The conversation that Chance is referring to is from way back in the beginning of the VIXX saga, although you can imagine that they’ve had similar discussions about other ‘bad’ bosses….

This is another one of those scenes in the tale that evolved while I was writing it. I hadn’t planned on Evers and Chance getting into a fight, but the characters sort of “took over” and it all just made sense.

One thing I hadn’t planned on was for Evers to be so far off to the left in the second panel. I’m having scanner trouble, so the whole image isn’t fitting in the scan area.  I’m not making some kind of artistic statement here….

I watched the Avengers movie a couple of times the last week, and while it was a lot of fun, I thought the new Captain America suit didn’t work too well.  The headpiece was particularly odd and uncomfortable looking. I ended up drawing Chance’s Roid Rage cowl with the same awkward thickness.  At least Captain America’s new outfit didn’t have nipples….

One of the things I have the most fun with is the character interaction between the Henchmen. The last two panels were fun to draw and I actually hadn’t planned on the laughing when I originally plotted this part of the story, but when I got here it made perfect sense.  The characters occasionally seem to go in directions that surprise me.  The next couple of pages were surprising as well, but you’ll see them next week.

I figure that Tinker is smart enough to have code words for the Henchmen to use so if one of them is captured and is forced to communicate with the others, he could  insert some of these special words into the conversation so that they would know that something was wrong.

When I was a kid Superman’s “fortress of solitude” was a big ice cave somewhere up north with a large yellow door that he had to open with a giant key.  Supposedly the idea was that only Superman was strong enough to be able to use the key, but I always wondered why he needed a door and a key in the first place.  Why not just place a really big, heavy object in the way that only Superman could move in the first place?

That’s the idea behind Roid Rage’s hiding place.  It’s just hidden under a big block of concrete that he thinks only he can move.  Of course, if he forgets to seal it back up again, it doesn’t do him any good at all.  Maybe that was the point behind Superman’s giant key and door – he was more likely to remember to close it up when he left….

In case you’re wondering, the getaway car is engulfed in flames at the moment, and Roid Rage is still suffering the effects of “Marsupial Mist,” so the Henchmen have a small window of time before anyone suspects that they aren’t dead and before their former boss can spill the beans about the location of their hideout….

I think I saw the Henchmen’s method of escape through the bottom of their car in one of the Tom Cruise Mission Impossible movies, so I can’t claim credit for the idea. However, in the context of the story, I like to think that Tinker saw the same movie and was similarly inspired to ‘borrow’ the idea and put his own spin on it….

While I was working on this page I realized that if I suddenly decided to stop making Henchmen for Hire I could just declare that this was the last page ever.  The End!

However, I’m planning on posting another new page on Wednesday, and I don’t intend on quitting Henchmen for Hire anytime in the near future, so we’ll see you back here in a couple of days and we’ll see what happened to the guys.  I think some of you clever readers have already figured it out anyhow…

P.S. – I’m also not planning on changing genres, so those of you who think this comic is going to become ‘Ghost Henchmen’ will be disappointed.

I’ve been noticing that while the getaway vehicle is supposed to be a loosely drawn Ford Mustang, it also seems to have taken on some characteristics of the old cartoon Speed Racer car, the Mach 5.  That was another one of those TV programs that I watched when I was a kid – it came on after I came home from school and I could usually watch an episode before I had to start my homework.  Go Speed Racer Go!