Dear sweet God in heaven. I've seen some ugly costumes in my day, but this guy is like the Da Vinci of garbage outfits.
HERALD (Malcolm "Mal" Duncan, aka Vox, The Guardian II, Hornblower)
Created By: Robert Kanigher
First Appearance: Teen Titans #26 (March 1970)
Role: Token Black Guy
Group Affiliations: The Teen Titans, The Doom Patrol
PL 8 (93)
STRENGTH 2
STAMINA 3
AGILITY 4
FIGHTING 8
DEXTERITY 2
INTELLIGENCE 1
AWARENESS 2
PRESENCE 2
Skills:
Acrobatics 4 (+7)
Deception 3 (+5)
Expertise (Musician) 6 (+8)
Expertise (Club Owner) 3 (+4)
Insight 2 (+4)
Perception 2 (+4)
Persuasion 3 (+5)
Ranged Combat (Gabriel's Horn) 3 (+8)
Stealth 2 (+6)
Advantages:
Defensive Attack, Defensive Roll, Ranged Attack 3, Set-Up, Teamwork
Powers:
"Gabriel's Horn" (Flaws: Easily Removable) [12]
Sonic Blast 8 (16) -- (20 points)
- AE: Dazzle Hearing 8 (16)
- AE: Dazzle Hearing 8 (Extras: Area- Audio Perception) (Flaws: Touch Range) (16)
- AE: "Stunning Sound" Affliction 8 (Fort; Dazed/Stunned/Incapacitated) (Extras: Ranged) (16)
- AE: Movement 3 (Dimensional Travel 3) (Extras: Attack & Normal Version) (12)
Offense:
Unarmed +8 (+2 Damage, DC 17)
Sonic Blast +8 (+8 Ranged Damage, DC 23)
Dazzle Hearing & Stunning Sound +8 (+8 Ranged Affliction, DC 18)
Area Dazzle +8 (+8 Affliction, DC 18)
Initiative +4
Defenses:
Dodge +9 (DC 19), Parry +9 (DC 19), Toughness +3 (+4 D.Roll), Fortitude +5, Will +6
Complications:
Responsibility (Normal Human)- Mal had issues hanging around with the Titans at first, since he had no super-powers (granted, neither did Robin nor Speedy...). When he found The Guardian's super-powered harness, he got over it.
Relationship (Karen Beecher, aka "Bumblebee")- Mal & Karen were the only two black people on their era of the Teen Titans, and so they ended up dating & then married.
Total: Abilities: 48 / Skills: 28--14 / Advantages: 7 / Powers: 12 / Defenses: 12 (93)
Pre-Crisis Mal Duncan:
-Mal Duncan's a character I don't really get, but then, he only warrants inclusion in Titans-based stuff because he & his wife Bumblebee were on the Titans in those terrible post "jive talkin'" sixties years, and before the awesome Wolfman/Perez era. He and Bumblebee were part of the "Token Black Guy Era" of the 1970s, which saw
Peanuts,
Dennis the Menace, Archie Comics and countless other things introduced Black Best Friends because the post-Civil Rights era had finally made it mainstream enough to at least INCLUDE black people in things. Most of these characters were fairly bland "Nice Guy" types who didn't really get up to much or have much characterization, largely because writers were afraid of disastrous things like accidentally making them look like caricatures (like
Dennis the Menace did, earning some serious pushback).
-Mal was introduced to the Titans by saving them from a street gang called the Hell Hawks, beating their leader in a boxing match. The Titans then recruit him, but he feels unworthy due to his lack of abilities- he thankfully finds an exoskeleton that enhances his strength, and calls himself The Guardian, after the Golden Age hero. However, a recurring element in his heroic history pops up, as he gains a NEW identity when a supposedly-hallucinatory battle against the Angel of Death results in him awakening with the mythical Gabriel's Horn in his hand. He is thus permitted to live... so long as he never loses another fight- it grants him unexplained super-powers whenever the odds are against him in battle. Now, he is called "Hornblower"... which is the shittiest name in super-hero history. He soon returns to the Guardian name.
Post-Crisis Mal Duncan:
-Hilariously, even MAL DUNCAN is changed by the Crisis. He now never took on the identity of the Guardian, and Gabriel's Horn is now a space-warping device that he took from a villain called The Gargoyle. He is now just called "Herald". Mal, fearing the powers of the Horn (which might allow Gargoyle to escape a limbo-like dimension), retires from superheroics and settles down with Bumblebee. Mal is essentially 100% ignored in the Wolfman/Perez Era Titans, and is thus one of the least-utilized members in team history- the couple's only appearance in that time period is a one-off at Donna Troy's wedding, which sees a very fat, retired Mal humbly announce that his condition is because of his wife being an excellent cook!
-The character thus makes zero appearances until the *2000s*, popping up in some one-offs alongside Bumblebee, who later gains a bigger push thanks to the fact that she's DC's highest-profile black heroine. Mal is thought lost during
Infinite Crisis, but returns with some cybernetic implants after Gabriel's Horn blew up in his face, damaging his lungs and vocal cords. As "Vox", he joins the new Doom Patrol alongside Bumblebee, and he can now create energy blasts and open dimensional portals and stuff. Then, casually, the book reveals that he and Karen are now divorced.
-The New 52 utilizes him as an award-winning film composer, but announces that he was still one of the original Teen Titans, as Herald.
Mal's Stats:
-Mal's a cheap PL 8 (he adds eight points when he becomes Vox, and has the Gabriel's Horn as part of his body). A decent Blast attack at his Power Level, and he's a pretty good boxer in hand-to-hand (he once beat Azrael in a boxing match, though I'm not sure of the pugilistic skills of the Angel of Death), but he's hardly versatile or particularly dangerous. There's a reason he doesn't pop up much nowadays.
As Guardian, Mal had the following gear instead, making him a PL 7 Mini-Powerhouse:
"Guardian Exoskeleton" (Flaws: Removable) [10]
Enhanced Strength 4 (8)
Protection 4 (4)
-- (12 points)