Welcome to the latest installment of WORLD OF HURT!
All the questions you had about the death of Alicia Patterson will be answered soon…one way or another. The title of today’s chapter comes from an old phrase I first heard in a Constitutional Law class, and I thought it was appropriate as Pastor finally gets to the bottom of the mystery and begins to dispense justice. I thought it was a legal phrase, but like most great quotes, it has its origins in Shakespeare, specifically The Merchant Of Venice: “…[T]ruth will come to light; murder cannot be hid long; a man’s son may, but at the length truth will out.”
I wanted to thank everyone for their kind words of support last week regarding our dog, Scout. It really meant a lot to Noelle and me, and I’m sorry I wasn’t able to respond individually to each post this time. We’d been wrestling with our decision for a few weeks, and although we know we did right by her, it didn’t make the decision any easier. We were with Scout until the very end, and we are indebted to Dr. Allen and the staff of St. Andrews Animal Clinic for helping us through the process.
Thanks again, and I’ll see y’all on Friday with a new post! Also, while I was out of town, I had very limited e-mail access (the hotel charged $.59 per minute), so I’m still sorting through my e-mail from last week. If anyone sent me a message, I’ll get back to you before the end of this week. Thanks for your patience.
- JEP
The bend to Duke’s leg made me gag. Seriously. That is sick.
Guess Who-
Sorry if it was kind of grisly, but you’ll soon see that The Duke deserves nothing less.
Actually, I was worried that the broken leg was too subtle. I redrew this about 5 times before I got the desired expression and body language from The Duke. In most of those I had a few of his fingers bent at painful angles, too.
- JEP
The PAIN is delivered. Very nice.
Parker-
Thanks! It’s been a long time a’comin’! The funny thing is, the action scenes are harder than the dialogue scenes. I think it’s because I believe I’m selling the reader short with an extended fight sequence. I don’t feel you should have to wait a week to see if a punch connected, so I tried to do it in the most economical way possible.
- JEP
Don’t get me wrong. I don’t feel sympathy for the Duke.
Whoa, is that physically possible without a compound fracture?
AWM-
Cocoa butter keeps The Duke’s skin supple and elastic.
- JEP
I think that break would have exposed bone. He’s going to need plates, screws and a brace. He’ll be lucky to be able to walk unassited. I guess this will be the story about how he got his “pimp” walk and cane.
TPM-
I’ll retouch the leg at some point to make it a compound fracture with bits of bone, ruptured flesh and whatnot, but you have to clean Guess Who’s monitor when she yaks all over the screen.
- JEP
Hmm, being a pimp I’d see why the Duke deserved it. This is a nice panel, and I like the fact that you made it a full body frame. The extra hard work goes a long way.
Isaiah “Pastor” Hurt — because sometimes the good guy needs to be a bad, bad man!
Brotha-Man-
That’s what’s great about the webcomic format. I can change the size of the strip or panel to suit my storytelling needs. If I was running this in a traditional print format, I’d be constricted by the physical dimensions of the page. I may still run into that when I collect the strips, but for now it’s not an issue.
Doug G.-
Given the current issue over the legality, morality, and efficacy of the Bush Administration’s “Enhanced Interrogation Techniques,” I actually had qualms about this scene, but then I realized that the only place it belongs, and works, is in fiction.
- JEP
Good point, Jay. I’d say it’s definitely a time-honored approach in action fiction — and definitely more effective when it’s scripted. I’d say it’s also more clear in this situation that The Duke knows what the score is — not somebody that doesn’t really know but can make up some false information without it becoming clear real soon (and earning a return visit).
I’m just catching up to with the comic thanks to a friend linking me, but hot damn, I love it so far. This strip put me over the edge and I finally had to comment. I dig the leg and the mean ass look on Pastor’s face. Classic.
Brett-
Thanks for checking out the site. I’m glad I could reach a fellow Blaxploitation fan. I really appreciate you comments, too. Sometimes people may go through older posts and be reluctant to comment, thinking that no one will see them, but they do show up at ol’ WORLD OF HURT HQ.
This is probably my favorite drawing of Pastor, too. I even use a cropped version of it for my Twitter gravatar.
- JEP
I had the same reaction as Guess Who. I gave voice to my revulsion. Mission accomplished.
Brendan-
That reminds me, I need to go back to this panel and add the extra gore of a compound fracture.
- JEP