Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Name – Roger “Race” Bannon
Age – 32 (in 1966 – the year I was born)
Born – Willamette, Illinois
Parents – John & Sarah Bannon
Occupation – Government Agent, Bodyguard for Jonny Quest
Right handed (Not sure why this is important but what the hell?)
I’ve been doing nothing but writing for months. Mr. Assassin actually let me out of my cave for a little respite and here is the first thing that came to my Bombay-addled mind:
Is it wrong to be obsessed with a cartoon character? And when I say “obsessed” I must add that I’ve been this way since I was four years old (of course at that time he was 36 – but age is just a number).
Is that weird? How many of you are thinking of clicking away from this page now? Be honest.
I’ve been in love with Race Bannon since the first time I saw him fighting South American pygmies/lizardmen/Zulu warriors/Zin/invisible electricity monsters/poisonous snakes/a very slow-moving mummy/assorted indigenous folk who, no matter what language they speak, all yell “Aieeeeeeeee!,” a giant pterydactyl and monsters who were really some guy in a costume. (I always wondered who made those. You never saw the bad guy with a sweatshop full of women making weird clothing. And I can’t believe the evil minions had those skills – they could barely handle two-syllables at a time. I know this because they were always drawn with beer guts and broken noses.)
Oh yes! That prematurely snow white hair; tanned one-dimensional body; the red cossack shirt and gray slacks that didn’t really match (real men don’t care about fashion) and the ankle bootlets always tripped my trigger. Even when he was dyed purple by those berries he was hot. Oh, that wacky Benton Quest – not telling him the dye had to wear off! (I can see why they didn’t give him a woman bodyguard – she’d stab him in the head, then back over him with the Land Rover twenty or thirty times. At least, that’s what I would’ve done.)
Maybe it was his velvety, in-chargey voice. Or perhaps it was his way of saying, “I used to be pretty good with a bullwhip,” or “Let’s practice our judo!” I don’t know. But whatever it was, he had me at “Johnny, Hadji, you two stay here!”
That man could do anything, from driving a hovercraft, to impersonating a river god, to snapping necks like twigs, to cuddling that adorable dog, Bandit. Sigh. Did I ever mention that I wanted to initially name my son (Jack) Race Bannon? Well, until I found out there is an S&M author with that name. I’m serious. Look it up. That was a shock when I was googling “Race Bannon.”
I’ve always wanted to write a book on Race’s early years in the service – before he was assigned by some mysterious government agency to watch over the Quests. That is my FanFic fantasy. Who knows? Maybe someday I’ll actually do it. Do you think Hanna-Barbara would mind?
Well, back to work on I SHOT YOU, BABE (because no matter how hard I try, it won’t write itself for some &%$#! reason). You know…Craig Daniels (the inspiration for Coney Island Bombay) looks a little bit like Race Bannon. I never noticed that before. Hmmmm…