First of all, I want to thank everyone who came out to say hello and pick up Evil Inc stuff at my booth at
Baltimore Comic Con, one of the last of the
comic-book comic conventions.
Special thanks to Brad Tree and the entire gang in Baltimore who work so hard to put on one of the best shows on the convention calendar. And congratulations to Marc Nathan, who became a father just two weeks prior to his show.
And as long as I'm handing out congrats, big-time kudos to my friend
Scott Kurtz who brought home a well-deserved Harvey Award for Best Online Comic. Scott was the host of the awards show for the second year running, and he did an awesome job.
One of the big topics at the Evil Inc booth last weekend was the recent storyline in which Captain Heroic lost his super powers, and I want to take a moment to discuss that.
Top of the list:
thank you for your letters, tweets, posts and messages of support over the last few weeks. This storyline was a definite departure from the usual Evil Inc fare, and I knew I was taking a risk in doing it. But you guys have really rallied around it, and that makes me incredibly proud.
For those of you wondering where the funny went, rest assured, the rapid-fire humor you've become accustomed to is back next week, as Cap adjusts to life as a "normal" civilian.
Based on the overwhelming response -- and the precedent set by 2009's
Parallel Earth storyline (not to mention the
Tournament arc) -- I think we can safely establish that summertime at Evil Inc will bring at last one "Summer Blockbuster" storyline that will span several weeks and push the strip and the characters into new places.
But one fan asked a simple question that I'd like to address, and that question was, "Why?"
Why bring so much drama into a humor strip?
Blame Neil Simon.
See, I ran across the
Odd Couple on TV not too long ago...just as it was beginning, and I noticed something that I never really paid attention to before.
This incredible comedy... this humor
tour de force... starts out with a suicide attempt.
Now, obviously, it was played for laughs -- just as the recent
Evil Inc arc played up the comedy -- but that opening scene does something to the viewer psychologically that just can't be denied.
It makes us love a character who is otherwise somewhat unapproachable. And that love makes it possible to laugh at scenes that would otherwise be unfunny.
The drama sets the stage for comedy.
And I'd like to bring some of that into my own work.
So here it is. Captain Heroic is powerless. Maybe for a day. Maybe forever. Lightning Lady and Elastic Man know their secret, but they realize that they have a secret of their own. And where does Evil Atom fit into all of this?
Felix, relax... You're the only man in the world with clenched hair...
