James Blocker

Context

Timequake was among the wave of British sci-fi comics that started just before the Thatcher years. Like many such comics, it started in the short-lived Starlord magazine before migrating to the reigning champ, the 2000AD comics magazine.

Timequake was there from the start in Starlord, in 1978.

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Background

Time-Control and time travel

Time-Control is a small band of men and women who patrol the one, single time-line. They watch out for major disturbances to the fragile fabric of time, called time quakes. Time-Control is composed of people from various time eras, and are responsible for protecting history against artificial tampering.

It has not been revealed who actually controls Time-Control.

Sub-Stations with local groups can be found in a couple of different time eras. Blocker’s group is located in the year 85 million B.C., and is the earliest one in history. In addition to Blocker, its members are:

• The leader Harl Vinda from the 38^th century.
• The Haniken Empire princes Suzi Cho of the 32^nd century.
• The Nahua notable Quexalcholmec.
• The legionary centurion Marcus Geladius of the 9^th century.

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Other prominent members include the 26^th century researcher Dr. Zeidler.

Time-Control has hidden sub-stations in all time eras and in most major cities. After the events caused by the Droon, all other sub-stations of Time-Control were erased from history, except for the oldest one located in the year 85 million B.C.

After the Droon

The agency has since been mostly restored to its former many sub-stations. Furthermore, all members are now protected against alterations in the timeline by anti-flux fields (in DC Heroes terms, Dimensional Anchor). When the surrounding changes due to some action in a previous era, the member will stay completely unchanged and remember history as it should be.

A sub-station has monitoring equipment where any time period and event can be monitored on telescreens. HQ has time bombs that can be sent out to destroy all other stations in case of emergency. It also has linguaphones that offer a fast and permanent crash course in any language.

All members have a wristband that functions as a time-travel device. Members can send an distress signal to a sub-station regarding perceived timeline alterations, other threats, or mission completed. All members can be tracked in time, and a portal will be opened from a sub-station after mission completed. Should the wristband malfunction, other members will be sent in to fetch the lost member.

Temporal aftershocks, part 1

Logically, there are small deviations in the timeline after a Time-Control team has fixed a time quake. For example, in stopping World War III from happening Blocker basically altered his own origin, i.e. how and when he was recruited into Time-Control. See the History section for more.

It has to be assumed that Blocker was recruited for some other reason right before he got the chance to be hired to transport Azwan, and then some agent just eliminated Azwan before he could seek other transportation. However, this was never shown in the books.

An easy fix to this continuum problem is to assume that Blocker already had the anti-flux field installed in his time-strap, which would completely eliminate the need to refix his origin story.

This is somewhat dubious, however. For instance, Quexalcholmec’s origin was later rewritten so that he never became a Time-Control agent, and he was supposed to have the time-flux field installed at that point. Likely, in time, no member’s history before becoming a member of Time-Control is no longer exactly like they remember it to be.

Temporal aftershocks, part 2

The conclusion is that the organization does lots of smaller adjustments behind the scene (that are not seen in the books). There are lots of sub-stations all around the world in all eras to do such adjustments. There is also a lot of communication going on between the time eras.

It seems likely that there is a master record of history, and when something deviates from it, the agency immediately corrects it back to the right path again. Apparently, rewritten continuity merely has to be a close enough approximation of history to allow for the larger, expected future of Earth to unfold.

Often the team’s actions lead surprisingly to historically correct events. It seems the timeline straightens itself out with relative ease to what ’it should be‘.

Powers and Abilities

Blocker is a natural for the job as a time adjustor. He quickly learned the routines, has a knack for understanding how to operate futuristic technologies and has become the organization’s top man.

He regularly thinks up and performs successful, outrageous stunts that nobody else thinks of. Furthermore, his combat savvy is likely the greatest in the organization.

History

Thus started the war that caused humanity to descend into barbarism. But this was not the natural timeline, which should be that humanity had colonized the galaxy by the 40^th century.

Just as the first nukes hit London, a portal appeared inside a subway wagon. A man named James Blocker was forcibly taken through it by three mysterious strangers.

Fight for your future

Time had been altered by humanity’s future nemesis, the alien race called the Droon. The Droon had attacked Earth in the 40^th century, but were easily beaten back. Thus they switched to their secondary plan – altering the timeline  to weaken humanity, using stolen time travel technology. The Droon had, posing as humans, hired Kemal Azwan to perform assassinations that would launch World War III.

James Blocker had arranged the transportation of Azwan to Israel where it all started. Thus, he was indirectly responsible for what had happened. As a result he was taken out of his time, and recruited by Time-Control, a time travel agency responsible for protecting the past, contemporary and future humanity against alterations in time and history.

Before Blocker could make any decisions the Droon started beaming in, and everyone had to escape in time. Agent Marcus Geladius was killed in the attack.

The first stop was in 17^th century London where the fight with the pursuing Droon caused the Great Fire of London . Next stop was London in 1978, in the wastelands after the nuke. Thinking it through, they went back in time to board the ship Mary Ann Trinder, Blocker’s boat with which he had transported Azwan.

But the Droon had foreseen this move. They had informed the Blocker of that era in the boat that someone looking like him was going to try to kill his passenger. A fight ensued, and had the two Blocker’s touched each other they would both have been eradicated from existence.

Time after time

However, Azwan got in their way. he was thus eliminated, apparently along with that era’s Blocker. World War III was thus averted and history again ran its intended course. Blocker, having been forced along, intended to return to his own time and life.

Howbeit, making a very long time jump, such as the 85 million years long he had done, permanently alters the body’s metabolism. The body will have to keep on time-traveling regularly or crumble to dust within six months. Membership in Time-Control is, apparently, for life… unless Vinda was bluffing to get Blocker to join.

Next, Blocker was relaxing in his own time era when the world suddenly changed around him. The London landscape changed into what it would be had the Nazis won World War II. Apparently, Hitler had somehow gotten hold of an atom bomb in 1945. The team immediately gathered in Time-Control HQ. Blocker went back to his time to investigate the change, and was taken prisoner.

There he learnt that the Third Reich was led by Martin Bormann . Blocker managed to escape, but his timestrap had been damaged and could only take him into the future. He jumped forward in steps of 100 years each jump, but the Reich was still intact with Bormann as its leader. He started getting pursued by Bormann at each destination until he was rescued by Suzy Cho.

I hate these guys

Back at HQ Blocker recognized another member, Dr. Zeigler, as a cleanshaved Bormann. Bormann promptly escaped and Suzy and Blocker went to 1945 to investigate. Martin Bormann had actually wandered upon Dr. Zeigler, gunned him down, and taken his place in Time-Control. That was how he had ended up in a perfect position to alter history.

Eventually, member Quexalcholmec arrived on the scene and gunned down Bormann just as he was about to kill Suzy and Blocker. They then found the original Bormann of that time era before he could stumble upon and kill Dr. Zeigler. This completely prevented the change in history.

Another time a storm in the year 85 million B.C. caused a malfunction in the Time-Control HQ. This resulted in the destruction of the sub-station hidden in a Nahua pyramid. This was seen as a sign of the gods and changed history so that Quexalcholmec became a high priest instead of a Time-Control agent.

When this happened Quexalcholmec, whose history was rewritten, just vanished from the Time-Control HQ. Thus, the Triple Alliance managed to get ahold of space ship when an old alien beacon inside the pyramid was activated. Using this vessel, they terrorized the Earth for sacrifices during the next thousands of years.

The team managed to kidnap Quexalcholmec, turn him back into a Time-Control agent, and destroy the space ship. Thus they prevented the rise of the Triple Alliance and put history back on track.

Dang tourists ruining everything

In another case, the agency had to step in to stop the operations of an illegal bootleg time-travel agency engaged in tourism. The trips were reputed to be dangerous and rather erratic, plus time travel was illegal.

Suzi Cho infiltrated the agency. She was sent along with other time tourists back to 1790 aboard a naval ship just as it was being boarded by pirates. This was something of a problem, especially since the intended destination had been “top of the pops” in 1979.

The pirates massacred them all and sank the ship, but not before Suzi managed to carve in a message in one of the wooden walls. When the remains of the ship were dug up in 29^th century, the message was received and Time-Control alerted. Blocker was sent directly to the ship in 1790 to prevent the massacre, which he did. The tourists were evacuated to 85 million B.C.

They were all then sent home to their own eras and given the warning that time-travel was illegal. Cho and Blocker then went to Lunnun, the capital of Yorrup-52 in the year 2254 to trace the illegal tour operators. Being offered time tourism on the streets, they went to the offices of Happi-Daze Time Tours. There they were greeted by one of the trespassers they had previously saved, named Mother Eternal.

The Time-Control agents were expected and were immediately sent trapped into a time loop. Blocker managed to break the loop by doing something very unexpected. But Mother Eternal escaped into the timestream before she could be arrested.

Seriously, tourists. Don’t get me started about those.

The Time-Control agents were then witness to some returning time tourists shot full of arrows. They had been sent to the battle of Agincourt  on the French side, instead of getting to watch Julius Caesar land in England. Tracing Mother Eternal’s destination, on the computers, to 400 years into the past, they went after her.

However, that too was expected, and a trap that landed them right in the middle of a battle field between Russians and the English .

Using advanced weaponry, Blocker gunned down the incoming cavalry troops that mistook them for Russian spies. ”The gallant six hundred” suffered heavy losses before Blocker and Cho could jump back 5 minutes, which would enable them to grab Mother Eternal when she arrived. Blocker shot Eternal with a stunning blast, and they then jumped back to Happi-Daze Time Tours HQ.

Eternal’s henchmen temporarily distracted the agents, during which Eternal managed to reprogram the time machine. However, before she could escape again, Suzi Cho distracted her with a shape changing trick while Blocker blasted her again. Realizing that Eternal had rigged the computer to self-destruct the entire complex, they jumped back to 85 million B.C.. The came seemed over.

However, Mother Eternal regained consciousness at the last moment and managed to do a quick jump a micro-second before the explosion. But the time machine made a final malfunction and sent her back to pre-Historic London, which should be the end of her.

Though admittedly aliens are worse

Next, Droon troopers teleported to somewhere in North-western Russia on April 15, 1917. They promptly boarded a train and there killed Lenin , the leader of the Russian Revolution. Apparently, stopping the Russian Revolution would weaken the future Earth enough for the Droon to successfully invade it in the 40^th century.

Time-Control received the news from their sub-station in 1917. As a result Blocker, Cho and Quexalcholmec were sent to stop the assassination. They managed to stop two of the three assassins, but the last one got away and managed to kill Lenin onboard the train. The mission was a failure and redoing it by time-travel would cause a split in the continuum wall and rip the timestream apart.

Only one option remained; Suzi Cho was to change her form into Lenin’s and live the rest of his life exactly as he did until his death. Cho was actually an expert on anything Lenin. She thus lived his life until 1924. She managed admirably and the Russian Revolution took place just as historically expected.

After Lenin’s funeral, she was picked up by Blocker, Quexalcholmec and Vinda to resume her duties back in the Cretaceous era.

Yeah, aliens might be the worst

Next up, Blocker and Cho were sent to America in the 1920s to investigate a reported sighting of a Droon. Something went wrong with the time jump, however. They arrived 60 years later. Before they could continue their trip to the right year, Blocker found out in a newspaper that he himself had died last night by falling off the Empire State building.

Suzi theorized that it must be Blocker’s future death on some mission that they were reading about now. Blocker had to know what had gone wrong and so they went back one day to investigate. They met that time era’s Blocker in the building, but it was a Droon. It was a planned trap to finally finish off the greatest threat to their victory over mankind, namely James Blocker.

The agents were forced to hand over their time-straps, but not before sabotaging them. While gloating to the agents the Droon were suddenly sent away, allowing for the agents’ escape. Getting to Time-Control’s substation in that time era’s New York City, they travelled back to HQ.

From there, they launched a trip to stop the Droon trap before they could prepare it. The Droon were destroyed, and Earth was once more saved from disaster.

Oh no. More tourists.

Blocker apparently died in 1806 by being shot down by a revolverman named Blackie in White Falls. That, however, was Suzi Cho shooting him with stun bullets. They had both been sent there to investigate a distress call sent out by Time Travel Tours Combine. TTTC was the only legal time tourism agency (permission granted by the authorities of the 40^th century).

Three tourists were trying to liberate their friend from jail, to which he had been sent because he was mistaken for Jesse James . Blocker’s solution was to jump to the Time Travel Tours offices of the 26^th May, 3965, and stop the Jesse James look-alike from initially taking their trip.

The rest of the group left. But Blocker got suspicious as there seemed to be one man too many on the time platform leaving. Blocker followed them in White Falls of 1806.

He found that the fourth member hypnotized the rest, and then blasted a train, killed the guards and loaded its cargo of gold onto his horse. Blocker planned to get back to the 40^th century to stop this man from taking the trip, but his time-strap malfunctioned and he moved only 5 minutes into the future. Instead, he went to the sub-station in White Falls, which the robber had to use to return to his time.

Do you know what I think about tourists?

Blocker was expected, however, and knocked unconscious. He awoke in a hypnotized crowd in a saloon without his time-strap and was forced to duel a revolverman. He was then apparently shot down and the robber went back to 3965. His life as a rich man was shortlived as he was immediately arrested by Blocker, Cho and a Judge (apparently Blocker’s timeline is the universe of Judge Dredd!).

Blocker was saved by the fact that there had been one of the Time Travel Tour party members in the saloon, who had reported Blocker’s presence there to Time Travel Tours. Time-Control was alerted, and Cho, checking up that era’s history, found Blocker shot.

She then went in to take Blackie’s place and shot Blocker with a stun bullet, and then they both went on to arrest the robber. Back in HQ, Blocker remains the organization’s top man!

Description

Blocker is often seen in a coat, a striped t-shirt, trousers and leather shoes. He is rather often smoking.

Personality

James Blocker is a tough British gent with a working class 1970s/1980s mentality. He will take no crap from anyone and is prone to quickly turn to physical violence. He has quite a temper, but will do no harm unless provoked. He genuinely wants to protect humanity.

He is rather superficial and immediately fancied Suzi Cho (who is described as a “beautiful slant-eyed woman” because 1978). They are now, at least, great friends and often team up together. Blocker doesn’t trust or like the boss, Vinda, one bit (which is rather justified). He sometimes refers to him as a rat. On the other hand he has grown to respect Quexalcholmec.

He usually refers to foes as “sunshine”, “blossom” etc.. He also uses expressions such as “stone me” for astonishment. He is fond of taunting opponents in combat.

Blocker has a reputation for being a tough man. Still, the others often treat him like a rookie even as the truth is that he does a better job than they do. The Time-Control team loves to pull Suzi Cho shape changing gags on Blocker at every occasion.

Blocker is starting to get a reputation as the top man in various sub-stations and he seems happy to strike back at time crimes – anywhere and anywhen!

Quotes

“Dunno what you’re trying to pull, mush or how – but I don’t take your sorta lip from no man ! Right ! That does it ! Chew knuckles, Sunshine !” [punches foe]

“Marriage ! But I come from a long line of bachelors !”

[Putting solid objects on time platform to stop pursuing enemies] “Let’s give ’em a big surprise ! This area is supposed to be empty, huh ? The way I see it is… if an irresistible force meets an immovable object something’s gotta give !” [incoming detonates behind him]

“That’s nice ! The bloke insults me – and we ain’t even been introduced ! If you’re not careful, Sunshine, I’ll lay one on you ! “[insults continue] “Chew on this, for starters” [punch] “- while I bruise your toes a little !” [stomp]

“Hey, Suzi ! You an’ me nearly got wed in Xycatala, right ? So, how’s about a big kisseroo for old times sake ?”

[Headbuts foe] “I’d see a dentist if I were you. Oh, sorry — they ain’t been invented yet, ’ave they ? This’ll take your mind off the jaw-ache !” [kicks down foe]

DC Universe History

Blocker and Time-Control are a part of the Linear Men. While the Linear Men reside in extra-dimensional space, the Time-Control division reside on the Earth, and function as a local strike force whenever subtle changes in the timeline are needed.

Both Rip Hunter and Rond Vidar are likely to be members of Time-Control and would, together with Blocker, have fought the Time Commander, Chronos and the Time-Lord on occasions. The organization’s mysterious leader could be Brainiac 5, or for a more sinister twist, Vandal Savage or the Time Trapper.

By Dr. Peter S Piispanen.

Source of Character: Timequake series in 2000AD comics.

Helper(s): Darci.

Writeup completed on the 28^th of February, 2010.