If you are among those readers who have never noticed, I hide little
symbols like that in virtually all my comics for no good reason. The
current list is: Firecracker/dynamite, eyeball, pie, alien, bunny, K2,
upside down bird, a man's loafer, a fish tail, a crown, and the
exceedingly rare arrow in the back. The number above the signature tells
you how many symbols to look for, a la Al Hirschfeld.