19 – Bronze Dragon by Beausephus
CHARACTER NAME: Bronze Dragon
DATE OF CREATION: 1991
CONCEPT: An adventurer/archeologist is magically cursed with a mystic living stone encasing him at all times. Â After training with ancient magicians of the Orient, they carve the emblem of their order, a giant bronze dragon, into his cursed stone form, in an attempt to save him from eternal walking damnation.
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Before I got into comics and superheroes I listened to tapes of old time radio shows and read about pulp heroes like The Shadow and the Lone Ranger. The BRONZE DRAGON character started as a blatant rip-off of Doc Savage, right down to the metallic orange skin and adventurer back story.
As the character evolved, I seemed, once again, drawn to the concept of great power possessing great men and exploring the results. Instead of shiny metallic skin, the character became encased in skin that looks like polished stone.
Now tons of characters have non-organic skin, and the cut-off they must feel due to a complete lack of sensual connection with the world around them must be infuriating to the point of madness. So how does my character deal with it? Going back to the pulp well, he trains with ancient Oriental mystics, a la The Shadow, who help him learn how to live with his cursed “skin.” They carve the emblem of their monastery into his rocky skin, in a ceremony of purification through the extreme pain of carving the dragon head into his body.
By devoting himself to the philosophy of the Bronze Dragon Order, The Bronze Dragon keeps himself focused and his ever hardening “skin” from overpowering him and controlling his existence.
Thanks for checking out my stuff.
-Beausephus
About the Author (Author Profile)
Teacher, Playwright, Performer & Superhero Enthusiast. My first crayon drawings were of Superman and Captain America. I always wanted to draw comics but never followed that passion beyond some self-published zines and forays into early internet comics. I've worked in various aspects of graphic design and fooled around with a spray can at various stages of my life, keeping my pen busy and full of various inspirations for the doodles in the margins of my notebooks. Inheriting an iPad changed my productivity with the ability to draw, edit, color and post onto the internet via one device in the limited time I have to mess around with my doodles and drawings. My 5-year-old son is my biggest fan and the main reason for my artistic renaissance. He's the reason I'm drawing more often and the person I draw the most for. For the 30 CHARACTERS challenge this year, he is my co-conspirator and collaborator. His excitement and innocent love of superheroes and drawing has kept my inner cynic/critic at bay and we are having a blast this year making up a whole new universe of heroes, robots and monsters for the internet. -updated Oct. 2012Subscribe
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