This strip came out of a conversation on the Narbonic message board about Madblood's pistol in this week of strips. It appears to have a flintlock, because I never thought very hard about how the devices in my strip actually worked, and people started speculating about why a super-science weapon would need such a thing. I stole their snarky suggestions and incorporated them into this awesome exegesis on the nature of mad genius. It's ridiculously wordy (my poor, poor artwork), but I love Mell's cockeyed, yet accurate, explanation of the way the mad scientists in Narbonic work, so I'm still very fond of it.

[SPOILERS] "...and probably Dave someday" is an astute and, later on, extremely important observation on Mell's part. She may not be a mad genius, but she ain't stupid.