In Jr. High School, my friend Justin McCarthy and I became obsessed with the French super villain, Batroc the Leaper. He was ridiculously verbose, even by Marvel standards, and he always ended up getting a savage beating without ever managing to offer much of a threat. The Wikkipedia entry on Batroc notes his ". . . stereotypical accent (Batroc ze Leapair), funny name, clumsy vocabulary with the tendency to insert whole French words (which are sometimes erroneous, such as mon capitan), Dali-like moustache, lack of superpowers, and apparent inability to win a fight. . ."
I still laugh for days when I start thinking about him. When I read this part of his biography, I actually started crying:
"Georges Batroc was born in Marseille, France, and served in the French Foreign Legion."
I suppose I mention all this, because I spent the morning working on a 3D character in Maya, to whom I gave the working title, "Batrocque," even though he has nothing at all to do with the real Batroc. Accept no substitutes. I love you, Jack Kirby.
