Ms.Midnight

I haven't been following my old stomping grounds CBR's CBRunway like I used to, when I was really into designing costumes for super-heroes since I read comics voraciously and without fail for over 33 years. I still read and buy them but not as rabidly as I used to. So I lurk.

I used to play along with online friend Mattbib's CBRunway, but I haven't had much time nor inclination lately. However, the latest challenge posted was was to create a 5th member of the Fantastic Four (or rather Five, natch) if Jack Kirby, series co-creator, had made one back in the day. Since the Fantastic Four were analogous to the four elements, it made sense to base another character on a purported 5th Element, aether, or the "space where the Gods lived." So I came up with Ms.Midnight.

I wanted to include another female character, and I wanted her to be black so that the Five weren't quite so caucasian (despite The Thing being orange). I figured Ms.Midnight (I thought the name was ambiguous enough and fit right in with Mr.Fantastic, The Human Torch, The Invisible Girl and The Thing) would be a teleporter, and her powers would revolve around making rifts in space that would act as wormholes. It seemed a perfect complement to all the powers already in place for the other four, adding that element that Lockjaw used to provide. The power signature would look like space (perfectly fitting in with the aether concept), with all the Kirby crackle forming the rift, which would darken her form even more so that she was like the visual opposite for The Human Torch. I also figure she would have powers of speed or the ability to speed up or slow down time eventually, perhaps manifesting as her being a speedster, possibly explainable by the rifts acting like black holes that bend time.

I had to render her in a Kirby style, and really not change the costume all that much, but conceptually, it was such an easy conclusion I had to Play Along At Home for this challenge.