The Third Man is a character that first appears in the backup story in the First SuperFogeys Collection.  I have big plans for him.  His look is directly inspired by the film “The Third Man,” and Orson Welles’ character in particular.  I think it’s fair to say I took a bit of inspiration from one of Orson Welles’ other characters as well—The Shadow.

The Third Man has been lurking around The SuperFogeys universe for a while (as you learn in the SF backup story, “Operation: Valhalla”), and you’ve actually “heard” from him once before, way back in Chapter 2.  More on that in the commentary for SF 65.

Chapter 3 was originally to start with the Third Man talking to a character named Babbletech, who now only gets an ill-considered mention here.  We never see or hear from Babbletech, but it’s a character that I might one day revisit and give him a chance to shine.  Essentially, he’s the tech guru of the villain set–their “Q,” but he talks in this weird code language where instead of saying something outright, he just speaks in references to other things which you may or may not get.  I know, weird.  It’s because I couldn’t quite get his dialog to work that I jettisoned the character for this chapter.  There was just too much exposition necessary to make him work here.  I hold out hope I can find a place for him down the line.

The joke at the end of this one is cheap.  I don’t like it anymore.