And today's brand new character is the Milestone Comic's top superhero ICON!
Icon seemed like the perfect character to revamp during Black History Month, and I'm hoping he will one day get a new series to showcase how he's so much more than a "black Superman". Enjoy our take!
Real
Name: Arnus / Augustus Freeman I-IV
Current
Alias: Icon
Identity:Secret
Occupation:
Attorney, Philanthropist, Activist, Humanitarian
Place
of Birth: Terminus planet
Base
of Operations: Dakota City
Affiliations:
Heroes; The Cooperative
First
Appearance: Icon #1 (1993)
Original
Creators: Dwayne McDuffie, Denys Cowan, M.D Bright
Story: A
prominent intergalactic arbitrator and member of the Cooperative, the extraterrestrial
Arnus was on an interstellar cruise liner that was sabotaged by the genocidal nihilist
and sociopath Kali’kak (aka Oblivion) whom he had just sentenced to prison.
Forced to flee in an escape pod, the space craft crash landed on Earth in the
year 1839. Adopting the genetic makeup of a slave woman who found him, Arnus’
physiology was changed to that of an African infant. Raised by the slave woman,
Arnus grew up in colonial America. Due to his alien heritage, Arnus outlived
his Earthly contemporaries for almost two centuries, adopting the name Augustus
Freeman, and his subsequent “descendants”. In that time, he accumulated
considerable wealth and education, eventually in present day becoming a successful attorney
and even founding his own affluent law firm. Due to a code of non-interference
with under-developed civilizations and very functionalist mentality, he lived a
relatively passive, highly conservative and reclusive life. That was until he
was confronted by a young idealist and reformed thief named Raquel Ervin, who inspired him to use
his superhuman abilities as a symbol to the people of Dakota and become the
superhero “Icon”. For over a decade he championed as Icon, although he was reluctant
to work alongside other Dakota superheroes or be an aspiring leader.
Eventually, word came that his clone Arnus II became corrupted by the
diabolical machinations of his arch-nemesis, Oblivion, and had become “the Adjudicator”,
wreaking havoc across chartered space. To protect his adopted world, Icon
left Earth to deal with the matter, seemingly abandoning Dakota and humanity to
their own devices. Having quelled the crisis in outer space, Icon returns
to Earth five years later, where he finds Dakota City caught within the grips of a second
violent metahuman outbreak and rampant chaos. Realizing his idle participation
in humanity’s progress was doing no good, Icon liberally exercises his rights, privileges and
gifts to help those in need, even if it means putting himself in opposition to
the law he once upheld as infallible and absolute. He has even consolidated Dakota’s
noble metahumans as the leader of the crime-fighting team known simply as “Heroes”
(a second iteration of a former, debunked Dakota superhero team). But Icon’s
boldness may come at an unexpected and high price by the invisible hands of the
mastermind Dharma, and his reunified clandestine group, the Shadow Cabinet. Regardless, Icon will no longer be a spectator to mankind’s self-destructive course, or limit himself to neighborhood crimes, but
instead wants think global, and to reinvigorate the passion in humanity towards unity and unabashed goodness
as a shining beacon the world can look up to; a glimmering paragon, a true “Icon”.
Powers/Abilities:
Arnus’ Terminian DNA
affords him an extraordinarily long lifespan by human standards. Despite having
lived
on Earth for almost 200 years, and being a mature adult prior for untold
solar
cycles, Arnus is only now showing signs akin to a man in his mid to late
40s. He also appears to be able to survive without conventional
sustenance or oxygen (at least for inhuman periods)
When the space pod, as a preservation mechanism for its occupant,
scrambled and
re-assimilated Arnus’ DNA to mimic humans in physiology, it endowed him
with paramount
levels of superhuman strength, speed, senses and nigh-impervious
durability
(the upper limits of which have not been explored). Icon is also capable of
self-propelled flight up to high-hypersonic speeds. He also possesses a
remarkable healing factor to regenerate from non-fatal wounds in seconds and
re-grow lost limbs. Icon’s body can also absorb, store and discharge positrons through his eyes or hands at
varying degrees of intensity. This power can be used to generate highly resilient
energy force fields either around himself or other persons or objects to entrap
them. He can also discharge a low-level wide-area burst of these positrons to
generate a “field of awareness” or a “sixth sense”, though this has to be a
conscious effort. He can also discharge a high level version for a concussive
omnidirectional wave of energy. In addition he can shape this positron energy into various constructs. Arnus also possesses an exhaustive knowledge of
history, law and the legal system, of not only America, but the Cooperative as
well. Icon has even trained in various self-defense martial arts.
Paraphernalia: Icon’s costume is composed
of unstable molecules that become constituted around his body and clothes on
mental command from the alien device known as “The Maker”. The Maker can
rearrange molecules and materialize any object imaginable. The limitations of
which are only the availability of the ambient raw elements to create the
object and that only one object it creates can exist at a time. The spacecraft
lifepod that brought him to Earth has also been retrofitted for combat
capabilities and sub-luminous interplanetary flight, but by galactic standards it’s
a relic. Icon also possesses an “Info Tool”, a highly sophisticated A.I.
bordering on sentience which is a repository and compendium of intergalactic knowledge
and information housed in Icon’s ship that can
connect mentally with its user. Due to his long and successful career as
an attorney, Augustus has access to a vast fortune.
NB: Although Augustus participated in the
Civil War and all subsequent American wars up to World War II, he has since changed
his attitude towards military service, even though he agrees with its
functionality and purpose for any society.
NB: While Arnus is in fact an
extra-terrestrial, due to the emancipation proclamation, he is a legal US
citizen.
Q&A with Fabian and Shawn
What do you like most about the
original character? – Fabian: Icon was, let’s face it, Black
Superman, and although I didn’t get into Milestone when it came out, it was an
admirable attempt to incorporate the world’s first superhero with a Nubian
twist.
Shawn: I liked the re-imagining of the classic Superman origins. It was a nice twist..a twist I often reference when teaching my character creation workshop.
Shawn: I liked the re-imagining of the classic Superman origins. It was a nice twist..a twist I often reference when teaching my character creation workshop.
What made you choose this
character?- Fabian: He’s named Icon and is a forgotten/lesser known Black superhero. I
think a lot of people saw him as a “rip off” and comic book readers weren’t a
forgiving bunch in the overly saturated 90s. It was kind of a no-brainer, but Shawn and I ultimately went with highlight
the lesser known sidekick Rocket first.
Shawn: I feel as though Icon is a super underrated character that can go from being a "cool" character to also being an IMPORTANT character for Nubian people. He is a polished, well developed shining example of what a positive Nubian character can be, but his stories afforded the opportunity for some great social commentary. I think he never took cause he suffered from the "Cyclops" treatment of being portrayed as boring.
Shawn: I feel as though Icon is a super underrated character that can go from being a "cool" character to also being an IMPORTANT character for Nubian people. He is a polished, well developed shining example of what a positive Nubian character can be, but his stories afforded the opportunity for some great social commentary. I think he never took cause he suffered from the "Cyclops" treatment of being portrayed as boring.
In
regards to the story aspect of the update, what was your main inspiration for
the direction?-
Fabian: As a flagship comic of the
debunked Milestone Imprint, it was being both reverential and progressive with
the character. That meant both his story and look. I kind of went with a “Superman
Returns” theme I felt poignant for someone as… “iconic” as this character. He
needed to come back, but he could not do the same things the same way. He
needed to really live up to that moniker on every level.
Shawn: Fabian did the heavy lifting with this one and I completely love his take. My addition to the story was to give him the global large scale angle. From reading up on his back story it pained me that this super powerful character with so many sci-fi aspects to his story and potentially great storylines was regulated only to the hoods.
Did this character resonate with
you in anyway? – Sad to say no. Even when I went back to his comic. Maybe it was
timing or some other factor; but I’d hope that with Nu-Perspective, he does
resonate, if not more.
Shawn: I sadly feel the same way. I recognize the potential of the character, but I never sought out his title when Milestone first dropped the way I sought out their other comics. Not to pat ourselves on the back too much, but I'm really feeling our Nu-Perspective take though. I would read it. lol
Did the character pose a challenge to update and if so what was the hardest part of the redesign?- Shawn: For me it was how to make a costume that incorporated all those colors seamlessly. Although black and white I know it will eventually be colored and I had to keep that in mind.
In hindsight is there anything you would do
differently now? - Shawn: I wish I had added his energy flare.
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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