Neither Zach knows the first thing about women, but the goateed Zach is the only one who gets worked up about it. Long-hair Zach is a little strange, and likes to infuriate his uptight roomie. Note the indie comic "Mage" T-shirt on goatee, and the super-hero "Spider-Guy" comic in long-hair's hands. Even though they both like comics, their tastes are quite different.
There was a great anime film series at school. A horrible movie called "Shadow Skills" inspired this strip. Next to the films of Hayao Miyazaki, this movie was a giant turd. Long-haired Zach enjoys it, although perhaps not as much as "Akira," as seen on his T-shirt. Goateed Zach has more refined tastes, enjoying the mecha of "Macross Plus."
The goateed Zach is apparently an artist of some sort. I think I toyed with the idea once that they were both cartoonists. (Too obvious?) Of course, I have that exact table. Again, note the "Preacher" shirt vs. the Captain America tie.
We played a lot of darts on Fountain Ave. We broke things. My friends used the game as an escape from thesis-writing. An odd switch in T-shirts here: goatee wears the mainstream (but dark) Punisher shirt, and long-hair wears a variation on the indie (but funny) Bone T-shirt.
Goatee knows no more about romance than long-hair does, but he thinks everything has a simple, textbook solution. Whatever kind of artist he is, I'm worried it's not a good one, with that attitude. T-shirt battle: "Red Rocket 7" vs. "The Hulk."
Goatee's art tastes are revealed: precise, mathematical, devoid of passion. Long-hair (in a Fantastic Four shirt) seems to prefer archaeology, based on the suggestion of goatee (in an Uncle Sam shirt), although he might also enjoy the Futurist school: bold, chaotic visions of machinery, the military and the working class.
I used to hit a comic store near school run by the nicest guy. Most comic shop owners are tools, but this guy was sweet as can be. He let little kids take comics from the 25-cent bin, but only if they had read the ones they got the week before. I was always getting cheap comics from that thing. Long-hair wears a Spider-Man shirt in this strip, and the guy in the background is my comic-store-run buddy Jon, who created Feeble Frog, the character on his back.
I think I had a conversation like this with one of my housemates. Whether I was goatee, trying to convince long-hair, or long-hair, fucking with goatee's head, I don't know. But since our TV got maybe three channels, and we rarely watched it, this scene is probably a fabrication.
I don't know if I actually had a Beatles poster like that in college. If I did, it's gone now. Anyway, I was pretty proud of some of the drawings I did in art class, so I hung them on my wall. Unfortunately, they were mostly female nudes. Sure, you show off your skills to visiting lady-friends, but you also look like a perv. Not much of a trade. Long-hair's wearing a Spawn shirt.
One of my housemates didn't leave his room very much even before he started working around the clock on his thesis. Once work began, however, he sat in there with the blinds drawn and the lights off, surounded by stacks of library books on the British Empire's relationship with Russia for days at a time. That year, I received a sled for Christmas that I still have not used.
I have never been a vegetarian, but I have nothing against vegetarians. I have, however, defended omnivores in the school paper from abusive vegetarian jingoists. I hate those guys. Note the "Milk & Cheese" shirt on goatee, and long-hair's Captain America line of clothing, dubbed "Cap Wear." When patriotism is in again, someone will create this brand. Bet on it. (Note: Peanut butter and bacon sandwiches are, in fact, quite good.)
I actually saw this band, and have forgotten the name. Their album was actually "Jesus was Gay" (no clown nose), and they did sing a song about Ronald McDonald while dressed as clowns. It was meant to be ironic, I believe. T-shirts: Superman and Love & Rockets.
This strip, a tribute to Sarah Dyer (creator of Action Girl, a superhero who is not averse to the occasional paper doll) was drawn near the end of my tutorial on underground comic books, run by a freshman and sophomore and a crazy advisor who let them grade papers. Needless to say, I got an A.
Well, this was it: the moment no one had been waiting for, all my friends knew about and very few people would understand. As I've been saying, they were both aspects of my personality all along. And one of them owns a Batman shirt. (For the record, I do not own a Batman shirt. Not that there's anything wrong with that.)
