What’s up with Polska, Sucka!?
“Polska”, is the Polish name for Poland. “Sucka” in addition to being a corruption of the word “sucker,” is also a nod Keenan Ivory Wayans blaxploitation parody, “I’m Gonna Git You Sucka” and a word play on the word “suka,” which means “bitch” in Polish. In short, “Polska, Sucka!” means “Poland, Bitch-Sucker!” Personally, that just doesn’t have the same ring to it, now does it? However, Polska Sucka! is more than just a title.
Polska, Sucka! and other aspects of the Suckaverse (such as Upir’s Mark) are the obsessions that have pretty much devour all of my free time. P,S! in specific is a highly-offensive and contemporary “blaxpoitation” comic book set in Europe with a rather unlikely cast consisting mostly of pasty white folk, and starring a half-Japanese Polish Jewish midget prostitute with green hair named Skylark.
I have issues, and Skylark is an abstract manifestation of all of the mental garbage I carry. Out of all my weird and psychopathic characters, that little guy is the one that unnerves me the most. The development of this weird character, a perpetually angry prostitute who may or may not be a vampire, began when I was in tenth grade.
Back then, I had a huge thing for crossdressers. As a member of the LDS church, I figured it really was the only way I could express my Lesbianism without being afraid of going to hell for having same-sex attraction. So I wanted to make a cross-dressing vampire anti-hero who oozed sexiness. I also had a big thing for Eastern Europeans, and Asians, so I made my anti-hero, Skylark, half-Polish Jew and half-Japanese. In high school, I envied people with crazy hair dyed in unnatural colors and clothing weirder than mine, so Skylark donned this apparel.
When I was 15 going on to 16, I made the original version of Skylark a fourteen-year-old. But, as I have grown into an adult, the idea of having a protagonist who oozes sexuality, being that young, understandably makes me uneasy me on several levels — not the least of which, being emotional, spiritual and sexual. There were some major plot elements in the original storyline related to Skylark’s young appearance that I did not wish to discard wholesale, so I made a compromise, and made Skylark into a socially retarded thirty-year-old midget with endrocrinological issues that keep him from growing facial/body hair. There were also other factors that influenced my decision in his appearance that go beyond the obvious. You’ll figure them out as you follow the series.
During the two most sordid years of my life, when I struggled with drug addiction and was involved in some rather unsavory ventures, I apparently dressed and acted a lot like Skylark (except my wigs were Raggedy Ann Red instead of Pool Table Green.) Obviously, I didn’t go to many of the extreme behaviors he engages in, but I am sure this life experience has painted my vision. A few of my friends from back in Fargo still gives me good-natured grief about it. Personally I don’t remember much from those days now that I’m sober. There must be some subconsicious factor to it all.
As I was working on putting my life back together, I actually did associate with a waif-like adult woman with dwarfism. She worked in the sex industry, could seduce ANYONE and lived an extraodinarily tragic yet exhuberant life. She was at once child-like and deviously intelligent. I consider this lost friend to be the biggest influence on the development of the present character.
One thing about Skylark that has not changed, is the fact that for most of his appearances in the comic book, he is a total prick who isn’t happy about being a total prick. More importantly, I prefer to think of Skylark not as a novelty item, but as a man conflicted by his gender, his decisions, his faith and his nature.
The comic book itself is the bastard stepchild of an permanently unfinished gutterotica novel entitled, Polska, Blood Sucka Phucka! whose opening line failed in its bid to capture the dubious honor of a Bulwer Lytton award. Its other parent, is a cheesy vampire comic book that I conceived in high school that was entitled with the rather insipid name of, “Vampyres.” Fortunately for everyone involved in this process, the comic book actually turned out to be something special.
If you want to witness the comic book for yourself, visit Sucka.us and buy a copy when it become available here. When you read Polska, Sucka!, think of it as an exploitation B-movie in graphic novel form. There was an original series of mini comics, but with the exception of a few special issues, they sucked ass. Consider this webcomic serial to be my do-over.