Sunday, July 26, 2020

Hero Project 4: Rogues Gallery Part One

See:  The pilotPart OnePart Two. Part Three.

Kinkajou and Clydesdale


I believe these two started out as independent characters but soon became a team in my mind. In the imaginary space of Thark Comics, they would have been introduced separately but become a duo pretty quickly. They are the semi-sympathetic master thieves of whatever world it is that The Bravos move through.

Kinkajou is obviously modeled on the honey bear, with his diminutive size and the night-vision goggles giving him that big-eyed look. He's a cat burglar/industrial espionage type who began as a small time thief and made it to the big leagues because of a genuine talent for the game. His downfall is that he is essentially a decent person. He can steal from the rich and from corporations without compunction or much need for self-reflection, but when an individual is going to be injured, physically or in some other way,  he hesitates, and has lost more than one big score because of this.

Perhaps it is Kinkajou's basic decency that keeps Clydesdale around to watch his back. This preternaturally strong farmboy - he can give Virago a run for her money - is kind and gentle and with absolutely no regard for the concept of private property. With a minimum of ambition, he is happy to assist Kinkajou with the heavy lifting and enjoy the spoils - when they get any. As I was writing this post, I decided that he has the Silver-Agey real name of Clyde S. Dale.





Next up: a storm of rogues

Saturday, July 25, 2020

Hero Project 3: Cheshire Cat

See:  The pilotPart One. Part Two.

Cheshire Cat


So, Cheshire Cat was an ostensible ally of The Bravos, but a bit of a mystery. You might consider him a cross between the Spirit and the Phantom Stranger. He was mostly a fisticuffs and weapons guy, but he had a penchant for disappearing - hence his sobriquet. There would always be the hint that something magical was at play, but it would never be overtly shown or confirmed.






Bonus Track: Here is a version of the Bravos with a different ally:







According to the notes in the file, this one-armed gentleman is named Major M.L. Dancer. To be completely honest, I have no idea who he is or what he does. Maybe I was toying with the idea for a government liaison with The Bravos. In any case, he dresses just like Cheshire Cat, so I included him in this post.


Next up: Going rogue

Friday, July 24, 2020

Hero Project 2 : Meet the Bravos


See:  The pilot. Part One.

Virago

Virago, leader of the Bravos, [is] sort of a cross between the Golden Age Superman and Doc Savage. I think she was a retiring but benevolent millionaire adventurer (something I find hard to square with my socialist sensibilities) and I remember she was headquartered in Analog Tower in Seattle.

I had actually talked about Virago several years ago, in a slightly different context. Virago started out as a riff on Wonder Woman  - you can even see a headband in one of the scribbles below - but got less straight superhero-y and more pulp-hero-y as time went by. As I said elsewhere, the early costume concept owed a lot to Thundra, who (originally, in my memory at least) had a slightly different body type than the norm in comics, although I think that has changed.





Osprey

Osprey [was] a reclusive winged freak/mutant/something from the Oregon Coast, where he lived the life of a hermit, known only to locals, whom he helped out when he could, until he was recruited for the Bravos. He has those Nightcrawler-like prehensile feet and, IIRC, is a good marksman/sniper as well.

Osprey's backstory was a nod to my first landing in the PNW in Portland (currently ground zero for authoritarian tactics, it seems). I spent a lot of time on the coast and could easily see a winged person being able to hide there, known to but a few. The wing design evokes my affection for folks like Falcon, Black Condor, and Man-Bat with regard to more traditional winged wonders like Hawkman, Angel, or Dawnstar. The under-arm wings have a great look to them IMHO, although they do pose problems with carrying things and people - which is why Osprey developed from typical white-guy-with-wings to a more alien-like appearance with prehensile feet. He even went through a phase with more membrane-like wings rather than feather, but that didn't stick. And he's a marksman, because, you know, raptor-vision and stuff.











 


Moxie

Moxie [was] named for the erstwhile soft drink and the current metaphorical sense of brio associated with the word. She was a random young woman who under a moment of stress - some sort of crime thing - manifested the power to produce bio-blasts (that's what I recall them calling the Wasp's power bursts, innit?). She wears a Marty McFly vest and in her original incarnation, leg warmers (yep, she's been around a while).

Moxie actually started out as two different characters, IIRC: a stress-induced power blaster and victim-turned-crimefighter with lethal hand-crossbows. I think somewhere along the line the concepts got merged. Her look has stayed fairly consistent, with one foray into gym clothes. She lost the leg warmers but I gotta say she's keeping the vest. If I were drawing her regularly (and had talent), every issue her T-shirt would have a different saying.



 
Monad

Monad [was] a research scientist experimenting with quantum-mumble-mumble which somehow accidentally reduced the intra-atomic spaces in his makeup, compacting him to about 18 inches high and, of course, granting super-strength and durability. His protective science-guy suit is pretty invulnerable too, since it shrunk with him.

Monad started off as just an alt-Atom, but shrinking to just one size instead of everything between six inches and sub-atomic. As he came into his own, though, he became a guy who just got stuck at a foot and a half - albeit with the recompense of super-powers. He was going to be inwardly troubled by his transition but outwardly flippant and breezy, appearing frequently on talk shows and going to fund-raisers and suchlike.




Next up: Cheshire Cat, the unofficial Bravo

Thursday, July 23, 2020

Hero project 1: more Bravos

See the earlier post for what this is all about.



I really like the sketchy energy in this. To recap:Virago (the strongwoman), Monad (the little guy), Osprey (the flying guy), and Moxie (the blaster).



This one seems to be trying a little too hard, but here's the team again. The fellow in the suit is, I think, The Cheshire Cat... about whom more in a few posts.

Comin up: close-up and personal with each of the Bravos.