Described by his author as a "bad guy", Stickleback is cast initially as a Moriarty-type figure, "The Pope of Crime[, who] secretly presides over the criminal fraternity of a fantastical, grotesque, Gormenghast-style old London town.

A festive one-off in the 2008 end of year special, "Twas the Fight Before Christmas", was drawn by new artist I. N. J. Culbard, who has worked with Edginton on two graphic novel adaptations of books for Self Made Hero.

P. Lovecraft characters and tropes; Nigel Kneale's Kinvig; Doctor Who (in particular the serial "The Dæmons" (1971) and British television series such as Only Fools and Horses, Steptoe and Son and Dixon of Dock Green.

They were all created by Prof. Philo Thynne who left his position at London University's Mechanical Engineering Department to run the scheme, not for his personal gain, but to build a device to protect him from Stickleback, with whom he had previously had some kind of contact.

In a series of events a clockwork cow explodes and derails a train with a mysterious cargo, Chief Constable Lime pulls Bey off the case and the latter is kidnapped by a couple of witch doctors.

Stickleback's investigations point to 'Buffalo Bill Cody' and his Wild West Circus (including Annie Oakley and Egg Shen) being involved in Lovecraftian doings.

[8] Writing in March 2007, D'Israeli stated that Perversely, my inability to deal with painting sans black ink outlines made me determined to find some way of doing just that.