It was nice to have a change of scenery and return to the D’urville District of Pointe Blanc.  It’s a standard Blaxploitation trope for the hero to visit a group of Black revolutionaries, and usually they are practicing martial arts.  However, if Rashid’s words seem to contradict the action being displayed, that’s intentional, because Rashid’s organization will be a major factor in the next story arc, and we won’t be certain if they are everything they appear to be.  Meanwhile, Rashid will be able to provide something Pastor needs to effect his revenge on the remaining members of the Thrill-Seekers.

By the way, I had a lot of fun drawing Rashid’s dashiki.  It was nice to draw a new article of clothing, particularly one with so much interesting detail.

- JEP

Check out my interview on Comixfan.com. Very challenging questions, and only one of my answers made me groan. http://tinyurl.com/ylb3y4k #

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The Black Dynamite Sound Orchestra includes Friend Of The WORLD OF HURT , Chris Garcia, and for more great, soulful R&B music suggestions, I suggest you check out his blog, Vinyl4Giants.  (I’ve really gotta see if I can cop that  Marva Whitney album he discusses in his latest entry…)

- JEP

Rip Kirby may be Alex Raymond’s lesser known creation among the general public, it is arguably his more highly regarded work among fans of comics, and particularly artists.  Although Flash Gordon is obviously rooted in 1930s Futurism, as evidenced by the Art Deco-inspired cityscapes that dot the planet Mongo, the basic story of a two-fisted action hero fighting an evil dictator on an alien world, could be updated to any time period.  Rip Kirby might be a less desirable property for Hollywood today, because the strip was such a product of its time, that it would be difficult to remove it from its post-World War II setting and still maintain the elements that made it unique.  It probably should have been adapted in the late fifties with Cary Grant as Rip and Doris Day as his adoring sidekick, Honey Dorian.  If adapted today, I could almost see a Rip Kirby movie as something like the Peyton Reed-directed film Down With Love (2003), starring Ewan McGregor and Rene Zellweger, by way of the Coen Brothers.  But who could you get to star in such a film?  I’m glad you asked.  Let’s start with a celebrated alumni of the Coen Brothers filmography:

George Clooney as ‘Rip Kirby’

For years, I’ve said that George Clooney is the Last Great Hollywood Movie Star.  As a celebrity, George Clooney seems like he’s from a different era.  He’s always impeccably groomed and although he jets around the world, he does so in a relatively low-key manner, free of the entourages, spectacle and “candid” paparazzi shots courted by most modern celebrities.  As an actor, in most of his roles, Clooney plays similarly low-key, but clever, urbane and dapper gentleman.  Clooney The Celebrity and Clooney The Actor would inform the role of Rip Kirby, a scientist/sleuth/gentleman adventurer who prefers deductive reasoning and a quiet night at home playing the piano, but still packs a nice right hook.  If you slap a pair of horn-rimmed glasses on George Clooney, and he would be a perfect Rip Kirby.  If you ever saw his verbal sparring with Catherine Zeta-Jones in Intolerable Cruelty, you know that Clooney can skillfully channel the whiz-bang snappy banter of a 1950s-era film.

Reese Witherspoon as ‘Honey Dorian’

In Legally Blonde, Reese Witherspoon demonstrated that she could bring depth and intelligence to a character like Elle Woods, who probably would have remained a breezy, lightweight character in the hands of a lesser actress.  Witherspoon could transform Honey Dorian, the moony-eyed, love-struck part-time model/part-time sidekick to Rip Kirby into a plucky, smart, clever partner for Rip, and still maintain the character’s sunny innocence and charm.

Stanley Tucci as ‘Desmond’

I’ve been a fan of Stanley Tucci since I saw him in the 1996 film, Big Night.  He’s a brilliant actor, who is good at playing a man with something to hide.  Rip Kirby’s British manservant, Desmond, was supposed to be a reformed criminal, but the way he was written, I never bought it.  He just seemed too proper and stuffy.  Tucci could bring out those undertones and be an able, sarcastic foil to Rip Kirby’s all-too perfect gentleman detective.

Dita Von Teese as ‘Pagan Lee’

Pagan Lee was a classic femme fatale.  In her first appearance, the sultry, raven-haired beauty was a moll for the The Mangler, a gangster with his eye on the Hicks Formula, a weapon of mass destruction that was potentially more devastating than the atom bomb.  By the end of the story, she grew tired of The Mangler’s cruelty and decided to turn on him.  Over the course of subsequent Kirby adventures, Pagan eventually  became a successful actress and songstress, who hid from her past (and the aggrieved Mangler) under the assumed name of “Madelon.”  I’m not sure if Dita Von Teese can act, but with her cold, dark, vintage beauty and her own history with self-styled anti-authoritarian bad boys I think there really wouldn’t be much acting involved.  Pagan Lee is a part she was born to play.  (Besides, she could provide her own wardrobe.)

Benecio Del Toro as ‘The Mangler’

The Mangler was probably the closest thing that Rip Kirby had to an arch-nemesis.  Rip Kirby was described in his very first strip as a “famed athlete, scientist, amateur sleuth, marine reservist,” and although The Mangler lacked the academic training and resume of the Renaissance man Rip Kirby, he made up for it with an atavistic cunning and penchant for casual violence that made him a match for the detective.   Benecio Del Toro has played sinister, but charming characters before, most notably in Sin City, and I could easily see him playing the cruel, pin-striped gangster with the scarred face and a missing finger.  He has the acting chops to seem an able threat to Clooney.

That’s my take.  What do you think?

- JEP

The front…

The fist logo is larger than what CafePress could do.  It’s a bold, simple, iconic logo that will fit right in with the sea of Green Lantern and other assorted Rainbow Lantern shirts you’re going to see at the cons this year.

And the back…

I may change the back design by removing the tagline, and making the web address bigger.  I think one of the keys to successful geek chic merchandise is to make it something non-genre fans wouldn’t mind wearing. 

Finally, most people prefer black tees, but I’ve got a real soft spot for ringer T-shirts.  There’s something kind of old school about them.  (Besides, I still owe Jasmine P. one for winning the Get-Carl-Weathers-To-Tweet-An-Acceptance-Speech-For-His-Unsung-BMF-Award contest.)

I should have everything up and running next week, but I wanted to give you a heads up so you could start saving those pennies; skip a couple soy latte, ya hippie; or stage a slip-and-fall accident for the insurance money** so you can order one for yourself or the WORLD OF HURT fan in your life.

- JEP

**WORLD OF HURT does not endorse hippie-bashing or insurance fraud…*stage wink*

Way back in Episode 34 – “Revival Tent,” I drew a close-up of Pastor holding Caroline Belmont’s face in his hands.  The image included a shot of the cuffs of Pastor’s dress shirt.

Regular commenter, KrisLK, took note of the cuffs and wrote in the comments,”I love his choice of cufflinks (or is it an embroidered cuff?). Regardless, nice detail!”

I responded with, “Thanks for noticing. That is a cufflink, and it might just have some bearing on the story somewhere down the line. Good catch.”

Welcome to “somewhere down the line.”  Pastor’s sharp on his feet, but he’s not perfect.  While fighting in shirtsleeves, he left a potential clue behind to his involvement in Ned’s death, but thankfully Det. Haworth was there to pick up on it.  You might also notice that in the last episode, Haworth was kneeling down, apparently tying his shoes, but he was also kind of distracted.  Now we know why.  It’s a little detail in The Thrill-Seekers, but Haworth’s secret may possibly snowball and create serious consequences in a subsequent arc.

Man, I love it when a plan comes together!  Speaking of plans, stay tuned for the next episode, as we see how Pastor plans his final revenge against Charles and Tuck.  You won’t want to miss that one, because the next strip, while pushing the story ahead, will also lay the groundwork for The Black Fist, the next planned story in WORLD OF HURT.

- JEP

@kwanzer http://tumblr.com/xc56u29oe What was Amy Winehouse doing on the train? #

@douggrossCNN No, a lot of other things converge to make you a geek. in reply to douggrossCNN #

@gdwessel Purchased with option money he got for a comic idea he scribbled on a cocktail napkin–and an A-list artist is attached. in reply to gdwessel #

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-The Lady Of Rage f/ Snoop Dogg – “Afro Puffs”

Inspired by the incredibly talented guys at ComicTwart, like Evan Shaner, Chris Samnee and Francesco Francavilla, I thought it might be nice to include a sketchblog feature from time to time.  It would give me a chance to flex my artistic muscles and draw something besides the strip.  (I was reluctant to include that link above, because those guys are killing it-just KILLING it-every week, and I didn’t want to look bad in comparison.  For example, Francavilla’s mock Johnny Recon poster from this week…stunning!)

Fellow 2010 Glyph Award nominee, John Aston over at OldeTowneComix.com, is preparing to print a follow-up to his graphic novel, Rachel Rage: Heartland.  The new graphic novel will be comprised of a collection of short stories featuring his Blaxploitation heroine, Rachel Rage and pin-ups submitted by some of his fellow members of “The Next 100,” including Rodney Blackwell, Samax Amen from GhettoManga.com, and myself.  I drew up this illustration based on the Heartland cover, since I owed John a pin-up from last HeroesCon and, besides, it was a great opportunity to inaugurate the sketchblog feature:

These are actually fairly tight pencils for me.  I overlaid the pencils with a sheet of vellum and inked the pencils using a lightbox.  (You will be happy to know that although I did reference the guns, I did not use reference for the butt.)  I was fairly happy with the final inks, except that I lost some of the edginess in her face.  In the penciled version, she’s glaring right through you, but in the inks, that look is softened considerably.  Rachel’s words below are the first ones she utters in the webcomic:

This was also enjoyable, because John created Rachel Rage with such a unique body type, and I tried to stay true to that form with the thick, strong legs and round face.  It’s a very different body type than you usually find in comics, so hat’s off to John for that.  The closest equivalent in comics would be Rosalyn from Larry Stroman’s Tribe, which was published in the early 1990s.  Finally, I was going to conclude with a statement about Rachel bristling with weaponry; her purposeful, challenging gaze; and female empowerment, but it’s late, and at the end of the day it’s still a booty shot.  Enjoy!

- JEP

Detectives Haworth and Steiner return.  I love Caroline Belmont playing the sarcastic, femme-fatale and a foil to Steiner in this strip.  I also thought the second panel was the most Al Williamson-esque thing I’ve done to date, so obviously was pretty pleased with how it turned out.

- JEP

@webcomicbeacon Blaxploitation webcomics in reply to webcomicbeacon #

@BrianDenham "Jim Lee is a card player." Damn, that was one impressive hand he just showed! http://bit.ly/9K4vgG #

Congrats to @OldeTowneComix on the 2010 Glyph Awards 'Rising Star' nomination! Goin' head-to-head for #Blaxploitation supremacy! #

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