Sublime (Wildstorm)

Sublime
Publication information
Publisher	Wildstorm Comics
First appearance	Gen¹³ Volume 2 #7 (1996)
Created by	Jim Lee Brandon Choi J. Scott Campbell
In-story information
Alter ego	Rachel Goldman
Team affiliations	International Operations DV8 Gen¹³
Notable aliases	"Roach"
Abilities	Sublime can change her body's density so that she might be as hard as a diamond or light as air. Can survive underwater while ultra-dense.

Sublime is a comic book character from DC comic, Wildstorm. Her real name is Rachel Goldman, and she is a member of the super human team DV8.

Fictional character biography

The daughter of a successful female photojournalist and Team 7's Deathblow, Rachel was raised by her mother and stepfather in Chicago, Illinois. Coming from an affluent Jewish family on her mother's side, Rachel was given many advantages in life which she made full use of. Even before her powers manifested, Rachel was already fluent in Russian and possessed a black belt in the art of Jeet Kun Do. She is also a master of the three sectional staff. She has a 28 tattoo on one arm, three lines on the other, enjoys blue lipstick and utilizes Japanese hairpins to keep her hair back.

Project Genesis

Rachel had just finished her freshman year at Northwestern University when she was recruited by Project Genesis. She was told this was some sort of "enrichment program"; in fact, its purpose was to track and recruit the children of those who had been exposed to the Gen-Factor. After her powers manifested, Rachel became a member of the DV8 team formed by Ivana Baiul. Level-headed and intelligent, she quickly showed leadership potential. However, the fact that she actually cares about the lives of her teammates puts her at odds with DV8's normal field leader, Threshold.

Contemplating suicide

The violence of her new life, such as the amoral murders her team performs and the casual destruction and death that happens on their missions drove Sublime into a deep depression. She travelled to a bridge to try to commit suicide. She encountered another despondent woman, which seemed to give Sublime pause. When the woman revealed that she was insane and just had killed her boyfriend, Sublime subdued her and leaped off the bridge. Her powers kicked in, causing her to become ultra-dense. In this form, she survived the impact and sank to the bottom of the river. She had no need to breathe and thus pondered her situation before deciding to live.

Leadership

When Threshold was later driven from the team and his replacement, Frostbite, lost his powers, Ivana appointed Sublime as field leader. Initially reluctant, Rachel quickly stepped into the leader's role and proved herself to be quite effective.

After the breakup of the Deviants, Sublime stuck with her teammates Frostbite and Copycat. The three were last seen traversing the United States, attempting to build some sort of normal life for themselves. During a visit with her mother and stepfather, Rachel learned that Susan Goldman (whom she believed adopted her) was in fact her biological mother and that Deathblow was her father. Susan explained that her becoming pregnant with Rachel from her encounter with Cray would have been an awful scandal for the family at the time. So she and Rachel's grandmother arranged to make it seem as if Rachel had been adopted. Susan admitted that if she had it to do over again, she would have been honest with her daughter from the start.

While at first hurt by this revelation, Rachel and her mother managed to overcome these feelings, and the two parted on good terms.

Alternate versions

• In the "Slipstream" alternate reality, Sublime was a member of Gen¹³ and romantically involved with her teammate, Burnout.