Chapter 17, Page 21a: Livestreaming Supervillain

Posted on June 23, 2026 by Brad Guigar

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!”

Comic Con International 2006 Report, Part Three

Posted on August 1, 2006 by Brad Guigar
Comic Con International 2006 Report, Part ThreeThe Wyndham at Emerald Plaza

The Wyndham was a very nice hotel, excpet for the fact that they actually charged me $30 for the three boxes I had shipped to myself at the hotel. I asked why and they told my it was for storing the books. At ten bucks a book, I saked the guy at the front desk if my boxes had been given a private room. He was stonefaced. Must have heard that one before.

I’ve been travelling for comic conventions since 2000 and this was a first for me. But it was late and I didn’t feel like hassling the poor bellman. I gave the kid $30 plus a 20% tip. When I went to check out Monday, they actually tried to charge me for the boxes again! I told them that I wasn’t thrilled with paying it once and I wasn’t about to pay for it again. After a long, stern conversation, I would up getting screwed by the Wyndham only once — instead of the intended twice.

The panel

I wasn’t prepared for the crowds Friday. We opted for the shuttle from the hotel on the first morning and quickly realized that we could have walked it more quickly. As it was, we barely made it to the convention center in time for the BLC panel discussion, which was the first of the morning Friday.

For the rest of BLC, this was their first opportunity to meet Paul Taylor. After a quick round of handshakes and introductions, we lept to the stage and kicked off the discussion. Steve Troop had painstakingly prepared one of his QuickCasts to open the presentation.

After that, we launched headlong into an invigorating discussion of business models for independent cartoonists who use the Web as a primary delivery system. A key point: Webcomics are dead. If you’re going to succeed as a cartoonist, you have to think of yourself as the whole package — including not just the Web, but books, self-syndication, magazine reprint, etc.

The subscription model was hotly debated once more. From our standpoint, we’d love to see the subscription model work. But the fact is, it just doesn’t. You can compare webcomics to cable TV… or pay-per-play videogames… or satellite radio… or any of the dozens of other entertainment entities that survive on the subscription model, but the truth of the matter is readers just aren’t willing to subscribe to a daily comic.

Yours Truly went on one of his very familiar rants when the excuse of the “starving college student” was used as an excuse not to support one’s favorite webcomic. My response, in summary was, (a) I reject that most college students don’t have disposible income (and so does Anheuser-Busch, incidentally) and (b) No one will ever force you to support a cartoonist by buying a book or T-shirt, making a donation, etc…. but you forfeit your right to complain when said cartoonist finally moves on to more lucritive work and leaves the comic you love behind. ‘Nuff said. 🙂

There were no Big Announcements and we’ve no plans to add members at this time. That’s just not who we are. We’re a co-op of independent cartoonists who are helping one another succeed in their businesses. The purpose of our panel was to share what we learned in our first year. Oh, and have a ridiculous amount of fun in the process.

From everything I gathered, we succeeded on all counts. 🙂