Black Pigeon (Comics)

Black Pigeon is the vigilante identity of Bryce Byrd, a resident of Favela Heights, one of the several burroughs in Golden megalopolis. He is a good-hearted individual, with intent on fighting for those who cannot fight for themselves, who serves as a member to the team Poverty Pack.

Development
The idea for Black Pigeon stemmed from a conversation between artist Derek W. Lipscomb and his older brother Darin, in which a spoof on Hanna Barbara's character "Blue Falcon" was based.

"I remember that my first sketch of him, was a depiction of an older man with a huge gut. He was out-of-shape and bumbling." remembers Derek "I liked the idea of a low-rent version of Blue Falcon. A guy who wants to have this imposing visage, but can only pull off a sad, flimsy costume from what he has to work with." Indeed, Black Pigeon's current costume is based on that concept. "His cape is made from several black feather boas that Bryce was able to collect living in Favela Heights, with all the hookers and pimps. He wants to incorporate the colors black and grey, as well as the orange of a real pigeon's legs and beak. He uses a pair of orange sweat pants and basketball shoes to simulate the bird's legs. A black wifebeater serves as his torso's clothing. His most intricate piece his the head-dress, wich is made from a sewn up doo-rag and a rigid helmet beneath it."

Black Pigeon also seems the most righteous of the Pack. Something of a throw-back to the civil-rights era, his origins also draw influence from that time period too. "You can see that even his logo acknowledges that. But he's hardly militaristic or right wing about it, no pun intended. He puts on this overly-proud stance on his cultural identity, but the truth is, he is really confused by who he is and what he's expected to be." Furthering this confusion, is the inclusion of the sometimes-partnership between him and Street Sweepah. "Pigeon finds him annoying both on a surface level as well as an internal level. Here you have this guy who wants to be a hero to the black community, and be respected, a role model and accepted by his community. And he porbably would get that, but Street Sweepah comes in and steals his thunder, for being so attention-grabbing" Pigeon keep s Sweepah along, constantly trying to figure out what it is he's doing wrong and what Matt Marshalls is doing right.

The alter-ego name "Bryce Byrd" was Ted Shambaris' brainchild. It harkens back to the cheesy double initial motifs that many super hero characters sported in the 1960's like Peter Parker, Lex Luthor,Reed Richards, Lois Lane and such. "The fact that his last name basically spells it out on who he is, makes it even funnier and ridiculous. Ted hit it out of the park with that one" says Derek.

Origin
Growing up in the ghettos of Favela Heights, Bryce Byrd spent his youth idolizing crime fighters from yesteryear like Aphro Physt, and daydreaming of becoming a member of the cartoon superhero team The Power Champions of Humanity. However, Bryce found himself often getting into schoolyard fights, because of his incesent need to defend those who were bullied upon. His Mother, a woman who held down two jobs to support them, could not properly be there for young Bryce. Instead, she sought to take him out of the schools in the Heights and transferred him to a school in Little France.

But the transfer only heightened his inability to stay out of trouble, and now Bryce found himself fighting classmates because he was not French. In particular, 2 bullies who were also Track Teammates Francois and Vite'. Vite was also dating Elevee', a girl who Bryce crushed on. But Elevee' was hard to get and despite her sympathy for Bryce's turmoil at the hands of her friends, she remained loyal to them.

One night, as Bryce navigated the gritty streets home from track practice, he happened upon a robbery at a jewelry store. Impulsively, Bryce cried out for the police, but all that did was draw the robber's attention towards him. Bryce ran blindly down an alley way where he was cornered by the gang of thieves. They began to beat him senseless, had it not been for the intervention of Aphro Physt's arrival. The heroic trio dispatched the criminals, and took Bryce back to their secret lair.

Bryce sought to carve a niche in the profession and give Run-Down City it’s first real bona-fide avenger. Unable to secure dignified hero names “Black Bird”, “Brutha Flutter”, and The Flyest Blackman” due to overflooding in the market, Bryce felt dejected and overlooked….much like the ignored pigeons on the highrises. Drawing inspiration from the urban doves, Bryce donned the blanket and cowl of the dirty ghetto fowl. Determined to “shit on the heads of criminals everywhere”, Black Pigeon is born.

Powers & Abilities
Bryce was trained by the former trio of Aphro Physt, whom each had their own specialties. Black Thunda taught him the most effective way to fight defensively, and familiarizing him with several blunt weapons techniques. Thus, Black Pigeon is skilled with the bo-staff, tonfas and nunchucks.

Black Gizmo, the gear-head, gave him the means to use science and technology to boost his crusade; with this knowledge, they were able to develop his riot-foam pellets that he uses to simulate what pigeons are best known for. These suppository-sized capsules are flung at his opponent, and explode into an expansive riot foam on contact with air. The substance quickly hardens, keeping them incapacitated for up to 25 mins.

Black Piston schooled him on the knowledge of properly abiding by the law as best as a costumed vigilante can and the psychological profiles of criminals. With this, Bryce can deduce his target's potential habits, and guess their next moves fairly well.