Black Tower Character Origins 2

 

There are a lot -a LOT- of comic artists who will never show their early work. The only thing they want to show is recent, slick art. I know as I've interviewed more than a few. Me? Well, if you are going to show people there is some hope...

I have no pretensions. I was crap. I was crap because I made the mistake of trying to use Gillott nibs to draw. My hand problem meant that I put a ton of weight on pencils and on nibs...yow. But we all start somewhere and although this does not look great it is how I started and what is more unbelievable I sold a lot of copies (oh, those days).

 Black Tower Presents 1, 1983 saw the first appearance of Elizabeth Flare, aka Mayfly.  It was a cold night. A blizzard was blowing and a woman, almost dead, was found outside an old hospice by Sister Bernadette (who popped up as the hard core butt kicking nun in The Green Skies) . The sisters tried to save the woman's wife when she was found to be pregnant but failed -however, the baby survived. When the sisters buried the woman in the grounds they got to the doorway and looked back -a flare of light appeared above the grave. The sisters called the baby Elizabeth and added "Flare" as they viewed the grave flare as being some form of guidance.

As Elizabeth grew up so the nuns witnessed her ability to float and then fly. Following a discussion Dr Wulf, a geneticist of world renown and now living in isolation, was contacted. Wulf was interested in people with special abilities or born different in some way; he believed that these were an evolutionary stage mankind had reached and labelled them Homo mutatis mutantis (man with the necessary change).

And so Elizabeth ended up at Wulf's orphanage where he prepared the youngsters for their place in the world.  

Above: unfinished/unused rough for a Crime Busters UK story circa 1994.

Whereas a lot of the special kids stayed with Wulf due to their outward appearance Elizabeth left when she reached 20 years of age and found a new life in Cardiff, Wales where she became a room mate of Jill Claren.

Phil Horton drew a page of the second part of the story where Mayfly met The Cougar (see below).

Mayfly has popped up regularly since the 1980s and there is more to come!