Evil Inc Shareholder Report: Severe Lightning Storms and Reboot Revelations!

Inside Evil Inc’s biggest showdown, the origin of the reboot, NCS memories, and more.

The corporate spy inside the Fairmount Office of Evil Inc has been revealed to be the alternate-universe Lightning Lady! The real Lightning Lady — with a helpful assist from the Lethal Librarian — has vanquished her once and for all. And along the way, our Lightning Lady may have realized something about herself. Earlier in the storyline, she and Miss Match discussed the alternate-universe doppelgänger...

… during the battle, she came to a much different conclusion…

Frequently Asked Questions

Last week on the Discord server, Caleb posed this question…

I had a neat experience attending a panel with the guys from Epic Rap Battles of History. There were like twelve questions that they were asked, and they immediately spit out an answer to each and then moved on to the next question. ("What's your favorite battle you've done?" "Teddy Roosevelt vs Winston Churchill. Next!") They explained that they get asked these same questions so often, and the answers have been given so many times, that it felt like a waste to rehash them when other people had new insights to discuss. Which made me curious: Brad, what questions do you get asked most often?

That’s an excellent question! So I’m starting a new feature of the newsletter: Frequently Asked Questions. Every week, I’ll tackle a question that readers ask very often. This one, hands down, is the most popular question:

Why did you reboot the strip?

Evil Inc started as a spin-off of the Greystone Inn comic strip. Like Greystone, it typically consisted of four panels and ran six days a week.

I self-syndicated both comics to newspapers. At its height, I estimated Evil Inc was seen by approximately 1.2 million newspaper readers per week.

That was never a significant source of income, but with the addition of the web-advertising revenue generated by updating six days a week, I was doing well enough to leave my day job in 2012. When ad blockers crested in 2013, that ad revenue dried up. Almost immediately.

The epiphany, if it can be called that, was realizing that I could deliver more storytelling if I left the four-panel format /six-day schedule.

And with newspapers completely out of the equation, I could write my stories with more of an edge.

That's when I realized I could redo the whole thing.

If I were going to write more "adult" storylines (not necessarily 🔞 but stories with grown-up concepts)... focusing on an established married couple wasn't going to be as interesting as writing about how Captain Heroic and Miss Match first met and fell in love.

Once I decided to do that, I knew I needed to revamp the entire comic. I had three — THREE! — mad scientists. That was not great storytelling. The kids were good for a newspaper strip, but not so much for the comic that was evolving.

I talked about the significant changes when the reboot debuted in January 2016 — Evil Inc blog

To sum it up, once I realized I didn't have to be boxed-in (get it?) by a four-panel format and a daily update schedule, I knew I could do a completely different comic. 😀

NCS memories

From left: Jason Chatfield, Sean Wang, Cassidy Wasserman, Dave Kellett and Brad Guigar. Photo by Matthew Noe

Last week, I attended the 79th annual National Cartoonists Society Conference and Reuben Awards. For the next few weeks, I’ll be sharing some memories from that event. Here’s a biggie: Once again, my ComicLab co-host Dave Kellett and I hosted a live performance of our popular podcast. We were joined onstage by three marvelous cartoonists:

Jason Chatfield, a remarkably talented cartoonist who is as comfortable doing stand-up comedy as he is sitting down to create cartoons for The New Yorker. His new book, “You’re Not a Real Dog Owner Until…”, is a danged delight, and belongs on your shelf.

Sean Wang, the creator of Runners, a wonderful sci-fi comedy about alien smugglers. Its most recent Kickstarter launched a couple days before the recording of the show, and was funded shortly thereafter — which is 100% a coincidence, but we’ll be claiming credit nonetheless.

Cassidy Wasserman, whose debut graphic novel, On Guard, was published by Random House earlier this year to rave reviews. She has also illustrated no fewer than three delightful children’s books.

ComicLab

Greg and Karen Evans joined us on the ComicLab podcast to celebrate 40 years of the syndicated comic strip Luann. Karen — then, a toddler — was the inspiration for the strip when Greg launched it in 1985. Twenty-seven years later, Karen joined her father to co-write the comic. They'll discuss that journey, their collaborative process, the significance of reader interaction, and more.

Coming up Thursday, Dave Kellett returns from Comic-Con International with a full report — featuring real numbers. We'll discuss what worked, what didn’t, and what surprised the 25-year veteran of the show.

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/comic-lab/id1331204679

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3xJpaHpmwUWCG1sH9CLzGl

Uncensored Artists

My most recent piece for Uncensored Artists discusses the censorship faced by romance authors, and what we can learn from their experience. 

“It’s essential for several reasons. First, it helps NSFW content creators understand the root causes of events like the recent Itch.io crackdown. It’s also crucial to know where our allies lie. The same corporate and government actions that impair OnlyFans performers also harm romance authors.”

Wrapping it up

Normally this is where I’d share a few sneak peeks from Patreon, but honestly… this newsletter is already stuffed fuller than Dr. Muskiday's filing cabinet. I’ll save the teases for next time — you’ve got plenty to chew on here. I'll just leave you with a sneak peak at an upcoming commission...

Thanks so much for being part of this community. Whether you’ve been following Evil Inc since the newspaper-strip days or you just hopped aboard recently, I’m grateful you’re along for the ride. Big stories are unfolding, even bigger projects are in the works, and I can’t wait to share even more with you in the weeks ahead. Stay tuned!