The Enchanted Dagger

“Torchy” in our story is an homage to Torchy Brown, the feisty lounge singer created by comics pioneer Jackie Ormes way back in 1937!  Older than Superman!  Most of the characters in the Enchanted Dagger are, well, marginal I guess you could say.  I don’t figure anyone is going to be too bent out of shape if I give Roger Chalmers the special treatment.  Sadly-Sadly and Strecho might have a few fans out there but they mostly maintain their classic comic book villain identities.  But I will draw a distinction with Torchy Brown as I seems to me that Ormes’ work has a genuine historical significance.  I think it’s very important to try to be culturally sensitive when you’re making a comic about cultural insensitivities.

Sugar Kane is very loosely based on a character  from Lightening Comics’ “Fatman the Human Flying Saucer” .  Eunice Kane, called “Sugar” was Fatman’s love interest.  She owned a candy store, naturally.  The similarities to our Sugar Kane end there.

Finally, the song being sung in the back ground is based on the “Ballad of John Henry” the folk classic sung by just about all the greats of the blues tradition.  My take on it is about SteelJohn, of course, my John Henry stand in, who shovels coal instead of swinging the hammer.  The staging of that top panel is shamelessly based on a great Moebius drawing, I think from one of the LT Blueberry books.