The old timer, Commander Heroic, has remained very much the same in the rebooted Evil Inc universe. The Commander was based on my wife’s grandfather, a WWII Navy man, and he’ll always have a special place in my heart. See, Grandpa Ned brought back a lot of stories about being in the South Pacific during the war. The horrible ones he kept locked away inside, but the funny ones he would share. I loved him because I got the version of the stories that weren’t sanitized for his grandchildren.
Well… not completely sanitized. Even when he told me about the brothel, he insisted that we was in the front sitting room, watching everybody’s coats. But I got the more relaxed version of the stories than anyone else.
So Commander stays. If only to watch the coats.
Grandpa Ned comes through the Commander most clearly when he’s talking about his wife, Ms Amazing. Ned would get this look in his eye. It was a look that said, “I’m going to catch hell when I get home, but I’m going to tell you this story anyway.”
One Sunday, he and Inez met us for breakfast. While she got up to go to the bathroom, he got that look in his eye.
They had a small oven fire and the firefighters were called. But they had just had new carpeting installed the month before. Inez met the firefighters at the door and insisted they take their boots off.
He caught hell that afternoon. I’m sure of it. But it was so worth it.
Another old timer
He blazed a trail for all of us. Just think of the breadth of his career in comics. Not only has he accomplished the herculean feat of creating a comic strip for almost 20 years, but looking at his Awesomology — a 600-page hardcover collecting all of his strips through 2008 — you can see an artist pushing himself year after year after year. PvP has been developed as an animated series.
The guy’s got an Eisner and a Harvey award. He’s been a part of several fantastic podcasts — including Surviving Creativity and Webcomics Weekly. And his newer comics project, Table Titans, continues to hit new heights as a creative endeavor.
All of this, and he’s one of the nicest, most approachable people you could meet. He’s reached out to help young cartoonists. He’s been a savvy sounding board for veterans. He’s an all-around Renaissance man. And he’s had another trip around the sun. So be sure to wish him a happy one.
New trick for this old timer
A complaining reader actually gave me the perfect metaphor for why I felt the need to reboot Evil Inc.
