TITLE The Bastich By Hart
PANEL 1 (HACKER-LAD enters the Helpdesk office as BASTICH leans back in his chair.) HACKER-LAD: Hey, 'Stich, what-up? BASTICH: Hacker-Lad! Long time no see! I'm just kickin' back for the time being, since there haven't been any calls for the Helpdesk in a while.
PANEL 2 (The Helpdesk phone suddenly rings.) SFX: RING! BASTICH: Great! Now I've jinxed my peace and quiet! HACKER-LAD: Hey, let me take it. I bet I can hack this Helpdesk stuff! BASTICH: Be my guest.
PANEL 3 (HACKER-LAD speaks into the phone handset.) HACKER-LAD: Hello, Computing Helpdesk... CALLER: Oh, thank goodness. I have a problem with my computer... I forgot to click on "Shut down" before turning it off, and it never said it was safe to do so...
PANEL 4 (HACKER-LAD continues on the phone.) HACKER-LAD: Uh-oh... that's serious. You'd better not turn it back on, or your computer might explode! CALLER: Really?! But I have a term paper due tomorrow! What should I do?! HACKER-LAD: Well, I can refer you to a specialist...
PANEL 5 (At the CALLER's home, HACKER-LAD sits behind an opened PC chassis while holding a small object with tweezers. He speaks to the CALLER.) CAPTION: Later... HACKER-LAD: Ah-HA! Here's the culprit! You won't have to worry about your computer exploding from now on. CALLER: Oh, how can I thank you..? HACKER-LAD: Here's your modest bill...
PANEL 6 (HACKER-LAD shows the object to BASTICH as both are walking someplace outdoors.) CAPTION: Later Still. BASTICH: So you got fifty bucks for fixing a computer problem that didn't exist? HACKER-LAD: Yup. That, and an extra 16 megs of RAM to put in my Linux box..!
CREDITS Bastich (c) 1997 Joshua Adam Hart
Commentary
The Helpdesk saga continues! This time, Hacker-Lad drops by to commit a crime for extra-fun hijinks.
16 GB was still a pretty big chunk of RAM when this was made. Also, the caller can hardly be blamed for worrying about cutting power before a full shutdown. We all used to have to park our hard drives after all.