Brother Bones (Icons Writeup)
Brother Bones
aka Tommy Bonello
Copyright Ron Fortier
Prowess 5
Coordination 4
Strength 5
Intellect 3
Awareness 4
Willpower 4
Stamina 9
Powers
*Life Support 10 (as a dead man, Brother Bones can ignore all physical needs)
*Damage Resistance 3
*Regeneration 2 (Extra: Regrowth)
*Handguns 4
Specialties
Athletics (+1 bonus), Investigation (Expert +2 bonus), Martial Arts (+1 bonus), Sleight of Hand (+1 bonus), Stealth (+1 bonus), Weapons – Guns (Master +3 bonus)
Qualities
Undead Avenger
Atoning for his Sins
Occupies his brother’s body
Background
Brother Bones stands 6’2” and had straight black hair. He is an undead avenger, draped in black clothes and torn, slouch hat. The gray, rotting flesh of his face is hidden beneath a bone white mask.
His transition from a man of flesh and blood to The Undead Avenger began when mob boss Topper Wyld sent his best killers on a particularly bloody assignment. Jack and Tommy Bonello were known far and wide as the most merciless members of the underworld and on this particular night, they attacked their work with relish, slaughtering a dozen whores and their customers in a bordello. As Tommy was leaving the scene, one of the dying girls thanked him, setting in motion a strange chain of events. Haunted by her words, Tommy found himself becoming wracked with guilt. He fled the mob, finding peace at a local monastery. Plagued by a newly developing conscience, Tommy sought to make amends for a lifetime of blood and debauchery.
Nearly a year later, Jack Bonello found out where his brother was hiding. Acting on orders from Topper Wyld, he journeyed to the monastery and killed everyone there, including his own brother. When Tommy’s soul passed over to the afterworld, it encountered the spirit of the dead prostitute. She told him that he was being sent back to the world of the living to atone for his sins by dealing with those who would terrorize Cape Noire. Tommy’s soul was returned to Earth, where it took control of his brother’s body, evicting the murderous soul to Hell. Though Jack’s body died as a result of this, it continued to be animated by Tommy’s spirit. Tommy spared the life of gambler Blackjack Bobby Crandall, who had been about to die at Jack’s hands, and the two became fast allies.
Hiding his rotting features behind a mask, Brother Bones next brought down Boss Wyld’s criminal empire. Living with Crandall in an apartment, Bones became a frequent sight in the city, waging war against all those who would claim Boss Wylde’s vacant throne as their own.
The strongest feature of the Brother Bones character is his origin, which manages to include elements of spirituality that aren’t usually found in pulp heroes. His adventures are driven by both revenge and personal redemption, which are heady themes to work with. With multiple books in print featuring the character plus a graphic novel on the way, Brother Bones is one of the most successful “New Pulp” characters in existence.
Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar has been voted Best Anthology of the Year in the Pulp Factory Awards. I contributed “The Swamp Manor Matter” to this collection, which featured brand-new stories starring the classic old-time radio character of Johnny Dollar. Moonstone published the book, which also featured stories by Gary Phillips, Bobby Nash, Ron Fortier, Eric Fein, Joe Gentile, and Joshua M. Reynolds. The book won best cover as well, so congratulations to Douglas Klauba! I’d also like to extend congratulations to Tommy Hancock, who edited the entire package.
So the Pulp Factory Awards nominee list was revealed today and, once again, it’s heavily weighted towards Airship 27. 18 of the 23 nominations went to Airship and the ones that didn’t still feature writers that also work for Airship. This is not surprising given that the only people that can make nominations are members of the Pulp Factory Mailing List, which is overseen by Ron Fortier, who just so happens to run Airship 27. Airship 27 membership is open to anyone as long as Ron approves them but I’d guess that at least 95% of its membership also does work for Airship. A few years back, I had a conversation with a fellow New Pulp writer about how the Pulp Factory Awards were basically the Airship 27 Awards and he had a lot to say on the subject… then he decided that the best way to get nominated was to offer to work on putting the awards together. Suddenly he was a regular part of the nominee list! It’s amazing how that happened… and now he is a staunch defender of the Awards themselves.
This year, the final book in my Gravedigger series was one that I would have thought might have gotten a nomination – at least for the amazing cover by George Sellas. But all the covers nominated are for Airship 27. Likewise, Christ Batista did some amazing interior art… but, once again, all the interior artists nominated were for Airship 27 books.
One of my favorite New Pulp characters is Brother Bones, the Undead Avenger created by Ron Fortier. Bones patrols the shadowy streets of Cape Noire and is an excellent melding of The Shadow with Marvel Comics’ Ghost Rider… he’s a fedora-wearing, skull-faced dispenser of retribution. I was lucky enough to get Ron’s blessing to feature Brother Bones in one of my Lazarus Gray volumes and it was a blast to handle the character.
I ask myself that all the time.
Wojtek is back with an in-depth look at the third volume in The Peregrine Omnibus series. Let’s see what he had to say: