Minor or one-shot characters in Belch Dimension Comics

The following are a list of fictional one-shot or minor characters in the comic book, The Belch Dimension. The list contains characters who appear briefly in or the focus of only one short story or story arc. It does not count pets, nameless or nonspeaking background characters, villains both major and minor, Carbuncle High or Sonny Tufts Jr. High administration, staff, or classmates, or celebrity cameos.

A. Null
First appearance: K-9 C.R.U.D, Aug 2007 A. Null is is the Jigaboo Junction head of animal control. A short, fastiduous little man, he bears a striking resemblance to an obscure cartoon character named Inspector Willoughby from Lantz Studios, down to the diminutive height and prominent mustache. He terminated Will I. Ketchum for gross incompetence and introduced a robotic dogcatching prototype, the Canine Capture and Restraint Unit Droid (K-9 C.R.U.D for short). However, Buddy tampered with the internal circutry and the robot went haywire, capturing a number of things that were in no way canine--including Null himself. Null rehired Ketchum on the spot.

His name puns on both the words "annull" and "anal".

Alvin Cole
First appearance: Jiggawatt!, Sep 2007 Dr. Alvin Cole is the head of the Apex Asylum. A middle-aged man who speaks with a heavy Midwest twang, Cole is in charge of admitting, containing and rehabilitating some of the worst and most severely-disturbed criminals in town.

Cole appreciates Jon's invaluable help in seeing to it the mentally ill criminals of the city recieve help, though he doesn't quite approve of his methods. Owing to budget woes and Cole's own perhaps naive belief that anyone can be rehabilitated with enough effort, the asylum has an extremely high recidivism rate, with many offenders released only to wreak havoc and shortly end up back in.

Cole was the one who did research on Malice Jiggs' background and revealed to a surprised Jon, Josh and Molina that his claims of growing up poor in the South and facing racism and violence was all a lie.

Sweet says Cole was modeled after the principal of his hometown high school.

DeWayne "Scragg" Scraggins
First appearance: Soul Feud, May  2006 Scragg is Marcie Sweet's boyfriend, a somewhat grungy-looking fellow with dark Lennon glasses, close-cropped blonde hair, and a thin beard. He is first mentioned in "Chinese Fortune Kooky" (#7), though isn't actually seen until #13, and then only briefly. It is implied many times the two have a physical relationship, and are trying to cover it up, but no one is fooled. Jon doesn't seem to care for Scragg much, as in "Chinese Fortune Kooky" he wonders aloud what his sister sees in the guy.

Scragg rides a motorcycle, which he calls his "hog". In "Home Alien II", his second appearance, he comes to pick Marcie up for a date at the house because she doesn't wish for him to take his hog in the rain. However, the Flungarian Triplets mistook him for a crook trying to break in, and rigged up a series of traps about the perimeter that injured him severely.

Their relationship seems to have been going on for some time, according to a short in #22, in which Marcie tells him she worries they're are "drifting apart" and wants a "commitment". She seems to have trouble getting Scragg to sit down and define what they have, suggesting that he sees it as casual and her as a "good-time girl".

Dink Flapdoodle
First appearance: Truth...or Else!, Jun 2005 A game-show host distinguishable by his deeply-tanned skin, greasy black pompadour, and his extremely large white teeth, Dink Flapdoodle is the emcee for "Truth...or Else!", a cable game show that seems to be part Truth or Consequences (the title) and part Double Dare (as part of the gameplay involves extreme penalties for a wrong answer, such as having slime or water or even an anvil dropped on you). His first name may be a nod to [Wink Martindale]. His surname is another word for "nonsense".

Glass Houser
First appearance: Vexed Vets, Feb 2008 Dr. Glass Houser is Buddy and Brandy's veterinarian. His office is the animal hospital located on E. Cinder Street. Houser is modeled after the titular character on House, Dr. Gregory House. Like House, he walks with a cane and is an extremely knowledgeable man in his field, often to the point where he seems cold, clinical and esoteric. Buddy and Brandy don't seem to like him much.

Houser has two other people on his staff: Dr. Dudley "Dud" Lackteen, a black intern, and Renee Bent, his receptionist. Dr. Lackteen is drawn to look like a young Dr. Eric Foreman, played by Omar Epps. Miss Bent is modeled after the secretary who appears in issue #2 of The AJM Studios Comic. In fact, "Renee Bent" is an anagram of "Treenbeen", her message board handle and character's name.

His name plays on the old saying, "People who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones".

Habib the Convenience Store Guy
First appearance: Soda Jerk (or "All Shook Up)'', Jul 2005 Habib manages The Red Cap, a neighborhood convenience store. He speaks with a very thick, near-incomprehensible, Middle Eastern dialect.  Habib has only appeared sporadically through the series, usually in short filler cartoons or single-panel cameos.  Most of his steady customers are the neighborhood teenagers and elementary-school kids. Habib graciously accepts deposit bottles in lieu of cash for purchases, as long as they are store brands and not damaged or dirty.

In Jiggawatt! the power blew out during a heat wave, and all the ice cream he had in nstock melted. He lamented, "Where is a cold-based supervillian when you are needing one?"

Habib's shop is based on Philbrook's Market, a convenience store that was located a couple blocks from creator Jonathan Sweet's childhood home. Habib himself is loosely based on Apu from The Simpsons, though Sweet adds there is a marked difference: Apu is a Hindu from India; Habib is a Muslim from Pakistan.

Proto-Habib
A similar character appears in #4, in a story called "Small Medium at Large". He has the same blue uniform and skin tone as Habib, but has a larger nose and a markedly receding hairline. This nameless character sells Josh a hot dog from a street-cart, not a store, and doesn't speak, indicating that he was originally intended only to be a one-shot. Sweet later dubbed him "proto-Habib". Owing to some last-minute lineup changes, he debuts an issue after the more modern incarnation in "Soda Jerk", though chronlogically "Small Medium" was produced first.

Irwin R. Schicklegruber
First appearance: All That Jazz, Dec 2006 Irwin Schicklegruber, or "Shicky", is the elderly, anal, penny-pinching station manager at KSSA radio, and the boss of Will B. Caustic and Professor Bobcat. His last name comes from both wrestler Irwin R. Shyster and Adolf Hitler's real family name. He is very attentive to polling data and ratings and it seems frequently comes up with crackbrained schemes to boost listenership. He butts heads frequently with Caustic and Bobcat over the crass content of their morning show, calling them "peons" and frequently threatening them with termination.

Jacques Cruz
First appearance: Missed Manners, Apr 2007 A stereotypical French waiter, complete with a snooty accent, a thin mustache, and an odd mincing walk. He also has a somewhat large posterior, which Josh and Ben made fun of. Angela took the boys to dine at Pouissant's, where Jacques works as the maitre'd hotel, in an attempt to teach them ettiquette. However, between poor service, a terrible seat near the bathroom, and the boys' awful table manners, Angela was miserable. To top things off, her credit card was declined. When Jacques' cologne caused to sneeze, blowing the unfortunate waiter into a tuba, they were promptly kicked out.

Angela, disguised as "Cindy Crawdad", takes Tony Moneran to Pouissant's in "Stoopid!" (#27). A waiter who is likely Jacques appears; though only his arm is shown, the dark skin tone and accent are the same.

Originally Jacques was supposed to recognize the group from an earlier encounter in an unpublished story, where they started a massive pie fight; this was dropped, though a vestigal hint of this old animosity remains when Jacques seats them near the bathrooms (likely as revenge). The restaurant's name was changed, too, from "Chez Snobere" to "Pouissant's", this name itself borrowed from another unpublished piece.

His name is taken from the French expression ''j'accuse" (I blame you).

Jessica "Jazz" Jennings
Irwin Schicklegruber hired Jazz Jennings as the third member of the Caustic and Bobcat morning show, saying the morning show needed a woman's voice to attract more female listeners. This upset the boys and caused them to clean up their act--until they happily found she was just as raunchy as they. After a week's trial, she was hired at WGGR to do drive-time traffic reports. This would imply that her new job would take her out-of-state, as K radio stations serve states on the west side of the Mississippi, and W stations serve those on the east bank (suggesting also that Jigaboo Junction cannot lie in many of the states it has been suggested to, like Missouri, Tennessee, Arkansas, or Mississippi).

Jazz has short red hair cut in a bob. She wears several rings and bright red polish on her fingers. Her earrings are large blue stars. She wears a leather jacket and rides a 1986 BMW K100RS motorcycle to work.

The Just-Us League
First appearance: The Superhero Roundtable, Dec 2007 A Justice League parody composed of misfits and incompetents, all of which spoof actual DC Comics superheroes:
 * Bluperman, a muscular blue-skinned man. He bears a striking resemblance to actor Patrick Warburton , who coincidentally voiced Superman in a Family Guy episode, and in a commercial for American Express. His blue skin and blonde hair may also be a reference to Bizarro Superman, and to Faker, an evil blue-skinned He-Man clone. He recently lost his powers and, when the group attempts to skip out of a restaurant without paying, is caught and made to wash dishes to pay the tab.
 * The Flasher, a man in a red body stocking, dark trench coat and floppy hat. He is frequently arrested for opening his coat in public, implying his outfit underneath is extremely and indecently revealing. He has two bits of deoration on the sides of his head (where Flash's hood has lightning bolts) that look suspiciously phallic. He also bears a slight resemblance to The Noid, a onetime Domino's ad mascot.
 * The Green Lamp, a black man in a tight green and black body suit; is supposed to be a reference to John Stewart. He also looks a bit like The Brown Hornet, a black superhero from Fat Albert.
 * The Human Martianhunter, a short man in a blue cape and shorts, who resembles and speaks like the guy in Rain Man. He carries a zap gun about that says "APEX MARTIAN ZAPPER".
 * Blunder Woman, a skimpily-dressed Amazon with a Lasso of Truth that sometimes she accidentally tangles herself in. She gets terribly upset when someone brings up the story about her, Bluperman, and the Invisible Man.

The Just-Us League may operates out of either Jigaboo Junction or a neighboring/sister city. This is suggested by the brief appearances of several previously-seen characters who all live and operate out of  Jigaboo Junction.

Lotta Cashenbank
First appearance: Inferior Decorators, Dec 2006 Mrs. Cashenbank is a stereotypical rich widow. She lives in a large house in Apex Courts, the wealthy part of town. She once hired the Trio of Trouble to redecorate her posh estate--which they did badly, utterly wrecking the house in a Stoogelike fashion.

Luigi Libido
First appearance: Little Romeoh-no, Nov 2007 Luigi Libido, the proprietor and head chef of an Italian restaurant called Libido's International Pizza (the name being rather ironic, as they only serve Italian food), is an obvious parody of the “Italian pasta/pizza chef” stereotype. In fact, with his portly belly, red shirt, and prominent handlebar mustache, he bears a rather striking resemblance to video-game character Mario. (In another irony, a rival Italian restaurant in the series is named Mario's, playing on the names of the two plumber brothers, Luigi and Mario.)

Luigi is fat and genial, often appearing in a chef's toque and sauce-stained apron, greeting his customers warmly, and even serving them drinks and food personally. He also doesn't mind preparing pizzas with odd toppings for his favorite customers The Warriors, though his waitresses often look visibly nauseous as they serve them.

In "The Superhero Roundtable" (#32) he is called "Charlie" and is the owner of the Superhero's Bar and Grill. He is also markedly less nice here, using profanity, and at one point physically manhandling a deadbeat customer. Sweet says this owes to the script being written by another author, and the fact that instead of creating a new character just for one story, he simply recycled the Luigi model sheet.

His surname comes from "libido", meaning the sex drive; Sweet notes that when he first heard the word in the rap song "Bust A Move", he erroneously thought it meant an Italian sports car.

Melody Moneran
First appearance: Little Romeoh-no, Nov 2007 Melody "Mel" Moneran is the 9-year-old sister of Tony Moneran. She resembles a smaller female version of her older brother, though seems to be much more polite and tolerant. The Warriors first met her when Monty and his men ambushed them one day near the railroad tracks and began throwing rocks. Owing to her wearing boy's clothes and a baseball cap, the Warriors failed to realize their new kid was a girl; however, an errant rock knocked her hat off and caused her long blonde hair to spill out. Ben instantly fell for her hard. However, Monty dragged Mel away before they could get to know each other.

Ben later took Mel on a date, with Monty, Scarface, Jon, Angela, and Josh as chaperones. However, the older brothers started arguing, and Jon struck Monty, thus unceremoniously ending what had been a nice evening. Late that night Ben and Mel secretly met up and ran away together. Monty, Jon, and Josh found their beds unslept in and searched the neighborhood for them. Eventually they found the two in Strohler Park, where they had fallen asleep on a bench. They were upset because they thought them being together would make their big brothers fight too much, and decided if they weren't around maybe they would stop. Jon and Monty began arguing about whose fault it was the kids ran away. Josh realized how much this whole thing was like a play they'd read in school, and played the voice of reason, calming the two down. He told Melody it wasn't hers or anyone's else's fault that Jon and Monty argue, it's something that's been going on for years and just "human nature". Ben and Mel decided maybe they were too young to be together just yet, but maybe they could try again "someday", when they are older. She then kissed Ben, to his great delight.

Creator J. M. Sweet suggests Mel might make a return in a future issue, "if the right script manifests itself".

Mike Rotch
First appearance: Hair-um Scarum, Feb 2008 Mike Rotch is the proprietor and head stylist at Jigaboo Junction's swankiest hair salon, The One-Stop Style Shop. He is modeled and voiced similarly to Wilberforce Claybourne Humphries on the British sitcom Are You Being Served?, right down to his English accent and the high, trilling delivery of his catchphrase "I'm free!" It is implied through his effette mannerisms, mincing walk and speech, which is loaded with double entendre, that he is gay, although this is never directly stated. Mr. Rotch wears a bright pink double-breasted suit and a pocketwatch on a chain about his waist. He has three assistants, Gaylord, Quincy, and Fagala, who may also all be homosexuals. Sweet says they were originally intended to be modeled after the stars of Queer Eye, but he couldn't decide which three looked "the gayest". Thus, their faces are never seen, always concealed behind a prop or a speech bubble. One, though it is never specified which, is black.

Rotch is a talented stylist, although somewhat tempermental; when the Trio of Trouble made problems for him during their visit, he ordered Gaylord, Quincy, and Fagala to give them outlandish haircuts as a punishment. Rotch's shop not only caters to a large local clientele of (mostly) women, but is also patronized by celebrity clients such as Michael Jackson.

Rotch is once of the few recurring British characters in the series. His name was taken from the Simpsons episode Blood Feud, where Bart calls Moe's Tavern asking for a "Mr. Rotch, first name Mike". In fact, in a scene from "Hair-um Scarum", a slight variation on the gag is actually played out, with Josh becoming extremely offended by Michael Jackson asking him "Have you seen Mike Rotch?". In the fifteen years since that episode aired, the gag name "Mike Rotch" has becom a very popular Internet handle with webpage owners and message board contributors.

Pimple Faced Teen
First appearance: Whacky Dracky, Apr 2006 Pimple-Faced Teen, also known as Nate Stockman in the credits to "Gross-ery Shopping", is perpetually trapped in a series of dead-end jobs that don't lead him anywhere. He is seen working in many establishments before, it is implied, being fired or quitting. The poor fellow has a faceful of zits, thick glasses, a prominent overbite that is covered in braces, and according to Sweet his voice, in the process of breaking, sounds similar to Shaggy from Scooby-Doo. He bears a striking resemblance to a couple of minor Simpsons characters, namely Prof. John Frink and Squeaky-Voiced Teen, essentially filling the selfsame role as the latter. Pimple-Faced Teen, or PFT, first appeared as a delivery boy for Libido's International Pizza, delivering pizzas to Dracula's castle; when he asked for a tip, Gort stiffed him with a terse "Don't smoke in bed". In "Little Romeoh-no", he is an usher at the local movie house. In "Gross-ery Shopping" he is a stockboy (hence the pun on his surname) at the local Wal-Mart-esque superstore.

Tiffany Diamond
First appearance: Soup to Mutts, Oct 2005 Tiffany Diamond, or "Tiffy", is Marcie's best friend. She seems to be only a couple or three years younger than Marcie. She dresses stylishly and wears her blonde hair in a ponytail. Though she is seldom seen in the series, Marcie frequently mentions her; it's often implied that when she says she's going to see Tiffy, she is actually going to meet Scragg somewhere to hook up. She speaks with a pronounced "Valley Girl" accent and seems to be a somewhat airheaded. Buddy calls her "two cats short of a smorgasbord".

Her name is a pun on Tiffany's, the upscale New York jewelry procurer and distributor.