Tales of the Odd: Bouillabaisse, strips 18 and 19
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Strip 18: Penny returns to her only friends in the world, Len and Mike. (Incidentally, the characters’ full names, never meant to be revealed in the comic, were Len Unne and Mike Ortneigh. Get it?) Her world is crumbling — her boss is against her, her super-team is dead, and the public she’s sworn to defend is frightened, irritated or indifferent toward her. Len and Mike reveal some convoluted conspiracy stuff involving… let’s see here… a monster factory, apparently. (Hey, these notes are 5 years old. I don’t really know what the hell I meant here.) They suggest that she confront the only person in authority that’s shown her any real support: the mysterious Administrator. She does, and we finally (well, for the third time) reveal that he’s the mysterious devil creature she’s met before. Whee.
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Strip 19: Evil (I never gave him a proper name — just “Evil”) makes his pitch to Penny: stop trying to be a hero and give in to self-interest. Though her will has been worn to a nub, she still manages to resist the temptation of greater power with absolutely no responsibility. (I had attempted to foreshadow this skewing of the classic Spider-Man argument in Penny’s discussion with Smart Alec earlier, but I wasn’t terribly happy with how that turned out). She’s called away to yet another emergency: the monstrosity that killed her team is on the rampage again. (His name, again never stated anywhere, was Thursday. Get it?) She gears up for the fight of her life, but suddenly finds herself being drawn away… Incidentally, though I’m pleased I tried something new with this storyline (the silouhetty effect I nabbed from Sin City and Miracleman), I think I really overdid it by this point. Oh well.