Intermission – April 21 — Evolution Success

Posted on April 21, 2026 by Brad Guigar

Build-a-Baddie Returns (And It’s Bigger, Badder, and More Chaotic)

The last Build-a-Baddie Poll was such a hit, it spun off not one but two projects — a microfic and a 1,500-word short story!

So naturally… we’re doing it again.

Welcome back to Build-a-Baddie — the crowd-sourced character experiment where you decide:

  • The creature

  • The personality

  • The situation they’re caught in

I take your winning combo and turn it into a brand-new illustration.

There’s also a Wildcard section if you want to whisper your weirdest ideas into the void. No promises… but I will read them.

Voting opens this week on Patreon. Bring your best (and worst) ideas.

Transcript — Evolution Success Stories

A single-panel cartoon shows two bug-like creatures standing on a forest floor surrounded by large green leaves. Both have tall, thin, purple bodies with spindly limbs and antennae. The bug on the right has colorful, symmetrical butterfly wings with orange, black, and white patterns and looks relatively normal — an evolution success story The bug on the left has a strange, mismatched set of wings that resemble bold, graphic signage instead of natural wings. The wings are black with bright orange arrows and large words pointing in different directions, including “TASTY,” “HERE,” and “YUM!” with arrows directing attention toward the bug’s own body. The malformed-wing bug looks uneasy, while the butterfly-wing bug looks on. Beneath the comic, a caption reads: “All I’m saying is… it’s easy to be a fan of evolution if all you hear about are the success stories…”

To the right of the panel is a blue box that reads: “Intermission — The Evil Inc storyline will continue next week.”

Preview; New Avengers #53

Posted on June 8, 2009 by Brad Guigar

New Avengers #53
 Creative team: Story by Brian Michael Bendis; art by Billy Tan & Matt Banning

Villain to Watch: Madame Masque, Brother Voodoo

Brian Michael Bendis seizes the award for Best Dialogue of the Month for the latest ish of New Avengers. In the opening pages, Spider-Woman admonishes Clint Barton to “land the damned Quinjet.”

Spider-Woman: I’m justing saying, I could have flown here faster with my web pits.

Meanwhile, Spider-man has a Moment with Luke Cage:

Spider-man: Hey, Luke, man. About that thing with me and your wife before?

Spider-man: You know. About her being in love with me in high school?

Spider-man: I swear. I did not know about this. I swear.

Spider-man: I mean she’s cute and all but…

Spider-man: But don’t you worry, man. I believe in the statues of marriage. Or the institution.

Spider-man: Yeah. The institution. I’m all about it.

Spider-man: So don’t worry about me or anything like that.

Cage, having simmered through a beautiful slow burn rendered by Tan and Banning, scowls more deeply at Web Head.

Spider-man: But you and Iron Fist broke up, right? Because I’d like to take a shot at that action.

Spider-man: Heh.

Beyond the deft comic relief, this is another title that is heating up nicely in the post-Civil-War Marvel universe. Dr. Strange is preparing the world for a new Sorcerer Supreme since he, himself had resorted to Dark Arts in the preceding conflict. The Eye of Agamotto has let loose, Green-Lantern-ring style to find a new torch-bearer. And you’ll never believe whom it found: None other than B-list baddie hero Brother Voodoo. OK, it was aiming for Daimon Hellstrom, but nobody’s perfect, right? I had fallen away from New Avengers over the past few months because I just couldn’t hang with the art. Between Bendis’ sharp dialogue and the current visual team, I’m going to have to add it to my Pull List once again.