Pimps are one of the more common archetypes of the Blaxploitation genre, but I didn’t want The Duke to play into the stereotype of a garishly-dressed street hustler. I borrowed a little bit of Julius Harris’ portrayal of Scatter, the semi-retired cocaine dealer in Super Fly, for the visual. Also, because of what I have planned, I wanted The Duke to be someone with a large physical presence who could stand toe-to-toe with Pastor, if necessary, instead of a willowy Antonio “Huggy Bear” Fargas type of guy.
Also, in this strip, some of the clues I laid out in the previous strips are starting to pay off. Because I’ve lived with the story for so long, I don’t know if they were cleverly buried or glaringly obvious. However, even if you caught them all, there will still be some surprises in store.
- JEP
The Duke looks a lot like that guy on your Bio. Page. Are you trying to tell us you’re a PIMP? Well, keep on pimpin’ this comic strip goodness, and we’ll keep coming back for more.
TPM-
The Duke went through more redesigns than any other character. He was originally going to have an urban cowboy theme, hence the name. I liked it, so it stuck. However, any resemblance between The Duke and me is entirely unintentional and coincidental…or my subconscious desires spilling out onto the Internet for the world to see. I really haven’t decided yet.
- JEP
The Duke looks like bad news — look at those meat hooks! Love the exposition without awkwardly coming out and saying exactly what’s going on. The joke in the first panel loses a little because it’s not physically next to the last one mentioning that it’s a brothel — but like it anyway. Keep ‘em coming!
Doug G., I respectfully disagree! The joke works. Double entendre and then the reveal. What doesn’t work?
Doug G.-
Although I see where you’re coming from, one really must defer to the lady dubbed “Estrojen” when it comes to clever word play. That is a GREAT screen name!
- JEP