The genesis of the Hard Cell was Bozforus Thing I suppose - more of that down the road - and Milbert Smirk was behind the Bozforus Thing. Milbert was one of Ronan’s characters for a while. He inhabits these characters he creates in the odd world between here and there.

I’d been trying to tap Ronan into his creative soul - the energy of mind that is so sustaining. But it was an ad hoc kind of thing - I spin and I’d try to grab him as I whipped by - pull him in - let him feel it - ride with me.

Then one day these pages appeared on my desk - like most of Ronan’s creative output - done with intensity and no consultation and then cast aside.

But it was a story. The story of Milbert Smirk. It was his first true narrative story… a linear dialogue with his audience about a life sequence.

I lie actually… his first narrative story was Smoking Girl… but more of that later too. But from Smoking Girl to Milbert Smirk I realized that Ronan was developing new brain structures - ones that showed the beginning of an ability to create more neurotypical - emotionally based narratives. These were neural architectures that I don’t think he possessed when he was born. They weren’t genetically programmed.