There’s only three things that’s for sure/Taxes, death and trouble/This I know, baby...

- Marvin Gaye, from the theme to the motion picture Trouble Man, 1972

All the conservative teabaggers who suddenly found Fiscal Jesus on Wednesday after staying silent for eight years while a Republican president and Republican-led Congress turned the biggest surplus in American history into the biggest deficit in American history could do themselves a big favor by listening to Marvin.  Marvin spoke the truth.  Marvin spoke prophecy on his own life.  You see, for all his artistic genius, Marvin had a bad habit of failing to pay his taxes, so in 1981, one of America’s greatest songwriters fled to Europe to escape his tax problems.   Marvin Gaye learned the hard way that taxes are the membership dues we pay as American citizens.  Membership has its privileges, so as you upgrade from Gold to Platinum Club status, expect to pay a little more in dues, because you’ve reaped more of the benefits of the relative peace, stability, safety, and opportunities afforded by living in this country.

Look, it’s not that I like paying taxes.  Nobody likes paying taxes, because we feel that it’s hard-earned money out of our own pockets that could be better spent on candy, gum, DVDs, or booze.   But, if you claim to want a strong military, secure borders, educated kids, bridges that don’t collapse underneath you in the middle of rush hour, reliable electricity, food that won’t kill/maim/ mutate your children, and a non-barter based economy subject to the whims of Master Blaster and Auntie Entity, then expect to put a little in the plate so we can all pool our resources to pay for it.  Except for certain Oxycontin-addled blowhards and the Fox “News” talking heads who pushed the idea of Teabag Parties, most of us can’t afford to pay for that stuff a la carte!

Who Run Barter Town?

That’s it for now.  Thanks for joining me for my first big week.  See you next week with a new strip and a look at Cadillac Jones’ “The Big Takedown.”

 - JEP

Music defined the era of Blaxploitation filmmaking as much as the garish fashions, punchy, profane dialogue, or lurid, pulpy plots.  Ron O’Neal’s Youngblood Priest would still have been a fly-ass hustler in his Flagg Brothers boots and giant ‘71 Cadillac Eldorado (complete with customized Rolls Royce grill), but it was Curtis Mayfield’s soulful yet gritty soundtrack that made him “Super Fly.”  Richard Roundtree’s hard-chargin’, hard-lovin’, take-no-bullshit portrayal of John Shaft in a time when audiences just didn’t see confident, powerful, sexual Black men on the silver screen, was the pack of dynamite beneath the Blaxploitation revolution, but it was Isaac Hayes’ theme that’s kept the flame burning three decades later.  Just like you can’t think of James Bond without humming the first notes of Monty Norman’s “James Bond Theme,” whenever you think of John Shaft that famous hi-hat and the funky wah-wah guitar riff inevitably comes strutting through your head.

So what would happen if you wrote a Blaxploitation soundtrack but didn’t have a movie to go with it?  Would it still work?  According to the band Cadillac Jones, the answer is “Yes.” In 2006, the Atlanta, GA-based jazz-funk group released the concept album The Big Takedown.  The concept?  The Big Takedown is the soundtrack for a previously unreleased Blaxploitation-era movie.  The band even has a link to the “original movie treatment” posted on their site.  The treatment is a weathered, stained, hole-punched, 3-page document that looks like it was drafted on a real typewriter, reproduced on carbon paper, then run through a mimeograph machine multiple times(You can almost smell the purple ink!), and buried in a stack of old Ebony and Jet magazines for 25 years before it was finally posted on their site.

The “movie’s” plot is a seedy little crime thriller involving Ike Power, a gangster prodigal son returning to a dangerous, corrupt, unnamed city after being away for several years.  He’s returning at the request of his old boss and surrogate father, Earl “Tarzan” Watkins, in order to wrap up some unfinished business.  (I particularly liked the touch that Ike spent his exile with family in Barbados.  It’s a nice unexpected touch that adds a layer of depth to his character.)

The secondary concept behind Cadillac Jones’ concept album is that every song is intended to accompany each scene from the movie, so we get to follow Ike’s journey through this dark criminal underworld with Cadillac Jones right beside him, slinking, grooving, and swinging from one song to the next.  For example, the first cut, titled “Intro” is only 26 seconds long, but it sets the tone of the story by just employing the sound of an airplane landing as the muted cacophony of an airport terminal rumbles in the background.  In short, it tells us Ike Power has arrived.  The next cut, “Narq,” starts off with a “tsah-tsah-ta-tsah” hi-hat reminiscent of “The Theme from Shaft” before a guitar and brass kick in.  ”Narq” then segues into a nice,  jazzy groove that rolls along for the balance of the song.  ”Narq” is obviously Ike Power’s theme, and the band even closes out the album with “Return Of The Narq,” a slower, more haunting adaptation of the opening number, that you could easily see playing over the closing credits of The Big Takedown.

One of my favorite aspects of The Big Takedown is Cadillac Jones’ use of a REAL horn section!  The brass is used to great effect throughout the album, adding rich, brassy, funky flourishes, particularly in the mid-tempo head-bopper “Power.”  ”Ike’s Regret” begins with a mournful baritone saxophone as a subway train rattles in the background.  The sax actually sends you back further in time to a 1950s noir film instead of a Blaxploitation movie.  If The Big Takedown had any drawback it would be scattered anachronistic touches like this or the occasional use of scratching, that pull the listener out of the ’70s era the album is meant to evoke.  When the album’s third song “Tarzan” introduces Beastie Boys “Brass Monkey”-ish scratching early into the cut, I felt like Scott Bakula from Quantum Leap, lurching from the era of bellbottoms and fringed vests to a time of Kangols and dookie rope chains.  

Overall, I felt The Big Takedown was a tremendously successful concept album.  Although I generally prefer my funk a little more propulsive and grimy than jazz-flavored, Cadillac Jones kept me hooked from beginning to end.  The Big Takedown is not available on iTunes, but that’s to the advantage of you and your local record store.  You really need to enjoy The Big Takedown as a cohesive whole with plot in hand, in the song order laid out by the band, because it makes the listening experience even better.  When you do, give me a call.  I’ll bring the popcorn.

- JEP

I’m a real process junkie.  I love to see how artists work and will take any chance I can get to peer up under the hood to see how different artists get their creative engines to run.  So I thought I’d do an occasional post to share some my own process with you.  This one is a little more on the writer side than the pencil artist side, which is ironic, since I actually prefer the latter.

When I first started working on WORLD OF HURT, its original working title was “My Hands Are My Weapons.”   Actually, the ONLY thing I had was the title, I just had to find a story to go with it. 

I played with a few ideas before something started to coalesce around the basic Blaxploitation concept.   My initial idea for a strip in that vein could be summed up with the elevator pitch, “John Shaft and Bandit from Smokey And The Bandit, driving around and kicking ass.”  The basic outline of the character “Pastor” and his buddy “McCroy” emerged from that brainstorm.  Strangely enough, I couldn’t come up with any decent plots to work around that concept.  Fortunately, in a bit of serendipity, the Muse of Face-Kicking and Vehicular Carnage visited a couple of other guys at the same time, and they actually knew how to listen to her (Come to think of it, she may live at Chris’ house).  I worked with them for a while, and believe me, they’ll do a much better job with it than I ever could.  Also, I didn’t necessarily want to use the “Black Guy and White Guy Buddy Team” Paradigm.  At the time, Image Comics was publishing ‘76, a miniseries set in 1976 (natch) that featured two separate, unrelated stories, “Jackie Karma” and “Cool.”  Both stories featured a BGAWGBT, so that made it an easier choice to leave McCroy by the side of the road. 

My Hands Are My Weapons went through a few more permutations before I settled on what I thought would work: a pastiche of Blaxploitation and kung fu movies.  As the title implies, Pastor was going to be a master street fighter, well versed in the down-and-dirty and more esoteric forms of martial arts, so he would never use a gun.  Then, I ran into a few problems:

1)  I wanted to keep the strip more realistic than fantasy-oriented, so I didn’t want to strain the audiences’ suspension of disbelief by having Pastor beat impossible odds with kung fu alone.  This realization sunk in while I was watching Three The Hard Way, a later entry into the Blaxploitation genre, featuring Fred Williamson, Jim Brown and Jim Kelly.  Each actor is given a solo action set piece, which are all well done, but when the three tough guys get together at the end to storm the enemy compound, Kelly looks a little silly sneaking around dispatching his gun-wielding opponents with throwing stars and spinning back kicks while Williamson and Brown are hosing everyone down with automatic weapons fire.  At one point, an exasperated Brown pretty much thrusts a gun into Kelly’s hands and tells him to stop being so stupid.  I’m not saying Pastor always comes strapped.  Most of the time he still won’t use a gun.  Which leads me to my second problem.

2)  Once I settled on the idea of Pastor collecting favors as payment, he evolved into a strategic thinker, not just a fighter.  Of course Pastor knows how to handle himself in a scrap, but he tries to stay a step ahead of everyone, friends and enemies alike.  If that’s the case, are his hands really his primary weapon?

3)  Although I know, understand, and have a great affection for Blaxploitation movies, I only had a passing knowledge of kung fu flicks.  The kung fu fanbase can be as rabid as any subset of genre fans, so I didn’t want to fake it, for fear of RZA riding down with Method Man and the ghost of Ol’ Dirty Bastard to empty 36 Chambers into my skull.

My problem was that I thought I had a pretty nifty title and I was determined to shoehorn in a story to fit it.  Here’s a tip to all you creative types out there – Don’t do that.  It only creates massive headaches.

By the way, if you know anyone looking to buy the domain name myhandsaremyweapons.com, drop me a line.  I know someone who can give you a good deal on it.

- JEP

Welcome to the first, in what will become a recurring segment of WORLDOFHURTONLINE.COM, The Unsung Badmother******* Awards!

The Unsung Badmotherf****** Award recognizes Outstanding Achievements In The Field of Badassery Deserving Wider Recognition.  The Unsung Badmother****** is the guy who made a splash and kicked some ass, but remains largely forgotten by the masses.

The UBMF Award is named after the oft-quoted moment in the “Theme from Shaft” when Isaac Hayes is abruptly interrupted by his backup singers before he can fully extol the badass virtues of his man, Shaft.  If people remember nothing else about the movie “Shaft,” or Blaxploitation in general, they remember that line, and it immortalized Hayes and made John Shaft a cinematic icon.

Now, without further ado, I am proud to announce that the first recipient of the coveted Unsung BadMother****** Award is none other than…Avery Brooks as Hawk!  Take a bow, Mr. Brooks.

Um…actually, you don’t have to do anything you don’t wanna do.  We still cool?

Cool.

Anyway, for those who may not know, Hawk debuted as a literary character in 1976 in “Promised Land,” one of the series of detective novels in the “Spenser” series written by Robert B. Parker.  Spenser, a tough, but smart, Boston private investigator, described Hawk thusly in his first appearance:

Shepard appeared from the door past the stairs. With him was a tall black man with a bald head and high cheekbones.  He had on a powder blue leisure suit and a pink silk shirt with a big collar.  The shirt was unbuttoned to the waist and the chest and stomach that showed were as hard and unadorned as ebony.  He took a pair of wraparound sunglasses from the breast pocket of the jacket and as he put them on, he stared at me over their rims until very slowly the lenses covered his eyes and he stared at me through them.

I looked back.  ”Hawk,” I said.

“Spenser.”

That ensemble sounds atrocious, even by 1976 standards, but only “the toughest muscleman Boston’s big boys could hire” could pull off a pink and powder-blue outfit and STILL seem dangerous.  As the above pull quote from the back cover of the novel indicates, Hawk worked as a freelance enforcer for the mob, but he had a history with Spenser, and would often come over to the side of the angels to assist the private detective.

In 1985, the television network, ABC, brought the “Spenser” novels from the page to the small screen with the series, Spenser: For Hire, with Robert Urich as Spenser and Avery Brooks as Hawk, with a markedly improved sense of fashion.   In Brooks’ depiction of Hawk, he maintained the clean-shaven dome, but he paired it with a goatee, which gave him a sense of devilish menace.  Hawk rocked the Big, Bald, Black Man With A Goatee look long before it became fashionable.  I started shaving my head in ‘91 and I still remember getting strange looks when I walked into Frisch’s Big Boy Restaurant in Fairborn, Ohio.  Now the BBBMWAG look is the default style for every Black tough guy in fiction, particularly comic books.  Heck, even Luke Cage ditched his signature Afro for a BBBMWAG. 

Avery Brooks completely inhabited the role of Hawk.  The man has presence.  He controlled the screen, and politely, but forcefully, walked off with every scene he was in.  If you YouTube Spenser: For Hire, you’ll find a series of clips dedicated to the best moments from the show.  Every single one of them has Hawk.  Every.single.one.

Brooks' Hawk and Robert Urich as Spenser

Hawk was a man of few words, and Brooks’ delivery of those lines with his precise diction wrapped in a thundering baritone, sold the intensity and conviction behind everything Hawk had to say.  The only thing that boomed louder than Hawk’s voice was the long-barreled .357 Colt Python that Hawk carried with him everywhere he went.  Hawk also was a master of “The Batman Grin.”  

The Last Thing You'll Ever See

“The Batman Grin” is that brief flash of a smile displayed by an otherwise stoic character that lets his opponent know he is absolutely and irrevocably fucked.  Hawk was a predator, and his smile was rarely a sign of mirth.  He was baring his teeth.  

In 1989, ABC spun Hawk into his own series entitled A Man Called Hawk.  It fit the “One Man With A Mysterious Past and Even More Mysterious Connections, Out For Justice,” theme that I loved so well in my youth.  Some of my favorite shows from the 1980s, like The Equalizer, Airwolf and Street Hawk (No relation, but YEAH, I SAID STREET HAWK!) carried this theme, and I obviously revisited it with WORLD OF HURT.  

A Man Called Hawk relocated the character from Boston to Washington, D.C..  With the move, Hawk’s fashion sense became a little less “wiseguy legbreaker” and more urban as he transitioned from sharkskin three-piece suits and skinny ties to patterned kufi hats and leather pants.  Although Hawk still worked as a bodyguard from time to time, he mostly left the mob contracts behind to focus on helping the little guy.  Hawk also developed a slightly philosophical edge as evidenced by circuituous, metaphysical conversations with his new confidante “Old Man” played by Shaft and Shaft’s Big Score alum, Moses Gunn. 

The series began as a midseason replacement and only lasted 13 episodes, partly because ABC scheduled A Man Called Hawk on Thursdays opposite the unstoppable juggernaut that was The Cosby Show.  Nobody, not even Hawk, could withstand The Coz.  Hawk’s brief time on the TV landscape is kind of sad, because how many dramatic series featuring a Black male lead can you name in the history of television?  I’ll give you a minute…

OK, I got the Kojak reboot with Ving Rhames and Day Break with Taye Diggs.  Anything else?

However, TV One has snagged the rights to re-air A Man Called Hawk, and on a good day you can catch a Hawk mini-marathon , so make sure to set your DVRs. 

Fortunately, Avery Brooks returned to television in 1993 as Commander – later Captain - Benjamin Sisko in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.  Deep Space Nine featured an insane, only-in-science-fiction concept about a planet full of White folks who viewed a Black man as a savior, sent to restore hope and to deliver them from darkness and fear.  They believed his destiny was to return their people to greatness after years spent under the rule of an oppressive, secretive regime.

Sorry, wrong picture.

But, yeah, he’s a Bad Mother******, too.

- JEP

Frequent commenter and WORLDOFHURTONLINE.COM regular, Ramon, pointed out last week that venerable Hong Kong actor, Shih Kien, died last week at the age of 96.  Kien had a long career in film, but I, and most other film buffs in the Western hemisphere, knew him best as the evil Han from the legendary 1973 Bruce Lee film, Enter The Dragon. 

 Although in a previous post, I stated only a passing familiarity with kung fu movies, Enter The Dragon is the exception.  I know the film quite well, because my older brother Philip,  my cousin Clarence, and I used to make it ritual to watch my uncle’s bootleg, taped-off-HBO-copy of the movie whenever we got together over a holiday break.  Jim Kelly’s comment to Han, once he discovers the evil mastermind’s villainous intentions, “Man, you come straight out of a comic book,” is the inspiration for the name of the ”comic book blog” link tag on this site.

 RIP Shih Kien.

- JEP

Welcome to the latest installment of a recurring feature on WORLDOFHURTONLINE.COM: The Unsung Badmother******* Awards!

The Unsung Badmotherf****** Award recognizes Outstanding Achievements In The Field of Badassery Deserving Wider Recognition.  The Unsung Badmother****** is the guy who made a splash and kicked some ass, but remains largely forgotten by the masses.

The UBMF Award is named after the oft-quoted moment in the “Theme from Shaft” when Isaac Hayes is abruptly interrupted by his backup singers before he can fully extol the badass virtues of his man, Shaft.  If people remember nothing else about the movie “Shaft,” or Blaxploitation in general, they remember that line, and it immortalized Hayes and made John Shaft a cinematic icon.

This month, Brian Cronin of Comic Book Resources.com is running a feature entitled, “Month of Art Stars: Artist’s Choice, ” which celebrates artists who deserve special attention or wider recognition.  The series has a nice hook, wherein instead of offering his own selections, Mr. Cronin has solicited professional comic book artists to choose the artists.

Early entries in the series included lesser-known, but still tremendously gifted artists, but Dave Gibbons, the renowned artist of such works as Watchmen, Give Me Liberty and his own original graphic novel, The Originals, suggested a veteran artist.  The artist in question also happens to be one of my primary artistic inspirations: the one and only Jose Luis Garcia Lopez.    Of course, I felt compelled to weigh in on the comments section-several times-but then I realized, “Hey, I’ve got my own blog, why don’t I link to the article?“  Then I thought, “Hey, why don’t I do my own entry on Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez on said blog?”

But enough of my internal monologues, let’s get down to business!

With a special tip of the hat to Mr. Brian Cronin, WORLDOFHURTONLINE.COM is proud to announce the latest recipient of The Unsung Badmother****** Award…Mr. Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez.

Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez started his comics career in Argentina, but since his arrival in the United States, nearly all of his professional work has been with DC Comics.  In the early 1980s,  Garcia-Lopez was tapped by DC Comics to create their Style Guide, which established the definitive versions of their intellectual property.  The Style Guide was used by licensors and other DC artists to create a unified brand identity for the DC Universe’s vast array of comic book stars.  I seem to even recall hearing an anecdote that some artists would seek out work with DC just so they could get their hands on the Style Guide.

As I stated in the comments section of Brian Cronin’s post, even if you’re not familiar with Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez’s name, you’ve already seen his work on everything from milk ads, collector’s glasses, bed linens, stationery, backpacks, toy packaging, t-shirts, or any other merchandise or advertisement featuring characters owned by DC Comics.  If you perform a Google image search on ”batman” and “t-shirt” or “wonder woman” and “t-shirt,” looking for apparel that actually features images of these characters, the first ones you come upon will more than likely include illustrations drawn by Mr. Garcia-Lopez.

Besides being the hidden hand behind the DC marketing machine, Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez was, and remains, a gifted sequential artist.  By his own admission, he was a slow artist, so his output of comic book work is relatively low, despite his decades-long career.  His body of work is peppered with short runs on established series.  However, each page he drew is a remarkable demonstration of Garcia-Lopez’s storytelling mastery, boasting clean, open lines; innovative, but clear layouts; and a dynamic, but natural, approach to the human form.  Quite simply, the man can draw anything and draw it freakishly well.  Note all the different types of people in the crowd scene below and how the body language, clothing, builds, and faces are unique to each one.

Here, Garcia-Lopez creates a sophisticated and sexy Lois Lane and a casual, relaxed Superman who looks perfectly at home in tights among diners in evening wear:

Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez’s longest run on a series was the fan-favorite Atari Force, and he also worked his magic on the Eisner Award-nominated, three issue, sci-fi miniseries Twilight, which was written by comic legend, Howard Chaykin.  However, my favorite work of his was the 1988 four-issue mini-series Cinder & Ashe. I have literally read the covers off two sets of this series, and am quickly working my way through a third.

Cinder & Ashe, written by frequent Garcia-Lopez collaborator Gerry Conway,  is about two New Orleans-based freelance security specialists who take an assignment to rescue the kidnapped daughter of an Iowa farmer.  Jacob Ashe is a Vietnam veteran and ex-soldier of fortune, while Cinder DuBois, his female partner is a half-Asian, half-Black,  former street thief that Ashe saved from certain death during the Fall of Saigon.  Cinder & Ashe’s case involves a conspiracy that ultimately brings the duo into the orbit of a mysterious figure with dangerous connections to their own tragic pasts.  The story flashes back between their earlier lives and the then-present day of the late 1980s.  The theme of the series is about the destructive power of secrets, how they overwhelm us, haunt us, and how we must ultimately confront and overcome them. 

Garcia-Lopez draws the hell out of every inch of that book.  He takes you from the bayous of Louisiana, to the fields of Iowa, to a climactic battle at the recently commissioned Vietnam Memorial in Washington, DC.  Every detail feels authentic without being over-rendered or overly  photo-referenced and every panel bleeds emotion or thunders with visceral, cinematic action.  This series would be right at home on the stands today next to any of DC Comics’ Vertigo line, and I can’t think of any good reason good reason why they haven’t reissued it in a trade paperback edition.  Apparently, Planeta-DeAgostini, a Spanish publisher, has secured the rights for a Spanish-language hardcover collection, but I don’t think they have the rights to sell the trade directly into the United States.  (Believe me, I’ve tried.)

To date, despite his long, storied career with DC Comics, the comic book company has yet to publish a collection of his work, however independent book publisher, TwoMorrows Publishing , has stepped up to the plate by devoting an edition of their “Modern Masters” series to Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez.  It provides a wonderful retrospective of his career and never-before published illustrations, sketches, character designs, and concept illustrations by the artist.  If you’re a comic book fan, you owe it to yourself to buy a copy.

Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez most recently completed a three-issue run on Batman: Confidential #26-28, which was inked by Kevin Nowlan.  The pair will team up again on a Metal Men feature for the upcoming DC Comics series, Wednesday Comics.

Finally, I’d like to leave you with an image of an original, second-hand Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez convention sketch I picked up off eBay for a great price.  It’s my long-held desire to buy an original comic book page by the man, but until that time comes, this will have to do.

- JEP

(NOTE: There’s a great selection of Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez’s work at http://master-post.livejournal.com/.  Some of the images above were pulled from that site, so I wanted to give credit where credit is due. )

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 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

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

Chris Sims, one of the most entertaining personalities in comic book blogging, and friend of WORLD OF HURT, is mostly known for his undying love of Batman, his encyclopedic knowledge of the entire Bring It On film series, and his hilarious commentary of comics like Tarot or Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter, which he dutifully provides on a daily basis in his own Invincible Super-Blog, as a contributor for the website Comics Alliance, and most recently in his War Rocket Ajax podcast with collaborator, Eugene Ahn .  Point  blank, he’s a prolific writer and a funny guy.  However, his most recent article on Comics Alliance, entitled, “The Racial Politics of Riverdale: Why an Interracial Kiss Is Still a Big Deal,” provides a fascinating, thoughtful insight and analysis of how one of comic books’ most venerable companies has approached the subject of race throughout its publishing history.  Sims’ assessment of Archie Comics’ attitued toward race is not always flattering, but the company has demonstrated a slow, progressive arc toward inclusion and tolerance that is reassuring and promising for a company that publishes one of the most important “gateway” comic book lines for new readers being introduced to the medium.

The fact that the article is well-done, well-researched, and interesting is typical for Sims’ work.  However, in tone, it is atypically serious for a writer who giddily insists that Batman chucking a car battery at a villain as a high-point in Western literature. 

Finally, a special tip of the hat to Chris for quitting his day job and transitioning into freelance writing full-time.  Bravo, Chris!

- JEP