Who (or What) was Mekano?

“Mekano was a mechanical man invented by young scientist Bill Foster. Unfortunately, Nazis stole the robot, planning to use him as an unstoppable weapon. The Germans, however, were no match for Mekano, who defeated them before returning home to his creator.” – from the Public Domain Super Heroes Wikia

Why Mekano?

Chris: I’ve always had a love for older characters in the pantheon of super-heroes, especially those that have fallen by the wayside. Consider it an underdog complex played out by tracking down old issues and buying public domain twists like Alex Ross’ Project: Superpowers and Image’s Next Issue Project. Pouring over the archives, Mekano jumped out at me for the unique twist on the Frankenstein’s Monster trope with robots and Nazis. Mekano was created by Bob Oskner, a veteran comics hand who mostly worked in licensed comics but did create the version of Marvel Boy that’s appeared in Marvel’s Atlas minis. You can read Oskner’s full Mekano story over on this website. Mekano only appeared once — in Nedor’s Wonder Comics #1 (1945) — but in a way that lone appearance gave you all the set-up and no potential for waning glory. Instead of retooling that existing origin, I thought “what happened after the story ended?”

Note: Check out the RetroFix and final design after the jump! – D.T.

The RetroFix

Chris: With only 15 published pages to his comics resume, Mekano was little more than a blank slate; he was the first chapter of a book that was never told. So when I decided to RetroFix the robot, I postulated how Mekano and his inventor Bill Foster would have developed as World War 2 ended, through the Cold War and into the Internet Age. What I thought is that after the events of Mekano’s origin (above), Foster repurposes him in light of the microchip revolution and Mekano becomes a brand name. Daniel, For the redesign itself – imagine what Mekano would be if he was self-aware, and could improve himself.

Daniel: Is he the bad guy in the 21st century? the corporation needs a logo. What about these Foster descendants. a book smart family trying to keep their ancestor’s name from being tainted?

As for the robot, there really is an evilness to his design. that face is frankly terrifying, like a soul-less Robotman from Doom Patrol. As far as his design goes, there’s a lot of space for improvement and innovation. considering that now, Mekano can basically be anything. any of the products this corporation produces are in essence Mekano, himself. So even though he may have a main anthropomorphic body (probably sleek and streamlined) his programming runs through all of the technology used and created in the corporation. This kind of reminds me of the self-aware sentinels in Grant Morrison’s New X-men run, in which all of these different creations all in some way resembled sentinels. Assuming the Mekano brand is used and sold as a terror-fighting equipment and weaponry, there are probably a crap ton of very dangerous Mekanos of different shapes and sizes available to that original Mekano that gained sentience.

Chris: Yeah, Mekano is full-on bad guy now. Basically, keeping with his original origin…. Foster made him in the 40s, Germans captured the robot and tried to subvert him but Mekano rebelled and came back under Foster.. but as it turns out, maybe some of the Third Reich sentiment rubbed off on Mekano and he left Foster in the late 40s/early 50s. Maybe Mekano adopted the Nazis idea of a perfect person – maybe Mekano things all humans are weak and robots are the only pure thing.

So in the 40s when Foster gets Mekano back from the Germans – maybe he sees what Mekano could become and shelves him. Maybe Mekano was dormant until the late 80s or 90s. Foster’s grandson dug him out, resurrected him and Mekano went rogue then. So son is trying to relearn the theories of his tech-smart grandfather while Mekano becomes a robot-driven company ala Stark Enterprises & Apple.

Like Neal Stephenson’s Cryptnomicon – jumping back and forth between 40s era world of the original inventor and a cold-war era Mekano and the 21st century where Foster’s grandson tries to make up for bringing Mekano back to life in the 90s or something.Mekano’s company could now be the equivalent of Haliburton, but with subsidiaries in consumer electronics (the Mek phone!). When it’s Tech – think Mek. Mekano.

Daniel: OK, i think i have a pretty good idea of whats going on. I’m going to work on some sketches off of this. maybe some Mekano company logos, and a couple of different forms for Mekano to inhabit.

Initial Sketches

Daniel: These are the sketches i cobbled up.  what do you think?

Chris: Great!Definitely a good first start. For the final image, what I picture is perhaps a big digital screen with a digitized version of the Mekano head displayed on it. See this second panel for a good shot of his head.

Standing in front of that screen in an almost Wizard of Oz kind of relation would be a Mekano-bot or something; that’s where we could use your design. I like the screen-like globe helmet that can change from the Mekano face to a more human appearance. Maybe have the Mekano-bot in an arms-crossed kind of thing, which would allow you to show off that great shoulder harness at an angle.

Here’s an idea for a logo for Mekano’s company. I tried to make the big M be a stylized amalgam of the letter M and Mekano’s original helmet.

I think we’re doing something good here.

Daniel: I like it. Here’s my first draft of the final image.

Chris: Wow. Looks great to me! I say wrap it up!

Final Version

Daniel: This is pretty much the finished image unless you have any additional thing to say about it. I pixelated the display on the helmet-screens, eliminated the antennae and made all the drone lights neon-blue. oh additionally I incorporated the logo and I think it looks pretty awesome. the image is nice and clean so that’s also a plus. I thought it would look cool if the big screen version of Mekano had like this 3d projection style I think it adds color, it makes it aesthetically interesting and surprisingly it doesn’t make him any less intimidating.

Chris: Agreed. This would be a shot across the bow — a prototype cover telling people what was coming down the pike. I imagine Mekano’s technology and constructs seeping their way into every facet of life, and a story be told simultaneously in modern times and through the Cold War era of the eternal chess match of the Foster family versus Mekano.

Who was the  Spacehawk?

“Spacehawk had but one mission in life — to protect the innocent throughout the Solar System and give out the occasional gruesome fate to vanquished evildoers such as aliens and space pirates like his childhood friend Galar. He lived in an unspecified future where space travel was commonplace. He was sometimes assisted in his war against evil by Captain Dakk, a police officer and friend of Spacehawk. (At some point in his run) Spacehawk arrived on Earth in the 1940s, centuries before his time. He also fought a few Hitler proxies until the United States entered World War II and he took on Hitler himself.”
- from http://pdsh.wikia.com/wiki/Spacehawk.

Why Spacehawk?

Vito: As creators, we’re used to seeing a blank piece of paper (or a canvas, or even a computer screen), and seeing a world of possibilities. Spacehawk, a character that appeared in 38 comics, is, from my point of view, a blank slate. Created by Basil Wolverton (a genius artist, in my opinion) in 1940, the character has a lot of potential. Cut to last November. I jumped into the 30 Character Challenge with a handful of characters, and figured I’d do some retrofixes at the same time. In the end, I made all of the characters open source, and entered all 35 of them into the creative commons. Spacehawk (or at least, my version of him) is no exception. So, the goal was to create a new version that took what came before with Basil Wolverton, but fill in the blanks for today.

Note: Read on for the RetroFix! – D.T.

The RetroFix

Vito: All I knew about Spacehawk was that he was from the future, fought Hitler and may or may not have been an alien.  There wasn’t even a list of powers. So, I came up with this:

Spacehawk was from an alien humanoid planet and came to our world to protect us from alien threats. He helped in the Allies war effort among other heroes of the day, but shortly after the Atomic Bomb was dropped, he disappeared into the heavens. As more atomic (and then nuclear) weapons were tested, Spacehawk found that the Earth itself was poisoned. He could no longer touch the ground for fear of dying (his alien physiology was susceptible to such radiation). He has returned, but as long as the Earth continues to destroy itself, he may never come back fully. He hovers and flies everywhere on Earth, and even has an Earthbound wife (an original creation I called Ladyhawke), but if he ever sets foot on the ground, his body will begin to deteriorate at a rapid rate.

So, we have a Superman analog, complete with a weakness that, more or less, explains his absence from Earth (and publishing) for all this time, and even gives him a purpose as a hero.

NOTE: Game designer, Sage LaTorra, was one of the first creators to use Spacehawk for his new RPG, Powers For Good. One of the things he did was made Spacehawk somewhat of a celebrity hero activist (kind of like Supes in Superman IV meets Bono).

Initial Sketches

Vito: When I contacted Sean, I gave him this Hero Machine-ized version as an initial sketch:

Vito: And here’s where I’ll hand it off to Sean because, honestly, when you see what he came up with, you’re gonna flip!

Sean: When I got a look at Spacehawk’s origin and Vito’s notes and saw his version of SH (done on the Hero Machine), I had some idea of what Vito wanted. It gave me a sense of colour scheme’s and general look. As an artist I often enjoy taking existing characters and see if there’s some way to improve what’s been done.

With Spacehawk, he was a Superman archtype, but I didn’t want him to look it, and to stay away from the traditional reds and blues of most heroes. I wanted his costume to look iconic without being too overly detailed, and also to have some kind of hawk motif and look like it had alien roots.

Sean: In the preliminary rough sketch I strated just roughing out the first ideas that came to my mind and some stayed others changed. The seam shapes and check design initially were going to go under Spacehawk’s arms and over his ribs, but then that ultimately changed. And the other more obvious things were the loff of the knee pads. I think that was way too 90′s, so I tossed that idea for a more sleek look.

Vito: It’s funny how things like knee pads and shoulder pads immediately evoke a time period, but I know what you mean.

Sean: The chest emblem and helmet are hawk inspired and I made them blocky. His helmet also kind of looks like the cheek guards are almost beak like while the “ear-wings” make it look almost like a crown, giving him that air of power. I thought making the seams of the costume in a different way would make it look alien in design, or at least, different. Adding to that alien look overall is the alien energy signature/blue glow from his chest which I thought would be cool to highlight whenever he was drawn in a silhouette. And with that we have an alien being that’s mysterious, iconic and heroic. I felt I pulled off what I’d set out to create.

Vito: Absolutely, Sean! You pulled it off so well, there were no additional notes to give.  So we present to you…the Final Version!

Final Version

Vito: It’s really amazing what you did, Sean. The color scheme stayed the same between the Hero Machine version and this final one, but it’s utilized differently. The thinking behind the logos and especially, the helmet, are one of the reasons why writers can’t do this without artists.

And there you go, everyone; a open source/Creative Commons character that anyone can use!  You’re welcome, world!

Who was the Star Pirate?

First Appearance: Planet Comics #12 (May 1954, Fiction House). Billed as “The Robin Hood of the Space Lanes,” Fiction House’s Star Pirate was created by a writer who went by the nom de plume of Leonardo Vinci, and originally illustrated by Al Gabriele. Set in a far-flung future, Star Pirate acted as a raygun-toting dissident against evil aliens, criminals, corrupt dictators and even the galaxy’s police force, the corrupt Space Patrol. Piloting a ship dubbed “Revenge,” Star Pirate had no powers per se, but was equipped with a variety of technological tools such as rocket boots and laser guns. He was joined by a rotating crew of sidekicks that ranged from a one-eyed alien, a Martian mistress, and a former rival named Blackbeard.

Why the Star Pirate?

Chris: Here’s my idea for Star Pirate — Adam Strange meeks Han Solo. The lonely pilot of a ship called “Revenge,” he’s living high off a big score but gets bored of the sheltered life and gets back into space. He’s bored with being rich, but also bored with people and has a quick succession of co-pilots. He’s in a future where space is explored pretty well, but he liked the “Wild West” unknown of it all back in his early years and is still trying to chase that down.

Dennis: Let’s do it. What’s the next step?

Chris: Next step is to talk about character design. What are you thinking for Star Pirate?

Note: Read on for the RetroFix and the final design! – Dean Trippe

RetroFix: Star Pirate, Round 1

Dennis: Here’s the visual direction I’m thinking. Just quick sketches.

Chris: I like it. I dig the star logo. I’ve been doodling trying to figure out a way for a star to also be a skull, but haven’t done it yet. I like how the kneepad looks like the shoulder pad, and I agree on the look of the robot and ship. I like the mask because I could see him not wanting people to recognize him from his military years.

Dennis: Yeah I messed with star as skull or stars as skull eyes but it all looks cheesy. I think the skull on Poly is enough. I think I am leaning towards the ankle boots. The knee pads matching the shoulder pads make weird triangle shapes that draw the eye away.

I like the basic shape of the ship, however I probably won’t keep it black. I think our guy in the black suit walking on the hull of a ship is a cool visual. You only really make him out because he blots out the stars.

I like our guy maskless most of the time. Figure he throws pants and trench over the spacesuit when he’s planetside / not in action.

I also figure he doesn’t call himself “Star Pirate.” People just call him that because they focus on the suit star. He is probably fairly infamous as a pirate. There’s probably a lot of people that want to take revenge on him since they perceive he’s weaker without his crew and ship. Then they look at his mean grizzled mug and change their mind.

RetroFix: Star Pirate, Round 2

Note: With some ideas bounced back and forth, I sat down to come up with a profile for the character while Dennis did his work with a pencil and sketchpad. – Chris

Chris: Neil Sterling was a decorated Admiral in the Space Patrol who retired after years of service. Stir-crazy after years of retirement, Sterling took to the spaceways as a grey market transporter (space trucker) but took up the wrong crew, who mutinied and took over his ship. Star Pirate escaped in a service vessel (think a tugboat) dubbed “Revenge,” which he’s retrofitted into his own one person vessel, albeit with a robot crew that won’t mutiny anymore. This turn of events has ironically enough revitalized Sterling at equal with his early military years. In many ways, he could be seen as an futuristic Teddy Roosevelt.

The moniker “Space Pirate” was given to him in recent years by the tabloid journalism of the day, after he was wrongly pegged with a particularly insidious theft which was actually done by his crew. After the mutiny though, he has taken up the name in an effort to raise fear in others.

Appearance-wise, Sterling is in his 60s and resembles Terrance Stamp somewhat. He has a missing left arm from a Space Patrol mission, which has been replaced with a robotic one. This unit has several attachments – think Swiss army knife. He wears a slimming black jumpsuit (think Diabolik), and throws on pants and a trenchcoat over it when going planetside or not in action. He has magnetic boots for zero-G operations, and carries a sawed-off shotgun type gun.

His primary liaison with his now robotic crew is a floating robot named Polly.

His renegade crew, now in command of his ship, are led by the three-person group of cyclopean being known at Togdelytte (“Tody), a green-skinned woman named Gura, and a human who calls himself Blackbeard. In addition to this, he is also known to have raised the ire of several prominent females on both sides of the law.

Dennis: Relooking over your write up my only thoughts was in my mind he’s a little meaner. Instead of a gray market trucker, he’s a pirate so mean his crew abandoned him in space and now he’s going after them for revenge even if he has to completely eradicate all piracy to do it.

I see the three aliens as only the tip of the iceberg, They were coerced into mutiny by a guy trying to unify all pirates in the system so our guy’s vengeance ultimately pits him against this “king pirate” and that conflict could put him on the same side as your prominent law enforcement female (or non pirate criminal females).

He’s sort of like Parker from the Richard Stark novels. Space Parker.

Chris: I like this. In any other story, he could be a villain. His military domineering skills kept up when he became a pirate, and he’s kind of taken it too far. We’ve got to figure out something to make the readers like him. Maybe it’s the 1 versus the millions kind of thing … he’s the underdog in a fucked-up sort of way.

I imagine him pretty acerbic, like Hugh Laurie in House M.D. or a more saucy Sherlock Holmes. But maybe people could like him due to him being willing to do anything to get by. And smart cracks that makes even his foes wince.

Dennis: Yeah House is sort of along the lines I am thinking but also think about Stacy Lawless in Criminal and again the Parker novels handle the bad guy as lead perfectly. Essentially he’s a PROFESSIONAL and these other pirates are not. He has a code, he’s a craftsman and he held his crew to rigid standards and they all profited from that. Except his crew got greedy and fucked our guy over and because they are not professionals and do not have a code they got sloppy and our guy survived . Now he’s angry.

I think we can use other characters he meets in his travels that can make him more likable but he’s always going to stick to his personal code and in that regard I think that consistency builds likability. I also think our guy tries to be loner and the robot crew might take away from that. he keeps Poly around as a tool (and maybe poly can be used to lighten the mood in a r2 sort of way) but a whole crew of even robots undermines the vengeance angle. Think Lone Wolf & Cub or Wolverine who works solo until he gets stuck with Kitty Pryde. We can always bring our own Kitty Pryde but eventually our guy goes back to being the loner with a mission (until the Pryde type gets thrown back into his life or whatever).

Chris: Ok, this is all really good. Let’s retreat to our corners and come out for the final round.

RetroFix: Star Pirate, Final

The man the tabloids named “Star Pirate” is an ex – an ex-husband, an ex-space cop and ex-leader. After years of service for Space Patrol on the outer fringe, Neil Sterling was the scapegoat of a political coup and found himself stranded on a spaceport with no money, no pension, and one less arm than when he joined the force. After seeing the failings of his former employer and the lawlessness he used to manage, Sterling decided to make his own way in his latter life as a freebooter on the outer fringe. Years in the outside hardened Sterling, and made him into one of the most infamous pirates in his time. Using his skill and professionalism in a largely unregulated and unorganized field, he excelled at the pirate’s life. However he eventually found the quality of men under his command as a pirate even more lacking than his former crew under Space Patrol, and after a forceful mutiny Neil Sterling found himself watching his pirate ship, the Revenge, recede from view while left stranded in a space suit in the vacuum of space.

With just a few inches of synthesized fabric separating between him and the deathly grip of open space, the so-called Star Pirate Neil Sterling does what any ex-military, ex-pirate captain would do: seek revenge. After getting to safety, Sterling methodically accumulates the resources to get his revenge. With no trust left for anyone with a pulse, the Star Pirate instead relies on an all-robot crew in a retro-fitted space tug with all the weapons and animosity it can carry.

Black-listed by his government and left for dead by his mutinous pirate crew, Star Pirate is taking on the galaxy.

Who was the Unknown Soldier?

“When the cause of freedom and democracy is threatened, then, from out of the blue sky, shall come the Unknown Soldier – dauntless American champion of all who fight under the Stars and Stripes – from the smallest child to the bravest doughboy. Who is he? Nobody knows! Where does he come from? Nobody knows! He is just…the Unknown Soldier.” His abilities include superhuman strength,invulnerability, flight, and the power to spin in the air fast enough to generate a tornado. He carries a “nitro gun” which fires explosive bullets.” – from http://pdsh.wikia.com/wiki/Unknown_Soldier

Why the Unknown Soldier?

Vito: I like this version of the Unknown Soldier, but, pardon the pun, I know very little about him. My affinity is based purely on what I see. A soldier in a mask is quite possibly the purest of comic characters. Captain America came out first (March of 1941 as opposed to Unknown in August 1941), so we know the Solider is an imitator (one of many patriotic heroes that surely followed in Cap’s wake), but his name is so strong, that when DC created their own version, they had a strong enough concept to really give Cap a run for his money (let’s call it down the middle…DC War comics in the 60′s were absolutely brilliant!). Seriously, this dude is money, the way his hat and mask are one piece…that’s a win! Those shorts are such a Golden Age trope, though, and I have no idea who started it. In most cases, this is an OK, kitschy costume, but for our purposes, we need to change it up.

Note: Read on after the jump for Vito and Edi’s discussion, as well as the initial sketches and final RetroFix redesign! – Dean Trippe

The RetroFix

Vito: The biggest hurdle with the Unknown Soldier is the fact that DC Comics/Vertigo already has an Unknown Soldier. So, first things first; we’re changing his name. Our version will be called Sergeant or Captain Secret. There is another public domain character whose name we could steal, but when I think of Phantom Soldier, I think of something else entirely.

Edi: I agree; name changer needed. “Sergeant or Captain Secret” still feels old fashion to me. This list can be strange or weird but there is something I like about them:Top (Cop) Secret, Secret Agent or Soldier or Sentinel, The Privateer or something with Private (like Steve Rogers was, infantryman before the serum made him super), Foo-Fighter (UFO’s, Bogey)—unidentified names—he’s the first hero/man to take flight into space, never before seen?

Vito: Right. He’s the first person to actively hunt and fight aliens. He’s a one-man army, hence the powers needed to take the task on. The best way to think of him is that he is an anonymous volunteer. He can be from any branch of the Armed Forces. I like the Secret Soldier…or what if he was just The Soldier? If no one knows who he is, then does he need more than that? Or how about the Unknown Sentry?

Edi: I like keeping the name simple, one word. Ellis created a character named The Captain in the book Nextwave. I like the Soldier, yet still generic, very used. Let’s call him The Private (a nice double meaning, a double entendre)

Vito: Let’s go with The Privateer! It has a great meaning (check out the definition on Wikipedia). Ok, second, those powers are overkill. Strength and invulnerability, you come over here. Unassisted flight, I have an idea for you, so stand still. Nitro gun and tornado powers, you need to leave. Thank you for coming.

Next up, I thought we could take the character in a different direction. Rather than just be a patriot protecting the US and it’s allies, we’re going to have him protect the world, or even the universe. The Axis were bent on taking over the entire globe, so why should our character be limited to just the Earth? So, we’re going to take him into outer space. My idea is that we combine two of the best “Rogers” that have ever hit comics; Steve (aka Captain America) and Buck. So what we’re looking at is a patriotic hero that is also a space faring adventurer, sort of Captain America meets Adam Strange (but be careful…Captain Battle had a jet pack!).

Edi: Totally, no weapons needed when he has a jet pack and himself a living weapon. Especially when he has no idea what he’ll be up against or what will and won’t work on his enemies from outer space. Just crash their vessel and use their own devices against them. Like a self propelled missile. A hero who likes to get his hands dirty, your down to earth kind of guy. Maybe his creators are the UN of Earth’s interest, the first green team. Not caught in national disputes but the Earth’s well being and all life that lives on it. Thus creating a “Captain Planet” hero in the form of a super soldier.

Vito: Guys your age all seem to love Captain Planet, heh heh! But you’re on to something. Coming out of the Depression, he would be someone that is very hands on, and since he’s invulnerable and has the strength to match, he could do a lot of damage. I would hesitate to call him a “human bullet,” but he’s a soldier; point him at the enemy and let him go. As for the “greener” aspects of what you suggested, keep in mind he’s a product of his time; there wasn’t a UN yet, so he’d probably be a, pardon the term, “tool” of the Department of War.

Edi: I hated Captain Planet, but he was the modern Voltron, “with our forces combined” thing, that’s always cool. It’s funny The UN and NASA were created after WW2, maybe there is a link somewhere, our character could be the start to those organizations.

Vito: Let’s do this Who’s Who style, since that’ll answer some more questions and flesh him out a little more:

Real Name: Unknown
Identity: Secret
Occupation: Captain (US Army)
Place of Birth: Washington, DC
Citizenship: United States of America
Marital Status: Single
Height: 6’4″
Weight: 250 lbs.
Eyes: Brown
Hair: Black
Brief History: While the Earth made first contact with alien life in 1898*, there have been several subsequent meetings between man and alien. It was during the Second World War that one of these meetings occurred when a race of alien called the Thules made contact with Adolf Hitler and the Nazis. While many heroes fought the Thules off, only one was sent into space to battle them directly and prevent them from ever returning. This unknown soldier volunteered for a secret procedure that would make him the pinnacle of human achievement, giving him super strength and invulnerability. Just before he entered the rocket that would take him into space, a nurse offered to contact his family for him, in case the mission failed. She asked his name, and he replied, “The Privateer.”

Vito: What I attempted to do here is give a reason for him to be “unknown,” so I chose a top secret mission, an anonymous volunteer, and something so fantastic, that no one would believe it was true.

NOTE: We’re referencing War of the Worlds with this date, tying Unknown Soldier to not only the Wold-Newton Universe, but also to many other public domain characters, so he’ll feel as if he already fits in fictional literature. – Vito

Initial Sketch

Edi: For the uniform let’s say goodbye to: the shorts, the hat/mask. The keepers: color and stars. By instinct a darker brown and green color to the uniform could really modernize the military aspect of this character. What’s New: A jet pack, but because they are overused, lets get crazy with some kind of device around the waist, a harness of sorts. Overall I envisioned “the Privateer” to look be a mixture astronaut meets soldier meets mysterious superhero, who fights on land, sea, air, and space. A patriot of Earth. The terra defender.

Vito: I dig it! I really like the colors and the pattern of the stars. The accessories and the use of color are all appropriate for military wear. The Earth patches are a nice touch, but I think we should reference his military status on one of his arms…or maybe elsewhere? Maybe captain’s bars or some other rank? They can be painted on the helmet, on a lapel or maybe we save the original hat for his “down time/at ease?” This way we have a connect. Helmet for business; hat for other times. Either way, we should see some reference to his military service. Let’s kick this into overdrive and take her home, Edi!

Final Redesign

Edi: Better yet let’s leave everything secret about “the Privateer” except for his affiliation with the US military. Let his rank equal that of a hero and his badge be the 5 pronged star icon on his chest. As for the harness it’s fitted with disk propelling devices by twin ion thrusters, able to rotate in any direction to give him unsurpassed maneuverability. And top it off a helmet/visor mask fit for air/space flight, with a decal design of the electro-powered age and a homage to the original alien’s hairstyle who crashed to earth. Awe yeah!

Vito: This guy is AWESOME! He’s a very real character to me now! I can’t wait to see this guy in action!

Who was Zardi the Eternal Man?

FIRST APPEARANCE: Amazing Man Comics #11 (April 1940, Centaur)

Thousands of years ago, Zardi was the prince and ruler of the city of Zandipore. He left the city for a time to learn, practice and eventually master “the intellectual and magical arts,” and when he returned to his homeland he discovered it was no more. In the time since, Zardi has criss-crossed the globe using his abilities fighting evil and slowly his aging process to a crawl. His normal appearance is that of a wizened old man in a tuxedo and top hat, but he also has a mystic cape which gives him the appearance of youth. He carries with him several magical accoutrements such as the aforementioned cape, a medallion, and a magical cane that can become any weapon he desires.

Why Zardi the Eternal Man?

Chris: Looking through the immense list of public domain super-heroes accumulated by some research from Vito, what drew me first to this character was the name: Zardi, The Eternal Man. It sounded like a stage magician purported to be from the mystic east, looking just like David Carradine.

Jason: His initial look is kinda dorky, right?

Chris: Right. But when I began reading his backstory and the few available comics of his that were online, I saw a more modern interpretation coming that was inspired by the pulp comics of his time.

Jason: Yeah. He’s 12,000 yrs. old, he can perform different kinds of magic from different cultures, the items he uses and wears on his person all have magical prowess of their own, and he has a servant/follower, Nogi, that potentially has his own abilities. I just saw in this character a wealth of possibility, the layers you could add to him, to create an interesting, globetrotting, action/adventure style comic. Imagining the things he and Nogi could get into was really enticing to me.

Chris: So after having some brief conversations, I worked up a rough one-sheet about the character as we would develop him.

[Read on after the jump for Chris and Jason's discussion, as well as the initial sketch and final RetroFix redesign! - Dean Trippe]

Who is Zardi now?

Real Name: Zardi
Superhero Alias: The Eternal Man, Prince Zardi
Occupation: none
Place of Birth: City of Polis First on the planet Zandipore
Citizenship: Exiled citizen of planet Zandipore
Marital Status: Divorced
Height: 6’3″
Weight: 215 lbs.
Eyes: Blue (right), Red (left artificial)
Hair: Black

Brief History: Exiled on Earth since the earliest days of humankind, the alien man known as Zardi has witnessed countless moments of history. Left with only his wits and a few trinkets from his alien homeworld, the seemingly ageless Zardi has secretly guided humanity through the ages in an effort to escape the planet.. but along the way he’s come to form a sort of bond with the human race. A criminal when he was marooned, the passing of years have done something to temper Zardi’s criminal impulses — although you wouldn’t know it from meeting him. What he doesn’t know is he’s not alone. Another of his kind has recently landed on Earth. He uses scientific strategems so far flung they seem like magic.

He’s very acerbic, always alone in a crowd of people. But he is prone to get personally invested – too much some might say – by certain causes, including the chance to escape Earth. Antisocial and misanthropic.

Initial Sketch

Chris: With this in hand, Jason then went to work on the drawing board.

Jason: I was thinking “stylish but not stuffy.” He’s 12,000 yrs old so you assume there’s a huge amount of wisdom and experience there, but I didn’t want him to come off like one of those “old mentor” characters. Y’know, Gandalf the Grey, Dr. Strange, or Morpheus (Matrix). No offense to those guys because I LOVE them all, but I didn’t see him as this stoic guy. Magicians are flashy and theatrical…fun, and I wanted this guy to resemble those traits. I also wanted him to be hip; a guy this old would have his own sense of style, but because his looks remain youthful, he’d have to be savvy enough to assimilate current trends into that style. I thought of Daniel Craig’s Bond with a little Cassidy (Preacher) and Spike (Buffy) thrown in there. I almost made him a blond.

Chris: When I received this from Jason, it was initially jarring to me. Although I had mentally made my own visual improvements to Zardi, Jason actually recreated him from the ground up – essentially, backwards engineering the whole concept, which was great. The top-knot style haircut and the alien but regal breastcoat really put him as a modern-day pulp hero. Jason developed some good ideas about the logistics of his powers, but we’re going to keep that secret in case this becomes an actual comic someday.

Final Redesign

Chris: After Jason and I discussed the initial sketch, we decided to develop it further with some other illustrations showing Zardi through the ages. I’m really happy with how it turned out.

Jason: I think it’s very cool. I think that alongside Constantine there should be more hip, fun, but tarnished Mage characters out there. An action/adventure comic that plays up the spectacle of wizardry, and I think our Zardi fits the bill. This would make an awesome comic (and/or movie…hint, hint Hollywood).

Dave Windett

Note: And look! Dave sent in an actual comic (a Project: Rooftop first)! Check it out after the jump!- D.T.

Who Was The Red Cross?

Dr. Peter Hall was an army captain and doctor who fought the Axis powers in occupied France, and later in the Pacific, as the heroic Red Cross. Red Cross had no powers, but ably used his firearms and fists. His costume was usually red and blue with an “Rx” symbol on his chest.

Why The Red Cross?

Vito: The Red Cross (not to be confused with Captain Red Cross) is pretty typical, when it comes to the super heroes in the Golden Age: A non-powered, masked doctor who fought Nazis and…that’s it! When you look at Golden Age heroes, especially the ones in the public domain, you find a lot of characters–doctors, lawyers, cops, or average Joes–that had had it up to there with Hitler and decided to put on colorful tights and do something about it. Dr. Hall, here, had an edge. As a medic, he was more than likely already in the European Theater when the war was in full swing. For me, his appeal lies in the doctor half of him, not the Army half. He’s a man in the middle of a brutal war, torn between his duties as a soldier and a physician.

Dean: Yeah, I already like this guy a lot. The double duties of doctoring and soldiering should make him pretty interesting.

[Read on below for our costume and character discussion, as well as my initial sketch and final redesign! - D.T.]

The RetroFix

Dean: I’ve got a glimmer of an idea for the costume. I think it’s going to be mostly red, because he has this image of himself covered in the blood of ongoing conflicts he’s had no part in deciding. He feels like his costume was chosen for him. And it may be mostly red paint, covering his bare torso, arms, and face, except for the negative space cross in the center of his chest.

Vito: That’s a pretty modern take. Very Vertigo. It’s reminiscent of Dysart’s new Unknown Soldier. It’s very much in line with what I feel would be the natural progression of the character had he survived the thirteen month publishing life he ultimately had.

Dean: I kind of think of him working against the U.S. forces at times when they make mistakes, and against terrorists and resistance fighters when they endanger civilians, but being a more neutral observer in the conflict than either side. As a superhero, he’s kinda like Dexter meets House meets The Spirit.

Vito: Bingo! That’s a great nutshell. That also brings to mind the Hippocratic Oath. He will defend life and heal, but also, he won’t suffer injustice. I think we can take this to another level, thematically. When he was created, it was cut and dry who the bad guys were. Today, it’s not as easy to identify who the villains are. Modern warfare is a difficult nut to crack because the enemy isn’t always physically represented; sometimes, it’s an idea (like terrorism).

Dean: Hall’s pissed about civilian deaths and cheap tactics no matter who causes them. And he hates landmines and war robots. He’d like the warbots if they were used against other robots. But that ain’t the case. (Okay this is mostly me talking now…)

Vito: “Warbots” makes me smile inside! Ok, my concept of the Red Cross is that it’s a field commission given to a soldier (a medic, to be specific) that has displayed great courage in battle…sort of like a medal, but this honor gets a costume and some cool weapons. More on that in second. I think Red Cross could be a legacy character (i.e., there were many Red Crosses throughout the history of modern warfare), which is why I want to set the backstory in Iraq. We’re going to be bringing Dr. Hall to the modern era, so instead of a World War 2 soldier, we’re going to be looking at a Gulf War vet…maybe even a soldier in the current Iraq/Afghanistan conflict. This makes the idea a little less Golden Age, which is fine since some of the qualities of the original costume (the Rx on his chest, the jodhpurs) are a little outdated.

Vito: Dean, you had a great idea when you said, “Dexter meets House meets The Spirit.” To me, that’s a great encapsulation of what the character could be. In my head, that gives the character the flexibility to be three things; a medic, a crime fighter and a soldier. Red Cross could conceivably go on special missions where he is purely a doctor…his costume would be inspirational to those he’s trying to heal. He could be tracking down terrorists…now, it’s a matter of practicality. So, there’s a lot of wiggle room for his actual look. In line with the Hippocratic Oath that I mentioned above, maybe he doesn’t use weapons? I mean, he’s not a pacifist, but he only uses the tools of his trade to heal, not harm. He’s a rescuer. He’s like the medical version of Charlton’s Peacemaker.

Dean: Hey, you know, to make the red paint costume idea make more sense and give RC something of a superpower, maybe the red paint is some sort of super-armor that was being developed that happens to work for him, maybe because of a rare childhood illness he’d survived? It’d just give him a level of protection on his missions, but also, make his decision to leave the negative space cross on his chest, a deliberate act, wanting people to know he is there only for aid, and also as recognition that he may not be doing the right thing interfering, and that it would be wrong to become virtually immortal. Fully armored, he’d be no better than the bomb-dropping drones piloted by people safe and sound in Arizona. He has to maintain objectivity, and acknowledgment of mortal danger is a part of that. I’m really liking this guy.

Vito: Here’s a Who’s Who style rundown I put together:

Real Name: Peter Hall, MD
Superhero Alias: Red Cross
Occupation: Doctor, Army Medic
Place of Birth: Cincinnati, OH
Citizenship: United States of America
Marital Status: Single
Height: 6’1″
Weight: 200 lbs.
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Brown

Brief History:  Dr. Peter Hall left his practice to join the army when he learned his childhood friend had died on active duty in Afghanistan, not in combat, but from complications during surgery. In his short military career, Peter saved many lives with his deft hands and earned many medals, but unknown to his colleagues, the never-ending warfare, remote-piloted drones, and needless civilian deaths affected Dr. Hall’s belief in the “just war.” His nightmares were filled with visions of himself covered in the blood of America’s conflicts. Using his military medical credentials, Hall gained access to secret Department of Defense research into next-gen armor prototype to protect American soldiers from harm.

Peter planned to make the information available to everyone, to increase the safety and durability of all mankind. Unfortunately, the prototype had to be bonded to the user’s DNA, and hadn’t yet worked for anyone. Hall acquired the prototype, a gunmetal gray sludge of nanobots, and found that his physiology, subtly altered by a rare contagion he was exposed to as a child, and the specific treatments he underwent to cure them, worked with the prototype. It turned bright red when activated by Peter’s DNA, recalling his nightmare imagery.

Peter covered himself from head to toe in the red armor, and began running his own rogue ops to save military and civilian lives outside the lines of normal engagement. But he left a red cross shape blank in the center of his chest for two reasons: First, he chose an internationally recognized symbol of aid and neutrality, in order to counter his otherwise frightening appearance. Second, his hatred of landmines and war robots lead him to be extremely wary of the loss of perspective in combat theatres when the threat mortal danger is removed. In Peter’s mind, covering his entire body in the nanobot armor would have made him into a warbot himself. As the Red Cross, Peter battles gun-runners and warlords, rescues wrongly targeted civilians, and delivers medicine and other supplies to villagers by night.

Initial Sketch

Dean: Here’s my first sketch of our Red Cross. Just a quick one to get the idea across. Action shot next!

Vito: That is such a strong image, I don’t think we need to change anything! The red is really bold and in tune with what you said about the blood covering him (and it sends a very strong message). What I like most is how that red not only affects the white cross on his chest (because it’s an open area and is actually his flesh), but how his hands, the gloved hands of a healer, contrast with that red. It’s a great start, Dean. And goodness, the blood red is in his hair! That’s so great!

Final Redesign

Dean: So his costume is the red armor paint, the negative space on his chest, some army gear, and his latex medical gloves. I think we’re done here.

Vito: Now THIS is a character I want to read! And WRITE! Awesome design, Dean!

Dean: FIVES.