ARIA
REAL NAME: Melissa Johnstone
AGE: 21
POWERS: Sonic powers; sonic blast, flight and sound
absorption are her primary powers.
APPEARANCE: 5'10", slender, shoulder-length
blonde hair. Costume is a hunter-green full bodysuit with gold highlights
and a domino-style eyemask. Her most striking characteristic is her bright
soprano voice.
FIRST APPEARANCE: Guardians #11
BACKGROUND: Melissa grew up as a normal teenage girl
living in Fort Worth. She possessed a beautiful singing voice and was very
active in choir in high school. During her performance with the All-state
Choir her freshman year in high school, she was very weak before the
performance. She felt hungry, but food wasn't helping. She was
concerned that she was getting sick, but she was determined to perform with the
Choir. During the performance, she suddenly began to feel much
better. She quickly realized, though, that the rest of the choir was
singing softer than they should have. In fact, she was the only one who
seemed to be singing at full volume. After the performance, she realized
that she had been absorbing the sonic energy and that the energy was nourishing
her.
The thought of being a "mutant freak" frightened her to the core, and
she only discovered her other powers through inadvertent experience. She
started to withdraw, scared of how different she was.
This
pattern changed when Ray Walker, a student the same age and an
on-again-off-again boyfriend, confided his powers in her (see Wraith).
They quickly evolved a relationship where each depended on the other; Ray needed
Melissa to give him life energy, and Ray gave Melissa a reason to go on and the
confidence to succeed. Both Ray and Melissa went to Trinity University in
San Antonio, Melissa majoring in Music and Ray in Business. Both hid their
powers until an encounter with hera forced them into
the open, and they were recruited by the Guardians.