TITLE The Bastich By Hart
PANEL 1 (BASTICH passes by EL-KRAHN, who is looking at his wristband with a concerned expression.) BASTICH: Hi there, El-Krahn! What's on your futuristic mind? EL-KRAHN: !ekatsim yb sdrawkcab rezinorhcnys laropmet ym tes evah I ,stooB-teJ 'semreH yB
PANEL 2 (BASTICH is frustrated as EL-KRAHN scratches his head in confusion.) BASTICH: Hey, what's with the satanic messages? EL-KRAHN: !thgir ton si ereh gnihtemoS
PANEL 3 (BASTICH flinches backward as EL-KRAHN shakes his fists in frustration.) BASTICH: Hey! What did I do wrong!? EL-KRAHN: !..evitimirp tnelosni uoy ylbisneherpmoc kaepS
PANEL 4 (BASTICH is conused as EL-KRAHN suddenly goes quiet and smiles.) BASTICH: What's with the mood swings!?
PANEL 5 (BASTICH watches as EL-KRAHN waves as he backs away into a time portal.) BASTICH: Hey, where are you going, buddy!? EL-KRAHN: .syaw detsiwt s'are ruoy evresbo ot niaga ecno denruter evah I .hcitsaB ereht iH
PANEL 6 (BASTICH continues walking as sparks from the time portal fades away behind him.) BASTICH: Whatever...Better hurry home or I'll miss Sailor Moon.
CREDITS The Bastich (c) 1996 Joshua Adam Hart. Released for Personal viewing only.
MIRRORED
TITLE The Future Guy By Hart
PANEL 1 (BASTICH talks to himself as a time portal sparks behind him.) BASTICH: .nooM roliaS ssim ll'I ro emoh yrruh retteB...revetahW
PANEL 2 (EL-KRAHN emerges from the time portal and waves at BASTICH.) EL-KRAHN: Hi there, Bastich. I have returned once again to observe your era's twisted ways. BASTICH: ?!yddub ,gniog uoy era erehw ,yeH
PANEL 3 (EL-KRAHN stands as BASTICH continues speaking in gibberish.) BASTICH: ?!sgniws doom eht htiw s'tahW
PANEL 4 (EL-KRAHN shakes his fist at BASTICH in frustration.) EL-KRAHN: Speak comprehensibly you insolent primitive..! BASTICH: ?!gnorw od I did tahW !yeH
PANEL 5 (A confused EL-KRAHN scrathes his head.) EL-KRAHN: Something here is not right! BASTICH: ?segassem cinatas eht htiw s'tahw ,yeH
PANEL 6 (EL-KRAHN looks at his wrist controls as BASTICH waves to him.) EL-KRAHN: By Hermes' Jet-Boots, I have set my temporal synchronizer backwards by mistake! BASTICH: ?dnim citsirutuf ruoy no s'tahW !nharK-lE ,ereht iH
CREDITS The Future Guy (c) 1996 Joshua Adam Hart. Released for Personal viewing only.
Commentary
This was one of those "high-concept" strips that wasn't really funny but let me play around with the comics form, much like when Bastich broke the fourth wall in a previous strip. For this one, you can read it normally to get Bastich's point-of-view, and then hold it up to a mirror (or cheat with digital witchcraft) to see the events from El-Krahn's perspective. The transcript below tries its best to present both versions (so the crawlers can gain the full experience.)
One of my all-time favorite books is Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud, where there's a lot said about the weirdness of time in comics, and it would definitely have been on my mind when I came up with this idea.
This is a rare case where I chose not to split the single-row print format into two rows for the online version. It's kind of too wide for most screens, but it's necessary for the mirroring to work. Maybe if I had it to do again I would try for rotational symmetry, since I think that would have worked in both single- and double row formats.
In the dated references department, we just have Sailor Moon this week. I wasn't a fan, but I was happy to see more anime on the air in the United States.
Another (hopefully) dated reference is the title, "segasseM cinataS." It's a reference to the paranoia around backmasked "Satanic Messages" in songs. Parents would freak out over the silliest things, as if musicians fooling around with their recording equipment could somehow summon forth the forces of darkness.
It's funny to look back at how all-over-the-place Bastich's hair still was at this stage. The last/first panel is particularly off-model, not that consistency is ever a strong suit of my art style.