1 {on the Death picket line}
1 Death of Insanely Overpowered Fireballs: Say, where's the new guy, who took over Living For Over 900 Years?
1 Death of Inhaling Hatmaking Chemicals: {distinguished by the fine top hat he is wearing} 'e's scarpered, guv.
2 {silent beat}
3 Death of Insanely Overpowered Fireballs: Why do you have a cockney accent when you're wearing an accoutrement of the aristocracy?
4 Death of Inhaling Hatmaking Chemicals: 'aven'choo 'eard? The class system's dead, guv.

When I wrote this, I simply had Fate Worse Than Death (née Insanely Overpowered Fireballs) ask where Living For Over 900 Years was. But then I remembered that he was Living For Over 900 Years from #584 to #671, and as far as we've seen nobody else has had that position. So I decided some new guy we haven't seen yet must have taken over the role.

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2014-10-14 Rerun commentary: This is the first appearance of Death of Inhaling Hatmaking Chemicals, who would go on to become one of the more frequently occurring and popular Deaths - probably the fourth after Fireballs, Choking On A Giant Frog, and the Head Death.

At this point I had no real plans for him to appear anywhere but this one strip. But after this strip it suddenly became astonishingly common for characters to inhale hatmaking chemicals for some unfathomable reason.