Air Raid Robertson

Author notes

Rhapsody in Beige Page 8

Air Raid Robertson

on Aug. 11, 2011

I'm sure that many of you recognize the image in the splash panel. It is, depending on your perspective, either an homage or swipe from the 1923 Harold Lloyd silent film entitled Safety Last! The image of Lloyd dangling off a large clock is one of the most iconic images of the silent film era. (If not the entirety of film itself) It's been my desire to use this image in an Air Raid Robertson story for quite some time. It seems somehow fitting to put it in this particular story.
The main reason I put Air Raid Robertson in glasses for this story is because I wanted him to reflect Lloyd's "glasses character". And then, from there, I developed the notion that Robertson wanted to work this case in disguise in order to compensate for his "celebrity status". This, of course, fed into the plot point about Robertson pressuring Ridley into visiting Sweeney Todd's barber shop. (As well as the throwaway Superman reference on page one)
Clearly, naked plagarism can take a creative type like myself in a multitude of storytelling directions.