Here at DC Histories, we try to make sense of the continuity that perplexes, befuddles, and intimidates. We discuss what worked and what didn’t. This week, we’re talking about Paco Ramone, the short lived hero known as Vibe.

The Justice League was in a sad state in 1984. After a battle in which several core JLA members didn’t show up, Aquaman decided to dissolve the League, claiming that anyone who couldn’t devote their full attention to the League didn’t deserve to be a member of it. He then reincorporated the Justice League in the heart of urban Detroit, a drastic change from the League’s previous headquarters in a satellite high in Earth’s orbit. The idea was that this new League would be closer to the people. It would be more focused on community activism and less on world crises. Towards that end, the new Justice League of America was made up of veterans Aquaman, Zatanna, Elongated Man, and the Martian Manhunter alongside relative newcomer Vixen. Also in the mix were the brand new characters of Steel (not the John Henry Irons version), Gypsy, and Vibe.

Paco Ramone was a Puerto Rican-American native of Detroit. The leader of a gang named El Lobos, Paco was also a metahuman. He had the natural ability of sending out vibrations from his body. These shock waves shook his targets, causing them to become confused and could even lift them off their feet if focused correctly. Paco used these abilities and his gang to keep his neighborhood safe. He earned the nickname “Vibe” thanks to his powers.

Though Paco was in a gang, he appeared to be cast as the League’s resident cool, young member. He was supposed to be the character closest to the real streets. Towards that end, not only did he speak with a bit of an accent but he was also a master at breakdancing, an art form he demonstrated in his first appearance in a regular issue of Justice League of America.

Feeling that the League was better for the community than his gang, Paco left El Lobos to fight alongside his fellow heroes. Not everyone in his family understood his decision. Armando, Paco’s older brother and a longtime member of El Lobos, took his gang lifestyle a little bit more seriously than his brother. He didn’t understand Paco’s reasons for leaving the group and nearly got into a fistfight with his sibling.

Not every reader was enamored of this new character. George Pérez, comics artist on the insanely popular New Teen Titans and who is of Puerto Rican decent himself, wasn’t a fan. In a 1985 interview, Pérez said that he felt like Vibe was an ethnic stereotype whose breakdancing was a fad that had passed several years earlier. Being the only character in comics who was of the same ethnicity he was made Pérez want something more out of the character than what he was getting.

Years later, Pérez made his feelings be known about Paco. When he and Kurt Busiek created the massive JLA / Avengers book, the laws of time and space were bent enough so that every single past member of each team spent at least some time on the page. Vibe’s only appearance in this event was a brief glimpse of him buried beneath a mound of rubble. It was pretty telling.

Though not universally beloved, Paco was truly a hero. Alongside his fellow Justice League members, he took on the likes of Amazo, Despero, the Cadre, and even Brimstone, a flaming giant sent by Darkseid. It was this latter villain that defeated the League in the pages of Legends, the first big DCU crossover following the Crisis on Infinite Earths. During that miniseries, this version of the Justice League made a brilliant entrance before they were handed their largest defeat.

The loss splintered the group. The Martian Manhunter wondered if the League had too many rookie members to continue and decided that putting the League on hold was the right thing to do. In an effort to clear his head, Paco took off into the streets of Detroit by himself. There, he saw a young boy who claimed to have been inspired to do good in the community after seeing Paco in action. After the boy left, an android sent by the mad scientist Professor Ivo strangled Vibe to death in the streets.

Paco was the first member of the Justice League to die while a member of that organization.

After he and Steel were both killed, the already fractured League completely crumbled. From its remnants, the Justice League International rose up and completely overshadowed the so-called Justice League Detroit. Paco was mostly forgotten, except by the Martian Manhunter who saw Paco’s death as a personal failure on his part.

Though he lived for less than three years of real time and a mere blip of comic time, Paco did occasionally reappear. During one of Felix Faust’s attacks on the Justice League, the ghosts of various dead Leaguers appeared to take the magician on. Paco was the first ghost to hold Felix back.

A more substantial Paco showed up during the Blackest Night event. There, a Black Lantern ring resurrected him and brought bad memories back to Vixen and Zatanna when he sought to eat their hearts.

In the years following Paco’s death, a member of his family did step up and attempt to fill his shoes. Armando, Paco’s brother and fellow El Lobos member, discovered that he had very similar powers to his deceased brother. Driven by a desire to do better in his life, he signed onto a group called the Conglomerate, which was headed by Booster Gold. There, Armando went by the code-name Reverb, which he eventually changed to Hardline.

Apparently, the Crisis on Infinite Earths caused Armando to go from being the older sibling to being the younger one. Or it was just a minor continuity error.

His time in the limelight was brief. Eventually, Armando left the Conglomerate to open a nightclub in Metropolis named Reverb. Mon-El visited the establishment when he took over protection of the city while Superman was busy on New Krypton. It seemed that the former hero was actually using his ability to create vibrations to aid his turntable skills.

Paco was dead for 27 years when the New 52 hit. There was really no reason for anyone to think the new continuity would bring back a mostly forgotten character like Vibe. However, the Free Comic Book Day comic that DC put out in 2012 changed all that. With a single small cameo in a giant four page spread, Paco was shown to once again be in the land of the living.

Even more surprising, it was soon revealed that Paco would be getting his own solo series the following year. It seems that this character who was once thought of as a joke was getting a bit of respect in the New 52.

That respect didn’t fully translate to Paco’s first foray into animation. In a 2012 two-part DC Nation Short, which aired between Green Lantern: The Animated Series and Young Justice on Cartoon Network, Vibe made his debut as a moving character complete with a voice. The shorts played the character’s kitschiness to the hilt and presented Paco as he first appeared back in 1984. He was once again wearing his original outfit and entering breakdance competitions.

However, Paco’s redesign in the comics and the fact that he’s getting a solo series suggests that DC is taking the character more seriously than the short would indicate. Here’s hoping that he’s not moved too much in the other direction and is turned into a dark, dour character. Still, a bit more dignity wouldn’t be a bad thing.

Fingers crossed on this new series. I’m certainly hoping for the best.

Jeff Reid thinks that Vibe’s new look has potential. Jeff occasionally shows off his new looks on Twitter.