Far Out There

I’m sure Cap’n Crosby found it very convenient that Ram comes equipped with his own spacesuit.

By the way, it looks like Layla used some of that cash Ichabod gave her and Trigger for other purposes. There’s NO way her quarters came equiped it all these little trinkets.

Speaking of trinkets, note the little stuffed animal on her bed. That happens to be Scribbles, The Mascot of Writer’s Block. He was a character in my first “real” comic: a series of ‘toons about our assigned readings in college. My first rule: NEVER waste a good character design.

(Obviously, Scribbles would soon find a permanent second home in Conventional Wisdom , which makes it really weird to see myself talking about him specifically being from the college stuff.  Also weird is the “generic money is good” posters in Layla’s room.  I was waaaaaay too blunt and obvious about the whole “Layla’s really greedy” idea in these early comics.  Very few people are greedy for the purpose of literally amassing money ITSELF, its a means to the end of something else.  Power, luxury, influence, fame, some specific addiction of indulgence, even just a basic sense of security; whatever it is, money is the tool by which one gets that desired thing, not the desired thing itself.  In Layla’s case, her room should be decorated with mostly normal teenager things, like posters of Skyscraper Girls or whatever.  The only explicitly money-related items should be a bookshelf full of guides to ruthless corporate takeovers and corporate blackmail and other shady business dealings, all worded in very funny ways, of course.)