Dirty Job

Dirty Job

Posted by Brian • October 5, 2016

Original Release Date: June 2, 2009

I like the transition that has occurred in the first panel of this page. Between Stu's start and end of the story, the bus has presumably stopped to get gas, Mike and Stu have gotten off, and are getting drinks in the convenience store. This makes the story and the world around Mike and Stu seem more natural. Time hasn't stopped so Stu can tell this story; the world and all of its activity has continued to flow around them. We get to the end of the flashback, and Mike and Stu have a reason to be in action, rather than still sitting on the bus. I also didn't have to use up a page to awkwardly get them to the gas station, which is a superfluous detail. We don't need to see them getting there; we just need to know that they are there now.

The rest of this page uses one of my favorite techniques that we've seen a few times recently: withholding information for comedic effect. The assistant manager is asking Mike all of these shady questions, and seems to believe Mike must have quite a pedigree to be able to hang out with a guy like Stu. What's he going to do? Ask Mike to kill somebody? Deliver some ill-gotten wares? No no, nothing like that. He just needs him to spray some bees. Which, believe me, is dangerous work, but perhaps not on the same level as the things Stu might do.