Babman - Cultural References

Cultural References

• The "Fatmobile", a spoof of the Batmobile), is a borrowed Volkswagen Beetle with bat-like tailfins and a peace symbol on the hood. Its horn makes an "Oink!Oink!" sound, similar to that of a pig.
• Doña Fe gives her complete name as Felicidad Bagamundo y Maldecaralubio viuda de Cancarrote.
• Bruce Swine is known as a baryannaire philanthropist among the squatters. Baryannaire is a portmanteau of barya, a Filipino word meaning "small change", and "billionaire".
• Bruce relieves himself of the pain from carrying plates of sisig in his forearms by cooling them in an ice cream freezer labeled "Magnolecta Ice Cream". Magnolecta is a portmanteau of rival ice cream companies Magnolia (now owned by the San Miguel Corporation) and Selecta.
• Politicians Francisco Tatad and Juan Ponce Enrile, plus former Supreme Court Chief Justice Hilario Davide Jr make cameo appearances. In an oblique reference to the 2000 impeachment proceedings against then-President Joseph Estrada, Tatad tells a poor laborer that his second pay envelope is "immaterial and irrelevant"; Enrile adds, "I second the motion". In Davide's courtroom, a squatter also admonishes his lawyer to seek a "writ of victor corpus" (writ of habeas corpus) or a "subpoena duces rectum" (subpoena duces tecum). Davide's "sh" pronunciation of words that have "s" sounds is also present.
• Babman's primary weapon is, ironically, his utility belt with the peace symbol buckle. He also uses it as a bottle opener and as an ear-cleaning tool.
• The names of the two crooked cops in cahoots with Mr. Chan, Jing and Jude, are an oblique reference to the sons of former Philippine President Joseph Estrada - Jinggoy Estrada and Jude Estrada. Half of one strip, in particular, shows Polgas' long diatribe against the elder Estrada (without mentioning him by name).
• The tiger tattoo on Rufo's arm that led Babman to Mr. Chan is actually that of Hobbes, the tiger character from Calvin and Hobbes.
• Mr. Chan spoofs David Carradine's Shaolin master in the TV series Kung Fu. This is shown by his restaurant's name, "Shaolin Temple", and Bab is called "Grass-smoker", just as Carradine's character Kwai Chang Caine was nicknamed "Grasshopper".
• The back cover of Katorse, in which Babman appears, is a spoof of a cover of Frank Miller's 1986 comic book miniseries The Dark Knight Returns.