver Vixen asked Prism to join with her and Stiletto to find the missing Arachnia, she was happy to oblige. And when the group of them decided to stay together on a permanent basis as the hero team called the Angels Prism agreed to join.

POWERS & WEAPONS

Kirsten is a genius with laser optics systems. As Prism she used a small gem-like device that contained advanced holographic laser systems. The gem's laser systems could project bright flashes of light, realistic holograms, or a coherent laser beam capable of burning through stone. She also discovered how to create a localized field effect around her that could form a protective shield and even bend light, rendering her invisible to the naked eye.

The next generation of technology that Kirsten has incorporated into the new Prism-suit is light-years beyond the old technology. The new optics systems can produce a much more powerful laser beam and high resolution hologram than before. Using her knowledge of the human brain's visual center, Kirsten has developed computer-driven light displays that can hypnotize or cause temporary paralysis in someone who views them. The suit retains the force field generation capability of the old gem, plus Kirsten has adapted the propulsion method the Trickster uses in his "Air-Walking Shoes" into a system that gives her limited flight capability. As a final touch she has replaced the old domino mask with a visor that contains advanced optical sensors that allow her to see in any light condition from near-total darkness to the flash of an atomic explosion. The visor also contains circuitry that can counter many types of visual illusions.

Original "Crystal" Costume

Warp Zone | DC Heroes | Enforcers of Justice / Angels | Prism