I don’t see how anybody can’t not love El Papagayo.
I mean, honestly: can you imagine a better foil for mean old never-smiles Jonah Hex? El Papagayo is such a happy and friendly backstabbing amoral bastard. He has a happy parrot! How many baddies have a happy parrot? I bet Jonah Hex really hates that parrot. “Fuckin’ parrot,” he mutters under his breath (because Jonah Hex mutters under his breath, that is a very Jonah Hex sort of a thing to do).
And if there’s anybody who’s going to be the “damn Mexican” who gets away every time, who’s the guy Hex can never quite manage to fill with lead, I defy anybody to have it be someone other than El Papagayo. Because he has a happy parrot. Not everybody can pull off a happy parrot. Captain Stingaree, for example, never could. But then again, Captain Stingaree was insane and thought he was a pirate.
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When I first saw “El Papa-Gay-O” I thought this might be some kind of joke entry.
Maybe his gang gave him the name. “Oh, yeah, it means, er, ‘parrot’! Trust us, El Papa-Gay-O!” *snicker*
He’s like a tall Tuco “plus one”, that’s awesome.
“They ask El Papagayo — they say to him, why do you have a parrot, eh? This isn’t hospitable land for the poor creature. It’s a long way from home. It shits on your shoulder every so often. So they ask, why bother? I tell them, a parrot, he is a wonderfully friendly creature. He stays with you for life. He is a better than a dog, even. His love is more honest and intense than any man or woman I have ever known. I can say, I can depend on this parrot and this parrot trusts he can depend on me. I am touched by such a bond.
“I mean, can I really say that about any of you bastards?
“And you should wonder, how does El Papagayo get away with talking such shit to men with guns? Because — heh heh — because he is El Papagayo. And fuck you all.”
When he makes a brief appearance in the Jonah Hex movie, he’ll be played by Tom Selleck. *nods*
I like this. :Facebook thumbs up:
See, all he wants to do is hang with his pet parrot and take over the Mexican government. Hell, what else you supposed to do in 1876?
He’s Mexican.
He’s. Mexican.
I feel like stabbing whoever created this… thing.
Also, much of Mexico calls them “Perico”.
More non-pirates need parrot companions.
Yah, Papagayo pretty much translates to Daddy Rooster.
I love it. Hex deserves an arch who is both badass AND swishy.
I’m still trying to untangle the triple negative in the first sentence.
I don’t not see how not nobody wouldn’t not fail to not love that sentence.
I love the way that this is written so much. It is so terrible, yet so perfect.
There’s likely to be some rage here about him being a “Mexican Bandit” villain, but in the character’s defense he is at least visually distinctive while also being far from the “poncho and sombrero” cliche. I guess that purple thing is kind of a poncho, but maybe not? I can’t tell
There was a present day El Papagayo in an old Batman story (where Bruce becomes the legendary “Bat Hombre” for a south of the border adventure). I’m guessing that was an inspiration.
That Papagayo used his parrot to decide whether his captives would be killed or not, but had the parrot trained to signal whichever the bandit wanted. Like Two Face with a rigged coin.
I like that he is a “savage hand-to-hand combatant”. Such a happy smiling fellow with a parrot but get in a fight with him and he’ll gouge your eyes, tear your nostrils, rip your ear-rings out…
And then as he stands from your crumpled form with blood all around his mouth he goes back to smiling happily with the teeth he just used to bite a chunk out you.
“I don’t see how anybody can’t not love El Papagayo.”
But…he’s “Single”. “(apparently)”.
Is it just me, or does that seem snarky?
*squints at fine print*
“El Papagayo first met his nemesis Jonah Hex when Hex was hired to infiltrate El Papagayo’s gang and learn his plans.”
The heck? How does JONAH HEX infiltrate any damn thing? Undercover work would not seem to be a forte.
“John Smith, I cannot help but notice that you look a lot like the bounty hunter Jonah Hex!”
“No, sir, that’s the OTHER fella with a huge distinctive scar disfigurin’ the right side of his face.”
“Ah! Right, then!”
*SQUAWK*
“Fuckin’ parrot….”
“Hey! The guns my new, totally-trustworthy-and-not-at-all-an-infiltrating-bounty-hunter-spy henchman sold me don’t have any firing pins! I’m beginning to not like that hombre so much.”
The only story I’ve read with him is a Hawk and Dove annual, in which he was one of the dead villains attempting to get back to the land of the living. He said he wanted to screw dozens of women in one night…an ambitious fella.
… He’s a pirate. A pirate who decided pirate hats just weren’t pimp enough, and plundering the seven seas didn’t put you near enough whorehouses.
A pirate who managed to spend a prolonged period as Jonah Hex’s nemesis without immediately getting shot in the face. That’s badass.
I’m struck by the fact that this guy seems to be giving off a Reacher Gilt air. And I like that.
“He is a better than a *DOG*, even.”
LIES!
I *JUST* read what was probably the definitive El Papagayo story. He’s a pretty evil fuck, even for a Mexican bandit. BTW, his origin has been pretty much totally reworked for him to have a total mad-on for Hex. “No Way Back”. Check it out.
Yeah, those totally aren’t his teeth. Reacher Gilt, but Mexican.