Seattleite adds truthiness to Colbert's "Tek Jansen"

Seattle's Tom Peyer is making "Stephen Colbert's Tek Jansen" even more two-dimensional than it already was. Premiering in April, it's the comic spinoff of the satirically right-wing host's animated sci-fi hero on Comedy Central's "The Colbert Report." Peyer, a former DC editor and writer of such titles as "Legion of Super Heroes" and "Hourman," shares the writing duty with Seattle writer John Layman. But since we featured Layman's "Scarface" comic recently, Peyer gets the mic.

Q: Who is Tek Jansen?

A: Jansen is a far-future space hero created by Colbert in his epic, unpublished novel, "Alpha Squad 7: Lady Nocturne: A Tek Jansen Adventure." I didn't actually read the novel, but its hopeful vision of the future is probably something like, "If our civilization is to live up to its grand destiny, we must rely on the individual efforts of two-fisted, promiscuous males who don't play by the rules."

Q: Does he battle misguided Impeachotrons, or maybe space liberals from the Entitlement Nebula?

A: Don't expect "Tek Jansen" to be anything like "The Colbert Report"; it's better. It's space opera. Aliens die. Humans live. Of course, science-fiction-loving intellectuals will spot the penetrating social commentary that lurks just beneath the surface. In issue #1's metaphor for our times, Tek faces a delegation of technologically advanced aliens who offer to eliminate all war and poverty, as their gift to us. Naturally, Tek hates their stinking guts.

Q: Is he on a five-year mission to explore strange new worlds or some garbage like that?

A: Tek is on a five-year mission to do what feels right to him, no matter what your little rule book says. Because on some planet somewhere, somebody is hurt, and somebody else hurt that first somebody, and your little rule book didn't save either one of them. It didn't even try. So it's all up to Tek, and to a much lesser degree his supporting cast: Braina the brain, Meangarr the evil force and Casey the easygoing chimp. Actually, they're only there to tell Tek things we want the readers to know; they don't really do anything. But Tek does. And he's got a ray-gun.

Q: What's Colbert's involvement? Is he really writing the comic and just using you guys as fronts to avoid seeming omnipotent?

A: Mr. Colbert pays a great deal of attention to the creative team on this comic, focusing largely on dress code. If we're writing, say, the best story in the world, we'd better be wearing navy-blue turtlenecks and khakis, or no one's ever going to read it.

Q: Does Colbert allow you to speak, or merely make pronouncements and then slam down the phone without saying goodbye?

A: Mr. Colbert communicates exclusively through television.

Q: What would Tek Jansen do if he encountered the Star-Child from "2001: A Space Odyssey"?

A: He wouldn't coddle it, that's for sure. Not like parents today.