Rocket (comics)

Rocket
Rocket from Icon #35. Art by M. D. Bright
Publication information
Publisher	DC Comics
First appearance	Icon #1 (May 1993)
Created by	Dwayne McDuffie (writer) Denys Cowan (artist)
In-story information
Alter ego	Raquel Ervin
Team affiliations	Shadow Cabinet Star Chamber
Partnerships	Icon
Abilities	Kinetic energy manipulation via inertia belt

Rocket is a comic book superhero in materials published by DC Comics.

An original character from DC's Milestone Comics imprint, she first appeared in Icon #1 (May 1993) where she was created by Dwayne McDuffie (writer), Denys Cowan, and Mark Bright.

At the 2008 Comic-Con, DC Comics executive editor Dan DiDio announced that the Milestone Universe and characters would be revived and merged into the DC Universe proper. The merger treats the characters as new to the universe, ignoring the "Worlds Collide" Milestone/DC crossover of 1994. Rocket reappeared in Justice League of America (vol. 2) #27, written by creator Dwayne McDuffie.

Raquel Ervin was born in Paris Island, the poorest, most crime-ridden neighborhood in Dakota. Although she is only the sidekick of the title character, Icon, she is the actual protagonist of the series. She yearned to become a writer ("just like Toni Morrison"), but lacked the motivation until she met Augustus Freeman IV, a corporate lawyer who was secretly a stranded alien with superhuman powers. This occurred while she and her friends were robbing Freeman's home. Raquel convinced Augustus to become the superhero Icon, and to take her on as his sidekick, Rocket. While in costume, she wore a belt that Icon fashioned out of his escape pod's inertia winder, which allowed her to manipulate kinetic energy.

Shortly after she began adventuring with Icon, Raquel discovered that she was pregnant by her ex-boyfriend, Noble (one of the other robbers from the day she met Freeman). She gave birth to a son, Amistad Augustus Ervin, named "Amistad" after the famous ship that brought slaves over from Africa to America, and "Augustus" in honor of Icon. While her pregnancy caused her to give up adventuring for a time, Raquel eventually became a superhero again.