Comicbook beef in S.C.

There aren't very many "blaxpolitation" themed comics in print these days. So who'd have thought that two are currently being published in South Carolina?

I honestly don't know which came first, and I'm not just saying that so that I don't get killed in some dispute between these guys (you know how violent and antisocial comicbook artists can be — those guys are hardcore thugs.) One is titled Rachel Rage and is the work of John Aston and the other is titled World of Hurt, written and drawn by Columbia, S.C.'s Jay Potts. I recommend both of them, which you can read for free at their respective websites.

Last Sunday, at the HeroesCon in Charlotte, N.C,, the South Carolina blaxpolitation comicbook beef escalated when Potts drew the sketch you see above — which features Aston's character Rachel Rage proclaiming her love of World of Hurt. I was pretty sure Aston was reaching for that straight razor he keeps in his boot, but the crowd managed to keep the two artists apart (and out of jail.) Which is probably a good thing, because I hear Potts is the kind of guy who would bring a hand grenade to a knife fight. Shit could have got real bad, real quick.

NOTE: I've got a surprising amount of sketches from Aston over the years, and Potts is currently working on a sketch for me of Avery Brooks as Hawk, from the TV show Spencer for Hire (Brooks was the only reason I watched that show.) I'll post it when it arrives.

ANOTHER NOTE: Yes, most of this post is satire.

Interview with World of Hurt's Jay Potts

Comixfan.com has an interview posted with World of Hurt artist/writer Jay Potts. Jay talks a bit about the strip's first story arc "The Thrill Seekers," as well as the follow up "Black Fist." He'll be present at the annual HeroesCon in Charlotte, N.C., this year and will have a few goodies for sale

Check it out!

And sign up as a fan at World of Hurt's Facebook page.

2010 Glyph Comics Awards nominees

I don't spend a lot of time worrying about awards, whether they're mine or anyone else's. But I thought I'd pass along a few names from the recently announced Glyph Awards, billed as "The Language of the Black Comics Community." (Note: I'm awarding brownie points for using Mr. Terrific in the Glyph logo.)

Among the list of nominees are Jay Potts (mentioned in this blog post just yesterday) and my friend John Aston. John writes and draws a growing series of graphic novels about his heroine Rachel Rage, which you can find for sale here.


Follow this link to get a look at all the Glyph nominees.

Welcome to a "World of Hurt"

World of Hurt is an online comic strip written and drawn by Jay Potts. I'll let him describe the series for you:

"WORLD OF HURT is Super Fly meets The Equalizer.

WORLD OF HURT is the wayward step-child of Ernest Tidyman’s John Shaft and Alex Raymond’s Rip Kirby, desperately trying to live up to the greatness of his forebears."

Now, for the uninitiated, Potts has proven his street-geek cred by name-dropping Ernest Tidyman. If you are only familiar with Shaft via the movies, you really need to check out Tidyman's novels — the literary version is the definition of badass. Potts has also eaten a scorpion and has caught a rattlesnake with his bare hands. I met him last year at the HeroesCon in Charlotte, N.C., but luckily he didn't bring the snake with him.

Above are the first three strips from the World of Hurt series. You can catch up on the rest at worldofhurtonline.com. A collected edition is reportedly forthcoming.