Now I’m going to contradict myself.

As a fellow Bruce Lee fan, I think Badger would agree:
“A good fight should be like a small play, but played seriously.”

While he might not have hit the ‘big time’ outside of the Black Lotus tournament, he stood out as a great, if quirky “hero”. I am happy to see someone found his series worth reprinting in book form.

HULK SMASH? Please. Hulk is O.K. in my book but Spider Man kicked his butt with a knock knock joke. (Badger would’ve liked that!)

SPOILERS

Seeing, after all those issues of Badger throwing around the name Larry, the moment in which he suddenly meets the actual Larry for the first time in decades, was real powerful. My girlfriend just read this recently and damn near fell out of her chair.

SPOILERS END

I think the “tournament” style story goes back quite awhile, I mean look at Enter the Dragon. That said, I don’t want to spoil it for those who haven’t read it, but the way in which our heroes beat, and fluster, a martial arts expert is an incredibly fun little wrinkle.

As for “Badger Goes Berserk,” there’s a point about that which was made and dropped at the time, but I still have a sense of an opportunity missed. Badge either called people Larry or asked them, “Are you Larry?” In the early issues, it was stated that Larry was his REAL father’s name.

Yes, he’d been abused by his stepfather (Rollin Sykes), but it was his father, Larry, that he was looking for and talking to.

Baron … errr … slipped up, and in his eagerness to write the “origin story” of Norbert’s multiplicity, built the universe of “Larry the abusive step-dad.” Too bad. That story was so strong it could have stood on any man’s name, and left Larry as the basis for a continuing quest.

Brilliant, anyway.

“Hexbreaker” and the monthly issues that lead up to it are very like some manga, such as Bleach — the outsider, unlikely possessor of huge mana, who refuses to lose to the recognized elite. (Shamen King, too, uses the once-in-an-era tournament/combat model.

I don’t know enough about the development of manga to know whether there’s a Badger tribute there, or whether Baron had imbibed some Eastern archetypes and motifs along with his karate.

Anyone have a better grasp of where the roots lie?

I’d love to take a look at your blog if you wanna drop me a link!