Eugene Carmichael
From Templar Connect
| Eugene Carmichael | ||
|---|---|---|
| ||
| Other Names | Gene, Eugene Delacroix Carmichael | |
| Age | Unknown | |
| Residence | Abby Hall | |
| Occupation | Musician, Borndown | |
| Relatives | Feather Carmichael, Apollo Carmichael, Jackie Carmichael, Maxine Ernst, Mark Carmichael, Marcel Duchamp, "Lil' Vincent", Zoradysis Carmichael | |
| Affiliations | Jakeskin (loosely) | |
| First Appearance | ||
| The Great Outdoors, page 12. | ||
- ''Eugene: Greek, "Well born".
- "A sloppy, extensively tattooed musician with a bizarre upbringing and a clinically subnormal intellect. Also, a genuinely nice guy.
- Gene makes his living by playing in a popular local band, Borndown. He's also raising his daughter, Zoradysis, who he occasionally loses track of completely."
- - Spike
Contents |
About Gene
Gene is the third person Ben encounters after the start of the comic, his upstairs neighbor and the father of Zora. Gene is a musical savant of subnormal intelligence, though he copes fairly well with the help of Reagan and his band mates. He was married to a woman named Emma, about whom it is only known that she gave birth to Zora, was Jake in the past but has left the community, and hopes to return to Gene and Zora in the future.
Gene's immediate family are Jakeskin, and in spite of their fairly rigorous adherence to the tenets of their religion, Gene himself appears to be fairly inactive outside of his mother's influence[1]. His understanding of the finer points of Jakeskin seem to be intermittent, though he does occasionally make references to the theft that the Jakes practice[2], and to their belief in prophets[3].
Gene continues to serve as a conduit for prophecy in a Jakeskin ritual involving the ingestion of some dangerous substance, although his mother Feather allows this only reluctantly, believing he is too old for it.
Gene was born in a motel room in Cheyenne, Wyoming. He is named for Eugène Delacroix, a French Romantic artist.
Gene's necklace--often mistaken for a bullet casing--is actually an old-fashioned style of identification used for dogs. The cylinder unscrews and normally contains a piece of paper with the owner's contact information. The contents of Gene's tag have yet to be discovered.
Intellectual Disability
Gene suffers from some form of impaired cognitive function, probably due to complications during his birth[4].
He can read and write, though occasionally struggles to spell his own name [5].
- I think Gene's a dog. He eats what'cha put in front of him. He's as Jake as y' tell 'im t'be. Y'tell 'im to be sumthin' else, that's good too. He don't care. Nuthin' takes.
Though Gene is aware of his difficulties, he may not be aware of his condition. When Sunny refers to him as retarded, he reacts with indignation, professing that this can't be true as he can read. He dwells on this for some time after the conversation has moved on [6].
Music
- For more information, see Borndown.
Gene has a natural talent for music in idiot savant fashion. He can play a variety of instruments -- guitar, vox, concertina, banjo, piano, saxophone, didgerydoo, violin, panpipes, baryton, crumhorn and saw [7] -- and can learn to play new ones with ease.
He frequently plays Gvidon Piece Ultra, a musical video game. Though he struggles to enter his name into the high score board, he enjoys the game because it is rare for him to figure out something without help [8].
Gene is a member of the band Borndown, along with Sunny, Moze and Bo. He was headhunted after Sunny heard him busking [9].
Backstory
Gene is separated from his wife, Emma, Zora's mother. Her whereabouts are currently unknown.
Spike has described her as being Gene's former minder and that she battled with Sunny for the title [10].
Though she claims to still love Gene, she does not seem likely to return soon. However, she is keen to liberate her daughter from his family [11].
Relationships
Gene is very close with his daughter, Zoradysis, though in many situations she is the parental figure.
His father Apollo is an enigma of silence and violence.
Appearance
Like his mother, Gene suffers from rosacea.
Despite the Jakeskin tradition to shave one's head, Gene sports a full head of long, blonde hair. Though Feather requests he shave his head, Gene firmly refuses. This is one notable way he defies his mother.
