Character Inspirations: Vatour (In Full Detail)

Watch this video first if you haven't already.

Vatour is the central character of the paranormal crime thriller, "Vatour: Feel free... to DIE" and the books that will follow. A violent and remorseless individual who has declared war on the criminal class of the city of Scotch. His general appearance is that of the grim reaper. Black, hooded outfits and bony extremities. His main weapons are curved daggers that I dub, "Talon Blades" and long machete. On rare occasions he will use guns, typically to make a point. He has a large assortment of physical gifts and practical skills that allow him to slaughter large groups criminals and move around the city with no difficulty whatsoever.

To create this character, I had to look at a wide array of sources for inspiration. There are main inspirations, characters whose motivations, themes, behaviours and overall aesthetics were mixed to bring this character to life. There are lesser inspirations, where I took portrayals and quotes from certain characters and not necessarily the characters themselves, so we'll start there.

Lesser Inspirations

Zoom/Hunter Zolomon

Cyprezz LLC, 2017. Hunter Zolomon (Zoom) CW Minecraft Skin. [online] Planet Minecraft.

Hunter Zolomon is a speedster obsessed with power and is an antagonist of the Flash, particularly Wally West in the comics and while he is a sadistic and calculated monster in the comics, my favourite version has to be  from CW's The Flash, where he was the antagonist in Season 2 to Barry Allen. In this show he is a rabid animal with genius level intellect. He is faster, stronger and more experienced than Allen. He even pretends to be an alternate universe version of the Flash named Jay Garrick (who was actually the first comic book character to be called The Flash). When asked why, he says that he wanted to "give the people hope", for the sole purpose of ripping it away. He wants Barry's speed, because he is suffering from the effects drug that amplified his speed, but slowly destroys his body. He dresses like a horror movie villain with blackened eyes and a dark blue costume. His  deep, guttural and slow voice is done by the great Tony Todd. Every confrontation filled me with dread, especially after the first one in which Zoom beat the hell out of Barry and paraded him around Central City (similar to what Bane had done to Batman in the Knightfall comic saga) making Season 2 my favourite of the show's 6.

It was from Todd's voice work that I got Vatour's deep, distorted voice and slow, broken style of speech.

Bane

Libby, D., 2017. How Playing Bane In The Dark Knight Rises Negatively Affected Tom Hardy. [online] CINEMABLEND.

Much like Zoom, Bane is also a power hungry monster who serves as an antagonist to popular comic book hero, that being Batman. Unlike Zoom and most other Batman villains however, his intellect is not hindered by a mental illness or other psychoses. He is a skilled tactician and master martial artist, with a chemical that he injects into himself in order to augment his already incredible physical strength, Venom. He is perhaps best known as the man who broke the bat, by which I mean he staged a mass breakout at Arkham Asylum, forcing Batman to battle his entire rogue's gallery, including the Joker, Scarecrow, Firefly, Riddler (whom Bane had injected with venom) and Poison Ivy and leaving The Dark Knight exhausted. Bane then broke into Wayne manor, having learned Batman's identity, tossed him around, before finally breaking his back and parading his paralysed body around Gotham city.

This villain has not always gotten the best treatment by popular media. One example of great comic book portrayal was that of Tom Hardy in Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight Rises. In this film, the Venom implants are absent in favour of highlighting Bane's intellect and martial prowess and it was a fantastic film ruined by him killed like a punk. It was from this film that i derived the phrase "Feel free to die". Bane's "When Gotham is in ashes" speech is him showing the amount of power he has over Batman, refusing to allow him to die until the city he has dedicated his life to protecting is completely destroyed. With Vatour, the apparent choice to die is a cruel joke, used once while a victim is already dying.

Main Inspirations

Casey Jones

k4tzm4n, 2015. Comic Vine.

Conceptually speaking, Vatour has existed since 2014, while I was still in the ninth grade and when I first drew him, I had used the 2012 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles incarnation of Casey Jones as a template given that it was my introduction to the character.

The first ever drawing of Vatour, originally called The Vigilante, before being changed to Vulture.

Casey was the second human ally that the Turtles ever had. In the original Mirage comics. He is hot-headed and erratic to the point of being homicidal. The 2012 version is toned down. He is younger and less damaged, but he is still hotheaded and initially prone to taking things to far. His motivation for becoming a vigilante comes from his encounters with mutants in the city of New York, as well as criminals and a desire to protect his dad and little sister, a callback to his comic book origin in which his father was killed and his sister was taken hostage by a gang called the Purple Dragons. He is a skilled fighter and uses sports equipment as his main weapons, but he does have a bloated ego and often bites off more than he can chew. As an Ice Hockey player, he often implements skating into his fighting style. Vatour's early characterization practically mirrored Casey, but despite the swords on his back, I wasn't entirely sure about making him a killer.

Train Heartnet/Black Cat/#13

Asher0719, ns. I Bring You Bad Luck. Black Cat Wiki.

Black Cat was the first mature animé series that I ever watched consistently and though my view on it has soured to a degree after reading the fantastic manga it was based on and realizing how poorly that story was adapted, it still holds a special place in my heart... net. I immediately fell in love with the character, his initially presentation as a silent, coldhearted killer in the early episodes to his goofy, laid back personality revealed to be his real self in later episodes.

His parents were murdered in front of him by an assassin known as Zagine Axeloake, who raised train and taught him to be a killer. He also got Train addicted to drinking milk, claiming it would make him stronger. After Zagine's death, Train joins Chronos years later and becomes one of their top assassins. He is branded number 13 and given a modified six shot revolver called Hades. The name Black Cat is given to him by the underground, because of the misfortune he brings. He is fast and agile to near superhuman levels, surprisingly strong for a man his size, an expert marksman, ambidextrous (initially left-handed) and is capable of using Hades as a melee weapon, even blocking bullets with it. A great deal of Vatour's movement and fighting style is based on Train's fight scenes in the animé, but unlike the Black Cat who kills his target and gets out before anyone realizes. Vatour leaves a trail of bodies, kills his target and then gets out.

Batman/Bruce Wayne

DC Database. 2020. Batman (Bruce Wayne).

The God Damned Batman. The embodiment of what the human mind and body can become when pushed to their peak. The symbol that anyone can become a hero. He may not be the first non-powered crime fighter to exist and whether he is the best is up for debate, but he is the biggest and with good reason. Bruce Wayne is the archetype for a hero with a tragic backstory. An 8 year-old boy (his age changes depending on the story) who watches his parents get gunned down in a mugging gone wrong and uses that trauma to clean up the crime infested sewer that is Gotham City (which I used as a heavy influence for the city of Scotch) and stop other people from suffering the way he did. His vigilante persona is often cited as his true self, Bruce Wayne died with his parents, though there some who argue that Batman is in fact just an act and that he is still that young boy crying over the corpses of his parents. Needless to say, he is damaged goods, which why most main universe incarnations of the character have a fear of guns and a no kill rule, because he knows that would not be able to stop.

He has access to vast fortune, allowing him to operate an incredible crime fighting enterprise and help the city through philanthropic and economic means. He is often cited as the "World's Greatest Detective", because of his eye for detail and genius level intellect and knows 127 styles of martial arts. His intimidation tactics stem from his belief that criminals are a "cowardly and superstitious lot", hence his early days as Batman being spent as an urban legend. His willpower is inhuman, like fighting his way back from being crippled by Bane (with some help of course) and then kicking the absolute <expletive deleted> out of him. As far as inspiration goes Batman felt like an obvious source in terms of presence and understanding of fear and the criminal mind.

The Punisher/Frank Castle

Dell'Otto, G. 2014. Original Sin #4 Variant Cover. Marvel

The Motherlovin' Punisher. The greatest anti-hero in the history of comic books. FIGHT ME! I'm just fanboying, personally I think it's the Red Hood, but that's a different conversation.

Frank Castle is a three tour Vietnam veteran, who witnesses a mob execution with his wife and two children. The mobsters gun the family down and Castle is the only survivor. The Year One comics by Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning see Frank initially deciding to let the police and the justice system do their jobs, but then he finds out that the mobsters are untouchable and decides that he needs to take the law into his own hands, not for revenge, but because it has to be done. Like other characters with similar backstories, such as Batman, The Punisher's psychosis has been the subject of heavy debate and discussion. By his own admission, Castle has stated that the death of his family was merely the backbreaking straw. He fell in love with war and there's a part of him that enjoys killing criminals, often utilising the same tactics that they use. In fact, Frank Castle isn't even his real name, it's a legally chosen one that allowed to him participate in his third Vietnam tour. His birth name is Francis Castiglione.

Garth Ennis' Punisher Max series, which is the character written at his best, begins with a mini series called Born, which sees Castle's Punisher persona developing. There is a scene where he drowns one of his own soldiers as punishment for attempting to rape a female Việt Cộng soldier. At several points throughout the story a voice speaks to him, he does his best to ignore it until the climax where his whole squad is wiped out and he is swarmed by Việt Cộngs with nothing to defend himself but an empty rifle and his bare hands. The voice returns and claims that it can help fight off the Vietnamese soldiers who are swarming him like locusts. Frank says yes and succesfully manages to slaughter all of them. When he returns to the U.S. to greet his wife and kids, the voice returns and tells Frank that his survival in the aforementioned skirmish would come at a price. Willpower, tactics, trauma, the possibility of being driven by a malevolent force and the desire to make up for the weaknesses of the justice system are all aspects of Vatour's character borrowed from Mr. Smith ;)

Michael Myers

Bigsta.net. 2020. Halloween2018 Bilder - Instagram Bilder Über # Halloween2018.

The poster boy for what might have been the golden age of Slasher Films and the face of the Halloween franchise. Michael Myers, also know as The Shape is a hulking serial killer in a Captain Kirk mask. As a 6 year old boy he dressed as a clown and stabbed his older sister to death with a kitchen knife. He was sent to a mental institution and refused to speak about what happened, actually he refused to speak at all. Dr. Sam Loomis who was put in charge of Michael's rehabilitation had become convinced that boy was nothing, but evil. He describes him as having "...the blackest eyes. The devil's eye's...". He returns to Haddonfield, Illinois (his hometown) and targets a group of teenagers and is about to kill the final girl, Laurie Strode, before he is shot six times and falls off a balcony, then proceeds to get up and leave, returning again and again to plague Laurie (revealed to be his younger sister in Halloween II. The 2018 Halloween film retcons that relationship out of continuity). My favourite versions of the character are in movies and comics in which his backstory and motivations are left ambiguous. Horror movie monsters don't always need to be relatable.

Some of you might know that Vatour was originally a collection weekly blog posts.

I had initially planned to make a superhero story, but it wasn't until I wrote the first chapter that I decided to make it horror and you'll find that there are many nods and jabs at slasher films. Vatour has the mannerisms and behaviours as Michael, slow methodical walking (when he's not in a hurry), head tilting, relaxed stance, towering over a lot of his victims, single-minded determination and surprising intelligence.

Eric Draven/The Crow

The Crow Wiki. 2020. Eric Draven (Comics).

I was obsessed with this franchise for a while, ever since I watched the first movie starring the late Brandon Lee. I was really looking forward to seeing Jason Momoa starring in the planned 2019 reboot and I tend to hate hard reboots, unless they're adapted from external source material and the fact that the TV series starring Mark Dacascos didn't get another season is a crime... Hey Bruce, you, uh... you busy?

Eric Draven is a musician who is resurrected by a mystical crow that grants him immortality, a healing factor, martial arts mastery, beserker strength and the power to absorb a person's pain and pass it on to someone else. He and his girlfriend/fiancee Shelly are murdered by a gang of thugs. In all versions (comic, movie and tv show) he is shot and paralyzed and forced to watch Shelly being beaten and raped. In the comic, they are attacked on the road after their car breaks down. One of the thugs blows her brains out as he is raping her and continues to rape her corpse, Draven eventually dies. In both the movie and show, the attack happens in their apartment, with Draven being thrown out the window and Shelly dying in the hospital after 30 hours of pain. When Draven is brought back, the Crow urges him to track down his and Shelly's murderer's and kill them.

As musical artist, he'll often spout poetry and jokes as he kills his murderers, as well as quotes from literature. He is emotionally unstable and will often engage in self-mutilation, which he cannot heal from.

Characters in Feel free... to DIE surmise that Vatour is carrying a traumatic exprience that he uses to justify his actions. He is also prone to poetic sayings and analogies, often death related. He even refers to his victims as corpses walking amongst the living. The black feathers that Vatour leaves after each kill are a callback to the Crow.

Raizo

Cole, S., 2009. Ninja Assassin. [online] The Globe and Mail.

Ninja Assassin starring South Korean pop singer, Jung Ji-hoon, known more commonly as Rain, is not a masterpiece, but the concepts and themes it explores such the effect of violence on a children, as well as political corruption. These and other elements from the film are used in my book.

The character of Raizo is that of a man seeking retribution and freedom from his master, Lord Ozunu. Raizo was an orphan raised the Ozunu clan, one of many ninja clans that turn children into ruthless killers who are hired to carry out political assassinations. A sharp contrast to the Chronos numbers in Black Cat who assassinate criminals and other dangerous individuals. The training is brutal, an example would bee Ozunu whipping the soles of Raizo's feet and forcing him to walk back and forth on his bleeding feet. Raizo develops a bond with a kunoichi (female ninja) named Kiriko who wants to escape. Her attempt to escape fails and she is executed in front of him.

After completing his first mission, he is told to kill another kunoichi for betraying the clan. He refuses, slashes Ozunu's face and barely manages to escape. After going into hiding he trains himself and interfere's in the Ozunu Clan's missions. His deep understanding of how these clans work allows him to recognise a kunoichi in the dry cleaners, due to the scars on her body. He has incredible upper body strength and pain tolerance, both shown in a scene where he does handstand push-ups on a bed of nails. He can heal himself using ninja techniques and can "shadow blend", a technique in which the user melts into shadows, reappearing only to strike their victim. He is fairly unassuming at first glance, but extremely aggressive in combat. He is shown to have a dry sense of humour at times. His main weapon is a kyoketsu-shoge, a double-edged blade with a second curved blade attached to chain. He is also proficient swordsmanship.

Raizo's killer instinct, heightened senses, mental and physical scarring as well as his feeling that he will never be free as long as his master draws breath, are elements of Vatour's character that will be hinted at in this book and explored further in later ones.

So there you have it these were the characters that helped bring the vigilante/terrorist that i hope you will come to love/hate to life. I needed characters whom life had decided to tie down and sodomise with a cactus. I needed to know all the ways it could be done and why they were all so effective, so that I could truly make this character my own. Thank you for reading.

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