I had this idea of Charles working up the nerve to talk shit after Tuck had left the room in one of those “What I SHOULD have said…” moments.  We’ve all done it after we’ve been embarrassed, but it rarely makes us feel better, just smaller and more humiliated.  I thought it was an interesting way to emphasize what a small, sad little guy he is, despite his grandiose attitude, especially since Charles still needs a pistol and a couple cocktails to make himself feel secure enough to carry out his little fictional reenactment.

On an unrelated note, I’m sorry I missed the blog update on Friday.  I was caught up in a really big project last week, and I didn’t have time to finish what I had planned.  However, I’ll have a brand, spanking new blog post for Friday, and maybe even something else from a guest contributor.

Thanks!

- JEP

Well, I got my Mac Mini back this weekend, thanks to the technical wizardry of Lexington’s own, Mr. Mac, so I’m back in business.  Again, a big thanks to Stephen Lindsay for stepping in to help with the lettering last week.

This week, I’d like to give a real special shout-out to one of the early fans of the strip, Marye Stone “Cold Fox” Dahlman who provided the French translation for me.  In more ways than one, Marye’s been an inspiration to everyone who knows her, and continues to be with her understated, quiet strength and positivity.  Also, she’s married to a guy named Thor, which is pretty cool, too.

Somehow I got it in my head that Ned’s wife might be foreign, and out of that grew the idea that she might be a little dismissive of Pastor, and mutter something under her breath in French, only for Pastor to throw her off-guard by responding in kind.  Marye is fluent in French and has taught it at the university level.  So besides providing a bang up translation, she told me more than I ever wanted to know about the proper version of “fucker” that should be used in this context.  Thanks again, and now you can tell Nicholas you made it to the funny pages.

I’ve got a rockin’ blog post this Friday, so make sure you come back in two days, ’cause I wanna show you something that absolutely blew my mind.

- JEP

A little harsh?  Maybe, but admit it, this is what you’ve been waiting for.  Besides, there’s precedent for Blaxploitation heroes tossing heavies out the window established by none other than John Shaft himself.  I’ll let my man, Drew Bundini Brown, who played Willy in Shaft (1971) and Shaft’s Big Score! (1972) explain:
“That’s some cold shit.”

I’ll kind of miss Duke, because he was so easy to write, but I couldn’t really have him walking around after what he did to Alicia Patterson.  Stick around, folks, ’cause Pastor’s just getting started doling out the punishment.  Rest assured, this strip is definitely going to live up to its title.

This week’s strip is respectfully dedicated to the memory of George Tuska, the original artist for Luke Cage: Hero For Hire.  He passed away last week at the age of 93.

- JEP

We’ve all come to know and despise The Duke over time, so in this strip, I wanted to put you in Pastor’s point-of-view when he gets his hands on the pimp.

Yesterday was the six-month anniversary of WORLD OF HURT!  The only one not celebrating was The Duke.  WORLDOFHURTONLINE.COM went live the on April 6th, and I started a seven-day “Countdown To A Beatdown” to launch the first strip.

I’d like to thank everyone for their support over these past six months, especially my fiancee, Noelle.  I couldn’t have done this without her.  The readership has grown steadily over time, and I’ve learned a lot, too.  Thanks for sticking by me and making this so much fun for me.

- JEP

Well, we’ve gotten to the bottom of the mystery.  Now it’s time for payback.

- JEP

Welcome back to the latest episode of WORLD OF HURT.  I designed The Duke with a big, physical presence, so he would seem like a viable threat to Pastor, but he turned into a cowardly, conniving prick instead.  Less gorilla pimp and more of a finesse pimp, I guess.

Now speaking of “smack,” as promised, it is time to announce the winner of the WORLDOFHURTONLINE HARD-ASS TRIVIA CONTEST! It was such a hard-ass contest that there was only one–count ‘em, baby—ONE correct entry!

The proud winner of a Black Dynamite “FIGHT SMACK IN THE ORPHANAGE” t-shirt is…Daniel!  You know who you are, so drop me a line with your address and I’ll get that puppy in the mail, post-haste.

Here are the questions and the correct answers:
1. In 1994, this Black Dynamite cast member played one of the leads in an Academy Award-winning film. The name of the character he played was later used to launch a successful restaurant chain. Name the actor and the restaurant.
Mykelti Williamson – Bubba Gump Shrimp Company

2. Which of the cast members of Black Dynamite had a recurring role as “God,” and on which television show?
Tucker Smallwood –  The Sarah Silverman Program

3. Which Black Dynamite cast member has portrayed two (2) separate DC Comics characters? Name the actor and the two characters.
Phil Morris: Vandal Savage on Justice League, Martian Manhunter on Smallville, and Jonah Hex on Batman: The Brave & TheBold. (NOTE:  See that!  The dude went for extra credit and NAILED it!  Damn.  I gotta throw in a “FIGHT SMACK” sticker for that.)

4. Which Black Dynamite cast member starred opposite Blaxploitation legends Pam Grier, Robert Hooks, Isaac Hayes, Melvin Van Peebles, and Spartacus‘ Woody Strode, all in the same film? Name the actor and the movie.

Salli Richardson-Whitfield –  Posse

Congratulations, Daniel!  I would like to lead the way in giving you a hearty round of virtual applause.  Thank you for your participation and I stand humbled by your encyclopedic knowledge of Blaxploitation trivia.

I hope you all return next week, because we just might see what Pastor has in store for The Duke.

- JEP

This particular strip started out in a very different direction.  It opened and closed on action, but then I realized I was missing something:   I needed to hear Alicia Patterson’s voice.  We’d gone twenty-three strips without Alicia ever saying anything.  I wanted her to say something, but I wish her first words could have been more profound.  I moved the strip I originally was going to use this week to next week.  Alicia does indeed have a lot more to say next week, but it’s in a very different, angry context.  I didn’t want her first words to be spoken in anger.  Does that make sense?  To me, it just seemed more fair to her as a character.

Anyway, this gave me the room to work in some character stuff, like Alicia’s work ethic, her initial realization that everything’s not kosher with Charles, Ned and Tuck, and I also got to include an indication of Charles Bouchier’s particular fetish that pays off something I introduced in Episode 11 .

Finally, yesterday, I accidentally posted the blog update I had intended for Friday.  I’m running a contest in honor of the new Blaxploitation film, Black Dynamite that is coming to a theater near you on October 16th.  Check out the trivia questions, send in your answers, and maybe you’ll have the chance to fight smack in style.

- JEP

This has been a huge week for me.   Again, I’d like to thank Warren Ellis for mentioning WORLD OF HURT in his column, and I’d like to thank all the people coming from Bleeding Cool who took the time to stop by.  I hope you see enough to convince you to come back again to see how this tale unfolds.

Now I think the circumstances of Alicia Patterson’s death are becoming clear, including the extent of The Duke’s complicity in the matter.  Strangely enough, The Duke started as a throwaway character, but he evolved into an immoral, unsympathetic,  yet oddly tragic figure, with a central role in the story.  Nonetheless despite what you think you know, stick around, because there are more revelations at hand, plus there’s still the matter of Pastor dispensing righteous street justice to the responsible parties.

- JEP

Welcome to the latest installment of WORLD OF HURT!

All the questions you had about the death of Alicia Patterson will be answered soon…one way or another.  The title of today’s chapter comes from an old phrase I first heard in a Constitutional Law class, and I thought it was appropriate as Pastor finally gets to the bottom of the mystery and begins to dispense justice.  I thought it was a legal phrase, but like most great quotes, it has its origins in Shakespeare, specifically The Merchant Of Venice: “…[T]ruth will come to light; murder cannot be hid long; a man’s son may, but at the length truth will out.” 

I wanted to thank everyone for their kind words of support last week regarding our dog, Scout.  It really meant a lot to Noelle and me, and I’m sorry I wasn’t able to respond individually to each post this time.  We’d been wrestling with our decision for a few weeks, and although we know we did right by her, it didn’t make the decision any easier.  We were with Scout until the very end, and we are indebted to Dr. Allen and the staff of St. Andrews Animal Clinic for helping us through the process.

Thanks again, and I’ll see y’all on Friday with a new post!  Also, while I was out of town, I had very limited e-mail access (the hotel charged $.59 per minute), so I’m still sorting through my e-mail from last week.  If anyone sent me a message, I’ll get back to you before the end of this week.  Thanks for your patience.

- JEP

I promised to bring the pain this week, and hopefully I delivered.  The “Sunday-strip” format I used back in Episode 15 was pretty popular, so I thought I would return to it this week.  Strangely enough, in a weekly adventure strip, action sequences seem to slow down the forward momentum of the plot, so the Sunday-strip format also helped dispense with the violence at a more rapid pace.  You may also notice that I added a recap caption box in the first panel for the benefit of newer readers and to refresh the memory of longtime followers of WORLD OF HURT.

On a sidenote, I’ll be in Chicago for the rest of this week, so I won’t be on hand to moderate, or respond, to comments.  However, please feel free to drop me a line or two, and I’ll have something to look forward to when I return.

Have a good week, everyone.

- JEP