You all know that I don’t like to express anything but bitterness and gall about my own work, but I am pretty happy with the way this turned out, with Krys dynamically breaking the boundary of the gutters and with the artsy gothy experimentation with focus in the last and third-to-last panels.

This is the final Mandrake of the storyline and Tuesday’s “Lance and Eskimo” will be the last comic in “Lance and Eskimo Fall in Love.” A sketch will follow on Thursday and then I am going on hiatus for the rest of the month. To ease the pain of separation, I have finally provided you with the scans and commentary on the original sketchbook/9th grade/raw material editions of “Greatest Lance and Eskimo On Earth and “My Fair Lance and Eskimo”.

PHIL: Krys, I’m sorry! Come back, we’ll find you a guy.
KRYS: Forget it. I’m not like you. I don’t attract boys like bears. To honey.
PHIL: You’re a beautiful girl. You just need to–
KRYS: I just need to forget about this! I don’t want to go out with anyone ever!
PHIL: Okay.
KRYS: Maybe you and I just don’t have that much in common.
PHIL: Still friends, though, right?
KRYS: I think we should split up. You report back Mandrake. I’ll continue to the next city on the list.
Krys walks off, leaving Phil alone.
PHIL: okay