I’ve just always referred to the shadowy bald dude apparently pulling the strings at ClearStream as “The Exec.” Enterprising readers have come up with other nicknames for him like “Mr. Clean” or just “That Bastard.” I remember pondering the whole shadowy figure trope I’d rolled with and thinking maybe I’d been inspired by characters like Dr. Klaw from Inspector Gadget, who in turn was inspired by Ernst Blofeld of the James Bond movie franchise — though it didn’t take long before Blofeld showed his face. Why am I bringing this up again? Well, several months ago I snagged X-Com 2 during a Steam sale… maybe the Black Friday one? I don’t even remember. If you’re any sort of PC gamer you’ve probably got a Steam library going, and Steam libraries are notorious for accumulating more games in them than one ever gets around to playing, much less finishing. X-Com 2 originally debuted in early 2016, I bought it in late 2017, and I’m just now doing the “get around to playing” thing. One of the first things I noted was how robust the soldier customization was compared to the X-Com: Enemy Unknown, and so in one of my common fits of hubris when presented with such I tried my hand at creating a Suzie. All in all it didn’t turn out too bad… I was initially aghast when her random combat specialty was slotted as Sharpshooter, since sniping would be far more of a Frank thing. Fortunately, unlike the first (reboot) game where a Sniper was pretty much unequivocally a long-range combatant, the sequel allowed a sub-specialty of “Gunslinger” which enhanced abilities with pistols. Now we’re talking! She’s a little froo-froo sci-fi looking at this point versus when she started out but you know, sometimes you just gotta adapt to the circumstances. But anyhow, I had somehow forgotten an aspect of the first game and when it resurfaced in this one I had a double take and had to check the release dates. Because… this guy… That’s the X-Com “Council Spokesman”, and despite his shadowy nature he seemed ultimately on the up and up in the first game, with the second game seeming to be going the same way. But aside from that, wow, certain similarities are apparent. The Exec first debuted in our comic on April 28, 2010, which would seem to put paid to any thoughts of subliminal evolution, but for awhile he was little more than the Dr. Klaw style “arm and hand” configuration. When did Dawn solidify the bald silhouette? I guess that’s in September of the same year. X-Com: Enemy Unknown released in 2012,  but was in development starting in 2008. When did they solidify their concept for the spokesman? Were there any images released early? Did we pick up on unreleased imagery via subliminal alien psychic attunement? Eh, maybe shadowy bald guys were just all the rage during that span of years. Who knows? But given what The Exec’s been up to in the meantime, I can’t help but want to keep a hairy eyeball on The Spokesman, too.