Chapter 17 | Page 13b: Hard bargaining

Posted on April 2, 2026 by Brad Guigar

At Evil Inc, even labor negotiations can spiral out of control — especially when “hard bargaining” takes on a whole new meaning. Cassie Cruz just realized that the conference room she prepped for Dr. Muskiday’s… unconventional solution… is already booked for a high-stakes union negotiation. Unfortunately, it looks like Doctor Threat and the henchpersons may have already reached an agreement.

I’d love your help with something big: Nominations are now open for the 2026 ’Ringo Awards, and reader nominations make all the difference. If the comic has ever made you laugh, please consider nominating Evil Inc for Best Humor Webcomic — it only takes a minute, and your support truly means a lot. You can submit your nomination here: https://go.evil-inc.net/ringo

Transcript

Panel 1
Cassie Cruz (angry):
“We are NOT having an orgy at our desks!”

Dr. Muskiday (calmly defensive):
“Of course not! I stocked the conference room with mattresses and lube.”

Panel 2
Cassie Cruz (panicking):
“The conference room?! Doctor Threat is scheduled to negotiate a new contract with the henchpersons’ union in there!”

Panel 3
Cassie Cruz (looking toward a slightly open door):
“Where’s Doctor Threat?”

Dr. Muskiday (matter-of-fact):
“I believe that’s him in the middle of — erm — ‘collective bargaining.’”

(Sound effects from behind the closed conference room door:)
“Hhh hhh”
“Plap Ngh Plap Plap”
“Hngh hhh”
“mmf mmf mmf”

Detailed Alt Text

A three-panel comic set inside an office at Evil Inc.

Panel 1: Cassie Cruz, a professional woman with short brown hair, red glasses, a white blazer, and a low-cut yellow top, stands beside her desk looking furious. A small pink “emotion cloud” with a skull icon floats near her head, indicating anger. She shouts that they are not having an orgy at their desks. Standing nearby is Dr. Muskiday, a short humanoid with a fly’s head—large red compound eyes, small body, and lab coat—who calmly explains that he already prepared the conference room with mattresses and lube.

Panel 2: Close-up on Cassie clutching her head in alarm. Her expression is wide-eyed and panicked. She exclaims that the conference room is supposed to be used for an important union negotiation between Doctor Threat and the henchpersons’ union.

Panel 3: Cassie and Dr. Muskiday stand in a hallway facing a slightly open conference room door. Cassie asks where Doctor Threat is. Muskiday gestures toward the door and awkwardly suggests that Doctor Threat is inside, in the middle of “collective bargaining,” implying something sexual. From inside the room comes exaggerated, comic-style sound effects indicating vigorous activity: heavy breathing (“hhh hhh,” “hngh”), rhythmic “plap” noises, and muffled sounds (“mmf mmf”). The implication is that the union negotiation has devolved into an orgy inside the conference room.

Wizard: Guilty of Insider Trading?

Posted on March 13, 2007 by Brad Guigar

Wizard: Guilty of Insider Trading?

[NEWSARAMA] CBarger of Wonderworld Comics …questioned whether one eBay seller might have been given information that other retailers were not, as Wizard Universe, which is owned by the same company as Wizard Magazine, sold hundreds of issues of Captain America #25 on eBay on Wednesday at prices from $10 to $50 an issue.

“I think this is a case of life imitating art,” Barger said. “In Civil War Frontline #11, we find out that Tony Stark and Stark Industries were the real profiteers behind the entire Civil War. And now we find out that Wizard Magazine has abused their privilege as one of comics’ media sources to get info on this book, get a variant for their convention exclusive the week after it’s released, and on top of that, have their sales arm of the company order way in excess of what any retailer was privy to and start selling them on ebay the morning the story broke — before many of us were even open to start selling the book to our customers.”

“If they really had that much foresight to order that many more issues of this comic to sell on ebay, then kudos to them,” said Pierce of Alter Ego about all the ebay sellers who capitalized on the situation. “But it seems that there was the equivalent of insider trading going on. Some information was passed that the rest of the retailing world didn’t seem to get.”

Shea of Famous Faces & Funnies agreed. “Wizard seems to be the biggest offender in this situation and I’m sure this won’t be the last time an event like this has them at the center of it,” he said. “As they’ve now revealed their upcoming Cap cover on the next Wizard issue featuring 18 pages of Captain America articles, it’s obvious they knew all about this well in advance. As Wizard certainly gets early insider information, it’s a complete conflict of interest that they’re carrying this comic in such incredibly deep levels and selling them for such insane amounts considering they knew what was going to happen in this issue while no other retailers were clued in. I do understand the reluctance of Marvel to give every retailer all the details as it would have surely slipped out somewhere along the way, and we wouldn’t have had the full media blitz that we saw the last few days. However, Wizard being both a news source and an online retailer is really questionable territory.”

Read the whole story.