Chapter 16 | Page 2b: Advance notice

Catnip is miffed that she’s going to lose her commission due to Cassie Cruz’s new policy. To make matters worse, the superheroes seem to have had advance notice on a number of Evil Inc schemes. Evil Inc has a mole. But who…?

Transcript

Evil Inc – January 30, 2025
by Brad J. Guigar

Panel 1:
(Setting: The Evil Inc breakroom where several villains are gathered. Catnip, a blonde woman in a blue catsuit, stands with her hands on her hips. Miss Match, a red-haired woman in red and orange, is making coffee; Lightning Lady, a blonde in a blue costume; Desdemona, a red-skinned woman in a black and red outfit; Giant Tess, a woman in a green and orange suit; and Count Spurlock, a green-skinned man in a vest.)

Catnip: "Think about it! To be inside the building, Captain Heroic had to know about the Mime’s plans in advance!"

Lightning Lady: "That’s odd. When Dreadshade cracked the safe at Fairmount Bank, he got glitter-bombed!"

Count Spurlock: "I saw. The guy looked like he went down on Shirley Eaton.*"

Caption (bottom): "*You’ve got Google. Look it up."

Panel 2:
Catnip: "And don’t forget what happened when Dr. Patchwork heisted that shipment of arms…"

(Dr. Patchwork stands in front of a group of zombie henchmen with no arms. He opens a crate of weapons.)

Dr. Patchwork: "Damn it! These are just guns!"

Panel 3:
(Catnip raises a finger, looking serious.)

Catnip: "Face it. Someone is leaking information about our clients’ schemes to the superheroes."

Panel 4:
(A flashback scene shows Cassie Cruz, a brunette in glasses and a white blouse, packing up her office at the “Silver Agency,” a superhero placement agency that is now closed.)

Narration box: "And it’s been happening ever since 'Little Miss Silver Agency' took over."

Panel 5:
(Catnip clenches her fist, her expression determined.)

Catnip: "The answer is clear… WE NEED TO GET RID OF CASSIE CRUZ."

Oh... and this is Shirley Eaton.

The Grinch on Broadway

And on to my gripe for the day. It seems like a pretty standard announcement:

[ASSOCIATED PRESS:] The musical adaptation of Dr. Seuss’ holiday tale “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” will make its Broadway debut this fall at the Hilton Theatre, running from Nov. 8 until Jan. 7, 2007, according to a news release Monday. Previews of the show begin Oct. 25.

The widow of Dr. Seuss, whose real name was Theodor Geisel, will serve as an associate producer of the New York “Grinch” show. Geisel died in 1991.
Read more.

But read that last paragraph again: Geisel’s widow will be an associate producer; her husband died in 1991.

Y’see, while the good Doctor was alive, he insisted that his characters not be used in marketing and merchandizing beyond the books. They lived very well off those books. There was plenty to go around on the books. Opening up the Cat in the Hat and his other creations to licensing and merchandizing options would only serve to cheapen their meaningfulness. There was a couple expections — a few animated features done in collaboration with Chuck Jones, for example — but for the most part, Dr. Seuss was absolutely against using his characters towards any commercial uses such as cereal boxes, T-shirts, lunchboxes, toys, TV shows, movies, etc.

Six years after he dies, his wife, Audrey, opened the floodgates. We’ve seen a steady stream of Seuss-related crappola ever since: A couple of big-budget movie stinkers, a wide array of apparel, and countless goo-gags.

And now a Broadway flop-in-the-making.

Mrs. Seuss: You should be as ashamed, ashamed, ashamed as can be; to defile poor Teddy’s legacy.