That's right, we celebrate Nubian pride all year round over here. And we will be back to dropping Nu-Perspective entries bi-weekly. In the meantime, we're ending off Black History Month with a brand new entry. Enter BANDIT!!
This character was suggested to me by an instagram follower, and I was glad cause I had completely forgot about this guy. So keep those ideas coming, you never know who you'll see.
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And don't forget to stay behind for some thoughts on how and why Fabian (co-writer) and I went about doing what we did (go to the bottom to read). Enjoy our little take.
Real
Name: Donyell Taylor
Current
Alias: Bandit
Identity:
Secret
Occupation:
Former CEO of Taylor Foundation, Vigilante
Place
of Birth: New Orleans
Base
of Operations: Chicago
Affiliations:
New Warriors (formerly), Unified Guild (debunked)
First
Appearance: Night Thrasher #3 (1993)
Original
Creators: Fabian Nicieza, Ken Lashley & Fred Haynes
Story: The
illegitimate son of Daryl Taylor, and the older half-brother of Dwayne Taylor (Night
Thrasher), Donyell grew up alienated from the life he thought he was meant to have. While
Dwayne grew up with the fortune and prestige of his family name, Donyell Taylor
had to struggle in the shadows. This did not bode well for young Donyell’s
psychological development, and he became obsessively jealous with his more
successful brother. Reaching adulthood, and realizing Dwayne was the vigilante Night Thrasher, Donyell adopted the vigilante persona of
“Bandit” and started challenging his brother’s foes to prove he was better than
him. He fought Night Thrasher a few times, “stole” his brother’s ex-lover Silhouette and even leading a
version of his brother’s street-level vigilante team the “New Warriors”.
Donyell and Dwayne eventually reconciled their differences, and when
his brother was thought dead, Donyell even adopted his brother’s identity as
the new “Night Thrasher”. He formed a new New Warriors team, and proceeded to take
over his father’s philanthropic organization the Taylor Foundation, putting all his resources into "saving" Night Thrasher.
His main focus was to attempt to use a temporal device to go back in time
and save his brother, to which his New Warrior teammates were just a means to that end.
Things went very wrong however, and Donyell ended up killing his brother of an alternate
universe where Dwayne had become a Draconian Iron Man (and Tony Stark was the
universe’s Night Thrasher). That horrific event only fueled the Donyell’s mental instability and pain, and he subsequently disbanded the New Warriors and went into hiding, becoming a fugitive under Norman Osborn’s “Dark Avengers” campaign
years ago.
He only came out of hiding upon hearing
rumors that Dwayne Taylor was alive, and was reforming the New Warriors. Once again adopting the “Bandit” identity Donyell sought out his resurrected brother, and the reconciliation did a lot to heal his pain and guilt. With Night Thrasher's blessing Bandit started his own “New Warriors” team called the "Dark Warriors", comprised
of overlooked rejects with great potential. The family rivalry is there, but much healthier, tempered with respect.
Powers/Abilities: Bandit has the mutant
ability of bio-electricity, allowing him to generate a bio-aura that could
shock persons like a tazer or electrocute them upon physical contact. It is not
strong enough to discharge bolts or streams of electricity like other
eletro-kinetic mutants and can only extend a few inches from his skin. He augments that with the special dart tipped wires he shoots from his gauntlets. His
power was lost during the M-Day event, but he has miraculously gained
them back; most likely due to the help of Silhouette’s brother Midnight’s Fire. Bandit is also on par with his brother Night Thrasher in terms of physical fitness,
speed, strength, training and skills, even being able to best him in one-on-one combat on more
than one occasion.He is also an accomplished thief and scientist.
Paraphernalia: Bandit’s armor is almost identical to Night Thrasher’s in composition and function, being of a military-grade light-weight bullet resistant and fire retardant material. It is also outfitted with a high-tech thermo-optic camouflage lining. The armor suit also comes with two multi-purpose wrist gauntlets that can, aside from shooting tazer cords, also launch a grapple line, a hacking interface, and has retractable blades. Twin conducting brass knuckles on his hands allow him to channel his bio-electricity through for deadly hand-to-hand blows. His jacket has hidden compartments for caltrops, smoke pellets, mini explosive and other devices and gadgets. Bandit is also skilled with twin Escrima sticks which can channel his bio-electricity or be charged with ion energy. He has also been known to carry an assortment of knives and throwing stars.
NP
What IS Nu-Perspective you ask? Well, it's a bi-weekly column I started with my writing collaborator Fabian Wood with the purpose of revamping and updating different underdeveloped, underutilized and all-but-forgotten Nubian (black) comic book and pop culture characters.
Fine Print: Nu-Perspective is a column focused on revamps and updates of various
underdeveloped, underutilized and all-but-forgotten Nubian (black)
characters specifically. We aim to showcase these chosen characters in
fresh, contemporary and exciting ways both visually and story-wise to
show just how awesome they can truly be. All characters are copyrights
and trademarks of the respective publishers and creators. This column is
used solely for artistic enjoyment.
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