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WORLD OF HURT – The Thrill-Seekers – Episode 39:
Despite the timeframe in which WORLD OF HURT occurs, I didn’t really have a political agenda when I started the strip. I just wanted to tell a good crime story against a somewhat familiar, but misunderstood, backdrop. However, as the strip evolved, I came to realize that overall, “The Thrill-Seekers” was a revenge fantasy built around a slave trade metaphor. The metaphor included the complicity of Black people in the acquisition and sale of their fellow Blacks (i.e. Duke The Pimp) and Alicia Patterson’s own harrowing version of the Middle Passage aboard Charles Bouchier’s yacht.
Once I recognized that my own…biases (for lack of a better term) were subconsciously finding their way into the strip, I felt more comfortable in inserting some more overt political messages. In this instance, it is my strong disdain for handguns. There are so many senseless, cowardly crimes committed with easily concealed handguns, that I didn’t really want to have Pastor glorify their use. Therefore, I decided to make it a running gag that whenever Pastor used one, or attempted to use one, things would go horribly wrong for him.
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- JEP
