Fairmount City has faced plenty of supervillains before. But this may be its first livestreaming supervillain.
After losing her brief burst of social-media stardom, Hailey re-emerges with a new look, a new name, and a dangerous new relationship with engagement metrics. Now she is Countess Influencia — the Validation Vampire — and every heart, like, and notification seems to make her stronger.
Fairmount News Network tries to cover the attack, but even the news crew can’t stop checking her feed. As hearts start streaming from phones across the city — and around the world — it becomes clear that this crime spree is no longer just a local story.
The world has met Countess Influencia.
And she would very much like you to smash that “Like” button.
Transcript
Panel 1
At the Fairmount News Network studio. Someone off panel whispers, “Psst! Ms. Takahaski! You’re on the air!” Hana Takahaski looks up from her smartphone and says, “Oh! Umm… We’ve got breaking news!”
Panel 2
Hana says, “We’re getting live reports of an attack on the downtown area.” A stream of hearts begins floating from her phone.
Panel 3
The scene widens. Hana is still on her phone. The cameraman is also on his phone. Streams of hearts flow from both phones and from other unseen people in the studio. Hana says, “She may be the first supervillain to livestream her own crime spree! Moreover…” Then, distracted by her phone, she says, “Hold on…” Her phone displays the text: “YAS, Queen!”
Panel 4 (inset)
Exterior view of the Fairmount News Network building. Several streams of hearts flow outward from inside the building and from the street below. Hana says, “Moreover, while Fairmount City is her current target, she has already taken the whole WORLD by storm!”
Panel 5
Hailey, now transformed into Countess Influencia, floats above the city as streams of hearts flow directly into her body. She says, “Look upon Countess Influencia and despair!” Then, in smaller type: “And don’t forget to smash that ‘Like’ button and subscribe!”
Alt text
A five-panel Evil Inc comic introduces Hailey’s new supervillain persona, Countess Influencia. At Fairmount News Network, anchor Hana Takahaski is caught looking at her phone just as she goes on the air with breaking news about an attack downtown. As she reports, red heart icons begin floating from her phone. The scene widens to show the cameraman and others in the studio also absorbed by their phones, with streams of hearts flowing upward. Hana reports that the villain may be the first supervillain to livestream her own crime spree, then gets distracted by a message reading, “YAS, Queen!” Outside the Fairmount News Network building, heart streams pour from the building and the street below. In the final panel, Hailey floats above the city in her new vampire-inspired outfit as Countess Influencia. Streams of hearts flow into her body as she declares, “Look upon Countess Influencia and despair!” She adds, “And don’t forget to smash that ‘Like’ button and subscribe!”
Baltimore Comic Con Report
My appearance at the
Baltimore Comic Con this past weekend was a tremendous success! A big thanks to all of you who came out to say hi! I did a whole truckload of convention sketches and sold lots of
books. The
Evil Inc Annual Report vol 1 was so popular that I’ve gotten renewed determination to get that next volume out!
I had the
VILF shirts out there, too, and they got a lot of attention. 🙂
Saturday was fun. Early in the show, the fire alarm went off and they evacuated the convention center. That put the comics fans
and the telecom convention on the other side of the hall out on the street. It was quite a culture clash. But that was cleared up relatively quickly. Before long we were back in and doing well.
I didn’t have great table placement. If you remember, I was originally placed at Table 69 and then moved to Table 3. Table 3 was waaay over in the corner facing the rear of a toy store. There was little foot traffic. Table 69, however, was right in a main pathway. However, I’m not complaining because I still had a good weekend. I’ve already re-upped for next year, so maybe I’ll get a little better placement as a returning exhibitor.
A highlight of the weekend was when this couple (photo to the right) approached and told me they met me at Wizard World Philadelphia earlier this year and had bought a copy of the book having never read the strip online. They have become fans and were very complimentary about the strip. I live for that.
Likewise, I sold a book to a couple on Saturday and they came back the next day — having read it overnight — with rave reviews. Too cool. 🙂
Sunday was a great day, too. I talked to
Scott and heard that the Harvey Awards were pretty poorly attended. You can probably still see his post about it on his site. I was awfully sorry to hear that. I can’t imagine an awards presentation in which no one had shown up to accept their awards.
Finally, here’s a little recap of the news and reviews from the con:
Marvel’s announcements include the return of “Thor.”The Baltimore Sun’s review.The Cup O’ Joe (Quesada) panel.
The DC Nation panel.
A highlight of the weekend was when this couple (photo to the right) approached and told me they met me at Wizard World Philadelphia earlier this year and had bought a copy of the book having never read the strip online. They have become fans and were very complimentary about the strip. I live for that.
