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

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. )

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

Sponsored by www.BMFWallets.com

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 unappreciated 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.

The latest recipient of The Unsung Badmother****** Award is “the King of Sting,” “the Master of Disaster,” “the Dancing Destroyer,” “the Count of Monte Fisto,” and the former Undisputed Heavyweight Champion of the wooooorrrrrllllddddd – APOLLLLLOOOOO CREED…..CREED!

For those of you who may not know, Apollo Creed, as portrayed by the incomparable Carl Weathers, was the antagonist in Rocky I and Rocky II, and played pivotal parts in Rocky III and IV.  At the start of the first Rocky movie, Apollo Creed was the reigning heavyweight boxing champion, and unexpectedly, his opponent for a match scheduled in Philadelphia on New Year’s Day 1976, bowed out due to injury.   Apollo and his management team found themselves unable to round up a quality opponent on such short notice.  Faced with the possibility of upset ticketholders, Apollo came up with the ingenious idea of allowing a local boy to face him in the ring.  This way, he could generate even greater local interest, create a fascinating human interest angle for the sportswriters, and still collect a huge purse after steamrolling whatever unfortunate pug he picked from the depths of obscurity.   As his opponent, Apollo Creed hand-selected a punch-drunk, past-his-prime southpaw named Rocky Balboa.  I’m sure you know the rest of the story.  However, it was Apollo who gave Balboa his best, and only opportunity, at the big time.  To his credit, Rocky rose to the challenge, but without Apollo Creed, there is no Rocky Balboa.  Apollo acted more like Prometheus than his own namesake from Greek mythology by reaching down and giving fire to the boxing career of an aspiring, journeyman boxer.

ROUND 1

To me, Apollo Creed was always the most interesting thing about the Rocky series.  Carl Weathers’ portrayal of Apollo Creed as a showboating pugilist with a golden tongue was obviously influenced by Muhammad Ali, but he added depth to his performance that made the role more than a simple impersonation.  Very subtly, Weathers established that the Apollo Creed that fans saw in the ring was very different than the man himself.  The loud, colorful boastful, boisterous Apollo Creed who predicted his opponent’s downfall in three rounds was a part that “Apollo Creed, Businessman” used to advance the interests and career of “Apollo Creed, The Athlete.”

Apollo Creed’s hustle was always on point.   Despite Rocky’s hometown advantage, Apollo used the occasion of the pending U.S. Bicentennial to cast himself as the All-American hero , being ferried to the ring dressed as George Washington crossing the Delaware, before stripping down to his red, white, and blue trunks.  (Incidentally, these trunks were passed down to Rocky Balboa in the third and fourth installments of the series, and now the flag-themed trunks are ingrained in the public consciousness as being Rocky’s signature look.)

One of the more amusing sidenotes of the 2008 United States Presidential campaign was the use of the Rocky theme by Barack Obama’s opponents.  At various points in the Democratic primary battle and the general election,  then-Senator Hilary Rodham Clinton and Sen. John McCain, respectively, both used Bill Conti’s iconic Rocky theme, “Gonna Fly Now,” to underscore their roles as resurgent, and ultimately triumphant, underdogs in their electoral fights with Barack Obama.  (I’ll ignore the racial subtext of the plucky White challenger against the smooth-talking Black guy, because I don’t think that was intentional on the part of Clinton or McCain.)  What they forgot, and what the general public tends to forget, is that Rocky Balboa lost that first fight against Apollo Creed.  And Clubber Lang in Rocky IV.  And Mason “The Line” Dixon in the final sequel, Rocky Balboa.

ROUND 2

Apollo looked like he was carved out of obsidian, and Carl Weathers had a build that was unheard of for the era, but he was far from a dumb jock.  After Rocky was thrashed by Clubber Lang in their first fight, Apollo sought out Rocky and offered to train Balboa for a rematch against Lang.  Like the proverbial Devil on his shoulder, Apollo appealed to Rocky’s wounded pride and desire to avenge the death of his trainer, Mickey Goldmill.   However, Apollo was far from a quiescent Bagger Vance-esque “Magical Negro” only there to serve Rocky’s interests.  Apollo struck a Faustian bargain with Balboa, offering to train the demoralized fighter in exchange for a favor to be named later.  (How very Pastor-ish of him…)    Apollo took Rocky to the grimy Los Angeles gym where he started his career and proved to be a harsh, driven taskmaster, who had his own agenda and ulterior motives for pushing Rocky to regain “The Eye Of The Tiger.”  Once again, even though they were on the same side this time, Apollo was still defining and shaping Rocky.  Without Apollo Creed, there is no Rocky Balboa.

ROUND 3

By far, Apollo Creed is Rocky’s best villain antagonist.  Let’s review the other contenders:

Clubber Lang – (Rocky III) - Mr. T had a distinctive look, and could bark out lines like the human pitbull Clubber Lang was supposed to be, but ultimately, he was a one-note character.  Although this was Mr. T’s best performance ever, he was painfully limited as an actor.  Carl Weathers played Apollo with sophistication and complexity.  He commanded the screen, and could go from yucking it up with Joe Frazier in an outsized Uncle Sam hat to bellowing out orders as a take-charge entrepreneur, with incredible ease.  Clubber Lang was a street thug with a brief, turbulent Buster Douglas-esque relationship to fame.  Apollo Creed came from the streets, rose above his circumstances, and stayed at the top thanks to his physical and mental acumen.  Clubber Lang is the type of guy the Sean Hannities and Lou Dobbs of the world tell us to be afraid of, but Apollo Creed is the type of guy they actually fear.

Ivan Drago – (Rocky IV) – Dolph Lundgren played Ivan Drago as the living embodiment of the steely, mechanized, implaccable Red Menace that the Soviet Union became in our collective imagination in the late 1980s.  There was nothing more to him than that.  He was a metaphor to be chopped down to size by the plucky American, not an actual person.

Tommy “Gunn” Morrison  – (Rocky V) – They made a RockyV?  Hmm, you learn something new every day.

Mason “The Line” Dixon – (Rocky Balboa) – Honestly, I’m sure  Antonio Tarver is a gifted athlete, as evidenced by his 27-6 professional boxing career, but he barely registered on the screen.  The part of Mason Dixon had potential, as a young champion desperate to establish he had the same heart and fortitude that made Balboa such a beloved fighter, but the character was woefully underdeveloped and Tarver’s acting skills didn’t help matters.  If the producers were going to cast an actual boxer or fighter, Roy Jones, Jr., Quinton “Rampage” Jackson or Floyd Mayweather would have been much better choices.  Although they are not trained actors, each has undeniable charisma and presence.

Recently, someone asked me whose voice I hear in my head when I’m writing Pastor’s dialogue.  At the time, I was genuinely stumped for an answer.  I honestly didn’t hear Roundtree, O’Neal, Hooks, Brown, or even Williamson.  However, the more I thought about it, the more I realized how perfect Carl Weathers’ voice was.  Tough, determined, from the streets, but not of the streets.  Yeah, that’s the voice.  Heck, if I were remaking Rocky I’d just edit out most of the parts with Stallone and call it Apollo.  That’s why Carl Weathers’ Apollo Creed is the recipient of this week’s Unsung Badmother****** Award.  What do ya think about that, Mr. Weathers?

- JEP

UPDATED DECEMBER 11, 2009:

WorldOfHurtOnline.com has named Carl Weathers as the 2009 Unsung Bad Mother****** Of The Year!

Help get the word out and let’s see if we can get Carl Weathers to post an “acceptance speech on Twitter.  For more details, go here:

[UPDATED December 11, 2009 at 4:41 PM.  Mr. Weathers Tweeted his acknowledgment.  Thanks for your help everyone!]

(Click to enlarge)

Sponsored by www.BMFWallets.com

It’s that time of year when everyone is rolling out their Best Of The Year columns, awards, lists, etc. and WorldOfHurtOnline.com is no exception.  As a reminder, the nominees are:

• “Hawk” as portrayed by Avery Brooks
• Legendary comic book artist, Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez
• “Apollo Creed” as portrayed by Carl Weathers

And my selection for Unsung Bad Mother****** Of The Year is…Carl Weathers!

Without a doubt, one of the primary non-webcomic generators of traffic to this site is my July 31, 2009 blog entry which sung the praises of Apollo Creed of the Rocky films.  Every day, dozens of people arrive at this site by using search terms related to Carl Weathers’ iconic character, and thi is how I made this determination.  The actual prizes for The Unsung Bad Mother****** of The Year Award  include  a “Bad Motherfucker” wallet, which has generously been provided by our new sponsor, www.BMFWallets.com and a framed copy of the  following proclamation:

(Click to enlarge)

Now here’s the thing, I don’t want this to just be an exercise in me flapping my gums.  I would love for Mr. Weathers to actually accept this award and know that there is so much love for him out there.  “How can we make that happen?” you ask.  Good question. Carl Weathers is active on Twitter as @TheCarlWeathers.”  My goal is to let Mr. Weathers know of his award via Twitter and for him to Tweet his ”acceptance speech”  You can find WORLD OF HURT on Twitter under @World_Of_Hurt. 

[UPDATED December 11, 2009 at 4:41 PM.  Mr. Weathers Tweeted his acknowledgment.  Thanks for your help everyone!]

I hope you will join me and get your friends and respective Tweeples involved.  You just have to Tweet @TheCarlWeathers once, but re-Tweet to your heart’s content.  Also, this campaign will end at midnight, Wednesday, December 16, 2009, because I don’t want to harass the poor guy to death. 

I’ve included some suggested Tweets below, but please feel free to use your imagination and judgment  (I’ve included the tinyurl that leads directly to the post):

• @TheCarlWeathers You are cordially invited to accept your Unsung Bad Mother****** Award http://tinyurl.com/yagtbbk #unsungbmf
• Nobel?? @TheCarlWeathers named Unsung Bad Mother****** of the Year by #Blaxploitation comic @World_Of_Hurt http://tinyurl.com/yagtbbk

Now, to sweeten the pot, I will put the name of anybody who Tweets @TheCarlWeathers advising him of the award into a hat.  Regardless of whether or not he accepts the award, I will draw a name from that group of Tweeters or re-Tweeters.Mr. Weathers does accept before midnight Wednesday, December 16, 2009, the winner of the drawing will receive an original, inked illustration by me suitable-for-framing and a snazzy WORLD OF HURT t-shirt.  If Mr. Weathers has not accepted his award by the allotted time, then the winner of the drawing will still receive a t-shirt.  The winner will be announced on Friday, December 18, 2009.

I hope you join in and help get the word out.

Thanks!

- JEP

Thank you everyone for making last week’s promotion such a huge success.  Carl Weathers definitely got your messages and he Tweeted his acceptance speech for the 2009 Unsung Bad Mother****** Of The Year Award within a matter of hours.

Therefore, true to my word, I put the names of those who Tweeted invitations to Carl Weathers into my trusty straw hat and my lovely assistant, Noelle, randomly drew a name of the person who will receive an original commission and WORLD OF HURT t-shirt.  The winner goes by the nom de Twitter of MeisterJ, aka Jasmine P.!

Congratulations, MeisterJ!  Give me a holler at my Yahoo account and let me know your contact information and what you want on your commissioned illustration.

Again, thank you so much.  You are the best readers a guy could ask for!  I really look forward to your input, because it definitely keeps me going.

Also, a special thank you to our sponsor, BMFWallets.  Remember, it’s not too late to order a Christmas gift for that bad mother****** in your life, so drop by www.BMFWallets.com and pick out one (or more) of their selection of fine gifts.

- JEP

Welcome to the latest installment of a recurring feature on WORLDOFHURTONLINE.COM…

Sponsored by www.BMFWallets.com

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 unappreciated, or largely unknown, 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.

In the annals of Blaxploitation heroes, characters like John Shaft, Foxy Brown and Youngblood “Super Fly” Priest loom large, however, Dan Freeman is the textbook example of one of Blaxploitation’s Unsung Bad Mother******s.  Dan Freeman is the lead character in the Ivan Dixon film, The Spook Who Sat By The Door.  The 1973 film was adapted from the novel of the same name by author, Sam Greenlee, who also served as a co-writer for the movie.  At some point, I’ll provide a full, and proper review of The Spook Who Sat By The Door, but I’ll just try to hit the most salient points below to give you a better idea about Dan Freeman.

What makes Dan Freeman such a bad motherfucker?  I say this without a hint of hyperbole:  Dan Freeman is Batman, Tyler Durden, and the best intentions of (and the worst fears about) The Black Panther Party combined into one of the most ingenious, and dangerous, characters to ever grace the silver screen.

The Spook Who Sat By The Door is the fictional story of Dan Freeman (played by Lawrence Cook), a college-educated Korean War veteran who becomes the first Black agent of the Central Intelligence Agency after a grandstanding senator launches a cynical call-to-arms for minority recruitment within the CIA.  The CIA also knows a good public relations stunt when they see it, so they go along with the senator’s plan.  In reality, the CIA expects no one to pass, or at best, they’ll just select one Black candidate to create the illusion of diversity among their ranks.  With his studious, quiet demeanor and surprising physical acumen, Dan Freeman emerges as the final candidate.  Despite surviving a rigorous training course that includes everything from counter-insurgency theory to demolitions and martial arts, after graduation, Freeman is shuffled off to the bowels of Langley, where at first he serves as their “top secret reproduction center section chief,” which was little more than a glorified copy boy.  Freeman is well aware that his presence within the CIA is little more than a token nod to affirmative action, but he patiently bides his time, learning, studying, and observing how the agency operates.  Finally, after five years, until he decides to leave the agency and return to his hometown of Chicago to become a social worker.

Freeman uses his position as a social worker to gather intelligence about the poor Black community he serves, including information about its criminal element.  Freeman lays a trap for the members of his old street gang, The Cobras, physically bests them and taunts them about their directionless, ineffective jabs at the authorities.  He uses The Cobras as his first foot soldiers and recruiters in his efforts to build a urban army that actually has a chance to force the U.S. government to accept the Black communities demands to be viewed as equals.  Freeman knows how his opponents operate, and despite one pivotal misstep, his plan is largely successful.  He funds his operation through a daring bank raid, successfully steals a cache of heavy weaponry from a National Guard armory, builds an ever-expanding network of operatives in several American cities, and subsequently uses this network to launch simultaneous guerrilla assaults against the authorities.  Like Grant Morrison’s Batman, Dan Freeman has plans built on top of contingencies to confound a much more powerful, and well-equipped, opponent.

“He’s one of them quiet kinda cats that people just don’t mess with…I know that if I got in trouble, he’d be in it. I think he be real bad once he got going, too.”

- Paula Kelley as the prostitute, “Dahomey Queen,” discussing Dan Freeman in The Spook Who Sat By The Door

Dan Freeman is the thinking man’s action hero, and actor Lawrence Cook, perfectly portrays him as such.  Dan’s style is to fade into the background, watch, listen, observe and then strike at the most opportune time, even if he has to endure some humiliation in the short-term to achieve his long-term goals.  Freeman’s confrontation with Calhoun, a CIA martial arts instructor who wants to run him out of the program, perfectly encapsulates this approach.  Freeman takes his lumps in the early moments of the fight before he figures out a way to counter, gain the upper hand, and ultimately choke out the bigoted instructor.  He also relies on a cultural tendency to ignore servants to have his army move virtually invisibly among his targets in order to gather intelligence.  We can find shades of this theme in modern works like the films Dirty Pretty Things (2003) and Fight Club (1999).  In the latter work by Chuck Palahniuk, Tyler Durden’s Project Mayhem strongly mirrors the structure and intent of Freeman’s underground army in The Spook Who Sat By The Door.

Lawrence Cook, with his square, blocky glasses, pronounced forehead and sleepy eyes, does a masterful job of capturing all the nuance and hidden fire of Dan Freeman.  Early in the movie, Freeman is invited by the other Black candidates to join them for a night on the town.  Dan politely begs off in a shy, bookish manner, but their discussion quickly reveals reveals that at least one of the candidates harbors long-simmering resentments toward Dan Freeman.  When the verbal confrontation threatens to become physical, Cook instantly, and seamlessly, shifts his demeanor from one of reserved detachment to quiet menace.  Also, to the credit of Greenlee, Dan Freeman is not a perfect man.  He not only frequents a prostitute, but it is implied that he is involved in an affair with his married former girlfriend.  He is not a bloodless warrior, but it is his intense passion which he harnesses and uses as fuel his quest for social justice. Cook’s voice rarely rises above its naturally hoarse, raspy whisper, but in those rare moments when Dan Freeman lets his mask slip, Cook uses it as a wonderful tool to pull the lid off the slow-boiling rage of a man who has made significant personal sacrifices, and swallowed no small amount of pain, to make his dreams a reality.  In this regard, Cook perfectly embodied the attitudes of millions of Black Americans, particularly successful middle-class Blacks, who had fought for every rung they climbed on the ladder of success.

What I find rather interesting about The Spook Who Sat By The Door, and what resonates even today, is that the character of Dan Freeman is basically the celluloid embodiment of every Fox News and TeaBagger theory about President Barack Obama.  Dan Freeman is an intellectually curious, accomplished, and outwardly passive college-educated Black man who spent time working as a community organizer in Chicago.  No matter how much crap is piled on him, he remains unflappable and strangely reserved, but secretly he is using his knowledge, and position of authority, to foment a well-organized and brilliantly executed insurrection against the  United States government itself.  Heck, at one point, the CIA speculates that the entire insurrection is the handiwork of a Communist infiltrator.  I’m certain that if Dan Freeman had used a teleprompter anywhere in the film, The Spook Who Sat By The Door would be on constant rotation on Hannity accompanied by a chiron that read “I’m Not Sayin’, I’m Just Sayin’.”

- JEP