Publisher: DC Comics
Alias: Slager, Joto, Hot Spot
Created by: Dan Jurgens, George Pérez
1st appearance: Teen Titans Vol 2 #1 (October 1996)
Nationality: American
Team Affiliations: Teen Titans
Legal Status: High school minor with no criminal record
Height: 5′ 7 Weight: 180 lbs
Eyes: Brown Hair: Brown
Relatives: Judge Crockett (adoptive father), Mrs. Crockett (mother), Nikki (sister), Unnamed H’San Natall (biological father)
Skills and abilities: Skilled in the use of weapons
Powers: Thermokinesis: Isaiah possessed the ability to generate intense thermal energy from his hands. In appearance, the power was very similar to pyrokinesis, but he could not generate actual flame. However, Isaiah’s heat generation could quickly cause combustible materials to catch fire. Isaiah could not necessarily project volumes of heat though and always needed to make physical contact with an item in order to affect it. Isaiah could also charge objects with heat, then use them as weapons. Isaiah’s power also enables him to send a heat pulse through objects, then recall the pulse, giving him a sense of about the object in question. Isaiah first discovered this application of his powers during his first training session in Loren Jupiter’s pressure chamber. By concentrating heat through the chamber walls, he was able to get a thermal blueprint of what lied beyond it.
Psychic Link: Isaiah possesses a psychic link with all of the alien-human hybrids that were genetically bred by the H’San Natall. Through this link, he can perceive the emotional trauma of his peers and can determine, within a limited range, where his fellow hybrids are located.
Biography
Isaiah Crockett’s mother was already expecting him when she married Judge Crockett, who was unaware that the unborn child was half-alien (part human and part H’San Natall). At age sixteen, Isiah was qualified to enter college, but on his first day at Ivy University, he and two other students (Toni Monetti who would later become Argent, and Cody Driscoll who would later become Risk) were abducted by the H’san Natall. Also abducted was the Atom, who was caught in the energy stream as well. Onboard the ship, they rescued the Earth girl who would later become Prysm, and from there they escaped. During these events, the students learned that they were all half H’san Natall. They stayed together and formed another incarnation of the Teen Titans.
Isaiah initially took up the name Slager, but his father suggested another codename: Joto, which was Swahili for “heat”. Joto kept a journal of his time with the Titans and included his private opinions of each of his teammates, including the crush he had on Argent.
Originally headquartered at Loren Jupiter’s Solar Tower, Isaiah and the others encountered their next threat, The Veil. The Veil wanted to eradicate all aliens from the planet Earth, but their leader Pylon took a special interest in the Teen Titans. During this adventure, Joto began butting heads with teammate Risk. On the surface, he thought Risk was a jerk, but inwardly, he admired Risk’s self-assuredness and extroverted personality.
Joto’s practical nature and ability to keep a level head earned him the respect of the team’s leader, the Atom, and proved vital in the team’s ensuing battles against Dark Nemesis and later, the sorceress Motalla.
The most critical moment in Joto’s life came when the Teen Titans had to team up with the original Titans in order to rescue Loren Jupiter and Omen from Jupiter’s insane son, Haze. During the battle, Joto was badly burned when he was caught in the explosion of one of Arsenal’s incendiary arrows. Before he “died”, he touched Prysm on the cheek, sending out a heat pulse with his life essence into her.
Later, the H’san Natall had repaired his body, although he was a mindless killing machine in this state. When Prysm came within close proximity of him, his life essence transferred back in, and his mind was back. After that point, the Titans and Superman were able to talk the H’san Natall out of further aggression. The team disbanded and went their own ways. Joto would later aid the Titans again during the Technis Imperative conflict, which also involved the Justice League and all past Titan members.
After that, he returned to Ivy University, where he majored in physics and chemistry, but returned to battle Superboy-Prime. He also helped the Titans save Blüdhaven.
Isaiah changed his name to Hot Spot and was a member of the Titans for a brief period during the following months. He left the team, saying that he thought it would be better if he returned to working alone.
