Blackjack is Arron Day, a Black soldier of fortune living in a tumultuous time.
An era of hot jazz, ancient terrors, deadly quests, and a looming world war. Highly paid to beat the odds, he travels the globe battling powerful enemies, the ghost of his past, and the bigotry of his times. Blackjack was created by Alex Simmons.
Blackjack Character Profile
A Black man in his late twenties, or early thirties. Arron is a soldier of fortune, a human target, a professional adventurer, a challenger of death … a man alone.
Arron owns a brownstone house in the west 70s of Manhattan. How he acquired it (“a colored man in the 1930s”) is a mystery to some, and an irritation to many of his neighbors. The house is furnished with many antiques, and items from other lands. It is his sanctuary. From here he goes forth to face any danger, or retreats into isolation and peace.
Arron’s mother and father (Matthew and Sarah Day) were shot down in Spain, in 1923. Arron, then 15 years old, and his older sister Mary spent the next five years living there with family friends.
But in 1929 both returned to their birth place, the U.S., New York City. To Arron’s disappointment, they went their separate ways after that. Though he loves his sister, he has not seen much of her over the past six years. “You chose Daddy’s way,” Mary told him. “I just can’t stay and watch you die, too.”
Arron suspects that Mary is right. One day he will die, and for that reason he maintains some distance between them … and almost everyone else.
Habits: Smokes cigars. Carries his father’s vintage pistols, twin Walker Colts.
Blackjack Stories
1996: BlackJack Second Bite Of The Cobra
A tale of blood and vengeance set in the rip-roaring 1930s, this graphic novel stars Arron Day, alias Blackjack, an African-American soldier of fortune.
In this story line we meet Arron as an adult in New York City, while events a world away in Egypt cause him to return to his boyhood home in Cairo, where he is reunited with Silas Lincoln, a white man from Arkansas and his deceased father’s best friend. Together with the beautiful and exotic martial-arts expert Maryam and mercenaries Bo and Red, they seek long-overdue revenge on a charismatic Bedouin warlord known as The Cobra.
2000: Blackjack: Blood And Honor, The Graphic Novel
In Tokyo, 1935, Blackjack has taken on a dangerous mission. His assignment is to protect a Japanese dignitary who is haunted by a terrible secret and marked for death by those who are driving his country toward world war. Blackjack is soon pitted against spies, rebels, lies, bigotry, a secret order of warlords, and an elite force of the Japanese army. Before long Arron is battling not only to save his client, but also an innocent who will change his life, forever.
2014: Blackjack: Buried Secrets
Blackjack, aka Arron Day, is an African-American soldier of fortune in the tumultuous 1930s. He travels the globe battling powerful enemies, the ghosts of his past, and the bigotry of his time. In NIGHT OF FEAR, Arron is dropped into the northern regions of Scotland to protect a wealthy laird and his family from a curse that promises they will be destroyed by werewolves. Two have already died, their bodies torn to shreds, and as Arron falls deeper into the legend and the land, he wonders can a dark angel hold his ground against the hounds of hell?
2015: Blackjack: Shooters (Blackjack: The Adventure Of Arron Day) (Volume 2)
“Shooters” is a hard-hitting collection of globetrotting mysteries and adventures in the 1930s and their eerie reflection of the problems of our time. Bigotry, racial tensions, gun violence, greed and the challenge of seeing each other as human beings was as troublesome in the “dirty thirties” as it is now. From New York to Shanghai, Arron Day must use his wit, fists, and weapons to save lives, while battling armies, cults, and killers! It’s the 1930s … a good time for a dark hunter.
You can learn more about Blackjack at the character website – blackjackadventures.com and by following Blackjack on Facebook – facebook.com/BlackjackAdventures. You can purchase Blackjack: Second Bite Of The Cobra and the other stories on Amazon.
The Museum Of UnCut Funk has acquired the merchandise rights to Blackjack: Second Bite Of The Cobra.
You can purchase merchandise featuring Blackjack at the Museum Of UnCut Funk Store.
Alex Simmons
Alex Simmons is a professional freelance writer, teaching artist, and public speaker, as well as an arts & education consultant.
Simmons has penned over 17 middle school and YA novels. As a writer of comics and graphic novels, he has created and written the critically acclaimed adventure series, BLACKJACK, about an African-American soldier of fortune in the 1930s. He received the 2010 Glyph Best Writer Award for his work with Archie & Friends, especially, The Cartoon Life of Chuck Clayton (both series for Archie Comics). Simmons co-created an African-American hero for DC Comics’ Batman books, and chronicled several tales of Scooby Doo. He’s also created 12 interactive mysteries for the Tiger Toys electronic game WHO DONE IT (which received three educational awards).
For over 20 years Simmons has written (and in some cases also created) a number of juvenile mysteries under a variety of pseudonyms for many well-known publishers. He has penned articles for magazines; two educational documentaries; several stage plays; three movie novelizations for Disney and three biographies for Steck-Vaughn, including one on Denzel Washington.
Simmons is the founder and co producer of the annual KIDS’ COMIC CON (an age appropriate comic book convention for children, families, and educators), which has brought fun, art, literacy and science to children from New York to Africa.
Simmons is also the founder and curator of the COLOR OF COMICS art exhibition (containing images from artists around the globe) representing the portrayal of people of color in comics. This event was chosen by the American Embassy Dakar to be part of the Fessman International Cultural Arts Festival in Senegal Africa, in December 2010.
Simmons has been brought in as a guest speaker to talk about such matters as literacy, arts-n-education, diversity, and more. He’s given workshops on science and super heroes, journalism, and playwriting to students and teachers in varying socio-economic levels.
0 Comments