Apr03
APRIL IS HERE!!! TIME FOR PANCAKES!!!
Whether you call them flapjacks, griddle cakes or flat muffins, you’re gonna want this short stack, so…
As for this comic…
Tracee returns to the comic, only to have her whole world thrown into disarray. It’s been a while. We last saw her during the prom arc, almost exactly three years ago. Seems insane that it’s been that long, but it has.
how’s Satan gonna explain this to his daughter?
Probably by asking for a handout.
Tracee’s reaction is no surprise. We’ve all known she was a gold digger.
Well, it ain’t over till it’s over.
Oh she is, but I find that statement a bit unfair generally.
If one of the things you expect from your partner, one of the responsibilities you carry in the relationship, is financial support of said partner.
Which, I’ll point out, has been the implicit understanding women married men for since the invention of marriage, which admittedly become a bit fuzzier post WW2 when the job market for women to fully earn their own incomes opened up to virtually any vocation they can physically perform, but still present today: women marry men with high incomes with the understanding they will not be expected to work full time to support their family — allowing them to support their family from home, which as we’re finding out by it’s absence, is an enormously important role, in child development especially. Some kids “raised” by parents both working two or more full time jobs, then divorced and using gifts to show their love instead of their time (which they have very little of) are now young adults, and the developmental damage is clear. They don’t make eye contact, don’t respond when spoken to, ignore gifts and polite gestures as if they had no value and were beneath notice, lack all the common courtesies that the rest of us do so automatically we don’t even think about, but are really jarring when they’re absent…
I got a bit off topic. If your ability to support your partner is a part of what you bring to the relationship, you really should not be too surprised if they leave you if you no longer can. They reasonably need to seek out someone who CAN provide them with what they need. One person suffering in poverty is certainly bad, but two is worse, particularly since most will start taking it out their skyrocketing frustrations on each other before long.
Now, that said, MOST people in long relationships love their partners and are committed to them enough that they’ll stick with you as long as they can, hoping for, and helping you turn it around… but they won’t stay aboard a sinking ship forever.
Tracy, of course, “stuck around” approximately long enough for Satan to finish his sentence. That’s comically shallow. 😛
But he kept his most imporatant asset unspoken.
Alright, I’ll ask: which asset is this?
She can play with Miranda any time she likes.
Oh, we’re not there yet. Never mind.
Which is?
She can play with Miranda any time she likes.
Oh, we’re not there yet. Never mind.
Wow. No parting gifts yet.
Who gets Sigmund?
Siggy is already part of the takeover group {I still think it’s Apple}
I doubt they’ll get a chance for gifts. Or “gifts”.
Oh man. But they didn’t get the stash of Crystal Pepsi did they? I mean.. they’ll follow the trail but those documents are decoys.. pointing to a stash of New Coke, and nobody wants that stuff.
I’m sure SOMEBODY misses New Coke.
SAw this coming a mile away… kind of makes you wonder what is next for Tracee now that her Sugar Daddy is out of money ?
Back to Howlers for Tracee.
Did she ever leave?
Well, she may surprise us yet.
Me too. But I still hoped that Satan would deliver the news to Tracee by the pool, or something.
That’d be in a vote incentive. Wink, wink, nudge , nudge.
This isn’t just all an elaborate ploy to get rid of Tracee is it? Nah, it’s going to well for it to be intentional. Tracee might also hire these 3 for the divorce proceedings as well . . .
i don´t think they´re married….she might want to work with them though. tracee is a stone-cold business woman after all, and if they want to spread sin, whats a better ally than a ruthless woman who commands an army of seductive half-naked females 😉
Wait, she commands an army of seductive females? Really?
I don’t think she works at Howlers anymore, for the record. She abandoned that when she got the sugar daddy.
Well, she never married Satan. They were living in sin. (I know: shocking.)
I actually feel sorry for the poor guy, getting bamboozled by his own creation.
Sympathy for the devil, perhaps?
“Pleased to meet you, hope you guess my name.”
But what’s hustling you is the nature of my game.
Well, a lot of time I play devil’s advocate in conversations so perhaps.
Situation like this the devil NEEDS an advocate. lol
Now they’ll *both* go live with Phoebe…
Well, it’d be no fun otherwise.
This comes as no surprise whatsoever.
Tracy is a survivor, red in tooth and claw.
The Canadian Scratch is… not.
He might have been a survivor at some point in time. But he got soft. Might have been the whole ‘living in Canada’ thing.
That, and conniving creatures like Sigmund and Tracy waiting on him hand and hoofd, gradually (and possibly unintentionally at first) weakening him much like one Wayland Smithers weakened Montgomery Burns.
Ugh, I meant to type ‘hoof’.
Much like. Though with subtle differences.
BTW, that’s your best vote incentive ever!!
It’s just pancakes, man.
I don’t remember seeing pancakes.
Look closer. Several times, if need be.
I like the way the syrup is flowing.
Deliciously golden!
Eventually. But there must be a dusk before the dawn.
Honestly this is just weird. Like how did they get their names on his physical assets? Not like he could transfer the house or private island to some overseas bank. This feels like a bad TV show trope, where nothing makes any sense whatsoever.
Beyond that….uhh, isn’t he the Devil? Does he not have some sort of powers that got him all this stuff in the first place?
Not to mention a mayoral salary?
Broad strokes, man. This IS a bad TV show trope. This entire comic is a sort of homage to 80’s and 90’s era sitcoms, complete with entirely ridiculous writing.
Is it realistic? No. It isn’t. Does it get the story where we want it to go? Hopefully.
That’s not just “good to know” that’s *awesome!*
This is gonna be GREAT
As a Star Trek fan, I have learned an invaluable skill when consuming media. That rule is this: The rules of the world bend to the plot.
In Star Trek: No, evolution doesn’t work like that, but I can either ignore it or come up with a justification (it’s not evolution, that’s just a simpler term. It’s clearly a rapid form of hypermutation!)
In Puck: No, political takeovers and supernatural entities don’t work like that, but I can either ignore it, or come up with a justification (clearly, living in Canada for so long without any need to use his diabolical forces has put him out of practice, and judging by their attitudes, eyewear, and profession, they’re clearly mid-to-high level demons themselves, and can easily manipulate the usual goings-on of municipal politics to their own devious ends!
Writing it off as rule of funny works too.
TNG is a nitpicker’s promised land. So much is wrong or inconsistent so much of the time. And yet I do love it.
Much of ST:TNG inconsistencies is explained in “Parallels” – episodes such at “Force of Nature” take place in an alternate universe (this is also true of ST:TOS episodes such as “A Piece Of The Action”)
hold on there…. is it “much is” or “much are”?
It seems to me that “much” is singular but “much of the inconsistences” feels plural. Feh!
Given the fact that ‘inconsistencies’ is a count noun, it should actually be “MANY of the TNG inconsistencies ARE explained…”
I’d thought it was because it was an episodic story written and directed by a bunch of people working piecemeal
“Count noun” is a new term for me. Yay! learning has been achieved.
—
Much of human history and religion makes more sense when understood as “an episodic story written and directed by a bunch of people working piecemeal”
Glad to help Rewinn.
Okay, I expected this initial knee jerk reaction from Tracee. But we’ve also seen the vein of “competence” that Tracee works very hard to conceal. I call it the Jayne Mansfield effect – there is an intelligent, cultured, and entirely capable woman in that gorgeously trashy designer dress.
So I hope she is not integral, and not tangential, to the current storyline.
And one can only hope for Heather to make a guest appearance – if only to gloat her little black heart out.
Crap. “is integral.” Do wish there was a temporary edit feature for commentary typos.
That would be nice.
We are not done with Tracee yet. You are right to expect the unexpected.
I’m kinda disappointed in Tracee, though I also kinda hope this is her making the lawyers think she won’t be a problem. Which she really could be for them.
I like where this is going…
I don’t think she’s that crafty. But we’ll see.
I love the line, “Who’d you piss off now?” … she’s quick on the uptake!
People don’t expect people with body excellence to have brain smarts too.
Sadly, from my own experience, I can report that beautiful people are often very smart. Even sadder, I’ve found that the less beautiful people also on average tend to NOT be the top academic achievers. The world, she is unfair.
Satan is being thrown out. Tracee is staging a tactical retreat.
Or a non-tactical emotional freak-out.
Prediction: Tracee is in charge of at least one of those shell corps. Perhaps without the knowledge of the lawyers, but I think more likely she’s in cahoots if not outright running the show.
She’s not THAT ingenious. But she might be a little more ingenious than she seems.
Honestly, I’d be more surprised if Tracee DID stick around. At least Satan is still the mayor, so maybe he can accept a few bribes back to the top… (or at least the upper-middle)
Also, sir, may I compliment you on the incentive drawing. The way the uh, well, you know, the way they, uh. Skwudge against the floor. It’s very lifelike.
adding Skwudge to my old man vocabulary. Nice, descriptive word, that.
Also “flat muffins” is a new … to me … phrase for pancakes.
Although maybe it’s not referring to the pancakes.
I made that one up. I ran out of actual synonyms.
Thanks. I’m actively working on my skwudge.
Gotta be the bribes, cuz a civil servant’s salary don’t pay much.
Hey, I just thought of something. Isn’t February the time for pancakes ’cause of Lent? You can eat them any time you like, obviously, but they’re known for it then.
Well, pancakes came up earlier, but people passed on Patreon. But pancakes made a return. In April. When we least expected them.
Fair.
Hm. Maybe I’m the only person who knows that.
I am still kind of at a loss of how Satan can be overthrown but what do I know about Canadian politics?
Well, this isn’t political; it’s financial. He’s still mayor. He’s just lost all his money. But if you’re wondering about Canadian politics, they’re just as broken as American politics, only way less entertaining to watch.
[Let’s see if I can get Michael Palin to say this]
You lucky bastards!
You lucky lucky bastards!
[Nope, he’s too good for this gig. Sorry.]
TRACEE is simply setting up the traitors for a major fall.
She is as loyal as a Golden Retreiver, who she somewhat resembles….
Did I say something wrong ?
No, you’re on the money.
Even I, as a cat, admire Golden Retrievers.
But no one respects Chihuahuas.
See. I thought Daphne was part chihuahua.
Part of the reason Daphne is so yucky.
Ain’t nothing wrong with chihuahuas. People treat ’em weird. Read Humon’s blog posts about her chuhuahua.
At least she didn’t say “To hell with you!” 😉
Would that be a bad thing in this context? I’m not sure.