#5 – MorningStar by Beausephus
DATE OF CREATION: 1994-ish
CONCEPT: A vigilante who operates by night bringing the huge scythe-like blades attached to his gauntlets to the throats of supernatural creatures brought to life by various underworld and corporate organizations.
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Truth be told, there’s really not much to the back story of Morning Star. I’m not sure if I ever gave the character a name or identity beyond the visual design and the basic supernatural-hunting methodology.
Moon Knight has always been one of my favorite characters, the basic visual design of the character and his multi-layered back story was really engrossing. Clearly this design owes a great deal to Moon Knight and, I believe, the Stephen Platt run on the series.
I also must have read the BATMAN: YEAR TWO trade paperback a thousand times or so at that time. Again, the giant forearm blades are ripped right off of the design of that story’s “villain”, The Reaper.
Instead of fighting “street-level crime” I imagined MorningStar going up against supernatural-meet-scientific creations such as the “Pseudo-Vamps” and artificial zombie-like creatures. Realistically, could he use such giant, deadly weapons against generic street thugs and still be considered a “hero”?
Also, in retrospect, the various grades of beige and grey don’t do much in terms of dynamic costume design or making a strong visual impact. Still, I have a soft spot for the character and the odd color scheme.
Thanks for checking out my stuff.
-Beausephus