Chapter 17 | Page 3b: Hot Stuff

Posted on December 19, 2025 by Brad Guigar

Today’s page takes us back to Ralph’s Diner, where Captain Heroic proves—once again—that nothing rattles him… not even a surprise soup bath.

Hailey is mortified, Captain Heroic is dripping, and somewhere across the diner, Yazmine Velour is livestreaming the whole thing as heart emojis rain from the internet. It’s a small moment, but one that says a lot about who Cap really is—and why people can’t help falling for him.

Transcript

Panel 1
Hailey (distraught that she has dumped hot soup on Captain Heroic): Omigod Omigod Omigod…

Captain Heroic (turning to another person eating at the diner): Excuse me. Would you hand me a napkin, please? (The person hands him a napkin)

Panel 2

Hailey: I’m so sorry Captain Heroic, sir. I didn’t mean to — {sob}

Panel 3

Captain Heroic (handing her the napkin): Here. Please don’t cry.

Panel 4

Captain Heroic (continues): Most of my first impressions involve disintegration rays. And actual impressions. In concrete.

Panel 5

Captain Heroic: This was far more pleasant — not counting the bay leaf in my shirt.Yazmine Velour (as she livestreams the interaction from the other side of the diner, a torrent of heart emojis flow from her phone as the audience reacts): Omigod Omigod Omigod

After Dark

This week's commissioned MicroFic delivers exactly what you’d want from a pairing between Dynasty and Father Christmas.

  • Yes, he lives up to his name.

  • Yes, Dynasty knew exactly what she was doing.

  • No, the North Pole will never be the same.

I also posted the Goblin Girl MicroFic from the Monster Girl poll — and the response was so good, I might need to make these poll-powered MicroFics a recurring thing!

Unshelved guest strip

Posted on August 18, 2008 by Brad Guigar
In case you missed it, I did a special Evil Inc-themed guest strip for my friends Bill and Gene at Unshelved. It’s part of their series of “book report” comics. The book that I’m discussing is one that my father-in-law lent to me just before I left for San Diego. The Ten-Cent Plague: The Great American Comic-Book Scare and How It Changed America was a tremendous read. It covers the birth of the comic-book industry and its demise at the hands of religious leaders, politicians, and other opinion-makers. Author David Hajdu offers an insightful look at a fascinating time in comic-book history, and a sobering account of the effects of censorship.

Sure, Tales from the Crypt could be pretty spooky back then, but if you want a real chill, go to the last chapter — a simple list of the names of people who left (or were forced out of) the comic-book industry as the result of the Comics Code Authority and its effect on the comics.

It goes on for pages.