Webcomic / Evil, Inc.

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Evil Inc.👁 Image
is a superhero Webcomic created by Brad Guigar, that started running in May 2005 and currently updates Monday-Friday (with occasional Saturday filler strips). Somewhat of a continuation of Guigar's previous strip, Greystone Inn, it revolves around the titular company which is run, staffed and provides entirely legitimate services for supervillains. Its CEO is Evil Atom, a once powerful and feared supervillain who is now somewhat past his prime.

The main character of the strip was initially Lightning Lady, the Ensemble Dark Horse of Greystone Inn who at the beginning of the strip takes a job at Evil Inc. as a secretary- Later on, the strip gradually changed focus towards Captain Heroic, the number one hero in the unnamed city the strip is set in, and Miss Match, another Evil Inc. employee (though Lightning Lady still appears regularly in Saturday comics). A while into the strip (a point which Guigar has once called the "official" launch of Evil Inc.) it's revealed that the two are married and have a son, Oscar. Their opposite moral alignments has caused some conflict but they appear to be Happily Married.

Though the strip is mostly gag-a-day, there have been several story arcs as well

As of the 8th of December, 2015, Brad Guigar has announced a soft reboot of ''Evil Inc.''👁 Image
Starting in January 2016, Evil Inc went from a five-day-a-week comic strip to a graphic novel updated in partial-page posts twice a week. All of the characters and relationships have been reset, and the main action now takes place in an Evil Inc branch office (rather than the monolithic corporate tower). [1]👁 Image
A second comic, Arch Bros will continue the adventures of Oscar and Oliver.

This webcomic provides examples of:

• 555: Samantha's phone number👁 Image
  
• Accidental Adultery: Thanks to Laser-Guided Amnesia, Cap forgot about his marriage and slept with another heroine. When Miss Match pretends to be captured and revives his memory, she apologetically punches him to make the scenario more plausible after finding out. Later on they talk about it, with Miss Match being upset but also understanding that Cap wouldn't willingly cheat on her.
• All There in the Manual: Inverted. "Bio cards" with information about cast members, including background and powers, occasionally run as a day's strip.
• Animate Inanimate Object: Memo. Created due to an accident at the Evil, Inc. Science Fair involving Lightning Lady's Robot Duplicate, Dr. Muskiday's matter-animator ray, and Dr. Haynus' Coincidence Inducer, it turns out that his animation is due to being possessed by the ghost of Silver Age villain Mind Master.
• Annoying Younger Sibling: Oliver becomes this to Oscar, who often has to be the voice of reason for them.
• Anti-Hero: The alternate Captain Heroic claims he's this.
  Miss Match: So you're a villain?
  Alt Cap: I prefer "anti-hero".
  Miss Match: And I prefer "extra-legal capital liberator", but the cops just laugh.
• Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: "My name is The Mind Master. Master of telekinesis, rotary-club chairman and three-time president of the Optimist Club..."
• Art Evolution: Originally, the artwork in the strip was black-and-white in a similar style to Greystone Inn; starting in mid-February 2008, the strip switched to full color. In later strips some characters' faces become more realistic, starting with the women but then expanding to most characters.
• Artifact of Doom: The Ruby of Ragnoor.
• Art Shift: The adults in the flashbacks to Captain Heroic's School Days are drawn in a highly realistic style. Cap...not so much.
  • Which can be taken as 👁 This example contains a YMMV entry. It should be moved to the YMMV tab.
    Fridge Brilliance, as the flashback is basically a look into Cap's memories.
• Back from the Dead: Memo.
• Bad Guy Bar: Beezle Pub.
• Bad Santa: Evil Atom decides to recruit Santa Claus, reasoning that he shows all the signs of being a classic villain. Santa surprisingly accepts - and promptly gets carted off by the Feds.
  Lightning Lady: And if he says no?
  Evil Atom: Then he is a deer-and-present danger.
• Basement Dweller: Grandgamer
  • Captain Heroic rejects using Grandgamer's wish to give Oscar superpowers for fear he'll become this.
• Be Careful What You Wish For: Miss Match makes a wish, using an Artifact of Doom, to give her fellow villains Laser-Guided Amnesia after they find out about her marriage. Too bad Cap was masquerading as Dark Hood at the time...
• Before I Change My Mind
  Captain Heroic: Muskiday?
  Dr. Muskiday: Yes?
  Captain Heroic: Start running before I find a magnifying glass.
• Bland-Name Product: "U-Tug👁 Image
  "
• Brain Bleach: Both Captain Heroic and Miss Match get chills from the 👁 This is a pothole to a Flame Bait trope! Please remove the link to avoid flame wars.
  Unfortunate Implications of the thought of Commander Heroic "appealing" to Flame. Little do they know...
• Brain in a Jar: Dr. Haynus is one of these - given mobility through being mounted atop the head of the family dog.
• Brought Down to Normal: Captain Heroic. He recovers.
• Canon Welding: Pretty much every character from Greystone Inn (with one exception, see Expy) has showed up in the strip at one point or another.
• Cat Fight: When two groups of heroes come to blows over whether or not to destroy Evil, Inc, both sides are brought to a grinning standstill by Blonde Bombshell and Amazing Amazon squaring off in mid-flight.
• Chekhov's Gun: Project X. Later returns to become a Chekhov's Boomerang.
• Cleavage Window: Psy-Chick's and Phenomenal Lass' uniforms have these.
• Clothing Damage: Miss Match decides to sober up Desdemona by setting her on fire, as she's a demon and won't burn, but the alcohol will. It works, but they forgot her uniform wasn't fireproof...
• Code Name: But of course.
• Comes Great Responsibility: Said word-for-word by Captain Heroic as he and Miss Match debate how to use Grandgamer's wish.
  Miss Match: If you have the power of a god, you're not responsible to anybody.
  Captain Heroic: No, I'm responsible to everybody.
• Corrupt Corporate Executive: Actually, since everyone in the corporation is a villain (for the most part), it's more of a corrupt corporation.
• Cosmic Being: Grandgamer (and his parents).
• Cut and Paste Comic: The Saturday strips use a small set of different sets of art with changed dialogue. At first they were Lightning Lady acting as Sexy Tech Support; later they became a series of puns on department names, while still later the scene shifted to the cafeteria's menu. Best so far? "Ghoulash".
• Cute Monster Girl: Subverted. Desdemona is a demon, but in appearance is 100% human. Except the tail.
  • Though Desdemona eventually qualifies as she takes on a vastly more traditional succubus appearance both before the soft reboot once she becomes pregnant, and post-reboot (as her default look).
  • Played straight with some female villains such as Vespidae (who is a Bee-Girl).
• Cut Lex Luthor a Check: The entire point of the company.
  • Though it should be said, they mostly sell inventions to supervillains, and most of their corporate strategies involve somehow getting stockholders behind super-villainy. They aren't so much selling their fancy techonlogies to the regular consumers.
• Dating Catwoman: Captain Heroic and Miss Match aren't just dating, they're married.
  • Later, Lightning Lady and Elastic Man have a fling, but worry what others will think...
    Lightning Lady: Besides, who ever heard of a super-villain getting into a relationship with a hero?
    Elastic Man: Yeah...it could never work.
• Deadpan Snarker: Everybody.
• Demonic Possession: How Beez makes it to Evil, Inc. to investigate Memo. And as it turns out, Memo himself.
  Mister Cifer: Hello, Beez. Did I wake you?
  Beez: Nah, I was just doin' an exorcize video.
• Did You Just Polymorph Cthulhu?: During his match against Captain Heroic during Grandgamer's tournament, Evil Atom wears down Cap by using his mastery over atoms (= matter) to change Grandgamer, a Cosmic Being, into a duplicate of himself!.
• Disembodied Eyebrows: Evil Atom gets these when Captain Heroic interrupts his fight with Miss Match.
  Cap: As soon as your eyebrows land back on your head, I'll explain...
• Double Entendre: Used often.
  Evil Atom: Try not to look like a credit-card lobbyist.
  Desdemona: Believe me, there's nothing plastic about me
• Earth-Shattering Kaboom: Matter manipulation makes this possible.
  Grandgamer: Evil Atom is still steamed. He spent the afternoon imploding planets in a nearby solar system.
• Even Evil Has Standards: In this strip👁 Image
  , a customer asks if Evil Inc. carries an internet-based device that can transmit an evil message to everyone in the country, much like the TV version the company used to sell. They don't, because "even supervillains draw the line at spam".
• Evil, Inc.: A-durr.
• Evil Lawyer Joke: But of course.
  Evil Atom: If you think heroes are tough, wait until you face trademark attorneys.
• Evil Pays Better: The reason Captain Heroic rejects the idea of using Grandgamer's wish to turn Miss Match into a hero.
• Expy: 👁 This example contains a TRIVIA entry. It should be moved to the TRIVIA tab.
  Word of God confessed that Memo (a sentient memo, animated in an accident involving Dr. Muskiday's Matter Animator that communicates via writing) is an Expy of Greystone Inn's Narrator.
• Face–Heel Turn: Phenomenal Lass.
  • Also, Elastic Man, although it's mainly Played for Laughs in his case.
  • Among others...
    Evil Atom: You're not the first hero to ask for this, you know. We've had a revolving door installed for Mystique alone.
• Faceless Eye: Oculore
• Fake Boobs: While Desdemona is all natural👁 Image
  , it's implied Lightning Lady is not👁 Image
  .
• Fan Boy: Don Luke Piccardo. Guess what he's obsessed with.
  Don Luke: (discussing his choice of toy train) Number One? N-gauge.
• Flashback Effects: Flashbacks are shown in a slightly faded, Comic Strip style.
• Flying Brick: Commander Heroic, Captain Heroic
• Foreshadowing: Used to good effect here👁 Image
  .
• Four-Girl Ensemble: Psy-Chick, Lightning Lady, Desdemona and Miss Match team up to steal a superweapon. Turns out it's Project X...
• Giant Enemy Crab: Rock Lobster
• God Guise: An exploration of Memo's origins results in almost everyone believing he's the Second Coming, including the man downstairs.
• Go Through Me: The alternate Miss Match tells Muskiday he'll have to do this if he wants to shoot Captain Heroic with Project X. He shoots anyway. And the alternate Captain Heroic takes the shot.
• Groin Attack: Miss Match delivers one to the alternate Captain Heroic.
• Half-Human Hybrid: Dr. Muskiday is essentially a humanoid fly, his condition the result of a teleporter accident. He inverts the usual order of things though, in that the original Dr. Muskiday was the fly while the human was a janitor who mistook Muskiday's teleporter experiment for a trash can.
• Handsome Lech: Iron Dragon.
  Lightning Lady: You chase everything in a skirt!
  Iron Dragon: I never wore a skirt a day in my life...except that once. And that was with someone I loved...and her girlfriend.
• Heel–Face Turn:
  • Played with. Amazing Amazon tries to discredit Lightning Lady by dressing as her to make it look like she's done this. It works so well that LL's attempts to prove she's evil just make it "worse". She eventually has to do a genuinely heroic act to keep from dissapointing a little girl who idolises her. Who, it turns out, was being paid by Amazing Amazon...
  • Alt. Desdemona is Obliviously Evil due to working for Heroes, Inc. She turns on Alt. Atom when she finds out that, rather than save an ill child's life, Atom will use him for scientific endeavors.
• Hero Insurance: One of the services Evil Inc. provides is "Battlefield Location and Booking" which seeks out abandoned locations for villains and heroes to battle to avoid lawsuits from any property damage and casualties.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: Captain Heroic and Wingman; Haynus and Muskiday.
• Hollywood CB: Muskiday hams it up with CB lingo when he steals Project X from storage in a truck. The real truckers on the frequency are not impressed.
  Trucker: Did he really just say "lot lizard"?
• Impossibly Low Neckline: Lightning Lady and Desdemona most prominently.
  • LL's alternate-universe self "utilises a special Nth-metal underwire".
• Improv Fu: Muskiday and Haynus ad-lib the latter having a "force field" to explain their "capturing" the alternate Miss Match to Up'n Atom. Only a very short time later, Haynus shows off a working force-field generator...
  Haynus: While you were picking up Project X, I got creative...

• Instant Costume Change: Subverted. The alternate Miss Match ducks into an alleyway to change into her super-costume...and has to change like a perfectly normal person (giving a nice sideboob shot), which starts drawing a crowd (including the villain she's trying to thwart). She winds up finishing her costume change on a rooftop.
  Alternate Miss Match: I bet Spider-Woman never had this problem...
• Ironic Echo: When Evil, Inc. is in Washington, D.C. seeking a bailout.
  Barack Obama: You can't set all of those villains loose on America!
  Evil Atom: Yes. We. Can.
  • "Hey! Y'know what? Your head kinda looks like a helium atom!"
• Kirby Dots: Used as a measure of power in-universe. Rock Lobster has a reading of 50 kds (Kirby Dots/second).^note As the Kirby scale is never mentioned before or since in the comic, it's a bit of a Big-Lipped Alligator Moment.
  • Also, they apparently leak through ceilings👁 Image
    .
• Klingon Promotion: Dr. Haynus takes this route to become Commander Heroic's arch-nemesis.
• Laser-Guided Amnesia: The Ruby of Ragnoor storyline is all about this - and, specifically, its effect on Cap after Miss Match inadvertently wishes away his memory of their marriage.
• Lava Adds Awesome: the fight between Captain Heroic and Wingman. Cap has no problem with having bathed in lava to retrieve his Commander USA secret decoder ring, which he then uses to knock Wingman out.
• Leaning on the Fourth Wall: This happens occasionally, especially with Grandgamer.
• Love Makes You Evil: Elastic Man's reason for becoming a Fallen Hero.
• Luke, I Might Be Your Father: Commander Heroic has a heart attack in mid-flight ("helped" by the fact Mr. Threat has been siphoning off his powers) when he sees Flame babysitting Oscar, and realizes Miss Match might be his daughter. Thankfully, she isn't, and he gets better.
• The Mafia: Evil, Inc is hired by the Mafia to steal one family's "superweapon" for another. It turns out it's Project X.
• The Masquerade Will Kill Your Dating Life: Lightning Lady and Elastic Man (type 3A).
• Mirror Universe: Muskiday and Haynus visit one. The heroes are villains and the villains are heroes... Or are they?
• The Mole: Dr. Whoosh.
• Most Common Superpower: And how.
• Must Have Caffeine: Captain Heroic's coffee addiction comes in unexpectedly handy in a fight with Lightning Lady.
• My Dad Can Thwart Your Dad
• My God, What Have I Done?: Flame's reaction to Commander Heroic's heart attack.
• Offered the Crown: Following being shrunk and becoming lost, Muskiday becomes the King of the Flies.
• Only Sane Man: Keagan.
• Persona Non Grata: Dr. Muskiday's back massager resulted in Evil, Inc. being forbidden from conducting business in the state of Utah.
• Pity the Kidnapper: Phenomenal Lass decides kidnapping a security guard would be a good act of villainy. She didn't count on the fact that nine other guards would tag along wanting her to kidnap them too.
• Playing with Fire: Miss Match, Flame.
• Poke the Poodle: A recyclable container👁 Image
  ! The fiend!
• Powered Armor: Commander Heroic has a set made for Oscar, complete with Rocket Boots, so he can keep up with the other superkids.
  • Oscar gets an upgrade later, along with a set for the Brought Down to Normal Captain Heroic, when they have to fight Oculore.
• Power Nullifier: Project X, aka the Null Gun. And Oculore's power removal bomb derived from it.
  • Dr. Muskiday built a set of power-draining cuffs for use on Lightning Lady. They come in handy during a heist, but were built with recreational applications in mind.
    Muskiday: Lightning Lady! I didn't expect you to interfere with my plans! Actually... I did.
• Power Perversion Potential: The reason production of the Super-Power Drainer was discontinued.
  Lightning Lady: You'd be surprised how many disgusting uses there are for "Plastic Man".
• Psychic Powers: Psy-Chick.
• Puppy-Dog Eyes: Part of Miss Match's strategy for defeating Elastic Man (along with some whispering...)
• Pun: The entire strip runs on wordplay.
  "Human Flame...fired. Micro-Lad...down-sized. Executioner...axed. Undertaker...deep-sixed..."
• Punctuated! For! Emphasis! - Dr. Muskiday doesn't like it when Dr. Haynus reminds him of how he recycles sci-fi props to contain his inventions.
  Muskiday: It. Was. A. Back. Massager!
• Put on a Bus: Keagan following his breakup with Lightning Lady.
  • The Bus Came Back: When LL was faced with her mother.
• Red Eyes, Take Warning: Miss Match. (More orange-ish, really, but it fits with the "flame".) Originally seen only in close-ups when angry but later (with Art Evolution) consistently.
• Retirony: During the Henchman Retirement arc, a single henchman lasted until the age of 65, and naturally he's a little nervous, and the company worried because of a $28 million per year pension. The accidental death was caused by a stray champagne cork during the celebration.
• Ring of Power: Dr. Muskiday invents a power ring that, instead of being powered by a user's emotion, changes to fit the user's emotions...a Power Mood Ring.
  Muskiday: In righteous day or boogie night, no jive or funk escapes my sight...
  • Actual Rings of Power gave Commander Heroic and Ms. Amazing their powers. They double as their wedding rings.
• Robot Me: Miss Match builds a robot duplicate of Lightning Lady for the Evil Inc. Invention Contest.
• Saving Christmas: Spoofed several ways. Lightning Lady has to do this after Santa gets arrested, and after she says she's saving Christmas, she has to take a number👁 Image
  in a line of all the other fictional characters who have done so. It's made the image for the page itself.
  • Then the elves produce a Sexy Santa Dress variation of her Leotard of Power for her to do it in👁 Image
    .
• Secret Relationship: Captain Heroic and Miss Match. Evil Atom is NOT happy when he finds out.
• Sexy Secretary: Lightning Lady; later, Desdemona. LL continues as Sexy Tech Support in the Saturday strips.
• Shame If Something Happened: Evil Atom tries to use this against Captain Heroic after he learns about Cap's marriage to Miss Match.
  Evil Atom: Any kids? And if they're not invulnerable, neither are you...
• Shapeshifter: Elastic Man.
• Shape Shifter Default Form: Elastic Man has two, his standard form and his true form👁 Image
  
• Shipper on Deck: When Dr. Muskiday tells Lightning Lady's mother that he believes LL should be 'treated like a princess', he's told "call me mom".
• Shock and Awe: Lightning Lady.
• Shout-Out: The comic is full of them, with "mainstream" comic heroes being off-handedly referenced or appearing as background silhouettes.
  • Dr. Vincent, the company's resident sorcerer, is an obvious nod to Vincent Price (as well as having some characteristics of Dr. Strange).
• Single Woman Seeks Good Man: Miss Match grumbles that all the good ones are. . . good.
• Space Pirate: Captain Scarr.
• The Starscream: Dr. Haynus.
• Stripperiffic: The alternate Miss Match wears a somewhat...skimpier outfit than the prime unvierse's.
  Alternate Miss Match: ...seems like overkill to use an entire hanger...
  • Also Lampshaded by Lightning Lady:
    Captain Heroic: Is there any place I can touch you that won't be inappropriate?
    Lightning Lady: If there is, I need to find a new tailor!
    • Ironically, LL's initial reaction to Desdemona was negative on account of her outfit. A bemused Keagan pointed out the obvious.
    • Later justified and deconstructed by Lightning Lady:
      Lightning Lady: Wearing spandex means no secrets, no excuses, and no shame. Nobody can MAKE me wear it - and nobody can make me wear ANYTHING ELSE.
• Super Powerful Genetics: Captain Heroic and Miss Match are both Type 1s. Oscar appears to be a type 5 (so far).
  • Cap is, apparently, actually a Type 3, given that Commander Heroic and Ms. Amazing got their powers from an ancient Egyptian artifact.
• Taking You with Me: When they team up to bury a villain Dr. Haynus poisoned, Haynus threatens Muskiday with this if he gets caught. Muskiday isn't very impressed.
  Muskiday: I'll add it to my long list of accomplice-ments.
• Talking with Signs: There exists a sentient piece of paper who can only communicate this way. He used to be a narration box in the strip.
• Thinking Up Portals: Desdemona can generate portals to travel through.
• Those Two Guys: Muskiday and Haynus.
• To Hell and Back: Iron Dragon does this to save Desdemona from an Arranged Marriage. Her father runs the place, after all.
• Twin Threesome Fantasy: Captain Heroic's initial reaction when he learns the true identity of the alternate Miss Match.
  • And Keagan gets to live it with Lightning Lady and her android double.
• Umbrella Drink: Desdemona is quite fond of daiquris.
  Miss Match: We've got to be the only people on Earth trying to cast spirits out of a demon.
• The Unfair Sex: Captain Heroic has caught his wife, Miss Match, kissing another man👁 Image
  . She manages to make him seem like the bad guy for being bothered by it👁 Image
  . In her defense, she was in a bad position due to work, and was attempting to avoid a situation where she'd genuinely cheat on him, and she seems genuinely unhappy about how easily she manages to turn the argument on him.
• Vehicular Sabotage: Evil Atom's car is (presumably) disabled by Lightning Lady when she thinks he's replacing her. When she learns she's being promoted, she advises him to take a cab👁 Image
  .
• Villain Protagonist: Surprisingly averted, considering the comic's setting. The comic doesn't seem to have a focus on any one protagonist, instead focusing on the politics in and surrounding the corporation.
• Villainesses Want Heroes: Miss Match and Captain Heroic, Lightning Lady and Elastic Man...
• Villainous BSoD: Evil Atom's reaction to Captain Heroic's Badass Bluff that his his wish to Grandgamer was "anything that happens to my family, happens to yours".
  • This becomes 👁 This example contains a YMMV entry. It should be moved to the YMMV tab.
    Paranoia Fuel for Atom later, when his wife buys a new pink slip right after he fires Miss Match.
• Vomit Discretion Shot: After biting into a doughnut containing a shrunken, spying Muskiday, Desdemona rushes off-panel with a very green face.
• World of Buxom: Try and find a female character without significant curves. We'll wait.
• World of Pun: There's barely a strip without some sort of pun.
• Wreathed in Flames: Miss Match, especially her alternate.
• Writing Around Trademarks: Grandgamer's teleport sound.
  Captain Heroic: 'Bomf'?
  Grandgamer: I'm pretty sure 'Bamf' was copyrighted.
• You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: In test form👁 Image
  even.
• You Need a Breath Mint: According to Captain Heroic, Evil Atom needs one.
• You're Not My Type: Oculore crushes - hard - on Blonde Bombshell. Much to her disgust.