If you’ve made a flimsy lamp out of some milk boxes and wooden planks, you’ve done your part to promote the legacy of the real Daredevil Ever Niebel. If you break some bones in the process, you can be sure that you yourself are laughing from above when you fire uncertainty.
In the 1970s, America took one Robert Craignie Bell and transformed him into the greatest expression of the dream that prophesied him. All that took was a bike, something dangerous to jump, and something blatant that ignored death. A legend was born, and his name was Ever Niebel. His jump was a national event that people wanted to witness because it ended with a glorious victory or a bone-shattering defeat. Currently, author Rylend Grant and artist Dave Acosta are giving their comics to the original Daredevil edited by Rachel E. Nelson.
Evil Knievel #1 is currently running a fundraising campaign on Kickstarter, and has been a huge success so far, pledging to capture not only the mythical presence of the honorable stunt rider, but the unstable nature of the era he played.
The story continues with Evel as he prepares for the iconic 1967 Caesar Palace Jump (which resulted in a crushed pelvis and several fractures). A group of outlaw motorcyclists want to cut revenues and they are willing to troll our heroes and get what they want. This is where comics show the influence of films from the 1960s to the 70s. Movies like The Born Losers (The Movie The Movie The Movie to The World), Walking Tall, and George Romero’s Knightriders all resonate here in some way. They talk about a comic blend of western sensibilities and biker gang styling.
Beat responds to writer Rylen Grant to speak Everny Bell as a comic book character, whether he can be considered the first true influencer, and whether anyone else could step into the shoes of the best stunt rider in American history.
Ricardo Serrano: Evel Knievel is a unique American phenomenon. He’s not a tightrope performer or a dangerous skyscraper climber. A biker jumping over things. Why do you think his persona resonated with so many people?
Rylend Grant: Robert Craig Knievel was the child of this dirt bag from a mining town. And I say with all the love and respect in the world, I am a child of a dirt bag from a residential project in Detroit, but he has become the most famous/recognizable man in the world. That’s America’s dream, right? It comes from anything. Take the world by the ball, tear everything you want, and need it from there.
Evel was inspiration for millions. He was an inspiration for me. The children I was born did not grow into Hollywood screenwriters (my day job writing film/TV). Those who came out lived for five minutes from where I was born. They thought they were supposed to be assumed, so they thought it was all they were there for them, so they thought they were supposed to be assumed, so they became tow drivers and plumbers.
But I knew there was more. I knew anything was possible because a few people like Evel Knievel were like me.
He was a gambler. He was a pioneer. In other words, he invented his profession. It didn’t exist before he climbed that motorcycle and began jumping over what they had placed in front of him. He was the creator of myths, a folk hero and an anti-hero. He was something for everyone.
Evel Knievel is such a natural force, a freight train of such a person, and whenever he was, he would have become the biggest, bad, most famous man… But as heroes tend to do so, he appeared at the right time exactly/the world needed him the most.
Vietnam concluded. Watergate. Pentagram paper. Televangelist scandal. Oil crisis. The world was fluid. The country was divided. But here comes this rock star of a motorcycle covered in flags that shows off in Goddam Moon. He brings people together. He was one of the few things that everyone could agree with, no matter where he came from, regardless of politics or worldview. Everyone wanted to see Evel jump. If he crashed, no one wanted to miss it. Everyone stopped what they were doing and closed their mouths. They saw. They heard.
Serrano: Legacy develops the head when new films and comics based on iconic characters are released. You ask yourself, “Why now?” It made me think about how Evel did he build his story into a saturated social media landscape. Then again, he influenced so many people. That means kids make ramps for anything, jump on their bikes and jump like him. Was Evel Knievel a kind of prototype influencer?
Grant: That’s a very interesting way to put it down. Yes, Evel Knievel might have been the first true influencer. He pioneered personal branding, spectacle-driven marketing, product tie-in, everything the big-name Instagram and YouTube stars do today. He did it with motorcycles and fractures instead of pranks, giveaways and girls dancing.
I think it’s because the world needs him again if you’re certainly asking, “Why now?” As a society, we are more divided than ever before. We’ve been more than ever since the late 1960s when Evel hit the scene. We don’t really agree now, but I think we can all agree with Evel. I think we all are eager to stay quiet and see someone do something exciting and spectacular. We all want to cheer on the guy when he returns after a devastating fall.
Serrano: How do you see the excitement of Evel Knievel Jump in the form of a cartoon?
Grant: Honestly, you need to tell it as it is and as it is. I wrote a “true” story in my time working in Hollywood, but you usually have to put a lot of “runny nose” in the ball and play with the facts a little bit to make it more interesting and dramatic. However, Evel was such a rich and dynamic character (an incredible madman like this), so the actual story was far more interesting than what you could possibly configure.
It helps me have great collaborators. The book is written by Dave Acosta, best known for making Elvira books with dynamite. After such years of work, he is a master who nails the similarities, sets evil moods, captures the character of characters larger than creatures. He does a great job with those books, but I think his personal preferences in the media tend to be more action-wise, more athletic-distorted. He kicks more and more butts, so he kicks the book out of the park, just making it more fun than anyone should probably do.
He has earned covers from Marvel/DC artists Ray-Anthony Height, Ringo Award-Nominee Fabio Alves, Jon Pinto and Flop. And Edson Ferreira takes up the living hell from this book.
They do all the heavy stuff about this. You’re trying to hold the proverb handlebar.
Serrano: Do you think Evel Knievel was a once-in-a-lifetime phenomenon? Or are you waiting for someone to take up the Daredevil mantle that’s against death?
Grant: Evel said everyone remembers the name of the first man who stepped into the moon, but do you know the name of the third man who does that? It’s definitely not. I think there is a truth in it. He broke the ground. He poured the foundations. He built this house. The rest of us just rent a room and wander around on the back patio.
That being said, there are real bad Mofos still carrying Daredevil torches on motorcycles like Travis Pastrana and Colby Raha, and it’s great and fun to watch.
Don’t forget there’s X-Games too. There is an action sports for EvelKnievel. Ask Tony Hawk, Matt Hoffman and Sean White why they were doing it.
There’s always Daredevil. People always jump over shit on their bikes… or bike… or skateboarding, or snowboarding. But there are never any world-class hall of fame characters like Evel Knievel. He was one side. He is Rick Flair. He is Frank Sinatra. He is Elvis. He is Liberus. But he was cooler than those guys and was able to steal their girlfriends. And none of those people had to compete with hitting the pavement at 100 mph.
Serrano: What do you think Evel Knievel has evolved as a comic book character?
Grant: There are times when things are not said enough, and the world doesn’t know about him. Evel’s real life story is one of the redest of all things. Robert Craig Niebell created this “Evel” persona, and then, as he said, it ran away from him. For many, that’s where his story ends. Many people don’t know what came next. They don’t know that he has returned to his family and returned to love, hope, goodness. He stood up for what he believed and what was right. He fought for the little man, for all men. He worked to unite people every day. Above all, we want to show it. We want people to leave it. This guy was a real life comic book hero. A better man, woman, child, or super powerful individual will not make a book.
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