Chuck B “Public Enemy No. 1″

The third installment of my Pop Fiction series properly titled, Chuck B “Public Enemy No 1″, is another street take on some of America’s proverbial cartoon classic characters.  Seeing as how the famous Peanuts gang just turned 60 it seemed like the perfect anniversary note to take a stab at good ol Charlie Brown. As a youngster I was no stranger to the Sunday Comic strips and Peanuts was my go-to for quick witticisms on life’s otherwise ho-hum tragedy-takes with humor. Engrained in my grey-matter bank are the incestuous bantering and sharp recoils of frustration that consistently occurred with the white, giant, block-headed eight year old boy of TV’s most popular 80′s holiday cartoon specials. Charlie Brown’s main characteristic is either self-defeating stubbornness or admirable determined persistence to try his best against all odds. He just never seems to come out on top. Though his inferiority complex was evident from the start, he occasionally got in his own jabs when verbally sparring with Perpermint Patty and Lucy. Patty always called him “Chuck”, which I took as an innuendo on relating to front man Chuck D from 1980′s-90′s politically charged rap group Public Enemy. This is the so called ‘return of Chuck’ and he’s back with vengeance! Continuing on the play of long running gags from the cartoon strip I focused on Lucy’s most famous gimmick of trickery in which she pulls the football away from Charlie Brown right as he is about to kick it. I have to say that this joke annoyed me to the bone as a kid. You were always rooting for Chuck to come out on top. Lucy’s constant treatment of treacherousness toward Chuck was enough to make any young boy hate the overzealous, big black-haired antagonist. As the perpetual victim of Lucy’s wit  and sarcasm it was time to bring the ‘take no more bullshit’ man out of the white bread, life-despising boy. Chuck be is tatted up, pierced, and strapped for revenge. There are a few elements hidden in his ink that reference events and characters from the cartoon. His most famous reactive saying “Good Grief” is tattooed on the back of his head along with a serpent eating the “D” and a sinister demon face. The tongue lashes down to his neck where Peggy Jean is neatly calligraphed. She was Chuck’s only real girlfriend after meeting at summer camp. He just never had any luck with the ladies! Tatted on his forearm is perhaps my favorite quote that goes swimmingly with the full premise of this piece which appears as “The secret to life, replace one problem with another”. Below this is ‘Lucy’ with a knife and bone graphic. There is an ode to Snoopy with the Rest In Peace, pistols, and the quarky dogs notable red dog house. The owner and pet had their disagreements, but all in all I believe Snoopy was Chuck’s greatest allie in the war of life. The back piece would not be complete with a reference to perhaps the most infamous Peanuts cartoon holiday special, The Great Pumpkin. The best line from that particular show was “There are three things I have learned never to discuss with people: religion, politics, and the Great Pumpkin.” The Great Pumpkin was like the Keyser Söze of the Peanuts. I always foresaw this mythical holiday icon as something like a mob boss that all the kids worshipped. So, naturally Chuck B should have GP 4LIFE  as a tramp stamp. As with most of my Pop Fiction characterizations there is smoking, gun toting, and tattoos. When doing these pieces it is a fine balance of including elements that are ‘in your face’ for necessity along with hidden or strategically placed ingredients. There are so many versions of Charlie Brown floating around these days and all of them use his notorious yellow and brown zig zagged shirt in normal fashion. Bad ass Chuck B however would naturally have this tucked into his saggy draws rather than sporting it in common form. Promoting violence through cartoon strip characters?…it’s been happening since the advent of animation…let’s continue the barrage of comedy sin! Here’s more from the ‘Peanuts’ Gallery ‘