Friday, April 22, 2011
BANANA GAMES CHARACTER RETROSPECTIVE, VOLUME ONE, PART ONE: ALEX
Posted here is the first of a series featuring the stats and history of the characters of the Banana Games series. The first in the series: ALEX.
Real name: Alexia Cardinalle Lopez
Aliases: Alexia Philipa Lopez, Alecia Cortez-Ramone, Sweet Cheeks
Born: July 4th 1978 San Luis Potosí, Mexico
Height 5'4 Weight 120 lbs Eyes: Blue Hair: Black
Father: Marciano Cardinalle Mother: Mercedes Lopez
Occupation: prostitute, drifter, con artist, fugitive
Background Story: Alex was born from what was at first glance a stable upper middle class Mexican/Porte Rican family in San Luis Potosí, Mexico. Her Porte Rican father Marciano was a self employed construction worker who worked mostly over seas and her Mexican mother was a decorated police Sergeant with the Mexican Police Department as well as winner of many pageants as Miss Mexico in her younger days.
Alex's father Marciano wasn't present at the birth as he was out of country working but came home little over 2 months later very eager to see his new born baby girl. As good a father as he could be he was away six to eight months at a time but had her mother doting over her continuously. It seemed to some close and around Mercedes, especially Marciano's mother, Alex's grandmother, she might have been too doting.
Mercedes had taken a extended leave from the Police force up until Alex was nearly 2 years old. After that, even though her mother-in-law was readily available, Mercedes hired a nanny. To most it was strange that she hired a stranger over letting close family care for Alex. Mercedes left the nanny explicit instructions not to let anyone other then herself to bath or change Alex's diaper. Marciano's mother was very suspicious but could do very little to figure what the strange behavior came from. Marciano took it as Mercedes, being a mom for the first time was just being a little over anxious. When Alex was at age to bath herself and put herself to bed she always locked the bathroom door at bath time and bedroom morning and night when changing as her mother insisted she did, becoming a routine for the child.
All came to a crushing truth when Alex was 12 years old and skipping school with two of her closest friends. In a secluded part of a near by park they contrived a daring scheme to show each other their privates as they were all curious to see what boy and girl parts looked in person. The boy being like most boys was the first to be brave enough to pull down his pants. At first Alex was confused but still oblivious to what was in store for her. As her female friend pulled her dress up and panties down, Alex got the shock of her young life as she had the wrong parts. When her turn came she freaked out and ran off in a crying panic. Once she arrived at home she had become hysterical and her grandmother reacted immediately. To her shock, she learned the truth. Alex was born a boy and Mercedes, her mother, deceived everyone into believing she was a girl. Alex being a child and reared by her mother and nanny was lead to believe it herself.
The grandmother in utter disbelief didn't know anything else but to contact her son, Alex's father, who at the time was working in the middle east. Marciano horrified, told his mother to take Alex out of the house and booked the next flight out to get home as fast as possible. But before she could get Alex away, Mercedes stormed through the door, already informed of what happened by the nanny who snuck a phone call to her. A vicious argument ensued between Mercedes and Marciano's mother which resulted in Mercedes getting physically violent with her mother-in-law, hitting her to the floor. Alex went into shock and fainted. Mercedes took Alex and ran. By the time Marciano had called authorities and made his way home, Mercedes had disappeared with Alex. He never saw them again.
Mercedes ran off and with the aid of her established illicit connections as a police officer, fled to South America going into hiding . Mercedes had convinced her daughter she was just different and nobody would understand and would perceive her as a freak and not love her like she does. The uncanny resemblance to a girl and female physical features and characteristics it wasn't difficult to convince Alex and fool anyone she came in contact with.
Changing their names, Alecia Cortez-Ramone for Alex and Temperance Cortez-Ramone for Mercedes and with forged documents the two started a new life. Mercedes joining the Departamento de Polícia Federal in Brazil, establishing a formidable reputation and using her status to keep an eye out for and deal with any search by other authorities that may be looking for them. Alex attended school there, keeping her secret from others no matter how close she got with anyone.
When Alex was 15 the rest of her life crumbled when she overheard her mother talking to the nanny on the phone, who had also fled to her native home in Spain, revealing the whole truth. That her mother was unstable and wanted a girl so much she wasn’t going to be denied that wish and took steps on making sure and paying the nanny off to keep the secret and care for Alex. Horrified and in devastating shock Alex confronted her mother in hysterics. It was a vicious exchange that lead to Mercedes saying some completely heart breaking things with such brutality that Alex in a rage returned with a blow to Mercedes' head with a lamp. Alex beside herself with terror and grief ran away, leaving her mother unconscious on the floor, to wake to her daughter gone and the start of her unrelenting hunt for Alex.
Details on how Alex fled from South America to the US and what she did thereafter are sketchy at best. That is until we find Alex years later in Chicago selling her body to come up with enough money to search for her father and regain whatever family she could get back. The rest is documented in the ongoing series, Banana Games, published here at NBM Publications.
Next Up: SIMONE
Don`t hesitate to comment below and until my next post, stay naughty...
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awesome write up...good to get a little bit more background on the characters. When will simone's biography be up?
ReplyDeleteI may put one up every month. Most of the inside information on the characters won`t show up in the book series so I though this be a good way to give out that info.
ReplyDeleteHope we see in a "near" future some action with Simone´s sister Jesse! ;-))
ReplyDelete... the "customer" is never satisfied... ;-)))
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ReplyDeleteOh there is more then just 'action' involving Jesse. Let's just say there's a twist to the Chamber twins that will definitely have you doing a triple take.
ReplyDeleteHey Christian, any chance that you'll be revisiting the Honey Licker's series?
ReplyDeleteAs I mentioned in a previous post:
ReplyDelete"On a less positive note to keep efforts on Banana Games on a higher level and increasing the frequency of the issues releases, I will be dropping Honey Lickers Sorority as a regular book. There is a lot of plot issues to address in Banana Games, including a full fledged sequel to the series planned sometime before 2014, that full efforts I believe should be focused on BG and the follow up release of the official website and it's original content."
So unfortunately Honey Lickers is pretty much in the air for the moment.
No offense, but the ending to "Banana Games" was really, really disappointing. Like, to the point that i would have rather had the series end after the first volume.
ReplyDeleteThe downer ending of the series honestly made me regret reading the volume. "Oh, look, Simone dies, but she's getting replaced by her sister. I'm totally okay with that." No, actually, I'm not. The series started out with promise, but the ending was terrible.
I don't think I'll be reading any more of your stuff, if it's all depressing bullshit.
Also, having a bunch of random deaths and mentioning a bunch of random deaths does not make a story "edgy." I'm not saying that violence in art is a bad thing; I'm saying that just injecting violence into a comic in an attempt to make it "edgy" and "dark" ends up damaging the integrity of the work.
ReplyDeleteThe blurb on the first volume (I believe it was the first volume, anyway) stated that "Banana Games" is like the works of Quentin Tarantino mixed with "Thelma and Louise." The thing is, those things don't involve a bunch of pointless deaths; there's violence for a reason.
The whole thing ended up feeling very juvenile, and by the end of the second volume I no longer enjoyed the series. I read the third and fourth volumes just to see how the series would end, and now that I know how it ends I wish I hadn't.
Maybe you'll do a better job next time, but I'm afraid I have to give the first volume a 2/5, the second volume a 1/5, the third volume a 2/5, and the fourth volume a 0/5; the series overall gets a 1/5. Good luck on your next work; maybe you'll find your own voice as a writer instead of relying on pointless violence and death.
As I don't waste my time defending myself or my book to anonymous trolling, I'll just leave you with this tidbit: The world is full of violence and any death outside of natural causes is a 'pointless death'. The world is full of cruelty and violence and a lot of it far more gruesome then has been portrayed in BG. If your uncomfortable with violence (or violence within this genre) then my book isn't for you ( which you should have figured early on, before buying all 4 books). I am glad this sort of ranting makes you feel better but beyond this response I won't be giving anymore credence to it.
ReplyDeleteWhoops, found a typo. 9th line: I meant to say 'He's already expressed that the series is 'not' ending.'
ReplyDeletePeace
Hey what happened to my comment? After I took so much time to write it. Anyway in short I was saying that the last comment was unsubstantiated and malicious ranting drivel. And congratulate Christian on a outstanding series with a fresh addition to this genre.
ReplyDeletehey Christian my name is Jesse hall(please call me Jermaine) i've only been able to read some of your work line i used to search for cartoon porn. and let me tell you, you are freaking amazing! the story the art it's incredible. i've been working on a horror story for like two years almost, and i'm an artist myself. i wish i could work with you on my story, but is there any kind of advise you can give me on writing on drawing
ReplyDeletei'm a really big fan. keep those stories coming
princejerm21@yahoo.com