The basis for Black Tiger really starts with a super spy hero named Ballistic - a name I still really like - who wore a shiny black latex suit and carried a gun. He was not a superhero in the usual sense - he was an intelligence operative who got into a lot of compromising situations because of his incredibly provocative costume.
He is one of the earliest heroes I created; he's probably, mmm, #4 after Superstar, Kid Aikido, and Shockwave. He has the FIRST series on this site, back when I was just uploading subsequent pictures.
The pic of him on his stomach is the earliest, iteration, and other pics are subsequent stops on his character model evolution.