In last week’s “Unsung Mother****** Awards!” blog post, I ended with an image of President Barack Obama, and I wanted to make a brief statement regarding the use of President Obama’s image.  Like every African-American…

A page from"The Obama Story: The Boy With The Biggest Dream."

This:

"Army of Darkness?" Didn't Obama beat these guys last November?

And this:

"Barack The Barbarian?" Come on!

And especially this!  Most ESPECIALLY this:

Obama drawn by Rob Liefeld? Aw, HELL No! If you survived comic books in the '90s, you're probably breaking out in hives right now.

…Has GOT to stop!  ENOUGH!

- JEP

EDITOR’S NOTE:

Oh great, now they’re dragging Bo the Dog into this mess.  Leave the dog out of it, man!

Bo, too? At long last, sir, have you no decency?

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

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

A little over two years ago this month, at Wizard World Chicago, the Dexter’s Laboratory and Samurai Jack creator announced that he was working on a four issue mini-series featuring Marvel Comics’ Black supehero icon.  The above concept art accompanied the announcement, and that, combined with Tartakovsky’s pledge to return Cage to his 1970s Blaxploitation roots had me pretty excited.

Sadly, I haven’t seen any subsequent stories about the project.  If ya got any info, be sure to send it my way.

NOTE: This post was inspired by SideBarNation.com’s October 2007 interview with Phil LaMarr, the voice of Samurai Jack.  You can find their podcast with the talented voice actor and MadTV alum here.

- JEP

ADDITIONAL LINKS:

Newsarama.com’s brief interview with Genndy Tartakovsky on August 10, 2007 following the announcement.

Marvel.com’s story from the same day, with the de rigueur “bad mother…shut yo’ mouth” reference and a larger version of the above image.

On Wednesday, I promised a major announcement for WORLD OF HURT, and today, I plan to deliver.  I am extremely proud to announce that The Internet’s #1 Blaxploitation Webcomic will find its second home on Newsarama.com, the Internet’s premier home for comic book news, reviews, and information.

Don’t worry, of course, new episodes of WORLD OF HURT will continue to be posted every Wednesday, right here at www.worldofhurtonline.com, but starting next week, “re-runs” of WORLD OF HURT,beginning with the very first episode of “The Thrill-Seekers,” will run every Tuesday and Thursday at Blog @ Newsarama.  Think of it in the same way as a syndicated TV show like The Office.  Every Thursday, NBC airs new episodes, but you can also find previous episodes in syndication on your local TV station.   It is a tremendous promotional opportunity to reach new readers and spread the “gospel” of Pastor to fans of comic fans who may not have found the site otherwise.

I am very proud to be part of the Blog @ Newsarama family.  Troy Brownfield and David Pepose of Newsarama.com have been extremely accommodating and helpful.  In order to introduce WORLD OF HURT to the Newsarama.com audience, David conducted an interview with me this past week.  I was honest and candid as possible, and hopefully it gives you some insight into how WORLD OF HURT came to be, what I’ve learned along the way, and what more I want to accomplish.  The interview was posted last night and can be found HERE.

I can’t believe how far this little strip has come in the past six months.  Everyone has been so receptive and positive about the strip thus far.  I’d like to thank everyone who has discovered this site for sticking around for the ride, and I’d like to welcome all the new “WORLD” Travelers who have just joined us in progress.  I urge you all to buckle up and hunker down, ’cause it only gets more fun from here.

On another note, in three days, the ever-popular feature, Off-Topic Mondays, returns to WORLDOFHURTONLINE.

- JEP

Today is the opening day for the new movie, Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief.  I first saw the trailer for this film when it played before Avatar.  It seems like a perfectly adequate young adult movie based on a young adult book series.  I have no problem with that.  I accept that I’m not necessarily the target audience for this kind of film.

Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief, is a film adaptation of the first book from Percy Jackson & The Olympians series of young adult novels by author, Rick Riordan.  It appears to be a coming-of-age story cut from the Harry Potter cloth, wherein a young man discovers his hidden birthright of magical powers along his fate as the only one who can destroy an ancient evil.  In Percy Jackson’s case, he’s a halfbreed demi-god, the son of Poseidon, the God Of The Seas from Greek mythology.  I sought out the background information of the Percy Jackson series, because there was one aspect of the trailer that caused me to literally, and ruefully, laughed out loud: the Black kid.  No, I’m not laughing at Brandon T. Jackson, the young actor in the role.  I’m certain that he does a fine job.  What made me laugh was the point at which the trailer flashes a title card that states “THE HERO,” and then a displays series of shots which clearly establish the clean-cut White kid, Percy Jackson, as the protagonist-the hero.  Next, the character of Grover Underwood-the Black kid- is established as “THE PROTECTOR.”  Even from the trailer, you can tell that Grover’s the guy sent to guard and guide Percy through his hero’s journey and introduce him to the wonders of the strange new world he is about to enter.  He’s a cross between Yoda and Bagger Vance, I guess.

I appreciate Rick Riordan’s attempts at inclusion; to get a bit of diversity on the page, and ultimately, the silver screen, but we’ve been down this road before.  We’ve been the stalwart Black sidekick.   If Grover’s tough, resilient, plucky, or whatever enough to protect Percy Jackson from whatever threats he may encounter while he discovers, and learns to use, his powers, then it stands to reason that good ol’ Grover would have the fortitude to BE the hero, right?  (Hell, with a name like ‘Percy Jackson,’ I’m shocked that he ISN’T Black.)  I know, the Black kid can’t be the hero in this particular story, because the Percy Jackson & The Olympians is rooted in Greek mythology, so their gods obviously weren’t Black.  I would give you that argument, if Rosario Dawson hadn’t been cast as the Greek goddess, Persephone.  

Perhaps she’s described a little lighter in the books.  Then again, maybe Percy Jackson can’t be Black, because he’s the son of the God Of The Oceans, and everyone knows that Black folks don’t swim.

One thing I missed in the trailer, but realized later, was the fact that Grover uses crutches.  Apparently, Grover does this to hide the fact that he’s actually a satyr, and the crutches help disguise the unusual posture and gait caused by his cloven hooves.  Because I’m already  approaching 1000 words, for the time being I’ll ignore the fact that the Black kid is secretly a mythological being whose has traditionally been portrayed as a sex-crazed, indolent, half-animal with a huge schlong that does nothing but play music all day.  That’s a post for another day.  Instead, I’m going to focus on Grover Underwood as yet another example of the plucky, Black, crippled sidekick that seems so popular in fiction.  Rick’s cashing in all his EEOC chips with Grover, huh?  But, where have we seen this archetype before?  Let me see:

Well, there was that one kid, Stevie Kenarkin from the Fox sitcom, Malcolm In The Middle, played by Craig Lamar Traylor:

As much as I love the Teen Titans, I have to regretfully add Vic Stone, Cyborg, to this list.  His dangerous Black virility was dampened by the fact that his limbs, part of his face, and possibly his junk, was burned off by an other-dimensional protoplasmic creature:

Hammer (no MC) was a minor character from the comic book, X-Force, who was paralyzed during a mission with The Six-Pack, a team of mutant mercenaries led by Cable.  His teammate Kane (a White dude) had both his arms blown off, but he received superior cybernetic replacements for those.  In a fictional universe where characters return from the dead with alarming regularity, Hammer still remains confined to his wheelchair.

A recent addition to the ranks of the crippled Black sidekick is Marvel’s James Rhodes, aka War Machine.  Seems like he had his face blown off in Avengers: The Initiative, along with a lot of his other pieces.  Fortunately, it seems that he may get better in time for the next Iron Man movie.

However, my favorite example of the plucky Black, crippled sidekick is from no less a writer than Alan Moore himself.  When Rob Liefeld hired Moore to revitalize his Youngblood property, Moore introduced Max Doyle, a robotics expert who piloted a number of of giant robot bodies.  Collectively, Max and his robots went by the name of Big Brother.  Get it?  ‘Brother’ can be slang for a Black dude and he zips around in a giant…Uh, I’ll let Alan Moore describe the character in his own words:

Big Brother is the final male member of the team.  His real name is Max Doyle.  He’s Waxman’s adoped son; he’s seventeen; he’s black; he’s only about five feet tall, and he’s crippled in both legs.

I actually dug the concept, but once you read the description out loud, it sounds like Johnny Sokko played by Arnold Drummond from Dif’frent Strokes.

I’m not saying that these attempts at greater diversity are not appreciated.  They are, because these portrayals are a far cry from the days of Stepin Fetchit and Aunt Jemima.  However, if you’re a writer in a position to create a new character and their supporting cast, just stop for one second and ask youself: “Why can’t the HERO be Black? Asian? A Woman? Physically challenged?”  I think if  you answer it honestly, you’ll find yourself with something more challenging to yourself and your readers than a token nod to cultural diversity. 

- JEP

Although Black science fiction remains a fairly small sector of the market, I’ve found that the one of more fascinating recurring archetypes of the genre is the Black Wandering Immortal Hero.  Examples include Octavia E. Butler’s literary creation, Doro from her “Patternmaster” series; Dwayne McDuffie’s Icon from Milestone Comics; and Jaycen Wise, the independent comic book creation of the artist, Uraeus.  For many African-Americans, there is no family crest or immigration record to document their family’s earliest arrival in this country; sometimes the best they can hope for is an oral history or some record of a financial transaction as their ancestors passed from one set of hands to another.  Possibly this archetype speaks to the African-American desire to connect with a past that was lost to us due to broken family lines.  Possibly the Immortal Wanderer is literary wish fulfillment for Black Americans who, from time to time, might engage in the thought experiment of, “What would I have done if I had been there?” or ‘Man, if only I had been there…”  The latest addition to the ranks of the Black Wandering Immortal Heroes is Lucius Hammer, created by writer, Brian Williams, and artist, Christian Colbert of  Ravenhammer Comics.

The setting for the first issue of Lucius Hammer is the early 1970s, but his tale begins sometime near the turn of the 20th century.  Lucius was raised in the town of Possum Bend, Alabama, and from an early age, Lucius’ parents were aware that he was special and gifted with unique abilities.  His remarkable strength manifests as a youth, but throughout the course of the story, it becomes evident that Lucius may possibly be immortal.  After his mother’s death, Lucius’ father encourages him to explore the world and find his own direction in life, but he warns him to  guard his secret abilities closely.  Most of the first issue is a flashback, and provides the reader with a quick snapshot of Lucius’ life.  Like Benjamin Buttons, Forrest Gump, or Woody Allen’s Zelig, Lucius moves through the major events of the 20th century and reflects on how they  influenced him.  In the world of Lucius Hammer, superheroes began appearing sometime after World War II, and their arrival inspires him to openly use his powers in a similar manner to help and inspire others.  Sometime in the early 1970s, Lucius goes public under the nom de guerre of Powerhouse and forms his own superteam called The Dream Team  The consolidated power an all-Black team of superheroes draws the attention of the U.S. government, so President Nixon activates a Cold War super-soldier by the name of  The American Way to take down Powerhouse and The Dream Team.  The first issue ends with the threat of the impending confrontation between the Lucius and The American Way.

Overall, I thought Lucius Hammer was a blast.  Williams does a commendable job of compressing Lucius Hammer’s origin and setting up the conflict all within the span of twenty-two pages.  Williams throws a lot of information at the reader, but because much of it is conveyed  via Lucius Hammer’s first person narration, it comes across as more conversational and less purely expository.  This is a story very much in the old-school Marvel manner. Williams creates a fairly relatable hero and gives you everything you need to know about him before launching into the adventure.  Although Lucius Hammer’s story carries him through some bleak times in the 20th Century, and the notion of a government conspiracy to put Black superheroes in their place, might be fodder for a very dark story, the overall tone of Lucius Hammer was one of optimism.  Lucius makes mistakes in his effort to find his place and purpose in the world, but his heart and head are in the right place. 

(If I had one criticism for this book, it would be the implication in the opening page that Lucius is the “bastard son of John Henry.”  I understand the desire to tie the immortal Lucius Hammer into one of the few Black characters in American folklore, especially given Lucius’ surname, but the connection just reminds me of Bryan Singer’s Superman-as-Absentee-Father in Superman Returns.  And, man, I hate to be reminded of Superman Returns.  Like Superman, I don’t see John Henry as a character who would knock up a chick and leave.  If nothing else, John Henry was all about honor and commitment, even if it killed him.  Also, the word “bastard” in the opening page might be the only thing keeping it from being an all-ages appropriate book.  But these are fairly minor quibbles in a very good book.)

Christian Colbert reinforces the generally upbeat mood with bright, open art that is somewhat reminiscent of Ed McGuinness.  Colbert’s figure work shares the blocky, robust quality of McGuinness’, but the linework is more pared down, cartoonier, and accordingly, there’s just a little more fluidity to Colbert’s forms.  It was actually Colbert’s designs for Lucius Hammer and his supporting cast that attracted me to the book in the first place, and Colbert proves to be as strong a storyteller as he is character designer.  Colbert, with assistance from Derek King, is also the book’s colorist, and his selection and use of color is absolutely gorgeous.  I especially love the vibrant orange and the warm browns he selected for Powerhouse’s uniform.  Colbert is also effective at using color to further the storytelling and enhance the mood of individual scenes.  There’s one page in the book that perfectly demonstrates what a great team Williams and Colbert make.  It begins at the funeral of Lucius’ mother, with Lucius Hammer, and his family standing on a hillside where a single cross marks his mother’s freshly dug grave.  The color pallette features beautiful, rich autumnal colors. At the gravesite, his aging father encourages Hammer to leave their small town and explore his own path.  The final panel on the page shows two crosses on that same hill, now cold, grey, wintry and snowswept, with Lucius’ narration box stating that once he left Possum Bend, he never returned home.  There’s not a punch thrown or a hint of spandex in sight, but this page impressed me the most, because it was a wonderful synthesis of art, writing, and coloring, with an elegant economy in the storytelling.  While a lot was said on the page, there was still so much implied between the panels that gave a greater weight to the story.

I definitely look forward to more installments of Lucius Hammer and would encourage you to check out the Ravenhammer website and Brian Williams’ Lucius Hammer blog for more insight into the series.

- JEP