History:
After losing his job with Ace Signs, Gordon Thomas, a veteran soldier suffering from mental imbalance, embarked on city-wide vandalism as Typeface, rebelling against the “purveyors of poisonous rhetoric” he perceived as responsible for society’s ills. His Time Square bombing spree was interrupted by Spider-Man, himself the victim of various weakening experiences, and although the irrational Typeface saw no crime in his activities, he rose to Spider-Man’s challenge and left the weakened hero unconscious. During a later encounter with Spider-Man, himself pursued by a Spider-Hybrid created by extraterrestrials, Typeface helped the hero vanquish the creature. Following this encounter, Typeface, now affecting a bizarre speech pattern laced with rhymes and puns, became a vigilante. His activities drew the attention of the grammar-obsessed Spellcheck, who undermined Typeface’s activities with insistence on proper syntax in action. Eventually, Typeface regained a measure of sanity, at least to the extent he proved capable of conventional speech and interacting with others in a rational state.
Civil War:
When the Superhuman Registration Act passed, Typeface although himself possessing neither superhuman powers nor a secret identity, recognized the act’s potential for invasion of privacy and forced service, and he organized a resistance movement consisting of other heroes who sought to join
Captain America’s Secret Avengers. Within a few weeks his movement was over two dozen strong, its membership including Gladiatrix, Dahntu, Network, Qiblah, Solo, the Tosser, and several others. Although less powerful than most of his colleagues, Typeface became group spokesman in covert interviews with
Sally Floyd, an investigative reporter for the Alternative newspaper. While some of his teammates advocated overt confrontation with pro-registration forces, Typeface advised an avoidance policy until they could join forces with Captain America’s more powerful movement, but the question became moot when Iron Man led S.H.I.E.L.D. forces on an invasion on their hidden base. Although a few unregistered super-humans escaped, Typeface and most of his followers were captured and imprisoned in Negative Zone Prison Alpha. When the Secret Avengers liberated the prisoners, Typeface joined them in fighting Iron Man‘s pro-Registration forces in Midtown Manhattan. He died in the final battle, reportedly crushed to death by Venom (Mac Gargan).
Power & Abilities:
Powers and Abilities:
Typeface is an exceptional hand-to-hand combatant with specialized military training in tactics, weapon use, and other disciplines.
Paraphernalia:
Typeface uses such alphabet-themed weapons (apparently of his own design) as razor-sharp As and Os, gas-emitting board game tiles, and explosives “letter-bombs”.