Looker
Real name: Emily "Lia" Briggs
First Appearance: (as Emily Briggs): Batman and the Outsiders #25 (September 1985), (as
Looker): Batman and the Outsiders
#31 (November 1985)
Residential area: Los Angeles, California
Occupation: Professional supermodel, adventuress
Marital Status: Married
Known Relatives: Greg Briggs (husband), Ector (grandfather)
Hair color: red
Eye color: blue
History:
In the time of 2000 B.C., a meteorite crashed near modern-day Mont
Castelle, Switzerland. This rock imbued a pregnant woman's son
(Loron) with psychic powers. As an adult, Loron founded an
undreground civilization called Abyssia. In time, Loron's descendant
would become a great hero of the modern age.
Thousands of years later, Loron's last descendant, Ector, left the
city and began a life in America. There Ector fathered a family
which included his granddaughter, Emily Briggs. Emily was a quiet,
mousy librarian who lived a quiet life with her husband, Greg. She
became acquainted with Tatsu Yamashiro (Katana) when the latter
opened a bookstore in Gotham City. One day, while paying a visit to
Tatsu's store, Emily was inexplicably kidnapped by people from
Abyssia.
The Outsiders set out to rescue Emily, but the people of Abyssia
would not be taken so easily. Metamorpho was possessed; Geo-Force
and Halo were enslaved by the Abyssian opposition leader,
Tamira; and Tamira's brother, Mardo led the remaining outsiders to
Emily. Finally, Emily's heritage was revealed to her. She had been
kidnapped because she was the last of Loron's descendants. The
metahuman legacy of the royal family was linked to Halley's Comet,
which was set to return in a matter of days. If the Abyssians did
not transform Emily upon the comet's passing, they believed they
would forever lose their chance to preserve the special powers of
Loron's lineage.
It was the evil Tamira, however, who initiated Emily's
transformation. The comet changed Emily physically to resemble her
ancestors, and she gained great psychic powers. While Emily was
still dazed, Mardo took control of her and forced her to kill
Tamira; Katana in turn killed Mardo. (Tamira did not die, but was
horribly disfigured.) In the end, Emily chose to leave Abyssia in
the hands of the common people. She returned with the Outsiders to
her (very surprised) husband in Gotham City.
When next the Outsiders traveled to Markovia, they were captured by
the Masters of Disaster and Baron Bedlam. Emily (now calling herself
"Lia") took it upon herself to adopt a crime-fighting persona and
went to free her friends. Her first outing was impressive. She
defeated and Masters, freed the Outsiders, and joined their ranks.
Despite this triumph, Lia's marriage was strained. Greg found it
difficult to deal with the extreme change in her personality and the
couple separated.
After the Outsiders split from Batman, they were awarded medals by
King Gregor of Markovia. They also accepted his offer to become
"unofficial agents" of that state and voted to move to Los Angeles.
There they would operate officially from the Markovian embassy, and
unofficially from their new headquarters, just off-shore. En route
to L.A., Looker was kidnapped (and saved from) the Marine Marauder.
California suited her well. She immediately applied for modeling
work at the Face Value agency and soon landed her first assignment.
Her extreme beauty sometimes attracted unwanted attention. Her
employer, Dumont, hired a private investigator to dig up some dirt.
This P.I. uncovered a photo of Emily — before her transformation.
Cramer confronted Looker about the photo and tried to blackmail her
for sex. She simply hypnotized him and departed, but soon
thereafter, Cramer was murdered. Lia was arrested and the Outsiders
quickly found the real killer.
During this time, Lia engaged in a romantic relationship with Brion
(Geo-Force). Initially, he rejected her advances, but when the
Outsiders' were marooned on a island in the Indian Ocean for three
weeks, they became intimate. The relationship was brief, and both of
them expressed feelings of guilt. After all, Lia was still married.
They soon mutually agreed to end their romance.
When the Manhunters launched their attack on Earth, Looker received
a call for help from Abyssia. The androids were defeated, but the
evil Tamira returned to power. Lia invoked a Rite of Challenge and
in the battle she was stripped of her beauty and much of her power.
Tamira fells into a pit of lava. Geo-Force subsequently disbanded
the Outsiders and Lia returned to her husband in Gotham City.
The Outsiders apparently maintained their personal relationships, as
most of them traveled to Markovia for Brion's nephew's christening.
At the same time, the vampire, Roderick, instigated a civil uproar
and murdered Queen Ilona. The combination of the ensuing battle and
the presence of Roderick's psychic abilities re-ignited Looker's
powers but she was soon bitten and killed by Roderick himself; this
infected her with the vampire's curse.
The Outsiders held a funeral for Looker, but before Faust
could take certain "precautions" with her body, the team was forced
to flee Markovia. In the confusion, Roderick escaped with Looker,
whose transformation into a vampire had begun.
Once the Outsiders had cleared their name, they returned to Gotham
and informed Greg Briggs of Looker's death and disappearance. Briggs
suggested that they search for her in Abyssia. Roderick had indeed
taken Looker to Abyssia and taken over the city. When her friends
arrived, she explained how she was now dependent on blood and needed
their help to escape from Roderick. On the plus side however, her
supernatural powers, added to her psi powers greatly increased her
invulnerability. The old hag, Tamira returned (again) from the dead
and helped overthrow him. She ignited a reality-altering bomb, which
reverted Roderick to human, and Geo-Force slayed him. Faust then
killed Tamira (again) and freed the Abyssians.
Various squabbles led the Outsiders to split in two. The Eradicator
recruited Looker, Halo and Faust to take out a Las Vegas drug lord,
Oscar Bolt. Her husband Greg was obviously not as overjoyed by her
return. He finally served Lia with divorce papers. Looker stayed
with the team through their end. Although she was officially a
vampire, the presence of her psychic powers makes her immune to the
harmful effects of sunlight.
Later on, she may have been cured of the vampire state, and became
more independent in her actions again, becoming a TV host on a
program called The Scene along with Vicky Vale, Linda Park West, and
Tawny Young. During the filming, Lia would wear a scarf around her
neck to hide the vampire bite wound.
She was quite a big sister figure for Halo in her time, and I hope
she'll be able to return to being a regular human again in time.
Copyright Avi Green. All rights reserved.
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