Here's a closer look at the Evil Inc emails...
“It’s good ta be da king…”
While watching Mel Brooks: The 99-Year-Old Man, three things jumped out at me and immediately elbowed their way into my creative psyche.
First: Fear. Or rather, the systematic, professional-grade obliteration of fear. Again and again, the documentary circles back to how much of Mel Brooks’ creative power came from refusing to be intimidated — by authority, by convention, by “good taste,” or by the quiet little voice that says don’t do that, people might judge you. That hit me right in the gut.
If fear is the tax we all pay for wanting to make things, Brooks just… stopped paying it.
Second: as the Zoomers would say, that man was horny on main.
I rewatched History of the World, Part I last night, and wow — no easing into it. From cavemen masturbating in the opening moments to wall-to-wall boob jokes, dick jokes, and lust as a driving historical force, the movie commits early and never lets up. It’s joyful. It’s shameless. It’s aggressively adolescent in the best possible way.
And as the World's Okayest Smut Dad, I found it deeply affirming. There’s something comforting about realizing that one of the most celebrated comedy legends of all time built his empire by saying, “Yes, but what if we made it dirtier?”
Third (and finally): whatever happened to Mary-Margaret Humes?
Va-va-va voom. That is all.
Taken together, it’s a reminder I didn’t know I needed: Fear is optional. Horniness is timeless. And comedy works best when it’s unembarrassed about what it loves.
Which is… honestly a pretty solid Evil Inc mission statement when you think about it.
Transcript
Panel 1
Caption (yellow box):
The next day…
Dr. Muskiday (entering the nearly empty office, which is empty, speaking):
Where is everybody?!
Didn’t they get my email??
Panel 2
Giant Tess (holding up a red book):
Here’s a guide to proper terminology in the workplace.
You’ll want to read it.
Panel 3
Giant Tess, continues in a narration box:
“Desi and ‘Dragon’ took one look at the subject line and got exactly the wrong idea.”
Inset image below narration:
An email inbox is shown with the subject line highlighted:
All-hands meeting — NOW!!
Other visible email subjects include:
- “Reminder: It’s Casual Fridays, Not ‘Casualty’”
- “Who Keeps Feeding the Lava Lamp?”
- “RE: Are Monologues Considered Testimony?”
- “Janitor’s Closet…?”
- “Re: Re: Re: Stop Replying All”
Panel 4
Giant Tess’ narration (yellow box):
“When I caught them, I told them to beat it.”
Giant Tess (pointing angrily):
(No dialogue)
Desdemona and Iron Dragon are caught mid-makeout on the floor.
Panel 5
Giant Tess:
I’ll… um… need that book after you’re finished with it.
DETAILED ALT TEXT
A five-panel comic set inside the Evil Inc corporate office.
Panel 1:
A yellow narration box reads “THE NEXT DAY…”. A wide shot of an empty open-plan office filled with gray cubicles, rolling office chairs, desktop computers, and filing cabinets. Dr. Muskiday — a short, fly creature in a lab jacket — walks into a nearly empty office. Giant Tess is standing there, looking annoyed. Dr. Musiday says, “WHERE IS EVERYBODY?!” followed by “DIDN’T THEY GET MY EMAIL??”
Panel 2:
A closer shot of Giant Tess holding up a red paperback book titled “Evil Inc. Style & Speech Guide.” Dr. Muskiday’s large compound eyes peer up from the bottom of the panel. Tess calmly explains, “HERE’S A GUIDE TO PROPER TERMINOLOGY IN THE WORKPLACE. YOU’LL WANT TO READ IT.”
Panel 3:
Giant Tess’ dialogue is continued in a yellow narration box: “DESI AND ‘DRAGON’ TOOK ONE LOOK AT THE SUBJECT LINE AND GOT EXACTLY THE WRONG IDEA.”
Below is a close-up of an email inbox. The highlighted message reads: “ALL-HANDS MEETING — NOW!!” Other humorous subject lines fill the inbox, including reminders about Casual Fridays, questions about lava lamps, legal monologues, janitor’s closets, and an email chain titled “Re: Re: Re: Stop Replying All.”
Panel 4:
Another yellow narration box continues Giant Tess’ dialogue: “WHEN I CAUGHT THEM, I TOLD THEM TO BEAT IT.”
The scene shows Giant Tess pointing angrily at two coworkers on the office floor between cubicles. Desdemona, a red-skinned devil woman with small horns and a curvy build, is sitting in Iron Dragon’s lap. Iron Dragon, a muscular man in dark clothing with dragon-themed elements, has his arms around her. They are clearly caught mid-makeout and look startled and embarrassed.
Panel 5:
Giant Tess stands with Dr. Muskiday beside her, who is now holding the red Evil Inc. Style & Speech Guide. Tess looks awkward and thoughtful, one finger raised to her chin, as she says, “I’LL… UM… NEED THAT BOOK AFTER YOU’RE FINISHED WITH IT.”
First of all,
thank you so much to everybody who supported the Kickstarter campaign for the eighth Evil Inc book! We unlocked some awesome Stretch Goals — including free
Tales from The Con comics,
Guigar Laugh ringtones and a 416-page PDF of
The Complete Greystone Inn. I’m finishing up illustrations for the book, doing last-minute edits and compiling the List of Supporters. Then it’s off to the printer! So thank you for your support — whether it was a pledge or simply spreading the word on social media!
Also, I want to thank everyone who came out to see me at Philadelphia Comic Con. It was a tremendous four-day show, and it was great to be able to reconnect with many of my Philly-based readers. I have a few extras from that show — including signed copies of the issue of the
Philadelphia Daily News which features my illustration on both the front cover and the cover of the special section promoting the event. I’ll put those up on my store later this week if you’d like a copy for yourself.
I also want to thank everyone who came out to one of my three panel discussions. We had a raucous panel to kick-off the series, with some really fine webcartoonists representing the field —
Christian Patchell,
Jason Thomas,
Dawn Griffin and
Chris Flick. They displayed a wide breadth of approaches to independent publishing on the Web, and I know everyone who showed up to that panel left a little wiser and a lot inspired. Hopefully the same can be said of the people who attended my other two solo panels — Webcomics Start-Up and Patreon Primer.
I want to include a special thank-you to Wizard World’s Director of Programming Christopher Jansen, who has supported my doing these panels for a long time. If you’ve ever been to a Wizard convention, you know that their programming is world-class Awesome. If you’re like me, the programming is a major deciding factor in attending a convention. That being said, your attending a Wizard show was a direct result of the Herculean effort that Chris and his dedicated crew exert at — count ’em — 18 shows per year. That’s more than once a month. It’s mind-boggling.
Finally, I want to thank the kind Evil Inc henchpeople who helped me out at my booth this year — Jonah, Jeffrey, Tara, Jeff, Dianna and
Isabelle. During the show, if you were handed an iPad queued up with the Evil Inc monthly comic, that was the Littlest Henchman, and he was indispensable. When he wasn’t assisting sales, his persistent “Shouldn’t you be drawing more?” kept me on-task where my Commission List was concerned.
Also, I want to thank everyone who came out to see me at Philadelphia Comic Con. It was a tremendous four-day show, and it was great to be able to reconnect with many of my Philly-based readers. I have a few extras from that show — including signed copies of the issue of the Philadelphia Daily News which features my illustration on both the front cover and the cover of the special section promoting the event. I’ll put those up on my store later this week if you’d like a copy for yourself.
I also want to thank everyone who came out to one of my three panel discussions. We had a raucous panel to kick-off the series, with some really fine webcartoonists representing the field — Christian Patchell, Jason Thomas, Dawn Griffin and Chris Flick. They displayed a wide breadth of approaches to independent publishing on the Web, and I know everyone who showed up to that panel left a little wiser and a lot inspired. Hopefully the same can be said of the people who attended my other two solo panels — Webcomics Start-Up and Patreon Primer.
I want to include a special thank-you to Wizard World’s Director of Programming Christopher Jansen, who has supported my doing these panels for a long time. If you’ve ever been to a Wizard convention, you know that their programming is world-class Awesome. If you’re like me, the programming is a major deciding factor in attending a convention. That being said, your attending a Wizard show was a direct result of the Herculean effort that Chris and his dedicated crew exert at — count ’em — 18 shows per year. That’s more than once a month. It’s mind-boggling.
Finally, I want to thank the kind Evil Inc henchpeople who helped me out at my booth this year — Jonah, Jeffrey, Tara, Jeff, Dianna and Isabelle. During the show, if you were handed an iPad queued up with the Evil Inc monthly comic, that was the Littlest Henchman, and he was indispensable. When he wasn’t assisting sales, his persistent “Shouldn’t you be drawing more?” kept me on-task where my Commission List was concerned.
