Always Google your Super-Villains. I bet that’s sound advice that Brad would have given me had I asked.

This morning I woke up to a couple emails lauding me for putting a Kevin Smith reference in today’s comic. My initial response was “What Kevin Smith reference?” followed up by a Google search and an immediate “Oh CRAP!”

Originally, this strip had a villain named Onomatopoeia in it. A man in a skin-tight black suit with a big “O” on his face that spouted out comic book words like “BAM! POW! BIFF!” Turns out this is a brilliant idea. Kevin Smith came up with it years ago on his Green Arrow run. Even had the same big “O” on his face. Blerg!

That’s a bit embarrassing, isn’t it? If I had known about the character, I could properly and legally made a fanboyish reference to him in some dialogue instead of stealing him outright (albeit unintentionally). Maybe I could have had Monsieur Rongeur say something like “He’s already defeated The Onomatopoeia” or something. Stupid.

Anyway, that’s why the strip was altered. I replaced the Onomatopoeia with The Palindrome. If there turns out to be a villain called the Palindrome with two big “Ps” on his face let me know and I’ll change the strip again and replace him with “The Evilliteration. Kris helped me brainstorm the other day to come up with a bunch of throw away villains. Surely ONE of our ideas is original.

I guess we need to pick up those Green Arrow trades.

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