Chapter 16 | Page 10b: Stiff Competition

Lightning Lady tells her friend Miss Match all about finding her boyfriend in the arms of another woman — who also happens to be Lightning Lady!

Transcript

Evil Inc – April 3, 2024
By Brad J. Guigar

Panel 1

Narration: Evil Inc Breakroom, Some Time Later

Miss Match: "Wait... So, he was cheating on you with you??"
Lightning Lady: (Looks down, visibly distressed.)

Panel 2

Lightning Lady (narrating over a scene of a group of Alternate-Universe Lightning Ladies in Different Outfits and Styles): "It's a long story, but some time back*, Marquis teleported some alternate-universe versions of me. We thought we managed to get everyone home, but we musta missed one.”

*Evil Inc After Dark #16

Miss Match: "...So, you beat the stuffing outta her, right...?"

Panel 3

Lightning Lady: (Narrating a scene of her and Angus having a tender conversation.) "Just the opposite."
Lightning Lady: "Angus... you're a good guy. Losing Flashback left me scared to let another man into my life..."

Panel 4

(Lightning Lady talks to Angus While Alternate-Universe Lightning Lady Stands Beside Him)

Lightning Lady: "You deserve someone who can give herself to you completely. Someone like her."

Panel 5

Miss Match: "You... you gave up?!?"
Lightning Lady: "How am I supposed to compete with all of this?!" (Gestures at herself in exasperation.)

© 2025 Brad J. Guigar. All rights reserved. Evil-Inc.com

The Mean Streets of Sesame

The Mean Streets of Sesame


At first blush, it seems like one of those stories that makes people wax hysterical about that old boogey-man “Political Correctness.” From the Philadelphia Inkwaster…

[Philadelphia Inquirer] The gang at Sesame thought it would be a sunny day, and everything would be A-OK when they introduced Abby this month, complete with her poofy, sparkly pigtails, fluttery lavender wings, a magic wand, and a pretty chiffon frock.

But before any of them could spell Aloysius Snuffleupagus, the criticism began…

…Susan Linn, cofounder of the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood, calls Abby’s introduction a blatant attempt to compete with the gigantic Disney princess market.

“The last thing little girls need is one more pink fairy,” she says. “My understanding is that she’s a little incompetent with her magic, too. I’m concerned that now even the Sesame Workshop has bought into the girly, girly commercialized image of what it is to be feminine…


OK, apart from the people who are worried about Abby’s magic being a portrayal of witchcraft, some of these people have a point. It does smack of the Disney Princess syndrome. We’ve got enough girl characters in pink, frilly dresses demonstrating a sort of “oopsie” incompetence. I think the anti-Abby lobby has a valid point.

For my money, I would have much rather seen the next Sesame Street character be based on this little lady.