“That was literally almost the first thing I drew after I had my first conversation with Joe,” he says. “I just sat down and I started scribbling. The first thing I drew was a prostitute with giant-like Tyrannosaur teeth on the boobs. And then the second thing I drew was the character you see in the book almost exactly that way.”

Spoken like a man proud of his work. And Burnham should be; Nixon’s Pals is the Chicago artist’s first major breakthrough into mainstream comics, working alongside a big name like Casey and for major imprint Image. Before this, Burnham worked on a few small titles and drew some stories in comics anthologies. But Chicago theatergoers may be well-acquainted with his work without even knowing it. As the graphic designer for the House Theatre of Chicago, Burnham has helped craft the popular company’s image.

“I’ve done all of the advertising and postcards and promotions for the last five years,” he says. “ So our public face, for people who don’t even see our shows, is very comic-oriented, thanks to me.”

People who have seen the shows, though, would say that Burnham’s work fits perfectly with the House’s comics-come-to-life aesthetic. Burnham works out of the company’s Ravenswood studio, doing any illustration—and occasionally set creation—work it needs, while balancing a freelance career.

“I don’t see a direct correlation between my work in theater and my comics work,” he says. “What you have to do is figure out what the medium gives you that you can’t do anywhere else. For comics, that’s panel design, controlling the pace of the story.”

The pace of Nixon’s Pals could be charitably described as batshit. From the opening pages, when Nixon pays a visit to a wayward parolee named the Bricklayer, who summarily smashes Nixon’s arm, the story is off and running. The book reads like a slapstick noir, with a mad scientist named Dr. Hugo Blivion—another Burnham invention whose handle sounds like it’s been yanked from the pages of a House script—using an enormous machine that pipes freakish, nightmarish visions into Nixon’s brain, driving him to the brink of insanity. Meanwhile, the parole officer discovers his wife in bed with a known supervillain and, as the story progresses, gets beaten in ever more creative ways. Burnham’s gritty style has opened doors for him: He’s now drawing a story for Marvel Comics’ vaunted X-Men line. And someday, looking back on his career, wondering how he came to draw the world’s most famous mutants, he may just have a pair of talking boobs to thank.

“If you have two good-looking, blond guys on a superhero team, it can be hard to tell those guys apart. A lot of people do it wrong,” he says. “It’s completely annoying. So my personal motto is: Give the guy an eye-patch so you can tell them apart. And so I gave one of the boobs an eye patch, to tell them apart.”

Nixon’s Pals is out in April.