Automata returns. Again! This series ends on Monday, if you were wondering - after which we will indulge in a full week of surprising (and inappropriate) Falcon Pawnches.
The Claptraps in today's strip really turn my crank - and if I had more than one crank, I firmly believe that The Claptraps could turn both simultaneously. The idea that via a cultural form of propulsion - in this case, Jazz - a group of people could phase between social strata is incredibly appealing to me. Their logo (and technically, this wallpaper) communicates this fluidity:
It's got an elegant, modern Art Deco motif that hides a secret affinity for the automated underclass. I can't take credit for that: it's Kiko's doing. But it communicates the truth of the situation in a way I didn't make explicit. This is why is it vitally important that you make friends with clever designer people right away, so that they can make you seem very smart in retrospect. Find one today, fruitlessly scrutinizing the font choices on an insurance billboard, and hold them close.
My thought processes are so mired in phlegmy cords of vile present time that I rarely notice it, but I'm noticing it now: you have a very strange job when you can go from ginning up pop culture broadsides to prejudice against robots in the space of a week, and it doesn't result in the loss of said job. That readers would enjoy what we do is a tremendous honor, a delightful and unexpected surprise, but the fact that you can tolerate (let alone track) these mad vacillations is a marvel worthy of graduate study.
(CW)TB out.