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The Ray is the name of four fictional characters, all superheroes in the DC Comics universe.

The first Ray was Lanford "Happy" Terrill, a Quality Comics character. When DC Comics later purchased Quality Comics, Happy Terrill was retconned as a member of the Freedom Fighters on Earth-2.^[1] Following DC altering much of its continuity and history in the storyline Crisis on Infinite Earths, Happy Terrill was now an inhabitant of the mainstream DC Comics universe and his son Ray Terrill became the second Ray. Later, the character Stan Silver briefly operated as the third hero called "the Ray." In the "New 52" relaunch of DC Comics, where continuity and history is again being restructured, a new character called Lucien Gates is introduced as the Ray. Although historically he is the fourth superhero character to use this name, in The Ray #1, set in a rebooted continuity, he refers to the origin of Happy Terrill as a story he had heard as a child.

Fictional character biography[link]

Lanford "Happy" Terrill[link]

Prior to the Crisis on Infinite Earths reboot, Happy Terrill was originally described as having been exposed to lightning and sunlight at the same time while ballooning, and gained energy-based super-powers.

His post-Crisis origin is more involved. Before World War II, the government established a secret group known as RONOL (Research on the Nature of Light). One RONOL member, Dr. Dayzl, theorized that the light that originated millennia ago where Earth now orbits would eventually circumnavigate the universe and return as a dangerous, conscious entity.

The only way to stop the "Light Entity," Dayzl believed, was to talk to it. Tricking a reporter named Happy Terrill into joining them, Dayzl and his assistants staged an upper atmosphere ballooning "accident," making certain Terrill was exposed to a genetic "light bomb." Dayzl calculated that Terrill's offspring would be a unification of human and light energy, a potential liaison to the Light Entity. Unaware of the truth, Terrill used his resulting powers to become the super-heroic Ray. Simultaneously, RONOL lost government backing due to Dayzl's unorthodox beliefs. Dayzl's fate remains unknown.

In 1950, after learning the truth, Terrill vowed to quit his Ray identity. Happy and his first wife, had a child named Joshua. For a time Joshua accompanied Ray on missions as his sidekick "Spitfire". However Joshua was prone to violent outbursts, he was place in suspended animation in the 1950s only to wake up again in the future, still only 10 years old. After a brief association with his old team, the Freedom Fighters in the 70s, he had married and settled down. Everything seemed normal until Happy saw his newborn son glowing with crackling energy in the hospital nursery. Happy was convinced Dayzl's theories were correct. He now knew his son would one day have the power to confront the Light Entity. Not wanting to put his wife through torment, Happy told her that the baby had died and then set up his son with a foster father (Happy's brother Thomas).

In the 2008 Freedom Fighters series, Terrill is asked by Uncle Sam to ask Neon the Unknown for help. When Neon, completely detached from humanity, refuses, Terrill drinks from the waters of his oasis, becoming a new Neon the Unknown, known simply as "Neon".

Ray Terrill[link]

Ray Terrill was told he was hyper-sensitive to light and exposure to sunlight would kill him. Privately tutored in his window-darkened home, Ray's most earnest wish was for normalcy. The media called him Night Boy. His only friend during his formative years was his neighbor, Jennifer Jurden. At eighteen, by his supposed father's deathbed, Ray learned his life was a lie. He was not allergic to light, nor did he have to live in darkness. Most disturbing of all, he discovered his true father was the 40s war-time super-hero, the Golden Age Ray.

Stan Silver[link]

The reformed Freedom Fighters have a member called the Ray, who has similar powers to the Terrills. The new Ray is Stan Silver. He was described by Justin Gray as being "capable of turning his body into a living laser light" and "the playboy of the group".^[2] Stan likes to show off in front of the media.

Working as a foreign correspondent for the Washington Sun, Silver was exposed to upper atmosphere radiation while covering a story, thus gaining power over various forms of light. Recruited by S.H.A.D.E., Silver begins using his powers in the service of his government. He is, however, something of a womanizing egomaniac in his civilian persona. Silver later defects from S.H.A.D.E. to join Uncle Sam's new group of Freedom Fighters.

In Uncle Sam and Freedom Fighters # 6, Silver reveals that he is a double agent still loyal to S.H.A.D.E. He turns on his teammates and kills the Invisible Hood. Immediately after, the colors of his "costume" were inverted, becoming blue instead of yellow.

In Uncle Sam and Freedom Fighters # 7, he battles his former teammates and is defeated by Ray Terrill, and is sent back to Father Time. He is later seen outside the White House with S.H.A.D.E.'s other super-soldiers, who join Father Time in the timestream after the battle ends.

Lucien Gates[link]

On September 16th, 2011, DC Comics announced a new mini-series starring the The Ray to be written by Palmiotti and Gray with art duties by Jamal Igle as part of their "New 52" relaunch.^[3] It will not focus on any of the previous incarnations of The Ray but instead center around a new character by the name of Lucien Gates. Remarks made by Lucien referencing Lanford's origin and his use of the Ray title in his debut issue indicate that he is not the first hero to be called the Ray as far as the newly rebooted DC universe is concerned. The mini-series is set to debut in December of 2011.

Lucien Gates is a Korean-American San Diego County Lifeguard who, while on duty was caught in the path of a particle beam. The beam, accidentally fired from a solar energy cannon commissioned by an unnamed government agency, mutated a number of living organism before striking Gates. The resulting energy transforms him into an energy manipulator, able to fly at superhuman speed, fire various energy beams and create illusions. Gates is also a Korean-American adoptee, a significant change from the previous incarnations of the character.

Powers and abilities[link]

• All versions of the Ray can absorb, store and process pure light and use the energy to fly and create dazzlingly strong and powerful bursts of light. In his Golden Age appearances, Happy Terrill was able to manipulate other forms of energy such as electricity and magnetism.
• The Terrills were also capable of manipulating and controlling light externally to create illusions and even solid light constructs, as well as render themselves invisible.
• Later in Happy's career (while mentoring/antagonising his son), he was shown to have a greater mastery of his abilities. For example, by using "solid light vibrations," essentially resonating the target's inner ear, he was able to approximate telepathic communication.
• Ray Terrill is capable of converting his body completely into light energy. No physical harm can come to him in this form. (Main article)
• Stan Silver's full abilities and powers are largely undocumented. As noted above, he is apparently "capable of turning his body into a living laser light."
• Lucien Gates can not become immaterial, rather the light forms a protective armor. In order to fly, Gates bounces off of reflective surfaces. His thought processes calculate hundreds of options, allowing him to redirect his path at lightspeed.

Other versions[link]

• In the final issue of 52, a new Multiverse is revealed, originally consisting of 52 identical realities. Among the parallel realities shown is one designated "Earth-10". As a result of Mister Mind "eating" aspects of this reality, it takes on visual aspects similar to the pre-Crisis Earth-X, including the Quality characters. The names of the characters and the team are not mentioned in the panel in which they appear, but a character visually similar to the "Happy" Terrill Ray appears.^[4] Based on comments by Grant Morrison, this alternate universe is not the pre-Crisis Earth-X.^[5]

• The 2007 series Countdown: Arena introduces several alternate versions of the Ray. On Earth-6, the former Atom (Ray Palmer) has become his world's Ray, a Nazi Ray exists on "Earth-10" and his closest Earth-50 parallel is prominent Wildstorm Universe character Apollo, a Superman pastiche who debuted in the early 90s. It is strange to note that on Earth-10, Ray's Freedom Fighters are supposed to be the opposition of the fascist JL-Axis (the fascist Ray's costume matches Ray Terril's new uniform, so the heroic Ray on the Freedom Fighters could be his father, Happy), and Apollo is more commonly viewed as a Superman parallel (he is placed with the Rays apparently due to his light-based powers).

• A version of the Ray appears in the book Kingdom Come as one of the heroes loyal to Superman. He is also mentioned in being instrumental in stripping the radiation out of the Kansas soil both for the construction of the Gulag and Superman's reclamation of the land at the end of the story. It is not specified which incarnation of the Ray this is, although in promo art he is referred to as Ray II. In the final issue of 52, the setting of Kingdom Come was designated Earth-22 in the new Multiverse.

In other media[link]

Television[link]

• The Ray makes several background appearances in the Justice League Unlimited animated series, although he is not given any lines. The Justice League Unlimited comic book established in #17 that this was Ray Terrill, and included Happy as a member of the Freedom Fighters.
• The Lanford Terrill version of Ray appears in the Batman: The Brave and the Bold episode "Cry Freedom Fighters" voiced by Tom Kenny.

References[link]

External links[link]

• Ray I Index
• Ray I Profile
• DCU Guide: Langford Terrill
• DCU Guide: Raymond Terrill
• Toonopedia: Ray profile

Look up ray in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Ray may refer to:

People:

• Raymond
• Ray (surname)
• Ray (given name)

In geography:

• Ray, Alabama
• Ray, Arizona
• Ray, Indiana and Michigan
• Ray, North Dakota
• Ray, Minnesota
• Ray County, Missouri, a county in the United States
• Ray Township, Michigan, a township in Macomb County
• Ray, Iran
• Ray, South Khorasan, Iran
• Ray Mountain, a volcano in British Columbia, Canada
• River Ray, two rivers in southern England
• Ray, a village in Ke Chong, Cambodia

In fiction:

• Ray (comics), a DC Comics character
• Ray (manga), a manga about a female doctor with X-ray vision
• Ray, a protagonist in Ray the Animation, a science fiction anime television series

In film:

• Ray (film), a 2004 movie biography of singer Ray Charles

In music:

• The Rays, an American musical group active in the 1950s
• Ray (Frazier Chorus album), an album by British pop band Frazier Chorus
• Ray (L'Arc-en-Ciel album), an album by Japanese rock band L'Arc-en-Ciel
• Rays (Michael Nesmith album), an album by former Monkee Michael Nesmith
• Ray (soundtrack), a soundtrack of the film Ray
• Ray (EP), an album by Japanese rock band Panic Channel
• "Ray" (song), a single by Swedish punk rock band Millencolin

Other:

• Ray (fish), a superorder of cartilaginous fishes
• Ray (fish fin anatomy), a bony or horny spine in the fin of a fish
• the Tampa Bay Rays, a Major League Baseball team
• Ray (geometry), part of a line which is finite in one direction
• Ray (optics), idealized narrow beam of light
• Ray (quantum theory), an equivalence class of state-vectors representing the same state.
• Ray (wrestler), Hong Kong professional wrestler
• Kia Ray, a prototype or concept car
• Medullary ray (disambiguation)
• USS Ray, a U.S. Navy vessel
• RAYS LX Linux Desktop Distribution
• Raha-automaattiyhdistys, a Finnish gambling service provider

See also[link]

• Radius (disambiguation)
• Radiation (disambiguation)
• Beam (disambiguation)

This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.

Ray Romano
Ray Romano at the Night of Comedy 9 benefit to support the Children Affected by AIDS Foundation (CAAF) in Beverly Hills, California on April 30, 2011. Photography taken by Angela Georgia.
Birth name	Raymond Albert Romano
Born	(1957-12-21) December 21, 1957 (age 54) Queens, New York, U.S.
Medium	Film, stand-up, television
Nationality	American
Years active	1989–present
Genres	Observational comedy, satire
Subject(s)	Everyday life, marriage, parenting, family, friends, self-deprecation
Influences	Bob Newhart[1]
Spouse	Anna Romano (1987–present)
Notable works and roles	Raymond Barone in Everybody Loves Raymond Manfred "Manny" in Ice Age film series Joe Tranelli in Men of a Certain Age
Website	RayRomano.com
Emmy Awards
Outstanding Comedy Series 2003 Everybody Loves Raymond 2005 Everybody Loves Raymond Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series 2002 Everybody Loves Raymond
Screen Actors Guild Awards
Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series 2003 Everybody Loves Raymond
American Comedy Awards
Funniest Male Performer in a Television Series (Leading Role) 2000 Everybody Loves Raymond

Raymond Albert Romano (born December 21, 1957) is an American actor, writer and stand-up comedian, best known for his roles on the sitcom Everybody Loves Raymond and in the Ice Age film series. He recently starred in the TNT comedy-drama Men of a Certain Age.

Early life[link]

Romano was born in Queens, New York, to Italian American parents: Lucie, a piano teacher, and Albert Romano (1925–March 2010), a real estate agent and an engineer.^[2] He grew up in the Forest Hills neighborhood of Queens.^[3] He has a brother named Richard A. Romano. Romano attended elementary and middle school at Our Lady Queen of Martyrs in Forest Hills. After transferring from Archbishop Molloy High School, Romano graduated from Hillcrest High School in 1975.^[4] He was in the same high school class as Fran Drescher and later appeared on Drescher's sitcom, The Nanny, as an old classmate. Before getting into show business, Romano briefly attended Queens College, in Flushing, New York, where he studied accounting. Romano quit after gaining only 15 credits in three years, but he would later return, however, making it to the Dean's List for three years.

Career[link]

His early comedy career started when he competed in the Johnnie Walker Comedy Search in 1989. His career included many outlets, such as Comedy Central, where he had been a recurring guest voice on the show Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist. He also was a contestant on Star Search in the stand-up comedy category. He originally was cast to play Joe (originally named Rick) on the American television sitcom NewsRadio, but was fired and replaced by Joe Rogan. He then appeared on Late Show with David Letterman doing his stand up routine which formed his ties with CBS. Shortly thereafter, he became the star of his own show, Everybody Loves Raymond on CBS, that featured a cast and format more suitable to Romano's brand of humor.

Romano and his comedian friend, Kevin James, starred in the salesman comedy, Grilled, as two guys of the same profession who are both very desperate to land a big sale. Romano was featured on a 2000 episode of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, on which he won US$125,000 for the NYPD's D.A.R.E. Unit. His older brother, Richard Romano (born in 1956), is a sergeant with the NYPD, and he has a younger brother, Robert Romano (born 1965).

In 2001 Romano was named one of E!'s top twenty entertainers of the year. That same year he was featured with his brother (a teacher at a school in Long Island) on a New York Police Department recruiting poster. In 2004 he became the highest-paid television actor in history for his role of Raymond on CBS's Everybody Loves Raymond. It was later revealed on E! that he had broken another record by his show having the highest revenue at US$3.9 billion.

On December 13, 2003, Romano was featured as a special guest star, sending a birthday card to Bob Barker in his eightieth-birthday bash on the twenty-seventh "Million Dollar Spectacular" special of the long-running daytime CBS series The Price Is Right.

Romano was the subject of the documentary film, 95 Miles to Go. The film documents Romano's road-trip for a series of rides across the south of the United States. The film was released in theaters on April 7, 2010, by ThinkFilm.^[5] In August 2006 Romano was interviewed in front of a live audience at UCLA by fellow stand-up veteran, David Steinberg, for an episode of Sit Down Comedy with David Steinberg. The program first aired on the TV Land network in March 2007.

Romano returned to television with a new dramedy for TNT in 2008, Men of a Certain Age, which he co-created with former Everybody Loves Raymond writer, Mike Royce. It co-starred Scott Bakula and Andre Braugher.

Romano made an appearance in the seventh season of NBC show The Office as Merv Bronte, an anxious job applicant interviewing for the job left vacant by Michael Scott.

Romano made an appearance in the third season premiere of ABC sitcom The Middle as Nicky, a friend of Mike, who ruined his and Frankie's honeymoon. Romano was the second actor from Everybody Loves Raymond to be reunited with Patricia Heaton on The Middle. Doris Roberts (who played his mom Marie on Everybody Loves Raymond) guest starred in three episodes in the second season as Ms. Rinsky, Brick Heck's third grade teacher, who dislikes Frankie.

Personal life[link]

Romano at the 2010 World Series of Poker main event

Romano married his wife, Anna, on October 11, 1987. They met while working at a bank together. They have four children: one daughter, Alexandra (born 1990), and three sons: twins Matthew and Gregory (born 1993), and Joseph Raymond (born February 16, 1998). He is not related to King of Queens actor Larry Romano.

Romano's on-screen daughter for Everybody Loves Raymond was named after his real-life daughter. Also, in the series pilot, Ray and Debra's twin boys were named after Gregory and Matthew, Romano's real twin sons, but Romano felt it was too weird to have all his TV kids have the same names as his real kids, so they changed the twins' names to Geoffrey and Michael on screen.

Romano's family has made various appearances in the show. Romano's real-life daughter Alexandra "Ally" Romano made several appearances on Everybody Loves Raymond as Molly, the best friend of his on-screen daughter, Ally, and the daughter of Ray Barone's arch-nemesis, Peggy the Cookie Lady. Romano's father, Albert Romano, has made various appearances as "Albert", one of Frank Barone's lodge buddies in various episodes such as "Debra at the Lodge", and "Boys' Therapy". Romano's brother, Richard Romano, has appeared in the episodes "Golf For It", "Just a Formality" and "The Toaster".

Romano competed in the 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, and 2011 World Series of Poker.

In early 2010 Romano starred in the second season of The Golf Channel's original series The Haney Project in which Tiger Woods' former coach, Hank Haney, attempts to improve the golf games of different celebrities and athletes. Charles Barkley starred in the first season. Romano's goals are to finish the show being able to break 80.^[6] Romano took time off from the show to be with his father, Albert Romano, who died in March 2010. The show resumed on May 24. Romano is also a regular competitor in the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am; where he finished fifth in 2012 with partner, Australian professional Steven Bowditch. It was the first time Romano had qualified for the final round after failing to do so on 11 successive occasions, previously.

In February 2012 Romano revealed that his wife, Anna, had successfully battled stage one breast cancer in 2010. Romano told People magazine that "the reason we're going public is to share our experience, yeah, but to have an effect. Our goal is to help people."^[7]

Filmography[link]

Writing credits[link]

[edit] Everybody Loves Raymond

In addition to his roles as star and producer of Everybody Loves Raymond, Romano also co-wrote the following episodes:

Season One

• "Why Are We Here?" (with Tom Paris)

Season Two

• "Golf" (with Tom Caltabiano and Kevin James)
• "The Wedding" (with Philip Rosenthal)

Season Three

• "Ray Home Alone" (with Tucker Cawley)
• "How They Met" (with Philip Rosenthal)

Season Four

• "Debra's Workout" (with Tom Caltabiano and Mike Royce)
• "Bad Moon Rising" (with Philip Rosenthal)

Season Five

• "Super Bowl" (with Mike Royce)

Season Six

• "Jealous Robert" (with Tom Caltabiano)
• "Talk to Your Daughter" (with Tucker Cawley)
• "The First Time" (with Tom Caltabiano and Mike Royce)

Season Seven

• "She's the One" (with Philip Rosenthal)
• "The Bachelor Party" (with Mike Royce and Tom Caltabiano)

Season Nine

• "Angry Sex" (with Lew Schneider and Mike Scully)
• "The Finale" (with Philip Rosenthal, Tucker Cawley, Lew Schneider, Steve Skrovan, Jeremy Stevens, Mike Royce, Aaron Shure, Tom Caltabiano and Leslie Caveny)

[edit] Men of a Certain Age

Season One

• "Pilot" (with Mike Royce)
• "Let It Go" (with Mike Royce)
• "Back in the Shit" (teleplay) with Mike Royce

Season Two

• "If I Could, I Surely Would" (with Mike Royce)

Awards[link]

Bibliography[link]

• (1999) Everything and a Kite (non-fiction)
• (2005) Raymie, Dickie and the Bean (children's)
• (2004) Everybody Loves Raymond: Our Family Album

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Ray Romano

• Official website
• Ray Romano at the Internet Movie Database

Walt Simonson
Walter Simonson at the Big Apple Summer Sizzler, June 13, 2009.
Born	(1946-09-02) September 2, 1946 (age 65)
Nationality	American
Area(s)	Writer, Artist
Pseudonym(s)	Walt Simonson
Notable works	Fantastic Four Detective Comics (Manhunter) Metal Men Star Slammers Orion Star Wars Thor X-Factor
Awards	Shazam Award: Outstanding New Talent (1973) Best Individual Short Story (Dramatic) (1973, with Archie Goodwin) Best Individual Short Story (Dramatic) (1974, with Archie Goodwin) Best Individual Story (Dramatic) (1974)
Influenced Arthur Adams[1][2] Bryan Hitch[3]
Signature
150px

Walter "Walt" Simonson (born September 2, 1946) is an American comic book writer and artist. After studying geology at Amherst College,^[4][5] he transferred to the Rhode Island School of Design, graduating in 1972. His thesis project there was The Star Slammers, which was published as a black and white promotional comic book for the 1974 World Science Fiction Convention in Washington, D.C. (DisCon II). In 1983, he produced another version of the story in graphic novel form for Marvel Comics. Simonson continued the adventures of the Star Slammers in a limited series in the mid-1990s as one of the founders of Malibu Comics' short-lived Bravura label. Simonson has won numerous awards for his work, and has influenced artists such as Arthur Adams and Bryan Hitch.

Career[link]

1970s[link]

Simonson's first professional published comic book work was Weird War Tales #10^[6] (Jan. 1973) for DC Comics. He also did a number of illustrations for the Harry N. Abrams, Inc. edition of The Hobbit, and at least one unrelated print (a Samurai warrior) was purchased by Harvard University's Fogg Museum and included in its annual undergraduate-use loan program. Simonson's breakthrough illustration job was Manhunter, a backup feature in DC's Detective Comics written by Archie Goodwin.^[7] In a 2000 interview, Simonson recalled that "What Manhunter did was to establish me professionally. Before Manhunter, I was one more guy doing comics; after Manhunter, people in the field knew who I was. It'd won a bunch of awards the year that it ran, and after that, I really had no trouble finding work."^[8] Simonson went on to draw other DC series such as Metal Men and Hercules Unbound. In 1979 Simonson and Goodwin collaborated on an adaptation of the movie Alien, published by Heavy Metal. It was on Alien that Simonson's long working relationship with letterer John Workman began. Workman has lettered most of Simonson's work since.

Simonson met his future wife Louise Jones in 1973. The couple started dating in August 1974^[9] and were married in 1980.

In Fall 1978,^[10] Simonson, Howard Chaykin, Val Mayerik, and Jim Starlin formed Upstart Associates, a shared studio space on West 29th Street in New York City. The membership of the studio changed over time.^[11]

1980s[link]

In 1982, Simonson and writer Chris Claremont produced The Uncanny X-Men and The New Teen Titans intercompany crossover between the top-selling Marvel and DC titles.^[12] Simonson is best known for his work on Marvel Comics' The Mighty Thor and X-Factor (the latter being a collaboration with his wife Louise Simonson). Simonson took nearly complete control of Thor, during which he transformed Thor into a frog for three issues and introduced the supporting character Beta Ray Bill, an alien warrior who unexpectedly proved worthy to wield Thor's hammer, Mjolnir.^[13][14] He started as writer and artist with issue #337 (Nov. 1983) and continued until #367 (May 1986). Sal Buscema became the artist on the title with #368 but Simonson continued to write the book until issue #382 (Aug. 1987).

Simonson left Upstart Associates in late 1986.^[15]

1990s[link]

Simonson became writer of the Fantastic Four with issue #334 (Dec. 1989), and three issues later began penciling and inking as well (#337, coincidentally the same issue number he started as writer and artist of Thor). He had a popular three issue collaboration with Arthur Adams.^[16] Simonson left the Fantastic Four with issue #354 (July 1991). His other Marvel credits in the decade included co-plotting/writing the Iron Man 2020 one-shot (June 1994) and writing the Heroes Reborn version of the Avengers.

2000s[link]

In the 2000s Simonson has mostly worked for DC Comics. From 2000 to 2002 he wrote and illustrated Orion.^[17] After that series ended, he wrote six issues of Wonder Woman (vol. 2) drawn by Jerry Ordway. In 2002, he contributed an interview to Panel Discussions, a nonfiction book about the developing movement in sequential art and narrative literature, along with Durwin Talon, Will Eisner, Mike Mignola and Mark Schultz.

From 2003 to 2006, he drew the four issue prestige mini-series Elric: The Making of a Sorcerer, written by Elric's creator, Michael Moorcock. This series was collected as a 192 page graphic novel in 2007 by DC. He continued to work for DC in 2006 writing Hawkgirl, with pencillers Howard Chaykin, Joe Bennett, and Renato Arlem.

His other work includes cover artwork for a Bat Lash mini-series and the ongoing series Vigilante, as well as writing a Wildstorm comic book series based on the online role-playing game World of Warcraft.^[18][19] The Warcraft series ran 25 issues and was co-written with his wife, Louise Simonson. In 2011, he had a cameo role in the live-action Thor film, appearing as one of the guests at a large Asgardian banquet.^[20] Simonson serves on the Disbursement Committee of the comic-book industry charity The Hero Initiative.^[21]

Awards[link]

Simonson's awards include Shazam Awards for Outstanding New Talent in 1973, for Best Individual Short Story (Dramatic) in 1973 for "The Himalayan Incident" in Detective Comics #437 (with Archie Goodwin), and the same award in 1974 for "Cathedral Perilous" in Detective Comics #441 (again with Archie Goodwin). Simonson and Goodwin also won the Shazam Award for Best Individual Story (Dramatic) in 1974 for "Götterdämmerung" in Detective Comics #443. All three winning stories were a part of the Manhunter saga.

At the 2010 Harvey Awards, which were held at the Baltimore Comic-Con on August 28, 2010, Simonson received the 2010 Hero Initiative Lifetime Achievement Award. It was presented to him by his wife, Louise Simonson.^[22][23]

Signature[link]

Simonson's distinctive signature consists of his last name, distorted to resemble a Brontosaurus. Simonson's reason for this was explained in a 2006 interview. "My mom suggested a dinosaur since I was a big dinosaur fan."^[24][25]

Technique and materials[link]

Simonson inked his own work with a Hunt 102 Pro-quill pen. He switched to a brush during the mid-to-late 2000s, and despite the disparity between the two tools, Bryan Hitch, an admirer of Simonson's, stated that he could not tell the difference, calling Simonons's brush work "as typically good and powerful as his other work."^[3]

Bibliography[link]

Comic book interior art (except where noted) includes:

DC[link]

• Batman #300, 312, 321 (1978–80)
• Batman Black and White #2 (1996)
• DC Universe: Legacies #5 (2010)
• Detective Comics (Manhunter stories) #437–443; (Batman) #450, 469–470 (1973–77); #500 (among other artists) (1981)
• Elric: The Making of a Sorcerer, miniseries, #1–4 (2006)
• 1st Issue Special (Doctor Fate) #9 (1975)
• Hawkgirl #50–66 (writer)
• Hercules Unbound #7–12
• Jack Kirby's Fourth World #1–11, 13–20 (covers)
• JSA: Armageddon Inferno #1–4 (artist)
• Just Imagine Stan Lee Creating Sandman (artist)
• Legends of the World's Finest #1–3 (writer)
• Legion of Super-Heroes (vol. 3) #94, 100 (artist)
• Metal Men #45–49 (artist and plot assists)
• Michael Moorcock's Multiverse #1–12 (artist)
• Orion #1–25 (writer/artist)
• Star Spangled War Stories #170, 172, 180 (artist)
• Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes #237 (artist)
• Superman #666 (artist)
• Superman Special #1 (writer/artist, 1992)
• Superman: The Last God of Krypton (writer)
• Sword of Sorcery #4–5 (artist)
• The Spirit #8 ("Gemini") (writer, 2010)
• Wednesday Comics (Demon/Catwoman) #1–12 (writer)
• Weird War Tales #10, 72 (artist) (1973–79)
• Wonder Woman (vol. 2) #189–194 (writer)
• Worlds of Warcraft #1–25 (writer with Louise Simonson)

Marvel[link]

• Amazing Spider-Man #222 (cover) (1981)
• Animax, miniseries, #1–2 (1986)
• Avengers #291–299, Annual 17 (writer), 300 (writer/artist) (1988–1989)
• Avengers, vol. 2, (Heroes Reborn) #8–12 (writer)
• Avengers, vol. 4, #25 (artist) (2012)
• Avengers Prime, miniseries, #1 (2010)
• Balder the Brave #1–4 (writer/covers)
• Battlestar Galactica #11, 13, 15, 17–23 (writer, with Roger McKenzie); #4, 5, 11–17, 19–20, 22–23 (artist)
• Bizarre Adventures #29 (artist)
• Captain America Meets the Asthma Monster (giveaway) #0
• Conan the Barbarian #135 (cover)
• Daredevil #236 (cover, with Bill Sienkiewicz)
• Dazzler #2 (art, pages 11–16)
• Death's Head #9 (cover)
• Doctor Strange #182 (letter, 1969), 45 (inks, page 7, 1981)
• Doctor Who #1 (art, 3 pages), 3 (art, 1 page)
• Eternals, maxi-series, #9–12 (writer)
• Fantastic Four #212 (cover), 334–341, 343–350, 352–354 (writer; also artist on #337–341, 343–346, 350, 352–354) (1989–91)
• FOOM #18 (photo, 1977)
• Havok and Wolverine: Meltdown, miniseries, #1–4 (co-writer, with Louise Simonson)
• Haunt of Horror #2 (art, 1973)
• Haunt of Horror Magazine #1 (art, 1974)
• Heroes for Hope Starring the X-Men #1 (art, 4 pages)
• Howard the Duck Magazine #7 (art, 1 page pinup)
• Hulk Magazine #11 (art, 1 page), 20 (art), 23 (cover)
• Incredible Hulk #364 (cover)
• Iron Man #3, 10 (letter, 1968–69), Annual 8 (cover)
• Iron Man 2020 (writer)
• John Carter, Warlord of Mars #15 (pencils, with Ross Andru)
• Kickers, Inc. #9 (cover, with Mike Mignola)
• Kree-Skrull War Starring the Avengers #1 (cover)
• Marvel Graphic Novel #6 (Star Slammers) (writer/artist)
• Raiders of the Lost Ark movie adaptation #1–3 (writer)
• Rampaging Hulk #1–3
• Savage Sword of Conan #7–8, 12, 15, 17, 50
• Star Wars #56–63, 65 (writer); #16, 49–63, 65–66 (artist)
• Thor #260–271, Annual #7 (artist only); #337–355, 357–382 (writer; also artist on #337–354, 357–367) (1977–86)
• Uncanny X-Men #171
• X-Factor #10–15, 17–39
• What If (Nova) #15
• Wolverine: The Jungle Adventure (writer)

Marvel/DC[link]

• Uncanny X-Men and The New Teen Titans, one-shot, (1982)

Dark Horse[link]

• Robocop vs Terminator #1–4

Other publishers[link]

• The Twilight Zone #50: Nature's Way (artist) July 1973 (uncredited, signed) (Gold Key Comics)
• Alien: The Illustrated Story movie adaptation (artist) (Heavy Metal)
• Creepy #102, 107, 112 (artist) (Warren, 1979)
• Jurassic Park movie adaptation #1–4 (writer) (Topps)
• Star*Reach #1 (1974) (Star*Reach)

Books and compilations[link]

• Art of Walter Simonson—TPB collecting much of his early DC work from 1972 to 1980
• Jack Kirby's Fourth World Omnibus Vol. 2 (introduction only)
• Thor Visionaries: Walter Simonson Volumes 1–5 trade paperbacks
• Fantastic Four Visionaries: Walter Simonson Volumes 1–3 trade paperbacks

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Walter Simonson

• Lambiek entry on Walt Simonson
• Interview at ComicBoards.com
• Interview at b-independent.com (1998)
• Interview at Fanzing.com (1999)
• Interview at PopMatters.com
• Interview at FFPlaza.com (2002)
• THOR cover gallery and issue summaries, ImmortalThor.net, (See #337-382 for Simonson's work)
• Video of Walt Simonson drawing Cyclops

Captain Jack Sparrow is a fictional character and the main protagonist of the Pirates of the Caribbean film series created by screenwriters Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio, portrayed by Johnny Depp. He is first introduced in the film Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003). He later appears in the sequels Dead Man's Chest (2006), At World's End (2007), and On Stranger Tides (2011). Jack Sparrow was originally conceived as a supporting character. He was brought to life by the actor Johnny Depp, who based his characterization on The Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards and cartoon character Pepé Le Pew. He tends to become rather frustrated whenever someone pronounces his name without the term "Captain".

The series Pirates of the Caribbean was inspired by a Disney theme park ride, and in 2006, when the ride was revamped, the character of Jack Sparrow was introduced to it. Jack Sparrow is also the subject of a children's book series, Pirates of the Caribbean: Jack Sparrow, which chronicles his teenage years and the character has also appeared in numerous video games.

In the context of the films, Sparrow is one of the Brethren Court, the Pirate Lords of the Seven Seas. He can be treacherous and survives mostly by using wit and negotiation rather than weapons or force, preferring to flee most dangerous situations and fight only when necessary. Sparrow is introduced seeking to regain his ship, the Black Pearl, from his mutinous first mate, Hector Barbossa, and attempts to escape his blood debt to the legendary Davy Jones while battling the East India Trading Company.

Films[link]

[edit] The Curse of the Black Pearl

Captain Jack Sparrow first appears in Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, where he arrives in Port Royal looking to commandeer a ship. Despite rescuing Elizabeth Swann (Keira Knightley), the daughter of Governor Weatherby Swann (Jonathan Pryce) from drowning, he is jailed for piracy. That night, a cursed ship called the Black Pearl attacks Port Royal, capturing Elizabeth in the process. Its captain, Hector Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush), is trying desperately to break an ancient Aztec curse that he and the crew are under. Will Turner (Orlando Bloom), a blacksmith who loves Elizabeth, frees Sparrow to aid him in rescuing her. They steal the HMS Interceptor and acquire a crew in Tortuga before heading to Isla de Muerta, where Elizabeth is being held captive. Along the way, Will learns that Sparrow was originally captain of the Pearl, but Barbossa posed as his first mate in order to steal the ship from him – eventually leaving him marooned on a desert island eight years ago. While attempting to infiltrate Isla de Muerta, they are quickly captured, and Barbossa maroons both Sparrow and Elizabeth on the same deserted island where he left Jack years ago.

The pair are rescued by the British Royal Navy, after Elizabeth uses some rum found on the island to send off a smoke bomb signal. In order to escape hanging, Sparrow cuts a deal to deliver them the Black Pearl. During the film's final battle at Isla de Muerta, Sparrow steals a cursed coin, making himself immortal so he can fight Barbossa. He shoots his rival with the same bullet he has carried for ten years just as Will breaks the curse, killing Barbossa. Sparrow is captured and later sentenced to death.

At his scheduled execution in Port Royal, Will comes to his rescue, but they are quickly caught. Right at that moment Elizabeth shows her love for Will, and he is pardoned, while Sparrow escapes by falling off the sea wall. He is rescued by the Black Pearl crew, and made captain once more. Apparently impressed by the clever pirate, Commodore James Norrington (Jack Davenport) allows him one day's head start before giving chase.^[2]

[edit] Dead Man's Chest

In the sequel, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, Sparrow searches for the Dead Man's Chest, which will help him to "control" the seas and save himself: thirteen years earlier, Sparrow bartered his soul to Captain Davy Jones (Bill Nighy) in return for Jones raising the sunken Black Pearl and making Sparrow captain. In the film, Sparrow must either serve for one hundred years aboard the Flying Dutchman, or be taken by the Kraken to Davy Jones's Locker.

The Dead Man's Chest contains Jones's heart, which Sparrow can use as leverage against Jones and end his debt. Adding to Sparrow's woes, Lord Cutler Beckett (Tom Hollander) of the East India Trading Company wants to settle his own debt with Sparrow and forces Will Turner to search for him. Will finds Sparrow and his crew hiding from the Kraken on Pelegosto, where they have been captured by cannibals. They escape, but Davy Jones captures them and demands that Jack pay his debt. Jack argues that he was captain for only two years before he was mutinied by Barbossa, but Jones rejects his argument, stating that he's been calling himself "Captain" Jack Sparrow for the allotted years.

Sparrow betrays Will to Davy Jones as part of a new deal to deliver 100 souls in exchange for his own. Sparrow recruits sailors in Tortuga, where he unexpectedly encounters Elizabeth and the disgraced James Norrington, who has turned to alcohol. Convincing Elizabeth that she can free Will by finding the Chest, Sparrow and she head for Isla Cruces after she pinpoints its location with Jack's magic compass. Will also arrives, having escaped Jones's ship after stealing the key to the Chest. Will wants to stab the heart and free his father who is in Jones's service, while Norrington—who has discovered that Lord Cutler Beckett desires the heart in order to control Davy Jones and the seas—hopes to regain his career and honor by delivering the heart to Beckett. Sparrow fears that if Jones is dead, the Kraken will continue hunting him, and wants the heart as leverage.

Jones' crew arrives, and during the ensuing battle, Norrington steals the heart. Jones summons the Kraken to attack the Black Pearl. After seeing his crew get attacked by the Kraken, Jack tries to escape in the last undamaged longboat, but just as he nears an island, he is struck with remorse at abandoning his crew, and goes back to help rescue them. Once there, he helps blow up the kraken before sadly giving orders to abandon the ship; when Gibbs asks if he is sure that he wants to leave his ship behind to the Kraken, he replies, "She's only a ship, mate."

Realizing that the Kraken only wants Sparrow, Elizabeth tricks him by giving him a passionate kiss while chaining him to the mast to save the crew, with Jack looking on smirking, he calls her a pirate. The Kraken then arrives, spitting out Jack's hat, which he had lost earlier. Jack, having freed himself, resigns himself to his fate and charges the beast's mouth muttering, " 'Ello beastie." Sparrow and the ship are dragged down to Davy Jones's Locker. The crew seeks solace at the home of Tia Dalma, who surprises them by offering a captain who can help rescue Sparrow: Barbossa, brought back to life at her doing.^[3]

[edit] At World's End

Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End opens with Davy Jones's heart now in Beckett's possession, and the nine pirate lords of the Brethren Court are summoned to convene at Shipwreck Cove to combat the combined threat of Beckett and Jones. Though taken to Davy Jones's Locker at the end of the previous film, Sparrow, who is a Pirate Lord of the Caribbean, must attend the meeting, as he failed to bequeath his "piece of eight", a pirate lord's identification marker, to an heir. The collective "pieces of eight" can free the sea goddess Calypso. A resurrected Barbossa leads Sparrow's crew to Davy Jones's Locker using the Singaporean pirate lord Sao Feng (Chow Yun-fat)'s navigational charts. There Sparrow has been hallucinating an entire crew of himself, each member representing a facet of his personality. After Barbossa and the crew find him, Sparrow deciphers a clue on the charts that indicates (in a clever nod to the Fata Morgana mirages attributed to the real life legend of the Flying Dutchman) they must capsize the Black Pearl to escape the Locker; at sunset, the ship upturns back into the living world. Sparrow and Barbossa journey to the Brethren Court where they encounter Elizabeth, who was traded to Sao Feng, and was made a Pirate Lord by him just before he died. At the Brethren Court, she is elected "Pirate King" after Sparrow breaks a stalemate (in all previous meetings except the first, Pirate Lords had always voted for themselves). During parley, he is traded for Will, who was captured by Jones and Beckett after Sparrow sent him overboard on the Black Pearl. The Black Pearl and the Flying Dutchman face off in battle during a maelstrom created by Calypso, during which Sparrow steals Davy Jones's heart to become immortal. During the act Jones breaks Jack's cutlass. When Jones mortally wounds Will, Sparrow instead saves Will by helping him stab the heart with his own broken sword, killing Jones and making Will the Flying Dutchman's new captain. Together, the Black Pearl and the Flying Dutchman destroy Beckett's ship. At the end of the film Barbossa again commandeers the Black Pearl and Feng's charts, and maroons Sparrow and Mr. Gibbs in Tortuga. Fortunately, Jack has already removed the chart's center, and he sets sail in a dinghy, using his compass and the chart to guide him to the Fountain of Youth.^[4]

[edit] On Stranger Tides

After reaching a dead end in his search for the Fountain of Youth, Jack Sparrow makes his way to London, where he hears of someone going by his name to gather a crew. Along the way, Sparrow poses as a judge to save the convicted Gibbs before being captured by the Royal Guards and summoned to an audience with King George the Second and Captain Hector Barbossa of the Royal Navy. By then, Jack Sparrow crosses paths with his impostor, revealed to be an old flame named Angelica (Penélope Cruz) who shanghaies him to the Queen Anne's Revenge, the ship of the horrific Blackbeard (Ian McShane) who forces Jack to help him reach the Fountain of Youth. Learning the full story behind it, Jack attempts to set up Blackbeard's demise and save the naive Angelica from her father. After some trouble with mermaids and the Spanish Navy, he succeeds by tricking Blackbeard into giving up his life to save Angelica. Jack and Angelica admit their love for one another, but Jack maroons Angelica on a stranded island, knowing that she will probably want to avenge her father's death. He then has Gibbs retrieve the shrunken Black Pearl in the hopes of finding a way to restore it to regular size. When asked about giving up his chance for immortality, Jack answers that immortality is not everything, though he admits making a name for himself as the one who found the Fountain is good enough immortality at the moment. After the credits in the film, the voodoo doll of Jack is seen drifting at sea towards the island Sparrow stranded Angelica on.^[5]

Tie-ins[link]

Outside films, Jack Sparrow first appeared as a companion character in the 2006 video game Kingdom Hearts II, where he was voiced by James Arnold Taylor in the English version and Hiroaki Hirata (who also dubbed Sparrow in the film's Japanese dubs) in the Japanese version. Sparrow has since appeared in other video games, Pirates of the Caribbean: The Legend of Jack Sparrow where he was voiced by Johnny Depp, the adaptation of Dead Man's Chest and various game versions of At World's End, where he was voiced by Jared Butler with motion capture movements provided by Johnny Paton. The character was also voiced by Jared Butler in Pirates of the Caribbean Online, which takes place before the films.

Sparrow's backstory in Pirates of the Caribbean: The Complete Visual Guide indicates he was born on a pirate ship during a typhoon in the Indian Ocean, and that he was trained to fence by an Italian.^[6] Rob Kidd wrote an ongoing book series entitled Pirates of the Caribbean: Jack Sparrow, following a teenage Sparrow and his crew on the Barnacle as they battle sirens, mermaids and adult pirates while looking for various treasures. The first book, The Coming Storm, was published on 1 June 2006. In 2011, Ann C. Crispin wrote a novel Pirates of the Caribbean: The Price of Freedom about Jack's adventures when he worked as a merchant captain for the East India Trading Company.

A parody of him called Jack Swallows, was featured in the film Epic Movie played by Darrell Hammond

On Saturday Night Live, Andy Samberg and the rest of The Lonely Island collaborated with Michael Bolton in a Digital Short called "Jack Sparrow" about Bolton's obsession with the "Pirates" movies. In it Bolton dresses up as Jack Sparrow and the character is mentioned several times in the verses.

On the TV Show So Random! the show players of the name Jack Sparrow making Sparrow a bird in a recurring skit. He is played by Shayne Topp. The impression has become one of Topp's signature skits on the show.

Concept and creation[link]

Character creation[link]

When writing the screenplay for Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio envisioned Jack Sparrow as a supporting character, citing Bugs Bunny and Groucho Marx as influences.^[7] The producers saw him as a young Burt Lancaster.^[8] Director Gore Verbinski admitted, "The first film was a movie, and then Jack was put into it almost. He doesn't have the obligations of the plot in the same ways that the other characters have. He meanders his way through, and he kind of affects everybody else."^[9] Sparrow represents an ethical pirate, with Captain Barbossa as his corrupt foil.^[7] His true motives usually remain masked, and whether he is honorable or evil depends on the audience's perspective.^[10] This acts as part of Will Turner's arc, in which Sparrow tells him a pirate can be a good man, like his father.^[7]

Following the success of The Curse of the Black Pearl, the challenge to creating a sequel was, according to Verbinski, "You don't want just the Jack Sparrow movie. It's like having a garlic milkshake. He's the spice and you need a lot of straight men ... Let's not give them too much Jack. It's like too much dessert or too much of a good thing."^[9] Although Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest was written to propel the trilogy's plot,^[11] Sparrow's state-of-mind as he is pursued by Davy Jones becomes increasingly edgy, and the writers concocted the cannibal sequence to show that he was in danger whether on land or at sea. Sparrow is also perplexed over his attraction to Elizabeth Swann, and attempts to justify it throughout the film.^[12]

Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End was meant to return it tonally to a character piece. Sparrow, in particular, is tinged with madness after extended solitary confinement in Davy Jones's Locker,^[11] and now desires immortality.^[13] Sparrow struggles with what it takes to be a moral person,^[14] after his honest streak caused his doom in the second film. This is mainly shown by his increasingly erratic behaviour and Jack's hallucinations which appeared to be simply his deranged mind in the beginning where dozens of "Jack Sparrows" appeared to crew the ship in his solitary exile, but later the hallucinations grew more important and there were mainly two "Jacks" constantly arguing about which path to follow: the immortality or the mortality. The last hallucination took place while Jack was imprisoned on the Dutchman where his honest streak won (possibly due to not liking his sea creature-like "future" which comedically dropped his brain and searched for it around the Brig.^[15]By the end of At World's End Sparrow is sailing to the Fountain of Youth, an early concept for the second film.^[16] Rossio has said they may write the screenplay for a fourth film,^[17] and producer Jerry Bruckheimer has expressed interest in a spin-off.^[18] Gore Verbinski concurred that "all of the stories set in motion by the first film have been resolved. If there ever were another Pirates of the Caribbean film, I would start fresh and focus on the further adventures of Captain Jack Sparrow."^[19]

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides was first announced on 28 September 2008 during a Disney event at the Kodak Theater. On 11 September 2009 the title of the film was officially announced. Gore Verbinski did not return to direct the fourth installment, and is instead directed by Rob Marshall. The movie uses elements from Tim Powers novel On Stranger Tides, particularly Blackbeard and the Fountain of Youth but the film is not a straight adaptation of the novel.^[20]

Johnny Depp[link]

Depp with a 'goatee' similar to the one seen in the films

Johnny Depp was looking to do a family film in 2001, and was visiting the Walt Disney Studios when he heard there were plans to adapt the Pirates of the Caribbean ride into a film. Depp was excited by the possibility of reviving an old Hollywood genre,^[8] and was further delighted that the script met his quirky sensibilities: the crew of the Black Pearl were not searching for treasure, but were instead trying to return it to lift their curse. In addition, the traditional mutiny had already occurred.^[21] Depp was cast on 10 June 2002.^[22] Producer Jerry Bruckheimer felt Depp was "an edgy actor who will kind of counter the Disney Country Bears soft quality and tell an audience that an adult and teenager can go see this and have a good time with it."^[23]

At the first read-through, Depp surprised the cast and crew by portraying the character in an off-kilter manner.^[24] After researching 18th century pirates, Depp compared them to modern rock stars and decided to base his performance on Keith Richards.^[23] Verbinski and Bruckheimer had confidence in Depp, partly because Orlando Bloom would be playing the traditional Errol Flynn-type character.^[21] Depp also improvised the film's final line, "Now, bring me that horizon", which is the writer's favorite line.^[24] Disney executives were initially confused by Depp's performance, asking him whether the character was drunk or gay. Michael Eisner even proclaimed while watching rushes, "He's ruining the film!"^[24] Depp responded, "Look, these are the choices I made. You know my work. So either trust me or give me the boot."^[23] Many industry insiders also questioned Depp's casting, as he was an unconventional actor not known for working within the traditional studio system.^[25]

Depp's performance was highly acclaimed by film critics. Alan Morrison found it "Gloriously over-the-top ... In terms of physical precision and verbal delivery, it's a master-class in comedy acting."^[26] Roger Ebert also found his performance "original in its every atom. There has never been a pirate, or for that matter a human being, like this in any other movie ... his behavior shows a lifetime of rehearsal." Ebert also praised Depp for drawing away from the way the character was written.^[27] Although he disliked the film, critic Kenneth Turan enjoyed Depp's performance,^[28] but Mark Kermode wrote it was some of Depp's "worst work to date ... under [director Gore Verbinski]'s slack direction Depp defaults to an untrammelled showiness not seen since the sub-Buster Keaton antics of Benny & Joon."^[29] Depp won a Screen Actor's Guild award for his performance, and was also nominated for a Golden Globe^[30] and the Academy Award for Best Actor, the first in his career.^[31] Film School Rejects argued that because of the film, Depp became as much a movie star as he was a character actor.^[32]

Johnny Depp returned as Jack Sparrow in 2006's Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, the first time the actor ever made a sequel.^[24] Drew McWeeny noted, "Remember how cool Han Solo was in Star Wars the first time you saw it? And then remember how much cooler he seemed when Empire came out? This is that big a jump."^[33] Yet, Eric Vespe felt that "In the first movie he was playing a fool that was hiding a great pirate on the inside and in this one he's a great pirate hiding a cowardly fool."^[34] By At World's End, Peter Travers felt it proved "there can indeed be too much of a good thing."^[35] Nonetheless, Depp received an MTV Movie Award^[36] and a Teen Choice Award for Dead Man's Chest, and was also nominated for a Golden Globe, which he lost to Sacha Baron Cohen for his portrayal of Borat Sagdiev in Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan. Depp was also nominated at the 2007 Empire Awards for best actor but lost to Daniel Craig for Casino Royale.^[37] For his performance in At World's End, Depp won an MTV Movie Award for Best Comedic Performance, as well as a People's Choice Award and a Kids' Choice Award. He has signed on to reprise the role for future sequels.^[38]

Make-up and costumes[link]

Johnny Depp wore a wig to portray Sparrow's dreadlocks, an aesthetic influenced by Depp's rock n' roll approach to pirates.^[39] In addition to a red bandanna Sparrow wears numerous objects in his hair, influenced by Keith Richards' habit of collecting souvenirs from his travels;^[40] Sparrow's decorations include his "piece of eight".^[4] Sparrow wears kohl around his eyes, which was inspired by Depp's study of nomads, whom he compared to pirates,^[41] and Depp also wore contacts that acted as sunglasses.^[42] Sparrow has several gold teeth, two of which belong to Depp,^[43] although they were applied during filming. Depp forgot to have them removed after shooting The Curse of the Black Pearl,^[44] and decided to keep them throughout shooting of the sequels.^[8] Like all aspects of Depp's performance, Disney initially expressed great concern over Depp's teeth.^[12] Sparrow wears his goatee in two braids. Initially wire was used in them, but the wires were abandoned because they made the braids stick up when Depp lay down.^[45] Sparrow also has numerous tattoos,^[4] and has been branded a pirate on his right arm by Cutler Beckett,^[3] underneath a tattoo of a sparrow.^[2] In At World's End, one of the "Jack" incarnations is working stripped to the waist, and a full body tattoo of the poem Desiderata is clearly seen.

Depp collaborated with costume designer Penny Rose on his character's appearance, handpicking a tricorne as Sparrow's signature leather hat: the other characters in the series could not wear leather hats, to make Sparrow's unique. For the scene when it floats on water in Dead Man's Chest, a rubber version was used.^[46] Depp liked to stick to one costume, wearing one lightweight silk tweed frock coat throughout the series,^[47] and he had to be coaxed out of wearing his boots for a version without a sole or heel in beach scenes.^[48] The official line is that none of the costumes from The Curse of the Black Pearl survived, which allowed the opportunity to create tougher linen shirts for stunts.^[49] However, one remains which has been displayed in an exhibition of screen costumes in Worcester, England.^[50] It was a nightmare for Rose to track down the same makers of Sparrow's sash in Turkey. Rose did not want to silkscreen it, as the homewoven piece had the correct worn feel.^[51] Sparrow wears an additional belt in the sequels, because Depp liked a new buckle which did not fit with the original piece.^[52]

Sparrow's weapons are genuine 18th century pieces: his sword dates to the 1740s, while his pistol is from the 1760s. Both were made in London.^[42][53] Depp used two pistols on set, one being rubber. Both props survived after production of the first film.^[54] Sparrow's magic compass also survived into the sequels, though director Gore Verbinski had a red arrow added to the dial as it became a more prominent prop. As it does not act like a normal compass, a magnet was used to make it spin.^[55] Sparrow wears four rings, two of which belong to Depp. Depp bought the green ring in 1989, and the gold ring is a replica of a 2400-year old ring Depp gave to the crew, though the original was later stolen. The other two are props to which Depp gave backstories: the gold-and-black ring is stolen from a Spanish widow Sparrow seduced, and the green dragon ring recalls his adventures in the Far East.^[56] Among Depp's additional ideas was the necklace made of human toes that Sparrow wears as the Pelegosto prepare to eat him,^[57] and the sceptre was based on one a friend of Depp's owned.^[58]

During the course of the trilogy, Sparrow undergoes physical transformations. In The Curse of the Black Pearl Sparrow curses himself to battle the undead Barbossa. Like all the actors playing the Black Pearl crew, Depp had to shoot scenes in costume as a reference for the animators, and his shots as a skeleton were shot again without him. Depp reprised the scene again on a motion capture stage.^[42] In At World's End, Sparrow hallucinates a version of himself as a member of Davy Jones's crew, adhered to a wall and encrusted with barnacles. Director Gore Verbinski oversaw that the design retained Sparrow's distinctive look,^[59] and rejected initial designs which portrayed him as over 100 years old.^[60]

Characterization[link]

According to screen writers Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio, Sparrow is a trickster who uses wit and deceit to attain his goals, preferring to end disputes verbally instead of by force.^[61]He walks with a slightly drunken swagger and has slurred speech and flailing hand gestures, which are slightly based on Tuco, from The Good, The Bad and The Ugly.^[7] 

Although Barbossa does not respect him much, as evidenced by naming his monkey Jack, Sparrow is shrewd, calculating and intelligent. He fools Commodore Norrington and his entire crew to set sail on the royal ship Interceptor, which compels the admiration of Lieutenant Groves (Greg Ellis) as he concedes: 'That's got to be the best pirate I have ever seen'. Norrington himself acquiesces to this praise: 'So it would seem', in sharp contrast to what he had previously proclaimed: 'You are without doubt the worst pirate I have ever heard of'. In the third film, while he leaves Beckett's ship stranded and makes off, Lieutenant Groves asks him: "Do you think he plans it all out, or just makes it up as he goes along?".^[4]It was he who deciphered the seemingly unintelligible map in the same film while the others were still grappling with the problem of returning to the real world. When the Brethren Court convenes but the pirate lords fail to reach a consensus as to whether to fight the Armada or not (he and Elizabeth are inclined to go to war, while the others are not), Jack suggests a way out of this impasse by calling for a ritual vote whose results determine who will be the king. Every pirate lord votes only for himself or herself, but he votes for Elizabeth, resulting her being elected the 'king', after which she announces 'Prepare every vessel that floats. At dawn we are at war', which was what he had intended, and which other pirates are now bound to obey.

In combat, Sparrow is an extremely skilled swordsman (capable of quite easily holding his own against Davy Jones and also Will Turner), but uses his superior intelligence to his advantage during fights. Jack usually prefers the strategies of non-violent negotiations and turning his enemies against each other, reasoning "Why fight when you can negotiate? All one needs is the proper leverage."^[3]He will invoke parley and tempt his enemies away from their murderous intentions, encouraging them to see the bigger picture, as he does when he persuades Hector Barbossa to delay returning to mortal form so he can battle the British Royal Navy.^[2] He often uses complex wordplay and vocabulary to confound his enemies,^[2][3]and it is suggested that his pacifism may be one reason Barbossa and the Black Pearlcrew mutinied; Barbossa says in the first film, "Jack, that's exactly the attitude that lost you the Pearl. People are easier to search when they're dead."^[2]His pacifism is further indicated by the tattoo of the Desiderata on his back. Although a pirate and willing to kill his enemies in a fight, Jack has also shown a reluctance to kill people who do not actually wish himharm, as seen when he preferred to simply avoid a fight with Will Turner in their first meeting- the fight being provoked by Will's insistence-; when facing soldiers or navy officers, Jack has generally resorted to simply knocking them out or distracting them while he makes his escape. When Will is fatally wounded by Davy Jones, he relinquishes his dream of stabbing Jones' heart and becoming immortal and lets a dying Will stab it instead, thus ensuring that he lives, albeit not in the usual way. When searching for the Fountain of Youth, Jack noted that his desire for the Fountain had lessened when he learned that the Fountain would only provide someone with extra life if another died at the same time.

The character is portrayed as having created, or at least contributed to, his own reputation. When Gibbs tells Will that Sparrow escaped from a desert island by strapping two sea turtles together, Sparrow embellishes the story by claiming the rope was made from hair from his own back, while in reality, Sparrow escaped the island by bartering with rum traders. The video game Pirates of the Caribbean: The Legend of Jack Sparrow bases itself around these tall tales, including the sacking of Nassau port without firing a single shot.^[2] In a script draft of Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest Will's guide says that he heard Sparrow escaped execution in Port Royal by grabbing two parrots and flying away.^[12] Johnny Depp has said pirates were like rock stars in that their fame preceded them, which suggests a reason for the portrayal of Sparrow as having an enormous ego.^[61] Sparrow also insists on being addressed as "Captain" Jack Sparrow^[2] and often gives the farewell, "This is the day you will always remember as the day that you almost caught Captain Jack Sparrow!," which is sometimes humorously cut off.^[2][3] When accused by Norrington as being the worst pirate he has ever heard of, Sparrow replies, "But you have heard of me."^[2] In a deleted scene from Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl Sparrow ponders being "the immortal Captain Jack Sparrow",^[62] and during the third film he seeks immortality, although his father, Captain Teague, warns it can be a terrible curse. Sparrow also ponders being "Captain Jack Sparrow, the last pirate," as the East India Trading Company purges piracy.^[4]

Despite his many heroics, Sparrow is a pirate and a morally ambiguous character.^[14] When agreeing to trade 100 souls, including Will, to Davy Jones in exchange for his freedom, Jones asks Sparrow whether he can, "condemn an innocent man—a friend—to a lifetime of servitude in your name while you roam free?" After a hesitation Sparrow merrily replies, "Yep! I'm good with it!"^[3] He carelessly runs up debts with Anamaria,^[2] Davy Jones, and the other pirate lords.^[4] Sao Feng (Chow Yun-fat), pirate lord of Singapore, is particularly hateful towards him.^[4] In a cowardly moment, Sparrow abandons his crew during the Kraken's attack, but underlying loyalty and morality compel him to return and save them.^[63] Sparrow claims to be a man of his word,^[2] and expresses surprise that people doubt his truthfulness;^[3] there is no murder on his criminal record.^[1][2]

Depp partly based the character on Pepé Le Pew, a womanizing skunk from Looney Tunes.^[8] Sparrow claims to have a "tremendous intuitive sense of the female creature",^[3] although his conquests are often left with a sour memory of him. Former flames, Scarlett and Giselle, usually slap him^[2] or anyone looking for him.^[3] His witty charm easily attracts women, and even has Elizabeth Swann questioning her feelings.^[3] Director Gore Verbinski noted phallic connotations in Sparrow's relationship with his vessel, as he grips the steering wheel.^[21] The Black Pearl is described as "the only ship which can outrun the Flying Dutchman".^[4] The Freudian overtones continue in the third film when Sparrow and Barbossa battle for captaincy of the Black Pearl, showing off the length of their telescopes, and in a deleted scene, they fight over the steering wheel.^[64] Sparrow claims his "first and only love is the sea,"^[3] and describes his ship as representing freedom.^[2] Davy Jones's Locker is represented as a desert, symbolizing his personal hell.^[12]

Sparrow also has bad personal hygiene, a trait of Pepé Le Pew. Verbinski described Sparrow's breath as "a donkey's ass".^[21] Sparrow knocks Will off his ship simply by huffing at him.^[4] Lastly, Sparrow has an insatiable thirst for rum, which can confuse his magic compass as to what he wants most.^[3][4] According to his criminal record on the At World's End website, he even sacked a shipment of rum to quench his thirst.^[1]

Impact[link]

When Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest grossed over $1 billion worldwide, Ian Nathan attributed this to Sparrow's popularity: "Pirates, the franchise, only had to turn up. There was a powerful holdover from the cheeky delights of its debut, something we hadn't felt since the Clone Wars called it a day."^[65] Empire declared Johnny Depp's performance to be the seventy-fourth "thing that rocked our world" in 2006 when celebrating 200 issues and later named him as the eighth greatest movie character of all time.^[66] A survey of more than 3,000 people showed Jack Sparrow was the most popular Halloween costume of 2006,^[67] and a 2007 poll held by the Internet Movie Database showed Sparrow to be the second most popular live action hero, after Indiana Jones.^[68] In a 2007 Pearl & Dean poll, Jack Sparrow is Depp's most popular performance.^[69]

Emanuel Levy feels the character is the only iconic film character of the 2000s decade,^[61] while Todd Gilchrist feels Sparrow is the only element of the films that will remain timeless.^[70] According to Sharon Eberson, the character's popularity can be attributed to being a "scoundrel whose occasional bouts of conscience allow viewers to go with the flaws because, as played to the larger-than-life hilt by Depp, he owns every scene he is in."^[71] Film history professor at UCLA Jonathan Kuntz also attributed his popularity to the increased questioning of masculinity in the 21st century, and Sparrow's personality contrasts with action-adventure heroes in cinema. Leonard Maltin concurs that Sparrow has a carefree attitude and does not take himself seriously.^[72] Mark Fox also noted Sparrow is an escapist fantasy figure for women, free from much of the responsibility of most heroes.^[73] Sparrow is listed by IGN as one of their ten favorite film outlaws, as he "lives for himself and the freedom to do whatever it is that he damn well pleases. Precious few film characters have epitomized what makes the outlaw such a romantic figure for audiences as Captain Jack Sparrow has."^[74] Entertainment Weekly put it on its end-of-the-decade, "best-of" list, saying, "Part Keith Richards rift, part sozzled lounge lizard, Johnny Depp's swizzleshtick pirate was definitely one of the most dazzling characters of the decade."^[75]

In 2011, comedic group The Lonely Island, with singer Michael Bolton, released a song called Jack Sparrow as an homage to the character, declaring him "The Pauper of the Surf" and "The Jester of Tortuga."

Johnny Depp reprised his Captain Jack persona for a special episode of Doraemon. However, on the show, he was called "Captain Johnny".^[76]

The British metalcore band Bring Me the Horizon took its name from Sparrow's last line in The Curse of the Black Pearl, "Now... Bring me that horizon".

References[link]