Hat Man was inspired by an old man I saw walking down the main street of Ayer, Massachusetts, when I was a child in the 50s. I've always thought that he was dead to the times he was living in. He was a man of the 30s and the 30s were dead, so he was walking-dead. The bird is his soul; it's dead too. His pipe is dead. His hat is dead. But he keeps on walking.
