DYNAMITE! DYNAMITE!
Black Dynamite is a series of comics written by Brian Ash, based on the film and cartoon of the same name, that chronicle the ass-kicking Kung Fu adventures of Blaxploitation Parody hero Black Dynamite.The first comic, a standalone titled Black Dynamite: Slave Island, was published in 2011 by Ape Entertainment and Ars Nova. A brief run of four later comics was published by IDW Publishing from 2013 to 2014. Many of them are set after the events of the film, and follow Black Dynamite after he left to Walk the Earth for several years.
This is some heavy troping...
- Bald of Evil: The Man and Two Swole, the only bald characters in the series, are both villains.
- Bankruptcy Barrel: Fixin' Ken, one of the people who lost their livelihood thanks to Black Dynamite's fights, is seen wearing one.
- Blaming "The Man":
- In Issue #2, The Man is a literal person, a high ranking member of the Illuminati who attempts to recruit Black Dynamite.
- Paul "the Pole" Monroe's death was a conspiracy organized by Chuck Taylor and Jack Purcell to make sure that no black athlete ever has a famous shoe brand of his own.
- Bond One-Liner: After the man-snake yells "I'm blind!" Black Dynamite kicks him off a cliff and says "And now you're dead too, sucker!"
- Burn Baby Burn: Rather than risk destabilizing the black community with athletic sneaker mania, Black Dynamite burns down the warehouse full of Paul "the Pole" Monroe's branded shoes.
- Combat Pragmatist: Having been trained in such a short time, the Tibetan monks don't have the pure Kung Fu skills that Black Dynamite or the man-beasts have, so they have no qualms about using buckets of boiling water, broken bottles, and switchblades.
- Community-Threatening Construction: The Illuminati wants to kill the members of a Tibetan monastery so they can turn the mountain they're on into a silicon mine.
- Conspiracy Kitchen Sink: The Man confirms that all the different rumors about shadowy cabals controlling world events are true.
- Continuity Nod:
- At several points in the series, Black Dynamite lets out a Big "NO!" reminiscent of his reaction to Cream Corn's death in the film.
- Black Dynamite has very in-depth knowledge of Greek mythology, as demonstrated by the Bat Deduction scene in the film.
- The Coroner Doth Protest Too Much: Paul "the Pole" Monroe's death, despite being caused by an obviously exploding car witnessed by an entire stadium full of people, is officially listed as a steroid overdose. Lampshaded by a newspaper headline in the comics:DOCS: DEAD POLE DIED OF O.D.
WIDOW: "HELL NO" - Every Car Is a Pinto: Subverted. A Ford Pinto is shown exploding for no particular reason, but it's later revealed to have been deliberately sabotaged.
- Fake Defector: Black Dynamite plays along with The Man's offer of joining the Illuminati right up until he gets his hands on a rocket launcher.
- Faking the Dead: Chuck Taylor is revealed to have faked his 1969 death for unspecified reasons.
- A Handful for an Eye: Black Dynamite defeats the man-snake by throwing dust in his eyes and kicking him off a cliff.Man-snake: Ssss-simpleton! The Order of the Illuminati cannot be defeated, the eye sees all!
Black Dynamite: [flings dust] How about now?
Man-snake: I'M BLIND! - Historical Domain Character:
- One recurring character is Alex Haley, best known as the author of Roots and The Autobiography of Malcolm X.
- Various celebrities in attendance at the LA Forum in Issue #4 include boxers Muhammad Ali, Joe Frazier, George Foreman, and Larry Holmes; singers Ike and Tina Turner; Reverend Jesse Jackson, and Howard Cosell. Evel Knievel also helps perform a stunt.
- The antagonists of that issue are Chuck Taylor and Jack Purcell, two white athletes best known for lending their names to famous shoe brands.
- Historical In-Joke: Much like the film and the cartoon, the comic is full of them:
- Black Dynamite fears that if the Illuminati takes over computer manufacturing, they'll put computers with tracking devices in the pocket of every man, woman, and child on the globe.
- Paul "the Pole" Monroe is killed by an explosion from a (seemingly) defective 1972 Ford Pinto. Later, a newspaper can be seen with the headline "PINTO STILL A GOOD BARGAIN."
- The future that Black Dynamite envisions caused by Paul Monroe's shoes parallels what does happen with Nike Air Jordans: namely, them being the subjects of fights, robberies, muggings, and murders throughout the black community.
- The Illuminati: They're shown to be very real, and are the overarching villains of the comic series.
- La Résistance: There's a secret movement to undermine the Illuminati and stopping their plans for world domination, including sympathetic agents within the Illuminati itself.
- Leaning on the Fourth Wall: Black Dynamite describes his mission in Issue #3 as sounding like something out of a comic book.
- The Mole: One of The Man's bodyguards is revealed to be part of the rebel alliance, and helps Black Dynamite escape from Guantanamo Bay.
- Multiple Head Case: Played with in Issue #3. The Man cheats death by having his head transplanted onto the body of a black convict, and it seems like this trope will be in play—right up until The Man orders the other head severed.
- No Celebrities Were Harmed: Los Angeles Lakers player Paul "the Pole" Monroe takes his name from New York Knicks player Earl "the Pearl" Monroe. The real Monroe didn't die in a tragic slam dunk stunt gone wrong, though.
- Only in It for the Money: Black dynamite doesn't join the rebel alliance because he believes in the cause or cares about what's right, but because he wants to be paid—and to have the money secretly wired to the black community.
- Perpetual Smiler: Literally every panel featuring The Man shows him with a full-blown Slasher Smile, even when he's talking.
- Pre-Mortem One-Liner: When Two Swole accuses Black Dynamite of choking during a fight, he strangles Two Swole to death wit his nunchuks while saying he's the only one doing any choking here.
- "Scooby-Doo" Hoax: A rather elaborate version in Issue #3. The Tibetan monks believe the monsters attacking them are ancient demons foretold to kill them all as part of the cycle of death and rebirth, but they're actually Genetic Abominations created by the Illuminati to convince the monks that the legend is true and to keep them from fighting back.
- The Shangri-La: The majority of Issue #3 is set in a mountainside Buddhist monastery in Tibet.
- Shout-Out:
- The group fighting to undermine the Illuminati is referred to as a rebel alliance.
- Black Dynamite describes himself as a hero for hire.
- When Black Dynamite and the monks fight the man-beasts, they quote lines from James Brown's "The Payback."
- The warehouse full of Paul "the Pole" Monroe's sneakers resembles the warehouse shot from Raiders of the Lost Ark.
- Stab the Salad: The female officer at Guantanamo Bay enters Black Dynamite's cell with a cart full of nasty-looking bladed instruments. It turns out she's a barber and cleans up his hair.
- Surveillance Station Slacker: Black Dynamite is able to fly into Tibet without issue because a Red Chinese airspace monitor is sleeping on the job.
- Tap on the Head: A rather comical example. Black Dynamite is knocked out by being hit in the head with a badminton shuttlecock.
- Unhand Them, Villain!: Two Swole picks up grandma Graham and her little grandson Keith. When Black Dynamite tells him to put them down, Two Swole responds by tossing them in the air.
- Villain Respect: Even after promising to kill him and everyone he loves, The Man still tells Black Dynamite "God, you're good..." after getting defeated and impaled.
- Walking Disaster Area: Alex Haley convinces Black Dynamite to leave the black community by pointing out all the destructive villains who show up to challenge him.
- Walking the Earth: Black Dynamite spends several years traveling the world as a drifter, eventually ending up in Cuba.
- Warrior Monk: Played with. The Tibetan monks were fighters centuries ago, but committed themselves to pacifism. It takes Black Dynamite to teach them how to be warriors once again.
- Weather-Control Machine: The Illuminati's first demonstration of power to Black Dynamite is by instantly making a thunderstorm stop.
- We Can Rule Together: The Man tries to recruit Black Dynamite into joining the Illuminati by offering him "wealth and power beyond your wildest imagination."
