Who's This? A brazen know-it-all.
The facts: First appearing in Mystery in Space #87 (November 1963), Ira Quimby, a genius inventor with useful initials, was created by Gardner Fox and Murphy Anderson to fight Hawkman and Hawkgirl. He would do a couple more times (in Hawkman, Justice League of America and Power of the Atom). Appearances in DC Comics Presents, The Brave and the Bold and Suicide Squad (against other characters) are a rarity rather than a regular occurrence. He actually got the most play as one of the scientists on Oolong Island in the 52 series and later in Doom Patrol volume 5. Finally, Prometheus more or less lobotomized him in Justice League: Cry for Justice.
How you could have heard of him: The thing is, people are probably still reading 52, and his older stories were reprinted from time to time, so there's an off-chance he'll be remembered.
Example story: Hawkman #7 (May 1965) "Amazing Return of the I.Q. Gang!" by Gardner Fox and Murphy Anderson
Never mind the "Crocodile Men" from the cover, that's the second story of the issue. I.Q., denied cover coverage is in the main story, dammit! He's currently serving a sentence in a penitentiary, currently on "garden detail" where he likes to bask in the sunshine. But it's not about his Vitamin E levels. If you read the above entry, you'll have found that his superhuman intelligence is triggered by solar energy. This is a guy you bury in the deepest, dankest dungeon. What we learn here is that he doesn't need to use the Thinking Stone from his first story anymore, it's all been internalized. And the screws don't see his escape coming (nor should they, it's Silver Age nonsense).
At least light-bending invisibility works like it should, with I.Q. being blind. Cut to Midway City, and the Hawks discussing the news. Hawkman has a device that tracks super-brain emanations, so it's off to recapture the escaped convict. Just as soon as he starts thinking. Except... Quimby is too smart for that. He discovered his brain broadcasts special vibrations, so he's built a jammer for it, and Hawkman is stuck hitting the streets and his usual informants, the old-fashioned way!
Next thing you know, valuables are jumping out of people's pockets so they can be netted by I.Q. and his henchmen. I see he has a real thing for pinwheels in this story.
But the Hawks have only caught the henchmen (in blue) and not I.Q. (in burgundy). Priorities, guys! It's not like Quimby DOESN'T want them to catch up. Indeed, when they do, he springs a giant net trap on them, a steel mesh that sends them crashing against a rock face, a trap from which they barely escape. Quimby has even put Hawkman's flying snitches out of action with a homemade cyclone. And yet, the Hawks do track the I.Q. Gang back to their office - he put a tracker on the goons while he briefly had them in custody. Time for that invisibility technology! (Or did you miss the pinwheels on the walls all around the room?)
Just how beating one's wings in just such a way would counter I.Q.'s tech, I'll leave to the Silver Age Gods, but I guess he's "pinwheeling" them in the opposite direction. For his next trick, Quimby distorts the light rays even more, creating a surreal battleground.
But Hawkman has a strong sense of space, so he starts punching the pinwheels and kneeing the goons in the face, no problem. Eventually, all the pinwheels are smashed and Quimby is under arrest again. But if I.Q. proved anything, it's that he can return again and again, using different inventions (or invention themes) each time, perpetually renewing himself. He hasn't really, but that's in part because Hawkman didn't have as much success as some DC's other big names. And "mad scientists" are kind of a dime a dozen in comic books.
Now if you'll excuse me, I'll go and find a fidget spinner to see what I can do with it...
Who's Next? Sgt. Rock's archenemy.
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