Origin
Young Eddie Topps was determined to become the world’s top stunt biker, like his idol Evel Knieval.
Creation
Eddie Topps first appeared as the star of the strip Topps on Two Wheels in the first issue of Speed. He was one of the characters who survived the comic’s cancellation and transferred to Tiger, where artist Mike Western took over drawing the strip. Eddie enjoyed a lengthy run in his new home, though his strip’s title changed to simply Topps after a time.
Character Development
Eddie Topps was a mechanic to the skillful but arrogant superstar American stunt motorbike rider Wendall Wonder. With dreams of one day being a stunt rider too, Eddie borrowed Wendell’s $50,000 stunt bike “the Golden Streak” without permission, as well as Wendell’s biker costume, and tried to jump a river. However, the engine failed partway through the leap, forcing him to ditch himself in the water, while the bike crashed and was wrecked. Understandably, Wendall fired him. Using his meager savings, Eddie bought the bike’s wreckage (for considerably less than $50,000, naturally) and rebuilt it, painting it red and dubbing it “the Beast.” He then began his own career as a stunt rider, initially going by the Masked Mister Unknown to avoid the baggage attached to his own name by his initial biking disaster.