Finally, we introduce Pinky. While the name of the character was stolen from the movie “Running Scared” (underrated policy comedy with Billy Crystal), he is obviously modeled on Quentin Tarantino, in his trademark Reservoir Dogs/Pulp Fiction black suit, black tie, white shirt ensemble.
The Cardinal was one of the first characters I designed as he was inspired from a high school memory. Two of my buddies came up with these two mobster characters, named Big Papa and String Bean. Big Papa was the quintesssential, stereotypical, cardboard version of a mobster, a poor man’s Don Corleone, if you will. He stayed in mind all these years until I started drawing Tabasco Lang.
I was never completely happy with the character design of Morrie. In a world of men and women dressed like in a 1940s gangster movie, I saw him as an anachronism: half beatnik, half hippie. Besides, how many black characters appear in those old movies?
Wikipedia defines a “speakeasy” as “an establishment which illegally sold alcoholic beverages during the period of United States history known as Prohibition (1920-1933, longer in some states).” I had heard/read the term used generically in so many books and movies that it seemed to be the perfect self-referential title for the combination club/mob headquarters. Imagine if you will a 1930s version of The Sopranos’ “Bada Bing!”. Although we don’t spend too much time inside, I imagine it full of illegal booze, cigarette girls with a hidden back room for gambling.
Another page with no backgrounds!
I absolutely cannot remember where I got the idea to call the accountant “Catfish” but I still like that name.
The great thing about being influenced by Frank Miller’s Sin City is that you never have to worry about drawing backgrounds. Just go black! So simple! The truth is that I did get a little bored with this and by Chapter 2, I was playing with some unique black and white backgrounds with varying degrees of success.
For some reason, I find that Tabasco looks like Jack Palance in panel #3.
Parker, part 3
Richard Stark (pseudonym for Donald E. Westlake) rarely wastes any time getting to the action. The first sentence of many chapters (and a few books) show the reader that action comes first and we ain’t wasting any time on introductions. The only question you have is whether Parker is on the giving or receiving end of whatever violence is occurring.
“When the woman screamed, Parker awoke and rolled off the bed.” (first sentence of The Outfit) “When the guy with asthma finally came in from the fire escape, Parker rabbit-punched him and took his gun away.” (from The Mourner) “When he didn’t get any answer the second time he knocked, Parker kicked the door in.” (from The Seventh)And if books/chapters begin with such a harsh, unforgiving dose of violence, they don’t end any differently:
“They tied him and left him in a closet. They never did remember to go back.” (from The Mourner)Hmmm. When you read all these sentences back-to-back, it doesn’t make for a very happy world Parker lives in. And it’s not.
Parker, part 2
I love talking about the Parker novels and it’s a love for the gritty crime drama that no doubt drew me to creating a character like Tabasco Lang. If it wasn’t for the comedic element of this comic, I’d no doubt have made the character more like Parker.
There are two things you realize about Parker pretty darned quickly: (1) he can be violent when necessary; and (2) he’s a man of few words. (We’ll talk about the former next time around.) In this, he greatly differs from Tabasco Lang. He will never speak unless words are absolutely necessary and he absolutely despises those who talk more than they should: “All this talk was a waste of time” (from The Mourner).
Over the course of the novels, it’s easy to compare women Parker appreciates (“Her style was very much like Parker’s own, silent and self-contained. They spent hours in the same room without either saying a word.” from The Seventh) to those he didn’t care for as much: “The only thing wrong with her was that she talked too much” (from The Outfit).
Even if Parker doesn’t say much, he will still reserve one of his few outbursts for a witty repartee, always uttered in as few syllables as possible:
“I’ve forgotten your name. Resnick told me but I’m sorry, it slipped my mind.” “Parker. It won’t again.” (from The Hunter) “I’m sorry. I don’t know what you’re talking about.” “You don’t have to,” Parker said. (from The Hunter)Even the very first sentence of the very first book says something of Parker’s less than loquacious nature: “When a fresh-faced guy in a Chevy offered him a lift, Parker told him to go to hell.” (from The Hunter)
Next time: Parker gets violent.
As I mentioned in an earlier post, I recently discovered the world of Parker. Of all possible inspirations for Tabasco Lang, be it from books, movies or comics, there is no single character who resembles him more than Parker.
Parker, hero (or rather, anti-hero) of the series of short novels by Richard Stark, is a “heister by profession, an institutional robber who stole from banks or jewelry stores or armored cars” rather than a hired gun, but in all other respects, he is the character that Tabasco was born to spoof. Let’s see how Stark himself describes Parker, and tell me these descriptions wouldn’t suit Tabasco equally well:
“His hands, swinging curve-fingered at his sides, looked like they were molded of brown clay by a sculptor who thought big and liked veins. His hair was brown and dry and dead, blowing around his head like a pour toupee about to fly loose. His face was a chipped chunk of concrete, with eyes of flawed onyx. His mouth was a quick stroke, bloodless.” (from The Hunter, first of the Parker novels) “He looked like a businessman, in a tough business. (…) He could have been a hard, lean businessman coming home from a late night at the office.” (from The Mourner) (To Parker) “They tell me you’re the best. They tell me you can keep an operation together better than anybody, and you can get the best men to work with you.” (from The Score)Next time: The biggest difference between Parker and Tabasco is that Tabasco actually talks. He probably says more in chapter 1 than Parker does in all 23 novels he appears in.
