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Jungle Action (1972) #18/First appearance of Madam Slay/Pencils: William Graham Jr/Inks: Bob McLeod/Colors: Michele Wolfman
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Last year February 2018 I started a bi-weekly column with my writing collaborator Fabian Wood that I called Nuperspective.
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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| Madam Slay revamp by Shawn Alleyne |
With February being Black
History Month, I have decided to re-release the characters poster last year as a character a day for the whole month of February, with 2 new characters dropping in their bi-weekly slot. In addition, not only will you see the revamps, get a complete bio with our storyline concept, you will also be getting some behind the scenes thoughts on how and why Fabian and I went about doing what we did.
Since we had started in February last year when Black Panther first dropped, we decided to focus on characters from his universe. For our
first entry, we revamped “Madam Slay”. In the current continuity of the character, Madam Slay was a lover and ally of Erik Killmonger,
BP’s most popular villain. Nu-Perspective picked up right where her last defeat ended,
and came out the gate banging with TWO revamps for the price of one. Check out
her original look and story, and let us know if you like where we took her.
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| Alternate powered up form |
Real Name: Unknown
Current Alias: Madam Slay
Occupation:
Place of Birth:
Wakanda
Base Of
Operations: N'Jadaka village, Wakanda
Comic book
Origin: Marvel Universe Earth-616
First
Appearance: Jungle Action Vol2 #18,
November 1975
History: Madam Slay was a lover and
ally of Erik Killmonger,
staying loyal to him even after his first death. Madam Slay preserved his body with secret
herbs, and months later after some machinations by the Iron Man villain Mandarin, Killmonger was resurrected. Killmonger and
Madam Slay plotted to kill the Black Panther and return Wakanda to its ancient
ways, but the Black Panther defeated Killmonger again, and Killmonger reverted
to an inanimate skeleton. Madam Slay was devastated
by this second death, and her defeat at the hands of Black Panther and his
allies. With nothing more to live for, she appealed to the mad goddess Sekhmet
for revenge. Now a mystically endowed were-leopard, Madam Slay is the rivalrous
avatar against Bastet and her champion, the Black Panther, and has become a
fearsome, cannibalistic hunter driven by wanton bloodlust for Wakanda
loyalists.
Powers: Previous to her transformation Madam Slay already possessed control over leopards
through unknown means. Now, due to
divine empowerment, Madam Slay has psychic control over all feral felines, and has been granted enhanced physical strength, speed and agility.
In
her were-leopard form she has all of these attributes to a greater degree plus
enhanced senses, razor-sharp claws and teeth, a healing factor and a pheromone
ability allowing her to manipulate all men. Madam Slay is an exceptional
hunter/tracker, an expert hand-to-hand combatant and proficient with bladed
weapons.
Paraphernalia/Weapons: Twin curved blades; Arm gauntlet blades
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Other
characters that were closely considered for the Nu-Perspective treatment last February were Lord Karnaj, Jakarra, Solomon Prey, and Death Tiger.
I excluded
characters that might be used in the movie, and characters that
weren’t originally tied to, or exclusive to the Black Panther.
In these times
with the ever shifting definition of words, the word “slay” has taken on the
meaning of being great in some aspect, usually fashion and specifically towards
women..e.g “She is slaying it.” So for this revamp the muse strongly brought me the
vision of a woman who was powerful and very fashion-forward. She would be wearing
something that would be sexy, yet commanding and deadly. Something you could
see a woman walking down Saks Avenue in, then a board meeting, then later a
nightclub, then finally standing over Black Panther's corpse.
The challenge
was I also needed the outfit to be functional, as I saw her as a warrior, and it
had to reflect African elements. On top of that, it had to be able to transform
with her when she adopted her were-leopard form. No easy task. I copped out by having the clothes mystically change to save me the extra 4 days needed to
design such a miracle of fashion. lol
Looking back I don't think there's anything I would change ion the design.
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