Bela Kiss was an infamous Hungarian serial killer c.1915, and Denise Noe has done a nice job on the history of the European fiend here at the
Crime Library. She also
points out that I named a cartoon character after him. In fact, I suggested in the comics that this
was the one and only Kiss, who was never caught by the authorities and is thought to have escaped to North America. My version is, naturally, much sillier. The real Bela Kiss (which translates, incidentally, into the extremely unscary 'Bill Small') was into Black Magic, so my little monster is an undead creep with unspeakable powers.
As Raphael Rosado's storyboard illustrates [click to enlarge], my Bela actually made it onto the small screen in the second episode (Project:Evil) of our
Jetcat shorts for Nickelodeon, making him, as far as I know, the only
animated serial killer to appear on that childrens' network. Shhh! Don't tell the Rugrats!
