Sci-fi comic involving a tall skinny woman with a pompadour and a scientist who evolved his form to accelerate his intelligence

Question

In the late ’90s, I was in a comic store and I read a book that may have been a one-shot story in a grungy sci-fi setting, ala Star Wars or The Fifth Element. The main character may have been a tall skinny woman with a pompadour (like a lady Space Dandy?) who may also have had shiny blue skin, but I could be remembering that wrong.

What I’m NOT remembering wrong is the other major hero of the story, a scientist who had done something to basically “accelerate his intelligence” so that he was constantly mutating or evolving into more intellectual forms. He began the comic as a goofy-looking cartoon slug with a big, bulbous cranium and telekinetic powers.

In one scene he was using these powers to fight a villain whose design I don’t remember, but each was generating their own telekinetic energy bolts at each other.

In another scene, a bunch of googly-eyed brains were emerging from a dimensional portal and one of them had glasses and a mustache. The scientist may have at this point transformed into a brain like them. It’s also possible that the villain he was fighting was one of them?

In his final form, the scientist became a talking protozoan, and he remarked something like “true intellect is only attainable in a single-celled state!” or some variation thereof, with a little amoeba responding with “indeed, chap!’ or “indubitably, old bean!”

While the characters were cartoonish in design, the art style of this comic was ultra-gritty, darkly painted and detailed, very close to the style of the Earthworm Jim cover art.

Any help in finding this would be greatly appreciated.

Answer 1

Ooh, I might have read this recently. Is it The Mechanic, a 1998 one-shot comic by Joe Chiodo? The plot involves a caveman, a dinosaur, and a 20th century woman who are transported from their respective time periods to the far future by the titular Mechanic and his boss Dr. Medula.

You can see Sunny Days, likely the "tall skinny woman with a pompadour", in the middle here.

On the left is Ed the caveman, who "evolves" throughout the story, becoming smarter and changing forms, including a brain creature with snail-like eye stalks who fights Dr. Medula with energy bolts, and finally a microscopic organism ("Life at its most basic is the truest intelligentsia!" he says. "Indeed," another cell replies.)

There's also an appearance by a group of disembodied brains with eyes, one of whom is wearing glasses and one of whom has a mustache. They don't emerge from a portal, but from a glowing environment suit.