Chapter 17, Page 24a: Impossible to Choose

Posted on August 5, 2026 by Brad Guigar

Captain Heroic has a showdown with Countess Influencia, but the former waitress isn't interested in going back to the diner — and she certainly isn't hearing his excuses! She has the city at her feet, and in her book, that's a win!

Fairmount City's top hero sees it differently. There's a big difference between trending and mattering. The Countess may be impossible to ignore... but that also makes her impossible to choose.

Cartoonist Showcase

If you're in the Columbus area, make plans to stop by the Billy Ireland Library & Museum on August 8th from 1-5 p.m. It's a free event, and I'll be there sketching and signing along with a bunch of my pals from the NCS.

Transcript

Captain Heroic faces Countess Influencia (formerly Hailey the waitress)

Panel 1:

Captain Heroic: You don’t have to do this! Come back to Ralph’s and —

Hailey: Oh! NOW you want to talk to me in the diner!

Panel 2:

Captain Heroic: Hailey, I stopped making content with you because I didn’t want to be part of using you for “likes.”

Panel 3:

Hailey: Problem solved. Now I’m using THEM for likes.

Panel 4:

Hailey: Everyone is watching me — praising me! I’m impossible to ignore!

Panel 5:

Captain: And that means you’re impossible to choose.

Hall of Heroes, Cherry Hill Mall, NJ

Posted on October 24, 2005 by Brad Guigar

I have a new comic store. And they just made me a loyal customer.

See, here’s the deal, I fell for the whole Countdown to Infinite Crisis hook like a hypnotized lemur. I put them all on my reserve file at my old comic book shop.

I checked back in a while later. I had issues 1 and 3 from one title. Only issue 2 from another. Only issue 3 from a third… it was pretty pathetic. So, I wandered into Hall of Heroes in Cherry Hill Mall in New Jersey and ended up talking to the guy behind the counter. He helped me plug most of the holes in all four series… even going to the back room to find some. He pointed out some great titles I’d forgotten to look for (Like “The Defenders”) and was an all-around likeable comic-shop guy. 🙂

Before I knew it, I’d started a new reserve list there and left with plans to cancel my reserve at the old place.

Good enough, right?

Well, first a little backstory…

I’m still sore about the OMAC project series. Issue #3 leaves off and says you have to read three other titles to fill in the gap between OMAC #3 and OMAC #4. I hate that. And I didn’t read it until I already had OMAC #4 in my hands, saying, “Wha–? When did that ha–? What’s going on h–?!”

So I go in to pick up my reserves today, and I get the OMAC #5 and a bunch of other titles.

It’s not till I get home when I find a little something that they threw in for me: The issue of Wonder Woman that was one of the three you needed to read to understand the OMAC gap. A wonderful ish. An ish not in my reserve list, but one I wanted very much.

The guy behind the counter (a different guy) had asked me to check them over to make sure they were the ones I wanted — and I didn, kinda — but I kinda thought it was a formality.

Anyway… Whoever was thoughtful enough to throw that WW issue into my file won over a loyal customer for a long time… and a little plug. If they had a Web site, I’d link it. But suffice it to say, stop in to Hall of Heroes in the Cherry Hill mall. It’s a really swank store with books, T-shirts, figurines, Godzilla stuff… kind of a comic con in a can.