NuPerspective Black History Month: Day 6- TRIATHLON

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.

 

Triathlon first appearance. I still have this issue.

 

 

And last year the month of April was dedicated to all things Avengers. Which inspired us to revamp the often overlooked TRIATHLON! Check out our new look and story below.

Nu-Perspective revamp by Shawn Alleyne

 

Real Name: Delroy Garrett Jr

Current Alias: Triathlon

Identity: Secret

Occupation: Avengers member

Place of Birth: Unknown

Base of Operations: New York

Affiliations: Avengers

First Appearance: Avengers (vol 3) #8 September 1998

Original Creators: Kurt Busiek, George Pérez

Story: Delroy Garrett, Jr was last shown to have been among the superheroes on the run following Hydra's takeover of the United States. He was apprehended by Deadpool who was working as a member of Hydra's Avengers at the time. With the status quo restored, Delroy was released with a pardon, but feelings of disillusion and disgust by his treatment plagued his thoughts. The shame from succumbing to his previous addition to performance enhancing drugs broke him down also, but after consoling by Goliath, and some honest self evaluation, he beat his habit and became determined to be a better superhero and eventually outshine the likes of Captain America and his super soldier peers. However, he questioned the role of the black superhero in the landscape of powered people, and his own connection to his people. He became more in touch with his African identity, and reflected that in his new costume that he modeled after Afrofuturist art. He now seeks to be seen as a leader of a new Avengers team, one more in serving the Black Lives Matter movement.

Powers: While possessing triple the strength, speed, endurance and durability of a person in peak physical shape, Triathlon can also think three times as fast. While not increasing his IQ, he can analyze and solve situations as well as process new information much quicker than a regular human. This has allowed him to enter a state of “hyper awareness” which also amplifies his senses to three times their normal range. Although he does not possess a true healing factor per se, Triathlon can heal from wounds and injuries three times quicker that a normal person could. He previously displayed the ability to see disguised Skrulls, and this power was both erroneously believed to be tied to the special googles worn by the original 3-D Man, and to apply only to Skrulls. However, this enhanced sight extends to seeing all true forms: detecting Skrulls, illusions, possessions, etc, and does not require special glasses.

Paraphernalia/Weapons: None

 

Sketch of outfit and final stance by Shawn Alleyne

What do you like most about the character? – Fabian: To be honest, not much actually. It was Shawn who suggested him, and trust me there were “lamer” options to be fair, but the point of Nu-Perspective was the challenge to make an otherwise unappealing or uninteresting character stand out and be relevant, if not relatable. And when I first saw his tri-colored costume and his powers of just being three times a human in anything, that pretty much qualified as a respectable challenge :P

Did the character pose a challenge to update and if so what was the hardest part of the redesign? – Fabian: Like most underutilized Nubian characters, the challenge came from what little history they had in the comics, and the often open-endedness of their last appearance. But I think I was able to pick out aspects of his character to focus and build upon them to project him in a direction that best suited him, or rather, where I and Shawn wanted him to go. Such as his past addiction to performance enhancing drugs. He takes a page from Tony Stark, using that addiction not as a crutch, but a motivator to never fall that low.

In hindsight is there anything you would do differently now?- Fabian: I’m pretty satisfied of what we ultimately settled on. Shawn just took it up an octave with his very stylish revamped costume.

Is there something in particular you want to point out?- Fabian: Just the badges/pins on his left breast adds a very personal touch which Shawn added.

Anything to add Shawn? - Shawn: Just that I'm especially pleased with this portion of his story-- "However, he questioned the role of the black superhero in the landscape of powered people, and his own connection to his people. He became more in touch with his African identity, and reflected that in his new costume that he modeled after Afrofuturist art. He now seeks to be seen as a leader of a new Avengers team, one more in serving the Black Lives Matter movement."

This is heavily borrowed from my own life experience and my artistic path. Art imitating life imitating art in it's fullest.  

NP

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.