plogg

"Funk Rage", the third in the Sarva series, was featured in my small press comic, PLOGG #4 (November 2001). In part, it was a parody of Marvel's Luke Cage character, who exploded on the scene early in 1972 in HERO FOR HIRE, during the height of the Blaxploitation genre. Carl Lucas acquired bulletproof skin and super strength after participating in a scientific experiment gone haywire while in prison. Taking advantage of these unexpected abilities, he smashes his way through a brick wall, and the escaped convict sets up his own business in New York City's Times Square district as a "Hero for Hire", under the assumed name of Luke Cage. His office is above a repertory cinema, The Gem, operated by a young fella who went by the name "D.W.", after the famous director, D.W. Griffith.

For some reason the delirious powers that be gave the magazine a ridiculous new title, POWER MAN, with issue #17. Why any person with a shred of dignity would walk around calling themselves "Power Man" is beyond me. But one person really took umbrage at Cage's new moniker, a villain of the same name, who'd menaced the Avengers back in the '60s. In POWER MAN #21, the villain challenges Cage over the right to the name. Cage rearranges the poor fool's face -- destroying the Gem theatre for the umpteenth time in the process -- and on the last page of the story delivers a caution to his former namesake before he slips into unconsciousness:

"You can call yourself Spider-Man...you can call yourself the Invisible Girl...you can stick a flag in your navel and call yourself the Spirit of '76...but if you ever call yourself Power Man again...I will tattoo that name on your rib cage!"

The last page of "Funk Rage" was directly inspired by that little scene.

"Supermangle", a parody of a public service included in DC comics of the 1960s, appeared in PLOGG #3 (October 1998).

(See here for the 4th and last comic in the Sarva series, as well as a brief description of the character.)