BRUTE

Happy New Years! Thank you for following Brute. We appreciated your support in 2021 and look forward to providing even more fun and epic Brute stories for you in 2022 (and beyond).

Last time, I reminisced on the genesis of Brute and co from 1990’s RPG NPCs to 2020’s comic book characters. Being a writer I reflected from a writing perspective but what I left out, was how the characters have evolved artistically.

To be clear, for thirty years, they changed very little art-wise, because I didn’t draw them again, lol. So it wasn’t until Owen Keenan came along and we started turning Brute into an actual series that those crude initial concepts became fleshed out. And although it’s only been three issues so far, you can see how the characters continue to be refined as we go.

Rose

Rose is probably the one who has had the most visual changes. When I initially created her, she was a super-heroine, similar to Electra in abilities but nothing like her in personality. She had the typical superhero painted on costume and daggers and that was about it. In Brute she’s just a regular person (with pink skin, which we’ll eventually explain) so all that had to go. So we tried to envision, if you’re a young lady, stranded in space, with no other humans about, and aliens don’t care what you wear – or even, if you wear anything at all – how would she dress? Comfortably, and to suit her own sense of style. Thus we have Rose in issue #0 (below). Loose, flowy top, spandex(y), comfy pants and boots. Later on, she ‘geared up’ and donned her blades and grenades. In issue #1, which starts with a young fourteen year-old Rose, we see her with longer hair, colored playfully purple with highlights, and a little more dressed up. By the end of issue #1 (SPOILER ALERT) Rose is enslaved, years have past, her hair has grown out (revealing it’s natural black color), she looks disheveled and dressed in rags she’s had to sew together herself. So Rose has already gone through five distinct looks.

Brute

In my initial drawings of Brute, he was quite simply a cigar-chomping, super-powered teddy bear. That suited the story he was in at the time, but for this series, I wanted to bring him more down-to-Earth. So he lost much of his powers (but they still exist in a nascent state) and just retained those that a high gravity world would naturally bestow – incredible strength, reflexes and durability. Owen tried a few variations of his look, trying to find one that would be ‘teddy-bear’ish without looking like an actual teddy bear. We also wanted to capture a look that suggested that he viewed himself as a ‘tough guy’ even if no one else in the galaxy (initially at least) sees him that way. Owen settled on a crew-cut, muscular look with smaller ears and thick (classic Shazam/Captain Marvel style) eyebrows. He also gave him more human proportions (compared to my original drawings).

Brute doesn’t wear much, and what he does wear is purely practical (a PAEG*, an extra gravity disc, translator, all along his belt, and shoes – usually slip-ons). Despite this, you’ll notice how his look has evolved along the way.

This was a fun post, so next time, we’ll look at the artistic evolution of some of our other characters.

Until then…

By the Essence,
Preston Squire

(*PAEG = Personal Artificial Environment Generator – which simulates your home-world’s natural atmosphere, temperate and gravity within a permeable forcefield)