TITLE The Bastich By Hart
PANEL 1 (BASTICH eagerly scratches a ticket labeled SCRATCH-N-WIN with a coin.) BASTICH: Ahh, Money, Moolah, Beaucoup Buckaroonies! Come to Daddy Bastich!
PANEL 2 (BASTICH stares at the ticket, which is marked LOSER.) BASTICH: WHAT--!? That Does it!
PANEL 3 (BASTICH angrily throws up his arms and screams out to the world.) BASTICH: It's obvious that the universe is against me! A SHAM, concocted for the sole purpose of bringing me DOWN!!
PANEL 4 (BASTICH scrunches the ticket into a wad and hurls it into the sky.) BASTICH: Well, UNIVERSE Here's what I have to say about THAT! HAH-!
PANEL 5 (BASTICH stands more peacefully than before.) BASTICH: Ahh... I feel much better now.
PANEL 6 (A tiny spaceship with a hole in its side suddenly drops at BASTICH's feet.) SFX: THUD!
CREDITS (c) 1996 Joshua Adam Harts
Commentary
This little bit of randomness kicks off the introduction of some cosmic shenanigans to the Bastich universe. I envisioned an epic storyline featuring an alien invasion but quickly returned to more grounded subject matter (like time traveling doppelgangers) when school started back up and I had the wider print audience to consider.