 Writers John Layman and Tom Peyer also recall having to tone down Jansen's character, whom they initially wrote as "Stephen Colbert in space", with "a robot eagle sidekick and he was going after alien bears".Of Colbert's contributions, Jim Massey says the most influential was his desire that the comics not contain any reference to present-day Earth.The cover of several of the Tek Jansen comic issues are briefly shown in the September 17, 2014 episode of "The Colbert Report" during the segment depicting Colbert's "Prince Hawkcat" character at the 2014 San Diego Comic-Con International.