The Colorful Character
 The Colorful Character is a science fiction short story written by L. Sprague de Camp a story in his Viagens Interplanetarias series. It was first published in the magazine Thrilling Wonder Stories in the issue for December 1949. It first appeared in book form in the collection Sprague de Camp's New Anthology of Science Fiction published simultaneously in hardcover by Hamilton and in paperback by Panther Books in 1953.