NuPerspective Black History Month: Day 4- Technique

Technique ref pic from her appearance in the Hardware comic

For Black History Month I've decided to re-release the characters posted from last year's Nu-Perspective column as a "character-a-day". 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.
 
With this repost, you get the same full bio, art and our storyline concept, but also some behind the scenes thoughts on how and why Fabian and I went about doing what we did. The next character was also from Milestone- TECHNIQUE, done for last year's International Woman's Day celebration.

Technique Nu-Perspective revamp by Shawn Alleyne 

Real Name: Tiffany Evans

Current Alias: Technique

Identity: Secret

Occupation: Inventor, Corporate CEO

Place of Birth: Philadelphia, PA

Base of Operations: Dakota City

Affiliations: Hardware

First Appearance: Hardware #9, November1993

Original Creators: Dwayne McDuffie

Story: Once the enemy and then protégé to the armored vigilante Hardware (Curtis Metcalf), Tiffany Evans was handed the reins to Curtis’ corporation Hard Company, and became the capable President and CEO of the high-end security, tech and cybernetics conglomerate. In time, Hard Company transformed Dakota into one of the most technologically advanced places this side of the Western hemisphere, seemingly rendering “Hardware” and “Technique” obsolete. Until a series of industrial and terroristic attacks against her company begins occurring, taking Tiffany back to the early days of similar attacks that first caused her to build the Technique armor. Evan’s investigation leads to a trail of the debunked Alva Technologies and a conspiracy involving an anti-technology sect. Before Dakota becomes another warzone, Tiffany dons the latest version of the Technique armor to set matters straight.
Powers: All of Tiffany’s superhuman abilities are derived from her Technique armor.
Physical Abilities: Tiffany has genius-level intelligence, and is a foremost authority on cybernetics and advanced computer programming. She is also an accomplished inventor, having developed her own armor as Technique, and modifying Hardware’s armor. She also has a black-belt in Aikido and ju-jutsu.
Paraphernalia/Weapons: The Technique armor is a patented lightweight, highly durable super alloy, rendering it night-indestructible, withstanding cannon fire at close range without a scratch. It also has a polarized liquid metal endo-skin that solidifies into a malleable “under” armor for dexterity. The suit of armor has an internalized power source that fuels the suit of armor’s many functionalities, such as mid-ranged jet-propelled flight and its omni-cannon. The armor also enhances her physical prowess far beyond human levels, enabling her to lift up to 20 tons, and move at trans-sonic speeds. Upgrades have been made to the other concealed miscellaneous devices, gadgets and weapons of varying functionalities including a more powerful maser, plasma sword and nano-tech firearms. The on-board computer (DOBIE 3.0) in her helmet amplifies and augments her senses as well, relays intel and has hacking capabilities.

Technique sketches 

What do you like most about the character?- Another character I wasn't too familiar with. But I LOVE her name. Mainly too cause I remember her intro tagline on the Hardware comic was "Don't sweat the technique", reference to the Eric B and Rakim song. You can't go wrong from there.

 

What made you choose this character? - Milestone had some amazing characters but the company as a whole got a bad rap. I felt the visual design I had in mind would give her some much needed props.

Did the character pose a challenge to update and if so what was the hardest part of the redesign? - Nah, this one was easy for me. I kept her basic look but modernized it. 

In hindsight is there anything you would do differently now?- Nope!!!

Is there something in particular you want to point out?- Just that her "skirt" is translucent. Oh, and on the sketch notes I had "fighter pilot mixed with Tron". Yup, that summed it up for me and where I wanted to take her. 

What was the most fun part to redesign? - The weapons and getting the shading right.

Are we going to see her counterpart Hardware anytime soon? - Maybe 

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.