Chapter 16 | Page 4b: Mean golden girls

Transcript

Panel 1

(Cassie Cruz speaking to Jeremy, who is standing in front of a board with pictures of various Evil Inc employees.)

Cassie Cruz: Jeremy, we have to find out who has been leaking information to the heroes before they pin it on me! The only nursing home capable of caring for my mother is contingent on my job here! — And even they have their hands full!

Panel 2

(A flashback scene shows Cassie narrating while Princess Charming, an elderly woman in a wheelchair, is interacting with another patient in the nursing home.)

Cassie Cruz (narrating): As a top-tier mind-controller with dementia, my mom keeps reliving the past — and pulling innocent people into her world!

Panel 3

(A flashback continues with an orderly, wearing a red shirt, standing near Princess Charming. Green energy surrounds them as the orderly appears to be in a trance.)

Cassie Cruz (narrating): Last week, an orderly forgot to turn on his neuro-dampener last week. Before anyone knew it, he was reenacting a battle between Mom and Hijinx.

Jeremy: Was Hijinx a hero she used to fight?

Panel 4

Cassie Cruz (narrating): Worse. It was a villain she had a rivalry with.

Princess Charming: I wish I could be like you. It must be so freeing not to stress over every little pound!

Panel 5

(Orderly is sitting on a couch, speaking with a therapist)

Cassie Cruz (narrating): The poor guy has been in counseling ever since!

Orderly: I mean… I thought I looked cute in bangs!

(Comic strip by Brad J. Guigar. © 2025. All rights reserved. Visit evil-inc.com)

My Patreon supporters have seen my new comic strip. Well… kinda. US0M_thumbSee, I’ve had this idea for a new comic strip — a spin-off of Evil Inc in a weird way — that I’ve been batting around for a while. But before Patreon, I’ve never had much incentive to develop it. However, since I’m doing bonus cartoons (my goal is to hit 3 a week), I can justify the time that I put into working on that much more easily! Although I haven’t decided on a title yet, the concept involves taking the characters of Oscar and Oliver out of Evil Inc and putting them in a traditional family strip. The “real” Oscar and Oliver might stay with Evil Inc… these would be different kids — one a superhero and the other a supervillain — being raised by “civilian” parents. In fact, the two boys would be the only “supers” in the comic. If you follow me on Twitter, you know that some of the funniest stuff I post there comes from my two sons, ages 12 and 8. And, truthfully, they already supply the inspiration for Oscar and Oliver. But I get an impression from my readers that they find the Oscar-and-Oliver storylines to be an interruption in what they expect from Evil Inc. And, honestly, I’d like to see what happens when these two take center stage completely. So… I’m working on it. And my Patreon supporters — for as little as one dollar a month — are getting a front-row seat. I’m posting my thought process, pages from my sketchbook (something I’ve rarely — if ever — done), and finished strips. I posted the first completed strip last week, and I have another prepped for next week. How long will it go on? I don’t know. I’m keeping it open, and I’m not making promises. This might be a regular part of the bonus cartoons I’m planning to stock my Patreon feed with. Or it might be something I work on in spurts. It might become a webcomic someday, or it might become a Patreon-exclusive. I’m going to see where it takes me. Aliens_thumbAnyway, last week I revealed all of the bonus cartoons my Patreon backers saw. This week, I’m showing thumbnails to two of them (including the one above and the one to the right) and revealing one (scroll down). If you’ve been thinking about backing me on Patreon, this is the perfect time. That freaking Creations feed is bursting with extra content and conversations! And the more you give, the more you get — $5 gets you all of this plus a free monthly eComic in which you can read all of the upcoming month’s Evil Inc strips in one file PLUS bonus material from the archive! And all backers get access to the Creations feed that features the bonus strips. Red_SonjaThis comic is another reason I’m really loving Patreon. I originally pitched the idea above to Tales From the Con, a weekly comic I write for the Emerald City Comicon Web site. It wasn’t the right fit for them, but I still liked the idea. Before starting Patreon, I really didn’t have a reason (or an outlet) for an idea like this. In the end, I think it’s a very good cartoon. Wanna see more like that? Back me on Patreon.