Andy's ancestors

So having described the "low" art that influenced The Helios Conspiracy's Andy Fisher, let's turn one hundred and eighty degrees and look in an even more unexpected direction . . .

Andy Fisher's first name is consciously taken from Andrew Marvell, a person whom you undoubtedly have never heard of unless you studied 17th century English poetry, and even then you're probably a bit hazy. Marvell's best known poem, at least in the U.S., is "To His Coy Mistress," which starts with the line "Had we but world enough and time." That poem, and some of Marvell's other works, explore the themes of the passage of time, the harsh realities of life, and the need to get laid before the world intervenes. (Read the whole thing here.)

There is also, to my reading at least, a layer of cynicism in the realism. You can see Marvell's sardonic wit at play in some of his more political works, such as "Last instructions to a Painter," which starts like this:

After two sittings, now our Lady State
To end her picture does the third time wait.
But ere thou fall'st to work, first, Painter, see
If't ben't too slight grown or too hard for thee.
Canst thou paint without colors? Then 'tis right:
For so we too without a fleet can fight.
Or canst thou daub a signpost, and that ill?
'Twill suit our great debauch and little skill.
Or hast thou marked how antic masters limn
The aly-roof with snuff of candle dim,
Sketching in shady smoke prodigious tools?
'Twill serve this race of drunkards, pimps and fools.
But if to match our crimes thy skill presumes,
As th' Indians, draw our luxury in plumes.

The connection between Andy and Andrew has nothing to do with biography; Andrew was a politician, the sort of creature Andy can't stand. But the underlying sensibility makes them kindred souls - if you can account for a few hundred years of metamorphosis, that is.

You can read more Marvell here.