Neo-Lith-ic

Banana Jr. 6000
February 6, 2020 at 11:04 am
Chester shouldn’t be tolerating this woman prancing around his workplace, competing for his paid employees, and wasting their time.

Doghouse Reilly
February 9, 2020 at 1:55 am
So, are we to assume that “Ms. Swoon” and her “Dibbs Gallery” are now going to specialize full-time in comic book art? In a small town in Ohio?

What we’d hoped to be a mercifully short Atomik Komix story arc overstays its welcome today. It’s interesting that yesterday, when Darin, who’s been professionally drawing comic book for about two years, inquires if Swoosie Kitch would be interested in selling his art, she unhesitatingly replies “I’ll take all you have.” But when she offers to do the same for bona fide (and fellow female) comics legend Ruby Lith, Kitch is interested only in Ruby’s “older original art.”

You Better Work

Double Sided Scooby Snack
February 8, 2020 at 12:12 pm
Uh oh! Well, so much for “Take your favorite guy to lunch day.”

Well, what do you know? Jessica is not about to let Darin off the hook for blowing his check on other comix artists’ work, and Darin reveals himself to be not completely clueless by picking up on her anger.

Before It’s Earned, Our Money’s All Been Spent

Well, if the “nice-sized” check wasn’t meant for Darin, then he and Jessica will have to settle for a check that is merely “nice.” Doesn’t matter anyway, since Darin immediately cops to having blown at least that amount on some other artists’ work. Tune in tomorrow when Chester turns to Darin and snatches the check from his hand. As commenter “Doghouse Reilly” reminded us on Wednesday, the artwork that Ruby sold was “commissioned recreations,” not her original work which her chauvinist pig bosses did not allow her to keep. Come to think of it, if they were commissioned, then by whom? What’s she doing selling them? Anyway, unless Darin sold off some old “Sophomoric Sightings” strips, any comic art that he’s produced was done as an employee of Atomik Komix, so he’s already received his reward.

A Price Above Ruby’s

Well, good for Ruby Lith. Like cracked actor Cliff Anger, Ruby’s another living Twentieth Century relic who held on into the Twenty-First long enough to finally garner some long overdue recognition. I hope her excitement over this check doesn’t trigger a coronary, which would look something like this:

I also hope Ruby’s allowing for inflation here, since her “original pay date” dates to around the Truman Era. Meanwhile, the expressions of escalating dismay on the faces of Darin and Jessica are the most satisfying thing we’ll see all week.

Lith-teria

As if none of us saw this coming. Kitch Swoon and that nice-sized check of hers are not destined to fill Skyler’s college coffers. Y’know, why not have Monday’s strip showing the gallery owner arriving at Atomik Komix and laying the check on Ruby? Then Batiuk would have another five or six days to tell an actual story. But I understand her delivering the check in person, given what we know about the Postal Service in Westview. This is the story, folks: let’s take this week to set up those starry-eyed fortysomething Fairgood “kids” for a little disappointment and humiliation. Darin has to lean back so hard against Jessica’s pushing that it looks like she’s got him on a handtruck.