Hi Gail! Ok, with less than two weeks until National Misfit Day, I just *have* to ask: what's the origin/reason behind "Daaaark Vengeance!"?

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This may be a little upsetting to some people in light of his more recent comments, but it was actually a little tribute, an homage, to one of my favorite characters from CEREBUS creator Dave Sim.

Dave had a character in Cerebus, and those early issues were some of the funniest, most moving comics ever made, called the Cockroach who was a parody of various superheroes over the course of the book. He started out as a Batman parody, and then a Moon Roach, then Captain America, then Wolverine (I might have the order completely wrong).

But basically, he was just a huge knucklehead, given to shouting inane catchphrases. A really funny character, and Cerebus, in my youth, was FAR AND AWAY my favorite comic. So it was a way to remember and honor those books that I enjoyed so much.

The Roach would do something stupid, drop a boulder on a banker and then say, "Unorthodox economic revenge!  SSsssss!"  And then bound away happily. Again, I might be paraphrasing.

So when I wanted a joyful character with a habit of being annoying and gumming up the words, she had to have a catchphrase before bounding away. I don't think the Roach ever said, "Dark vengeance," specifically, but there's no question at all that he was the inspiration for her catchphrase. She might even have said the, "Ssssss!" part at one time, but my memory fails me.

Dave Sim is one of the towering geniuses of the industry. He seems to think I'm the devil, which is a shame. I disagree with his philosophies about women—to be more accurate, I think they're positively goony, but I still feel those early Cerebus books are some of the best comics ever made, by anyone.