On Sunday he started Tweeting that he had noticed that the same two men had been appearing as background character or extras in all the DC and Marvel comics aimed at younger readers. One guy has red hair, glasses, and chin hair. The other has dark hair and long sideburns, and sometimes a soul patch.

See for yourself

Probably some comic book illustrator inside joke or tip-of-the-hat to someone from the industry. Sort of like the Wilhelm Scream.

Gah.  Small black font on dark blue background.  Not good.

Maybe one artist starting using them as recurring characters in his the ones that he illustrated, and so other artists from the same series or company started using them, too, as a bit of continuity.  And then artists from other companies started doing it, too, just for the fun of it.

Paper Tron!

I’m pretty sure the red headed dude is Rusty Venture.