Everything is Interesting
Modesty Blaise is a British comic strip featuring a fictional character of the same name, created by Peter O’Donnell (writer) and Jim Holdaway (art) in 1963.
The strip follows the adventures of Modesty Blaise, an exceptional young woman with many talents and a criminal past, and her trusty sidekick Willie Garvin. It was adapted into films made in 1966, 1982, and 2003 and a series of 13 novels and short story collections, beginning in 1965.
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Vampirella is a fictional character, a comic book vampire heroine created by Forrest J Ackerman and costume designer Trina Robbins in Warren Publishing’s black-and-white horror comics magazine ‘Vampirella’ #1 (1969). Writer-editor Archie Goodwin later developed the character from horror-story hostess, in which capacity she remained through issue #8 (1970), to a horror-drama leading character. As comics historian Richard J. Arndt describes, ‘Forrest Ackerman created, or at least had a strong hand in creating, Vampirella and he clearly had a major influence in shaping the lighthearted bad-girl story style of this issue as well.’ Vampirella was originally presented as an inhabitant of the planet Drakulon, a world where people lived on blood and where blood flowed in rivers. Draculon orbits twin suns that were causing droughts across the planet, marking certain doom for Vampirella and her race. The race of which Vampirella was born, the Vampiri, were able to transform themselves into bats at will, sprout wings when required, and drink blood.
The story begins with the inhabitants of Drakulon dying slowly due to the drying up of its blood. The last few lie dying when a spaceship from Earth crashes on the planet. Vampirella, sent to investigate, is attacked; retaliating, she discovers that the astronauts have blood in their veins. In order for her race to survive, she manages to pilot the ship back to Earth where her adventures begin. Vampirella becomes a ‘good’ vampire, and devotes her energy to ridding our world of the homegrown ‘evil’ kind.
In the folklore of the Chiloé Island in southern Chile, the imbunche [im-boon-chay] is a legendary monster that protects the entrance to a warlock’s cave. According to legend, the Imbunche was a male child kidnapped by, or sold by his parents to a Brujo Chilote (a type of sorcerer or warlock of Chiloé).
The Brujo chilote transformed the child into a deformed hairy monster by breaking his legs and twisting them over his back, applying a magic cream over the boy’s to cause thick hairs and, finally splitting his tongue to produce a forked, snake-like, tongue.
Charlie Kelly is a fictional character on the FX television series ‘It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia,’ portrayed by Charlie Day. Green Man is a persona assumed by Charlie wearing a green Lycra suit (morphsuit). The persona has spawned imitators, most notably at sporting events. Rob McElhenney, creator of ‘It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia’ came up with idea after watching the Philadelphia Eagles defeat the Dallas Cowboys at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia. Without warning, in the parking lot after the game, a friend of McElhenney’s stripped off his clothes and donned a full-body green lycra suit.
McElhenney said: ‘Everyone started chanting, ‘Green Man! Green Man!’ It went on for several hours, and all I could think was, My God, there has to be a way I can take advantage of this on the show.’ When McElhenney returned to Los Angeles, he ordered a suit from Japan that was identical to the outfit that McElhenney’s friend had worn. The character made his debut the next season in an episode entitled ‘The Gang Gets Invincible,’ which centered on three of the show’s central characters trying out for the Eagles, just as they had seen in the film ‘Invincible.’
After consuming large amounts of sugar or caffeine, Beavis sometimes undergoes a radical personality change, or psychotic break. He will raise his forearms in a 90-degree angle next to his chest, pull his shirt over his head, and then begin to yell or scream erratically, producing a stream of gibberish and strange noises, his eyes wide. This is an alter-ego named ‘Cornholio,’ a normally dormant persona. Cornholio tends to wander aimlessly while reciting ‘I am the Great Cornholio! I need TP for my bunghole!’ in an odd faux-Spanish accent. Sometimes Beavis will momentarily talk normally before resuming the persona of Cornholio. Once his Cornholio episode is over, Beavis usually has no memory of what happened.
In the guise of Cornholio, Beavis becomes a successful beat poet (Buttniks), and in ‘Vaya Con Cornholio’ he is deported to Mexico after wrongfully being subjected to immigration detention by an agent of the INS. During his detention the agent and his superior attempt to make sense of the gibberish that is Cornholio, going so far as to look up the definition of ‘bunghole.’ In that same episode, he claims to be from Lake Titicaca, but when asked where it was, he responded with ‘Nicaragua,’ despite the fact that Lake Titicaca is in Peru/Bolivia.
Luba is a comic book character created by Los Bros Hernandez, featured mainly in the ‘Love and Rockets’ series by these authors. She first appeared in ‘BEM,’ found in the ‘Love and Rockets’ collection ‘Music for Mechanics.’ Created by Gilbert Hernandez, Luba was the protagonist for his main contribution to Hernandez Brothers groundbreaking indie comic ‘Love and Rockets.’ Based largely in a small Central American village named Palomar, the Luba stories follow the progress of Luba and her ever increasing family through the years. Gilbert developed a rich cast of residents, who over the years developed an intricate series of relations with each other.
From the outset Luba is portrayed as a beautiful, fiery-tempered woman with enormous breasts and an eye for younger men, often depicted in random panels inexplicably carrying a hammer. This, in conjunction with Jaime Hernandez’ ‘Maggie and Hopey’ tales, differentiated ‘Love And Rockets’ from other comics in that the principal characters were all strong women who, whilst being independent, were also fallible. Through some twenty odd years Gilbert has taken the character of Luba through her infancy as the illegitimate child of a woman married into organized crime, through to life as a middle-aged migrant to America. The bulk of the tales dealt with what happened after Luba and her family moved from Palomar to California to escape the mafia and be near her half sisters Fritz and Petra. These stories comprise the books that make up the Luba Trilogy: ‘Luba in America,’ ‘The Book Of Ofelia’ and ‘The Three Daughters.’
Captain America is a superhero that appears in Marvel Comics. The character first appeared in 1941, from Marvel Comics’ predecessor, Timely Comics, and was created by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby. For nearly all of the character’s publication history, Captain America was the alter ego of Steve Rogers, a sickly young man who was enhanced to the peak of human perfection by an experimental serum in order to aid the United States war effort. Captain America wears a costume that bears an American flag motif, and is armed with an indestructible shield that can be thrown as a weapon.
An intentionally patriotic creation who was often depicted fighting the Axis powers of World War II, Captain America was Timely Comics’ most popular character during the wartime period. After the war ended, the character’s popularity waned and he disappeared by the 1950s. He was reintroduced during the Silver Age of comics when he was revived from suspended animation by the superhero team the Avengers in 1964.
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Fray Tormenta (b. 1945) is a Mexican priest who supported an orphanage for 23 years as a lucha libre wrestler. While performing, he wore a red and yellow mask. He is largely retired from wrestling, making only sporadic in-ring appearances, but still wears his mask even in his duties as a priest. Fray Tormenta means ‘Friar Storm’ in English. Father Sergio Gutiérrez Benítez had long been inspired to become a masked luchador after watching two 1963 Mexican films, ‘El Señor Tormenta’ (‘Mister Storm’) and ‘Tormenta En El Ring’ (‘Storm In The Ring’) both of which featured the story of a poor Mexican priest who supported the children of his orphanage by fighting as a lucha libre wrestler at night.
At age 22 he became interested in the priesthood and was inducted into the Piarists Order. His theological training took him to Rome, and then Spain, and for a while he taught philosophy and history at Roman Catholic universities in Mexico. He later became a secular priest in the Diocese of Texcoco, where he founded an orphanage. In need of money to take care of the children, the father became the masked wrestler known as Fray Tormenta. During that time he never let anyone know of his identity as a priest, explaining ‘No one would have taken me seriously as a wrestler had they known I was a priest.’
Raoul Duke is the fictional character and antihero based on Hunter S. Thompson in his autobiographical novel ‘Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.’ The book was originally written under the name Raoul Duke. He is the main character and narrator of many of Thompson’s stories, novels, and articles, often taking part of events in Thompson’s life in Thompson’s place.
He is portrayed as a cynical, eccentric hedonist. He is in a near-perpetual state of intoxication on whatever drugs happen to be available, ranging from marijuana to amyl nitrite to adrenochrome. He usually obtains and consumes these substances in the company of his attorney, Gonzo, a half-crazed 300 pound Samoan, whose drug-induced frenzies give even Duke pause. Thompson based Gonzo on his friend the civil rights lawyer Oscar Zeta Acosta.
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Dr. Octagon was a fictional character created by American rapper Keith Thornton, better known as Kool Keith. First appearing on Thornton’s 1996 debut solo album, ‘Dr. Octagonecologyst,’ Dr. Octagon is an extraterrestrial time traveling gynecologist and surgeon from the planet Jupiter. Thornton performed and released three albums under the alias. The character was murdered by another of his characters, Dr. Dooom on Thornton’s 1999 album ‘First Come, First Served,’ and was briefly revived before once again being killed on Thornton’s 2008 album ‘Dr. Dooom 2,’ in response to the release of ‘The Return of Dr. Octagon,’ an album largely produced without Thornton’s involvement.
In Dr. Octagonecologyst, Dr. Octagon is described as having yellow eyes, green skin, and a pink-and-white Afro. Further tracks detail a list of services offered by Octagon, who claims to treat chimpanzee acne and moosebumps, and relocate saliva glands. Octagon is described as being incompetent, as many of his surgery patients die as he conducts his rounds. He often engages in sexual intercourse with female patients and nurses. Octagon’s uncle, Mr. Gerbik, is described as being half shark, having the skin of an alligator, and is 208 years old.
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The Maschinenmensch [muh-sheen-en-mench] (German: ‘machine-human’) from ‘Metropolis,’ is a gynoid played by German actress Brigitte Helm in both her robotic and human incarnations. The haunting blank face and pronounced female curves have been the subject of disgust and fascination alike. The Maschinenmensch has many names given her through the years : Parody, Ultima, Machina, Futura, and Robotrix. The Maschinenmensch’s back story is detailed in Thea von Harbou’s original 1927 novel. It is described as a very delicate, but faceless, transparent figure made of crystal flesh with silver bones and its eyes filled with an expression of calm madness. Futura is perfectly obedient and the ideal agent-provocateur, able to become any woman and tempt men to their doom.
The memorable transformation scene was an early miracle of special effects, using a series of matte cutouts of the robot’s silhouette and a number of circular neon lights. All effects were filmed directly into the camera rather than edited separately. As a result the film had to be rewound and exposed many tens of times over to include the plates showing the heart and circulatory systems as well as cuts between the robot form and Maria showing her gradual transformation. The Maschinenmensch is an archetypal example of the Frankenstein complex, where artificial creations turn against their creator and go on a rampage. Artificial beings with a malevolent nature were a popular theme at the time. Original designs by Ralph McQuarrie for C-3PO in Star Wars were largely based on the Maschinenmensch, albeit in a male version. The design was later refined, but retains clear Art Deco influences.
The Noid was an advertising character for Domino’s Pizza in the 1980s. He was a villainous red-suited imp, with red rabbit ears who attempted to ruin Domino’s pizza but was constantly thwarted. Commercials that featured the character used the slogan ‘Avoid the Noid!’ As part of the advertising campaign, a computer game was released in 1989 called Avoid the Noid. The object of the game is to deliver a pizza within a half-hour time limit, in an apartment building swarming with Noids. In 1990, Capcom released a different video game, Yo! Noid, for the NES.
In early 1989, Kenneth Lamar Noid, a mentally ill customer who thought the ads were a personal attack on him, held two employees of an Atlanta Domino’s restaurant hostage for over five hours. After forcing them to make him a pizza and making demands for $100,000, getaway transportation, and a copy of ‘The Widow’s Son,’ a conspiracy theory novel by Robert Anton Wilson. Noid surrendered to the police. After the incident had ended, police Chief Reed Miller offered a memorable assessment to reporters: ‘He’s paranoid.’ Noid was charged with kidnapping, aggravated assault, extortion, and possession of a firearm during a crime. He was found not guilty by reason of insanity.
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