Just a quick note. You now keep track of my mad ramblings on Twitter. Just look for username “World_Of_Hurt.” Drop by and leave haikus, limericks, invectives, or anything else less than 140 characters. I’ll try to post one of those handy widgets on the site in the future.
- JEP
I was hellaciously busy this weekend working on this week’s strip and a short story for an anthology to be published by comic shop entrepreneur and pop culture taste-maker, Phil Crouch of Acme Comics. A while back, Phil produced a comics-related podcast called The Escape Pod, so he wanted to build the anthology around the theme of “escape” or “escape pods.” When Phil first put a call out for submissions, I originally had a longer story in mind, but due to my other committments, I wasn’t certain whether I would be able to participate at all. At first, I scaled my involvement down to a pin-up, however, inspiration struck in the strangest form when a gorilla escaped from the local zoo here in Columbia. I was able to sketch out a fairly quick outline for a two-page story about the fugitive primate. My girlfriend Noelle came up with a very funny, and fitting, denouement, but The Pirate Musketeer deserves a shout out for quite literally providing the ”missing ingredient” at the eleventh hour. The story was a lot of work, but I really had a blast doing it. This is some of my favorite inking work to date. The Kolinsky sable hair brush obeyed my every command when it came to rendering the big ape’s fur.
The first half of the story is below, but if you want to see the second half…well, you’ll have to buy the anthology to read the rest of the story, along with the other fine, creative submissions that came in. I’ll let you know when it goes on sale, or you can check out the Acme Comics link on the side for more details.
Have a safe, enjoyable Independence Day, everyone!
- JEP
Powered by Twitter Tools.
I don’t have much of an update today, but I have two bang-up articles for next week in the queue, including a new Off-Topic Monday, that will be pretty geektastic.
However, I would like to leave you with an article published on July 4th in the The Star-Ledger that discusses the history and cultural impact of Blaxploitation, entitled, “Looking back at ‘blaxploitation’ films.” I was impressed by author Stephen Whitty’s serious, and thoughtful discussion of the subject, and I dropped him a quick e-mail to tell him so. I thought I’d share the article with my fine readers here at WORLDOFHURTONLINE.COM. (Incidentally, the photo they used of Shaft is the very image I use as my wallpaper.)
Thanks for coming by, and I’ll see you next week!
- JEP
Powered by Twitter Tools.
Welcome to the latest installment of a semi-recurring feature on WORLDOFHURTONLINE.COM: Off-Topic Mondays. Occasionally, I have ideas, questions, or notions that I can’t even tangentially relate to Blaxploitation, and since it would be irresponsible to litter the Intenet landscape with another blog, I present to you Off-Topic Mondays.
Bruce Campbell is a geek icon. He starred in Sam Raimi’s Evil Dead film series, played the roguish title character of the short-lived FOX TV series, The Adventures of Briscoe County, Jr., and can currently be seen on the USA Network’s critically-acclaimed series Burn Notice. His quick wit, quirky sense of humor, movie star good looks, dedication to genre-related projects, connection to a director beloved by sci-fi/comic book fans, and his massive chin have made Bruce Campbell a legend–LEGEND–in fanboy circles. For years, whenever news leaked that a comic book property was being adapted to film, the first words uttered or typed by fanboys would be, “They should totally pick Bruce Campbell to play [insert famous fictional character]!”
Batman? Yes.
Superman? Absolutely. He’s got Superman’s chin!
James Bond? He can do a British accent.
Robin Hood? See above.
Captain Marvel, SpongeBob Squarepants, Wonder Woman, the list goes on and on. It didn’t matter who the character was, fans were certain that not only would Bruce Campbell be perfect for the role, he was the ONLY one who could play the part and do it justice.
Until now.
Now it seems like fandom has a new Golden Boy and his name is Nathan Fillion. Nathan Fillion, with his movie star good looks and powerful chin, came to the attention of fanboys by playing roguish space pilot, Capt. Malcolm Reynolds on the short-lived FOX TV series, Firefly, which was created by beloved genre director Joss Whedon (Buffy, The Vampire Slayer). Fillion demonstrated his own brand of quirky humor playing Captain Hammer in Joss Whedon’s webseries Dr. Horrible’s Singalong Blog. He also did a goofy turn as a hapless handyman in the Funny Or Die porn spoof, Nailing Your Wife.
Now, with a new slate of superhero movies in development, Nathan Fillion is the fanboys’ choice for the roles they used to clamor for Bruce Campbell to fill. In a recent installment of Newsarama’s Cast Off, wherein readers select whom they would like to see playing a particular character, Fillion came in heavily favored to play Captain America. Also, a very cleverly produced fan-made trailer for a Green Lantern movie featuring Nathan Fillion as the title character is circulating on the Internet.
Despite Bruce Campbell’s fan favorite status, to date, he has never been cast as the lead in a major comic book movie, and it looks like Nathan Fillion may be following down that path as well. Variety recently confirmed that Ryan Reynolds has been selected to play Green Lantern in a movie scheduled to go into production next year.
Is Nathan Fillion the “New Bruce Campbell?” I think all signs point to “Yes.”
What say you, faithful readers?
- JEP
July 2oth marks the thirty-sixth anniversary of the death of Bruce Lee. In his honor, I will be doing a short series of posts to commemorate the legendary martial artist and cinematic icon.
The first entry involves one of my favorite superhero storylines of all time, a breezy, fun tale that posed the question, “What if Bruce Lee was still alive…and hanging out with Elvis?”
In the mid-1990s, the comic book industry was undergoing a serious creative downturn. The industry was still choking under the glut of poor Jim Lee and Rob Liefeld clones that had entered the business in the early 1990s, and draftsmanship and storytelling were suffering under the occupational forces of this clone army. One of the few bright spots was an artist named Rodolfo Damaggio. Damaggio was sorely underappreciated at the time, partly because he happened to inherit the art chores of DC’s Green Arrow at the exact time the company chose to replace Oliver Queen, the original Green Arrow with his previously unseen son, Connor Hawke. Fans were so incensed/befuddled by the decision, that they overlooked the brilliant art Damaggio was generating and the clever storylines that writer Chuck Dixon was producing. Remember, this was at a time when comic book deaths were a little more permanent than they are now, so fans didn’t care how well the book was drawn or how well it was written, they just wanted the original Green Arrow back. However, I was immediately enamored with Damaggio’s brilliant staging; his natural, distinct characters, masterful anatomy, and the sense of place and realism he brought to each page, so I didn’t care if Oliver Queen ever came back, as long as they kept Rodolpho Damaggio around.
My favorite storyline from their run was a two-parter that ran from Green Arrow #106 and #107. The story built on an overarching plot that involved Connor’s ongoing efforts to raise enough money to save the Buddhist monastery where he spent his formative years from the clutches of a greedy theme park developer. After winning a toughman competition in Las Vegas, Connor is hired as the bodyguard of The Grand Rahfi Ali Ben Khadir, the 12 year-old heredity leader of “a tiny suzerainty in the peaks of the Hindu Kush.” Ali readily admits that he must one day assume the full mantle of leadership among his people, but until then, he just wants to have a good time.
Connor saves the Rahfi from the clutches of terrorists sent by Arghulian, a mullah from his native land who is attempting to usurp the Rahfi’s throne from the hands of its pre-pubescent heir. After their escape, Ali introduces Connor to his other two bodyguards whom he had given the night off; two “bonecrushers” who bear an uncanny resemblance to Bruce Lee and Elvis Presley! (Although Dixon never uses their names…c’mon! I mean, C’MON!)
It is implied that Lee and Presley faked their deaths to find peace and spiritual renewal under the tutelage of the boy’s late father, the original Rahfi. They serve their debt by acting as the Race Bannons to Ali’s Jonny Quest. Dixon crafted a remarkably simple and pleasurable high concept storyline that begs to be explored further. (I’d love to see the further adventures of Bruce Lee and Elvis Presley as bodyguards for hire, traveling the world and kicking ass under the watchful eye of an unseen handler who is eventually revealed to be Tupac Shakur. Since I don’t think that’s likely to happen, the closest you’ll probably ever come to that sort of action is this.)
In the climax of Dixon’s story, Arghulian sends back-up to the surviving terrorists in the form of Seljuk, a madman whom even the other terrorists fear. The final throwdown between Bruce Lee, Elvis, Green Arrow, and the katar-wielding terrorist is a thing of beauty, with Seljuk handing out bladed backfists like Skittles.
You can probably find these two issues in the back issue bin of your local comic shop for a pretty low price. I’d highly recommend the whole post-death of Oliver Queen cycle for Damaggio’s gorgeous art, and some nice straightforward action stories by Chuck Dixon.
Happy Friday!
- JEP
