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Wednesday, February 13, 2019

NuPerspective Black History Month: Day 13- MASQUERADE

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.
Today's character comes from last month’s theme of "Caribbean Characters" where we gave you MASQUERADE, from the brilliant Milestone Universe line. Masquerade is of Jamaican descent and is also notable as the first transgender character in comics.







Real Name: Unknown
Current Alias: Masquerade
Identity: Secret
Occupation: N/A
Place of Birth: Paris Island, Dakota City
Nationality: Jamaican
Base of Operations: Dakota City
Affiliations: Paris Bloods (formerly); Blood Syndicate (formerly)
First Appearance: Blood Syndicate #1 (1993)
Original Creators: Dwayne McDuffie, Ivan Velez Jr & Denys Cowen

Story: The being “Masquerade” was exposed to the mutagenic mist of the Big Bang incident, becoming a “Bang Baby”. Long abandoning her original name and identity, Masquerade preferred the form of an African-America male, and considers themselves to be transgender. Originally part of the infamous super-powered Dakota gang known as the Blood Syndicate, Masquerade betrayed them on two separate occasions. The second time, he/she was shown mercy by former team-mate Wise Son, and allowed to go free. Now hopping from identity to identity, Masquerade seeks penance by avenging wrongs as a solo vigilante. An urban wraith moving seamlessly in and out of people’s lives, someone who is both anyone and no one at the same time.

Powers/Abilities: Masquerade’s unstable molecular structure allows him/her extensive shape-shifting properties to imitate or morph into any person or creature at will. With animals, there is a relatively narrow range of deviation with regards to weight and mass, preventing him/her from becoming as large as an elephant or as small as an insect. Experimentation by The System further amplified this power, allowing Masquerade to transform into inanimate objects as well and even fictional or imaginary beings. It must be noted that Masquerade still has concealed vital organs when impersonating inanimate objects. This experimentation also allowed him/her to imitate the abilities of super-powered beings, however the only way Masquerade can mimic their powers is through consuming blood or flesh of the desired individual. Those powers can only then manifest once in the form of that person. Due to extensive experience with his/her powers, Masquerade is a master of deception and impersonation.

Paraphernalia: None


Q&A with Fabian and Shawn



What do you like most about the character? Fabian: There is a certain psychological uneasiness when it comes to shapeshifters in general and their inherent untrustworthiness, despite their best intentions. I think it made fertile ground to explore for him/her.

What made you choose this character? The fact Masquerade was the first transgendered comic book meta-human made the character stand out as someone worth highlighting. Like most other Milestone characters, Masquerade perished with the imprint.

Did the character pose a challenge to update and if so what was the hardest part of the redesign? I would say coming up with a “base” look was the greatest challenge for Shawn. I could write around that :P , but visually, what would be his/her default look. Story-wise, I think conveying Masquerade’s own duplicitousness was important, and conveying him/her as a pariah of his/her own making with a struggling sense of (transitory) morality really makes her more multifaceted. Also, grounding her powers was also a challenge as we’ve come to expect a level of pseudo-science with our comic book characters.

Is there something in particular you want to point out? Is Masquerade really Nubian? His/her true name and original identity are unknown and he/she is a shapeshifter. Maybe this is a cheat? :P

  
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.

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