Black Velvet

Black Velvet
Real name	Barbara Vane
Gender	Female
Nationality	American
Affiliations
Marital status	Single
Base of operations	New York City; Astro City
Alignment	Good
Publication
Creators	Kurt Busiek, Brent Anderson
First appearance	Astro City: The Dark Age, Book Two #1 (2007)

For though I have used my role as his assassin to get contacts and information I needed, he is an evil man -- and he cannot be allowed to profit from this night!

--Black Velvet

 

Barbara Vane is a tragic hero turned vigilante when she discovers that the men responsible for her kidnapping and experimentation were located in a site in Astro City. She takes the name Black Velvet and uses her dark powers to hunt the men that wronged her, but is eventually stopped before she can finish her task of annihilating them.

History

An E.A.G.L.E. file suggests that she was a prostitute from Harlem, who was kidnapped with many other students at the time. She was taken to a secret facility and had her genes mutated in order to produce superpowers in ordinary humans. Some of the tests were a success, and during an escape attempt Barbara managed to succeed and flee the evil Dr. Croft's facility with the help of Street Angel.

Since then, she had begun to call herself Black Velvet, and used her soul shattering powers of darkness to punish criminals while in search for her captors. She has been seen in Detroit, France, Italy, Morocco, and Los Angeles before finally finding those she sought after in Astro City.

While in pursuit, during the 1977 Gang Wars, she was halted by professional madman Jitterjack who mortally wounded her and prevented her mission from seeing fruition. Torn apart, Black Velvet's darkness began to spew over the local populace driving them insane with negative emotions. Just then, Silver Agent returns from the past and uses his new powers to fuse the parts of Barbara's soul back together thus ending the crisis. However, Jitterjack's attack had indeed been a deathblow to Black Velvet, and after Silver Agent's intervention she died.

Powers and Abilities

• Unique Physiology: Barbara Vane was experimented on until she produced powers. Specifically, her soul was shattered, stretched, torn and broken until it began to sap darkness from all around her. Her broken soul fuels her dark abilities.
  • Darkness Manipulation: Black Velvet uses the ambient darkness she sees in people - as well as herself - to perform a variety of abilities. She can sap the darkness from someone, obliterate them with their darkness, create tentacles which restrain her targets and see into someone's soul..
  • Enhanced Senses: Black Velvet can see into a person's soul and judge them in order to discern if they are good or evil. She finds most people to be dark and when that darkness overwhelms them she strikes at them.
  • Flight: Black Velvet can levitate. Her control over darkness allows her to use its powers in order to hover.

Notes

• Barbara Vane was named in Astro City: The Dark Age (Volume 2) #4 just prior to her death.

Appearances

Astro City: The Dark Age, Book Two #1 Astro City: The Dark Age, Book Two #2 Astro City: The Dark Age, Book Two #3 Astro City: The Dark Age, Book Two #4 Astro City: Silver Agent #1

Gallery

 

External links

• Black Velvet at Comic Book Database
• Black Velvet at Comic Vine