This comic holds a special place in my heart.  This is the comic that got all other comics banished from the store forever (sort of).

 

This is also a stereotypical Frankenfield/Linthicum production, where whenever the two of us collaborate on something, it either A) never gets finished, or B) gets us into a small measure of trouble.

 

The idea here was simple:  Bill (the store "director") had taken issue with some of my previous works and had a "closed door" meeting with me about it in his office.  Bill was known for his closed door meetings, and even though no one really knew what happened in that office once that door snapped shut, whoever came out of there afterwards always seemed to be a shadow of their former selves.

 

Anyway, I digress.  Bill made quite clear his displeasure in my renderings of my co-workers in a poor light, so I thought it would be humorous to produce a comic from HIS point-of-view taking aim at me.  I mean, I have a sense of humor, so I didn't have a problem with it.  However, my one concern was that if I try to draw it myself, it would come off looking far too polished and skilled for some simpleton like Bill to have possibly produced it.

 

That's where Dirk came into play.  I don't recall exactly how it all came about, but I believe I had Dirk create the art and the script for the comic, and I scanned it and lettered it in the computer so that people could actually read it.  After making a few copies, I posted them around the store for my co-workers to enjoy.

 

No one could prepare us for what happened next.

 

After reading the comic, people began thinking that Bill actually wasn't such a bad guy, and they began complimenting him on "his" work.  Not knowing what the hell they were talking about, he looked deeper into the issue, and discovered that someone had passed off a clever cartoon forgery.

 

Well, that was the final straw.  He couldn't have people thinking that he possessed a sense of humor.  Goddamnit, he had a grocery store to run!

 

He called me up on the phone (since by then, I was only working weekends) and said that all the cartoons, books, etc, were going into the office closet never to be brought out again.

 

Not that it mattered that much.  Feeling the pinch from competition, Clemens sold all their stores to Superfresh about two weeks later.  It was a shame though, really.  I have a feeling that some of those workers could have used a laugh in those final days before they tried to find new jobs.