NuPerspective Black History Month: Day9- CLOAK!

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.

Cloak comic book appearance courtesy of Google

For the month of last June we celebrated a favorite character of mine who finally got the screen treatment- CLOAK!!

 

Nu-Perspective revamp by Shawn Alleyne

Real Name: Tyrone Johnson
Current Alias: Cloak
Identity: Private
Occupation: S.H.I.E.L.D Agent

Place of Birth: South Boston
Base of Operations: Worldwide
Affiliations: Secret Warriors Division of S.H.I.E.L.D
First Appearance: The Spectacular Spider-Man #64, 1982

Original Creators: Bill Mantlo and Ed Hannigan

Story: Growing up, Tyrone tried his best to avoid a life crime, drugs and the pull of the streets. Unfortunately, he was forced into this world when he was kidnapped by criminal chemist Simon Marshall and used as a guinea pig for an experimental form of heroin. Ironically, it would be this drug that would unlock Tyrone’s latent mutant powers that literally cloaked him in a shroud of darkness. (It was later revealed there was a more demonic hand at work behind the scenes concerning his powers.) Inexorably tethered to fellow runaway, latent mutant and kidnap victim Tandy Bowen, this inseparable duo fought the war on drugs in the streets as the dichotomous merciless vigilantes Cloak and Dagger. For years, Cloak and Dagger worked predominantly alone, only reluctantly joining other heroes or teams in dire situations. After their most recent ordeal, concerning a crime-lord by the name of Mr. Negative, Tyrone and Bowen are approached by Nick Fury Jr to lead an all-new Secret Warriors, an international black ops weapon against evil organizations, corporations and if necessary, SHIELD and the Avengers themselves. Having already been a member various “street level” teams with limited resources, Cloak realizes that he and Dagger can no longer contain themselves to just the smaller picture, and accept Fury’s offer.

Powers: Tyrone’s powers are derived from the extra-dimensional realm known as Darkforce, (an opposite to Bowen’s luminous Lightforce) His physical body acts as a conduit or portal to this inexhaustible abyss, which is facilitated by his cloak (but can be any material) which acts as a barrier or membrane between the physical plane and the Darkforce. Tyrone can thus: absorb virtually limitless matter into the Darkforce; summon items or people trapped inside at will; expel a field of pitch darkness from his being, the limits of which have not been defined; teleport himself and others; become intangible and phase through solid objects. Now, with more control over his abilities than ever before, Cloak can now utilize the energy he absorbs to make himself stronger and resist injury. He is also now able to make tangle tendrils out of the darkness he controls giving him defensive and offensive capabilities. His only glaring weakness is his insatiable hunger to consume life-light energy. Dagger is one of the only possible sources of this energy and she regularly "feeds" him with her light bolts. Other sources of light don't work; for instance Dazzler tried to feed him once, using many kinds of light, but it didn't help him.

Paraphernalia/Weapons: None

 

Cloak sketch

What do you like most about the original character and now the revamp? – Fabian: I liked the dichotomy of Cloak and Dagger which is very primal – man/woman, light/dark. His original design though was just that, a cloak and an infinite void of darkness and a black guy’s face. Dagger’s was very risqué for most of her career. I had no idea how Shawn was going to approach this, but what he came up with is impressive.

Shawn: The original was only impressive to me depending on who drew him. There were times Cloak looked mysterious and deadly and awesome...and some times when it was VERY apparent this was a guy wearing a bedsheet. 

What made you choose this character? – F: It was serendipitous that we chose Cloak around the time the live-action TV series was premiering. But beyond that, Cloak, we felt, was underutilized by Marvel up to this point, ripe with untapped potential. We needed to shine some light on him….even though that might actually hurt him :P

S: I "see" what you did there, Fabian. And yes, I picked him for all those reasons. 

What was the creative process like for this character? - F: This was about around the time Shawn approached me with the “shared universe” concept. So Marvel characters we revamped would all be interconnected in some small or significant way. Having him part of a team in opposition (conceptually) with other characters/teams was an interesting wrinkle with a myriad of possibilities we hoped to explore if given the chance. Besides, being a team player was well out of the character’s comfort zone and he needed some growing pains.
S: Knowing that Cloak was going to be a leader in this new storyline, and almost administrative, I knew I wanted him to have a suit. So it was just a matter of designing a smooth, debonair look.

In hindsight is there anything you would do differently now?- F: Not watch the underwhelming Cloak & Dagger series and get those many, many hours back.
S: It wasn't all bad. lol

In regards to the story aspect of the update, what was your main inspiration for the direction?- S: I actually utilized a storyline I had in mind for years that I was going to pitch for an Ultimate Cloak and Dagger series.

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.