First, I want to assure all readers I love John Lennon, I love his music, if I had a musician’s picture on my wall it would be John Lennon. I do not believe John Lennon would actually end up in Hell.
Then why is Lennon a lackey of the devil in Dodge the Bullet? Because I wanted to add a devil on Rick’s shoulder to offset the angel on his other shoulder (Elvis) and I needed someone with stature enough to be equal to Elvis. That makes the list a mighty short one.
Initially it was going to be Robert Johnson but while he’s iconic in certain (blues) circles I didn’t think he was iconic enough in the mainstream sense of the word. And while every now and then I mention non-mainstream acts, Dodge the Bullet tends to focus very strongly on the known.
Then I moved on to metal, which I thought would be thematically perfect (and I thought whichever metal dude I used fans would actually be kind of happy to see him down there). So, it was perfect. Until I realized the only Metal dude Iconic enough was still alive. And just won’t die. Ozzy Ozbourne.
(I love Ozzy. I don’t want Ozzy to die. He’s a treasure. I’m just saying if he was dead I could have used him in this context).
Jimi Hendrix? A possibility, and certainly iconic enough but didn’t feel his personality would match up well with Rick’s.
So, I was left with only one choice: Jim Morrison.
I liked his voice, I thought his out there persona would contrast nicely with Rick and irritate the heck out of Elvis and I thought he had an iconic enough look that people would know who he was everytime I used him.
But… it’s Lennon.
Why? My best friend thought Jim Morrison wasn’t iconic enough and pushed me to pick someone else. Someone bigger. And then I came up with Monday’s joke and just knew it had to be John Lennon.
This was planned out last year (I know where Dodge the Bullet is going on a month to month, year to year basis but if you want to know what Tuesday’s strip is I can’t help you because I don’t actually know yet), I’ve read a couple of biographies on Lennon, I’ve watched masses of interviews and I think I can make it work.
My only real concern is that John Lennon and Rick Dodge are almost shockingly similar in terms of the way they approach humor, what they find funny. (Lennon when asked if Ringo was the best drummer in the world said; “In the world? He’s not even the best drummer in the Beatles.” Now, that is a Rick Dodge type joke right there). That part will be tricky.
I want to end on this; every character in Dodge the Bullet goes through some crap (Rick has died four times, lost his wife, lost his best friend, lost his kids for awhile, lost his money), so Lennon will naturally go through some stuff and when that happens I want you all to remember: his presence is not my fault.
It’s my friend’s. Blame him.
Thank you very much for reading,
Steve
