One of my all-time favorite writers to study is Chuck “The Legend” Dixon.
He was the co-creator of Bane from the Batman comics & movies. And he has also written stories for pretty much all the most well-known characters at both Marvel & DC & other major comicbook publishers — including The Punisher & Batman… GI Joe & Conan the Barbarian… Spawn, Green Arrow, The Lone Ranger, The Simpsons, SpongeBob Square Pants, and even Raggedy Ann & Andy. Not to mention dozens and dozens of other beloved and well-known characters over the past 30+ years of his career. He is also the only person who has ever been allowed to adapt “The Hobbit” into a graphic novel, which the Tolkien estate did not allow lightly.
One of the more powerful writing tips I learned from studying his stuff:
“The Slob Hero”
The slob hero is the guy who is far from perfect, often kind of a slob (thus why Chuck calls them that), flawed, but still likable, who you can identify with because of his imperfections… and somehow gets the job done anyway, with all odds stacked against him.
Think almost any 80’s or 90’s Bruce Willis action movie.
(Die Hard, The Last Boy Scout, etc)
The slob hero is the epitome of being “un-okay.”
And un-okay is the epitome of high-level selling, even though a lot of marketers try to pretend to be perfect with their filtered selfies, perfect production value videos/audios, and perfect spelling & grammar in their sales copy & emails.
But the slob hero?
Doesn’t care about perfection.
Couldn’t be perfect even if he tried.
And so, instead, leans into it, uses it to accomplish his goals, win the day.
This has, in many ways, been my email game for 21-years.
My copywriting game, too.
And if you are paying attention you’ll see the exact same phenomenon playing out with many successful copywriters, email marketers, salesmen spanning all kinds of markets, niches, industries, and product & service categories.
Perfect is boring.
It’s also a bald-face lie.
Nobody and nothing is “perfect.”
So to try to pretend to be perfect is the exact opposite of honesty, transparency, and, yes, authenticity — which people have somehow lost the ability to be, where there are literally courses, books, seminars, and trainings (yes, trainings — with an “s” — for the uptight boys & ghouls who get upset by a letter…) teaching how to do it.
But you don’t learn it.
You “are” it.
Because unless you’re God, you ain’t perfect anyway.
Anyway, the slob hero phenomenon is embedded all throughout every single offer, book, course, teaching, brain fart, post, and even customer service reply I create.
And this is especially the case with my Email Players newsletter.
You can read more about that here:
Ben Settle
