Dragonfly

Origin of character

Enter Dragonfly, circa 1985!
Enter Dragonfly, circa 1985!

The 1985 debut of the comic book character Nancy Arazello who is the human name of Dragonfly, a member of their all-female superhero team, FemForce, both AC Comics creations by writer and artist Bill Black, and later done by Rik Levins. As Levin develops the character he portrays the human subconscious of Nancy as what truly creates the alter-ego which surfaces as Dragonfly. Tied deeply into what Nancy wishes herself to become.  She was referred by Scarlet Scorpion after the two fought together, however the concept of Dragonfly being a loner, she doesn’t feel comfortable if groups. She was portrayed as being nervous when she joined the more experienced FemForce members in their all female group. She is later depicted has having emotional conflict with remaining in her Dragonfly form, realizing she enjoyed remaining in the powerful body. Also she has recently been written to portray a narcissistic and materialistic demeanor, leaving her human persona of Nancy to not resurface.
 
 

History

 

John Howard Gallegher, the original Dragonfly
John Howard Gallegher, the original Dragonfly

During the 1940’s, a dedicated student of the occult John Howard Gallegher performed a mystic ritual to open a dimensional gateway allowing an insect deity named Zzarra which gave him super human powers. He would have a brief stint as a costumed post wartime masked man going by the name Dragonfly, battling a few villains before he mysteriously disappeared. As time goes on a young Engineer Kenneth Francis Burton Jr. spends years learning all he can about the mysterious Gallegher, who had died in 1957.  Burton would eventually learn the secrets of the incantations which Gallegher had discovered  in hopes of gaining the same magical super powers.  However, while he is performing the ceremony at his factory, his fiancee Nancy Arazello also an engineer, suddenly walks into the lab at his warehouse just as the bolt of transformative magics are blasted by Zzarra and receives the full force of the unleashed supernatural powers. 
 

Kenneth examines Nancy's transformation Kenneth examines Nancy's transformation
Kenneth examines Nancy’s transformation

As both Ken and Nancy, now in an altered meta-human state, try to make better scene of the situation. Ken begins to explain to Nancy that he had for sometime been investigating the stories behind the original Dragonfly, learning that he gained his abilities though the ancient rituals of the insect deity Zzarra, in hopes of gaining the same powers. However since Nancy had walked into the spell blast and received its magical properties instead, she had now become the new Dragonfly. Ken next runs tests on her new body’s properties discovering she obtained super-strength, near invulnerability due to a telekinetic ability, and can fly at amazing speeds. Nancy next goes to visit her sister and letting her in on her new transformation, discussing Ken’s treatments and experiments. This however does not sit well with her sister as she tells Nancy that its strange behavior from her paramour. Excusing his actions by rationalizing his behavior and the reasons why he ran the tests on her, Nancy flies off to check back up with Ken at his warehouse.
 
While returning to the warehouse and testing out her powers in the cityscape she flies into a psycho called Skyjack who is being paid to use a helicopter to blast a local skyscraper from being constructed. He shoots off his missiles at the building while construction crews are working on the skyscraper. Dragonfly realizes she can use her telekinesis to hold the skyscraper up until she can rescue all the workers, but the helicopter pilot sees her and shoots her in the back with a barrage of machine-gun fire. Hit and hurt by the bullets and unable to keep aloft or continue lifting the building telekinetically due to her wounds, she falls and lets go of her mental hold on the falling structure and the workers. When Skyjack lands his helicopter and dismounts to finish the job and shoot Dragonfly her telekinetic abilities kick in again, coating her in a protective field and the bullets bounce harmlessly off. Managing to escape, Nancy realizes the limits to her new body and its abilities.
 

The scorpion, the dragonThe scorpion, the dragon
The scorpion, the dragon

Not too long after this encounter Nancy decides to stay in her Dragonfly body and goes with her sister on a shopping spree, hoping to distress and enjoy her new shapely attributes of this body. Talking to her sister further about how she is enjoying the feeling of this powerful new form, and her fears of being hurt after being shot during the previous outing. They walk into an army of giant insects marching downtown and causing destruction of property and endangering people. For an instant Nancy pulls back from the situation until someone is killed and she jumps fully into the battle with the bugs. Being hurt by one of the giant insects she gains assistance from another costumed hero named the Scarlett Scorpion who also happenstances into the scenario. The two defeat the mutated insects and exchange a bit of dialogue, including the Scorpion asking her out.
 
Soon after in her alter-ego as Dragonfly she encounters the man sized insect man going by the name  Mantis Man, who is really biologist Dr. Manning. As Mantis Man, Manning has strength rivaling Dragonfly’s superhuman new body, taking vicious blows at her she escapes before he captures her. Mantis Man has a previous encounter earlier on in the career with her predecessor Gallegher, the first Dragonfly, becoming the hateful arch enemy of his. Not surfacing for many years Gallegher was assumed dead, hence the need for the new female version, Nancy becoming the new Dragonfly. Mantis Man than lures Dragonfly into a trap, and attacks her believing her to be his long lost enemy. She is not the same of course, but he beats her up anyway. After being beaten nearly to a pulp, she decides to change to her alter ego, thus causing the customary explosion to occur which startles Mantis Man into releasing her. She immediately tries to change back to Dragonfly but somehow cannot when suddenly another Dragonfly appears, looking like her long lost predecessor.  However he is not the real Dragonfly but another vigilante named Masquerader in disguise. Utilizing a smoke bomb he blinds Mantis Man he rescues Nancy and takes her away to a safe place. Recovering from the intense beating at the villains claws she transforms back into her  Dragonfly body again, returning to defeat Mantis Man once and for all.
 

Awaken to the unknownAwaken to the unknown
Awaken to the unknown

Betrayed, she was than murdered while in her human identity as Nancy Arazello, she awakens into an apparent “limbo” of sorts, a plane in between living and not living. A seemingly unknown agent acting as a guide takes her along a the plane and explains to her how to travel to other planes when going through any of the portals. Entering one of these portals she discovers that she no longer retains her superhuman abilities, now simply a normal human being still in her Dragonfly costume. Trying to gain her bearings in this different dimensional plane a group of reptilian looking barbarians than appear and find Nancy alone in a ruined city and accost her, Rough housing her and unable to defend herself without her powers, she is abducted and her life is threatened. Meanwhile on Earth a friend of hers over hears Ken, Nancy’s current boyfriend, admit he killed Nancy acting in his alter-ego of  Psiborg

Powers

Strength of a goddessStrength of a goddess
Strength of a goddess

When Nancy was mystically changed into the form of Dragonfly she acquired several special superhuman abilities while in this form. Reverting back to Nancy would lead her to lose these new traits while in a human form.  First of all she is able to fly, the speeds and altitudes that she is able to reach have not been tested or studied to any extent. Her transformed physical form is also incredibly stronger, now possessing super strength and can comfortably lift and press several tons of weight. Lastly she and is seemingly nearly invulnerable thanks to a change in her brain structure, causing heightened telekinetic abilities that somehow automatically forms a force field around her body.

On wings of gossamerOn wings of gossamer
On wings of gossamer

Dragonfly can also utilize her telekinetic ability to physically move all sorts of objects or people around, but this is at the expense of depleting her force field. Since gaining the ability to transform into a different body, her physical appearance have also than changed. When in her Dragonfly state she is taller, much more muscular, with white long hair and green pupils with no iris’s. When she shifts into to this state she is also able to summon up her costume instantly.
 

Appearance

 

In one shape or anotherIn one shape or another
In one shape or another

Due to Dragonfly/Nancy Arazello’s mystical “body swapping” power, she now inhabits two totally different sets of female humanoid forms. The first is the actual human body of Nancy Arazello and is a brunette with brown eyes, 5’6 in height, and has a petite frame and has no actual meta-human powers, save transforming into her other body. This second body is the one which has the set of superhuman attributes, having white long hair, green pupils with no iris, tall and muscular reaching 6′ in height, a true amazon.