An original character from DC's Milestone Comics imprint, she first appeared in Icon #1 (May 1993) where she was created by Dwayne McDuffie (writer), Denys Cowan, and Mark Bright.
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Personas
History
Raquel Ervin was born in Paris Island, the poorest, most crime-ridden neighborhood in Dakota.[1] Although she is only the sidekick of the title character, Icon, she is the actual protagonist of the series. She yearned to become a writer ("just like Toni Morrison"), but lacked inspiration until she met Augustus Freeman IV, a corporate lawyer who was secretly a stranded alien with superhuman powers.[1] This occurred while she and her friends were robbing Freeman's home. Raquel convinced Augustus to become the superhero Icon, and to take her on as his sidekick, Rocket.[1] While in costume, she wore a belt that Icon fashioned out of his escape pod's inertia winder, which allowed her to manipulate kinetic energy.[1][2]
Shortly after she began adventuring with Icon, Raquel discovered that she was pregnant by her ex-boyfriend, Noble (one of the other robbers from the day she met Freeman).[3] She gave birth to a son, Amistad Augustus Ervin, named "Amistad" after the famous ship that brought slaves over from Africa to America,[4] and "Augustus" in honor of Icon.[5] While her pregnancy caused her to give up adventuring for a time, Raquel eventually became a superhero again.[6]
Rocket also assists the Blood Syndicate member Flashback in fighting her addiction to crack cocaine.[4][7] Rocket was more liberal than Icon, which caused them to clash on a number of occasions. She befriended Static, another teenage superhero from Dakota City. While it has been hinted that someday they might become more than friends, their relationship remained platonic throughout the run of their respective titles.
