White Mamba is one of the protagonists of Entwined: A Recurrent Romance (see HERE for a recap on what that is!).
He is Alejandro Vargas, a Mexican street kid with an unnatural aptitude for technology. Alejandro tracked down Bette Rogers (Black Dove) on a whim when she first appeared in the 21st C and offered to upgrade her operation, in exchange for training in the costumed adventurer lifestyle. They’ve been a duo ever since.
Below: one of Dr Mike’s Inktober renditions of the costumed crusader.
I got straight to work, pretty quickly filling a page.
Starting with different takes on the helmet, some of them somewhat inspired by military and tactical gear. I liked the idea of a helmet that changes depending on the situation, with sliding plates that can morph depending on what the level of danger is; if there is toxic gas in the air, or if the character needs night vision, or bullet protection, or retractable setting for relaxing with friends by the pool.
I played with scales on the armour and tried to accentuate the snake aspect of his design, working it in with a suit that needs to be light and flexible while giving protection. The abs were actually intended more like discrete folding plates of armour over the critical organs.
The staff wasn’t planned at all, and just happened as a result of not knowing what to do with his hands.
Snake eyes- there really is a lot of variation in snakes.
The closest to Mike’s version that I drew. Simple and iconic.
Adding some more detail, moving more toward the snake design
Gas and toxic particle protection
A somewhat more tactical, real-world interpretation of the original helmet design. I could see this as a useful tactical mode.
Adding a cobra inspired hood. I like the shape but it’s totally ridiculous. 
Merging the tactical design with the original hood shape. Aiming for a mix of the fantastic with the still somewhat believable
I think I looked at gloves reference for this. A mixture of real-world gloves with a bit of stylised interpretation.
There’s still more drafting to do, a process of working back from this and toward a simpler design.
Something that I won’t regret later when it comes to drawing Alejandro in multiple panels over the course of the book!
