E. Charles Tucker

writer. designer. and king of the monkeys.
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Of Monkeys and Men

Q: Why do you refer to yourself as "Trickster"? Isn't that kind of...negative?

I've always been fascinated with the Trickster archetype; some of my favorite childhood characters were Tricksters: Bugs Bunny, Pippi Longstocking, Brer Rabbit, Robin Hood. When I got older and delved into mythology, I was naturally drawn to them still - Loki, Anansi, Hermes, Coyote, Sun Wukong. Modern pop culture is filled with them, and they're some of the most loved (and despised!) characters in media: Jack Sparrow, Dr. Who; Bart Simpson.

So what is a Trickster?

The Trickster is the class clown, the rule breaker, the mischief maker, the cunning thief whose antics fail much more often than they succeed. But in those failures are valuable lessons to be learned, both about life and about ourselves. Despite appearing selfish Tricksters often feel righteous in their actions, believing that the end result of their plans and pranks will ultimately benefit all, not just themselves.

It's the Trickster who points out the flaws in our carefully managed societies. He rebels against authority, pokes fun at the overly serious, creates complex schemes and generally plays with the Laws of the Universe. He constantly questions the rules, and causes us to question these same rules. The Trickster appears when a way of thinking becomes outmoded, when old ways need to be changed.

My identity as Trickster is meant to reflect all of these concepts, but most strongly it's meant to convey a sense of both the creative spirit and the simple complexity involved in being able to laugh at yourself, whether your successes or failures.

What a Nimrod!

Jan05
by Trickster on January 5, 2011 at 4:00 pm
Posted In: Mythology, Religion, Writing

Grade "A" Nimrod

Why did I choose, of all possible names, the name “Nimrod” for my central character in the Nimrod the Hunter series?

I mean, it’s almost impossible to think of the name “Nimrod” and not associate it with someone who is acting a fool, an idiot, a moron. The name has become part of our culture, referencing anyone who acts foolishly. This cartoon is a perfect example of that, with an exasperated Calvin berating Suzy’s habit of deconstructing her sandwich before eating it as the act of a nimrod.

Which is odd, when you consider that the name belongs to one of the Biblical kings of old – a great-grandson of Noah, King of Shinar (Mesopotamia), in which resided the great cities of Babel and Uruk. He was known as a “might hunter before the Lord”, and as a “mighty one upon the Earth” – so how is it that the name of this great Hebrew king is now associated with buffoons and nincompoops?

To answer that, you have to look at another cartoon: Bugs Bunny. No, really.

In one of the Warner Bros. cartoon shorts, Bugs calls his perpetual antagonist – the hapless Elmer Fudd, a “poor little Nimrod”. Now, keep in mind that the creators of the Looney Toons characters were from New York City, and Jewish; early cartoons were not written for children, but for adults. Bugs was mocking the ineffectual Fudd, by comparing him to Nimrod – a “mighty hunter”. People mistook the meaning, and instead associated “nimrod” with words like schmuck, fool, idiot.

So, this wascally wabbit is responsible for the meaning of the word nimrod as we know it today. Which is a typically Bugs Bunny/trickster-like thing to do.

And exactly the reason why I kept the name.

I wanted a name that would act as a dichotomy to the intimidatingly large size of the character, and give him a reason beyond a gruff personality to become easily annoyed at others.  I thought about giving him a girlish name, but then the name Nimrod came to me and I thought: hmmm…

It works for me, on many levels – so I kept it.  Nimrod that I am 🙂

 Comment 

A Mighty Hunter Before the Lord

Dec31
by Trickster on December 31, 2010 at 9:35 am
Posted In: Comic Books, Inspiration, Movies, Writing

I’ve always been a big fan of western movies.  One that stood out from my childhood was the John Wayne 1971 classic, “Big Jake”.   Short synopsis: evil bandits kidnap kid – Big Jake’s  grandson – to hold for ransom.  He’s been gone for 18years, and comes back not to pay them off – but to get the kid back, by any means necessary. It’s a rough, tough as grit man’s man western with a running gag: Jake’s been gone so long, everyone thinks he’s been dead and isn’t afraid to tell him so.   His frustration at hearing this every time he shows his face is laughable, and obviously made a lasting impression on me.

More so was Big Jake’s larger-than-life personality.  One line he spoke tells you everything you need to know about the man:  “And now *you* understand. Anything goes wrong, anything at all… your fault, my fault, nobody’s fault… it won’t matter – I’m gonna blow your head off. No matter what else happens, no matter who gets killed I’m gonna blow your head off.”

That’s a man not to be fucked with, pardon my French.

Fast forward a few years. Comic books.  Of course I collected the usual Marvel and DC fare (Batman forever!), but I still fell in love with one comic that was a bit outside the box: Jonah Hex.

Hex is a bounty hunter in the Old West.  His horrible facial disfigurement and cynical, surly personality makes him an outcast from most of society – but his reputation as a fearless gunfighter earns him a disgruntled respect among his peers and enemies alike.  He had a personal code of honor, to always protect – and, if necessary, to avenge the innocent.  Heaven help you if you committed an atrocity against an innocent and Hex ended up on your trail.

In recent years, reading today’s urban fantasy/supernatural action novels I found myself wondering things like “Why doesn’t [insert hero name here] just blow the bastard’s head off? Quit chatting with the evil demon and K*POW, game over!”  It brought to mind the film version of Sin City, and the character Marv and I thought,  “That’s what they need to send after vampires and werewolves, someone with a kick-ass first attitude without all the fancy gadgets!”

Why, in fact, couldn’t *I* write that character?

I found myself envisioning a little bit of Marv, a lot of Jonah, and wrapped it all up in some Big Jake.  He had to have a don’t-fuck-with-me attitude, unashamedly so.  He’d carry a big gun, and not much else.  And of course, I needed a bit of diversity (being a person of “diverse color” myself), so he’d have that New York City swagger we’re all infamous for.

But what to call him…what to call him…

I recalled a name from my biblical readings, an ancient king known as “a mighty hunter before the Lord”.  Since my character was going to have biblical…inclinations…it made sense to give him a name drawn from that resource.

And so, Joshua Nimrod Bassou was born.

But why Nimrod, of all names? It goes back to Big Jake again.  I wanted to emulate that frustration in my character, to force him to restrain himself at the reactions of others when they hear his name.  Imagine this near-seven feet tall, intimidating figure…and you get to call him “nimrod”.

I don’t think he’d take too kindly to the smirks.  And smirk, you will.

So if Nimrod is a biblical king, why does it mean “moron” today?

More on that later.

 Comment 

Zombies R Us

Oct17
by Trickster on October 17, 2010 at 6:05 pm
Posted In: Events, Zombies

Yesterday I had the good fortune to participate in New York City’s ZombieCon flash mob for the first time, and I have to tell you it was a tiring blast! Just being able to “get my zombie on” was incentive enough, but to be able to join literally hundreds of other faux-infected in wandering Times Square (among other places) made it an event worth talking about.

By sheer luck, my picture (along with a friend’s) was featured in a local free daily, Metro NYC – which was kind of nice, having friends contact me to tell me they saw my undead-face in the news.

If I have any regret, it’s that I took the easy way out and did our makeup in the stereotypical halloween-ish zombie – more of a recent accident victim then a decomposed corpse.  I take some comfort in knowing that nearly everyone else there did the same, because let’s be honest – blood sells!  But if I had to do all over again (meaning, if I do it again this year) I’ll try to be much more putrid and gangrened, with more decomposition and less blood donor gone bad.

Rawr. Brains!

 Comment 
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My old blog site is no longer maintained, but I enjoyed writing it for a number of years and I thought it worthwhile to keep it on life support here: Dr3amc@tch3r

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