Sinfest

I do wonder if he has a regular day job to put food on the table, but this one is a side project he engages in.

Nah. Tats has shown he has nothing but contempt for the working class. Everyone who has a non-arts related job is portrayed as Selling out or on the verge of doing so. So Tats probably has never worked a job outside making Shitty 90s Comics and Spiteful Parodies of shows better than anything he can write.

http://www.sinfest.net/view.php?date=2018-07-21

Blue. FIRE Absinthe. She's nothing but trouble.

Or at least demote her, because clearly she can't handle the responsibilities her current job entails.

Could it be that we're about to see some sanity and real-world consequences as a result of Absinthe and WokeMonique being blatant fuckups?

...

Naaaahhhh ...

Blue probably will tell Absinthe "Well, I'll let it slide this time, but if I ever catch you again ..."

How can Absinthe get away with wearing sneakers in the Mansion without the Inappropriate Footwear Alarm sounding?

Yeah, eavesdropping on a private meeting together with your girlfriend who has no reason for being there should get them in serious trouble.

Only for the Devil to make them CEO's of SnoopCorp, a DevilTech subsidiary devoted to exactly that kind of thing.

While it pains me to admit this, Monique actually has a point here. You ALWAYS check that fine print with a fine toothed comb. That text can have so many ways to screw you over, it's basically the closest thing the Devil has to holy text.

Which just makes Absinthe's attempts to process Sad Hooker Lady's request even dumber, because there were so many ways to screw SHL over with that request.

She does have a point ... but what is she doing about it? She's saying aloud "Don't sign without reading the fine print" while she's supposedly hiding.

• If she's heard, she and Absinthe will be caught.

• If she isn't heard, it won't do any good! Monique is like the idiots in movie audiences who shout "No! Don't go into the basement! That's where the killer's hiding!" at the images of people on the screen.

Either way, Monique is treating the people around her as if they exist solely for her amusement. What happens to them is just for her entertainment and doesn't count ... and nothing bad can happen to her because she's the audience.

Edited by Hexapodia on Jul 21st 2018 at 4:28:46 AM

Sunday page: http://sinfest.net/view.php?date=2018-07-22

• Wait. Blue caught WokeMonique and Absinthe spying, and didn't do anything about it? In the immortal words of P.J. O'Rourke, "What the fuck? I mean, what the fucking fuck?!"

• Once again, Tats proclaims that anyone who takes a job — other than as an Artist — is a sellout, a whore, and an agent of Satan. That's okay, Tats — you're still pure.

Edited by Hexapodia on Jul 21st 2018 at 8:00:28 AM

Unless I'm missing the catch somewhere, isn't that a really good contract?

And what's wrong with getting excited about a million dollar a year salary for doing what you want to do anyway? That's like a dream come true.

Did tats get the devil mixed up with the fairy godmother?

Edit: And she was ALREADY working for the devil! All that's happening is a promotion and a raise!

I'm so confused...

Edited by bigking on Jul 21st 2018 at 8:20:44 AM

Yeah the Devil is acting more like Sinbad from the early parts of Magi.

And Tats must see me as a Demon Prince. Seeing as I am black, believe destructive protesting is stupid, actively working to get a cyber security degree on my own dime, and ultimately a job in the government. There's a couple other things he'd hate me for but I don't feel like going into them....

Edited by yamiblade on Jul 21st 2018 at 11:31:50 AM

Of course, Tats again sets up like he was going to give some nuance, but then it all crashes and burns up fast.

Well ... on one hand, it's a good idea to read the fine print in any contract, doubly so for a contract written by Satan. Haven't these people ever read any "deal with the Devil" stories?

On the other hand, she's already working for Satan. If she were going to sign away her soul in a contract, I'd expect it to have happened long ago. (And why does a human woman have even her current job, instead of an equally competent devil girl? I'd think that Satan would be a lot more confident of having a devil girl's loyalty.

Wanna bet that tomorrow Mouthique barges in screaming "Don't sell out, sister!" and Amber doesn't sign?

I mean, that'd be ridiculous (as an unemployed dude on the verge of desperation - I mean, not even Mc D hires around here in this period! - I'd KILL for that sort of contract...) but it's Tatsuya Ishida we're talking about: ridiculous, unbelievable situations are his bread and butter, just like psychotic gun nut tendencies for Jay Naylor and sexist self-centeredness for Ryan Sohmer.

To fill the human employee quota?

Edited by DrunkenNordmann on Jul 22nd 2018 at 9:43:56 PM

That ... that actually makes sense ...

Actually, today's comic is pretty good. No, really. This is exactly what the devil should be about: seducing normal, decent people into evil with offers that most would find hard to resist. And the last panel catches that moment of seduction beautifully. Tats CAN do visual storytelling very well. Today's comic could fit right in to Old Sinfest.

And yes, thhere is that pimp image as well, but that could also work as a symbol for lust.

In itself, this sunday strip is pretty good. It is only the context that makes it seem less so. That happens a lot these days, of course.

I think the point of this comic is that money is her spiritual weakness. If she's ever seduced to the dark side, then money would be the way to it.

The comic taken by itself kind of communicates this. If you knew nothing about the characters, the setting and the story so far it would be adequate.

Then you think about what you have read and you run into a lot of really viable complaints against this sequence of events that some have mentioned already.

First of all, Blue seemingly not doing anything about Abby and her girlfriend eavesdropping outside the room really is unforgivable. If he wants to continue that on Monday, he should have saved Friday's comic until Monday.

Also about Amber. Her considering a million dollar job offer is treated like some kind of evil seduction that makes her fall to the dark side, but completely ignores the following:

• Amber already works for the Devil.
• Amber has always done this kind of work already, only now she's going to get paid a million dollars per year for it.
• The Devil isn't paying her to do anything immoral, she's just supposed to make TV on a subject on a "good" cause she likes and has total creative control over.
• Everybody would like an offer of a million dollars to do the work they love. Why is this considered evil in her case?

Let's not miss the fact that Tats has taken the occasion to draw Amber in her underwear for all this. Drawing the naked ladies for feminism again!

What I take from all this is that Tats has a problem with women doing things to further the cause for money or has a problem with women in leadership positions.

The point is not that the money itself is immoral, but that it is used to make her sign a contract that will have some catch to it.

Or, the high salary could be used as a way to keep her in line. When you get a million dollars a year, you may not be as likely to put your job in jeopardy by rebelling against your boss like she did before.

In the wider context, I think there is an implication that overpaid news anchors are just shills for their companies, who will just parrot anything the higher ups tell them to to maintain their cushy salary. You could even make an "overpaid journalists as prostitution" analogy out of it if you want to.

And there IS a valid point there. I think America has a real problem with millionaires lobbying with politicians and less scrupulous journalists to get unpopular politics like tax cuts for the super rich through government. Just look at that story of that Trump-controlled newspaper that bought and buried that news story about his affair with a Playboy model. There's definitely some corrupt journalism tied to big money going on there.

Of course, Tats is probably going to stick to his radfem points, rather than go with the valid message he COULD get out of this.

You know, considering that Satan didn't contest Amber's argument that she doesn't take orders from Devil Corp (Tech, Corp, make up your mind, Ishida!), I'm guessing that Hell TV is, legally speaking, a subsidiary of Devil Corp with a great deal of autonomy (and may not have always been so; maybe Devil Corp bought out the original media outlet and then rebranded it as "Hell TV"). It then makes sense to treat Amber's promotion as a completely new contract of employment, because currently she's not an employee of Devil Corp per se.

Edited by MarqFJA on Jul 22nd 2018 at 8:43:52 PM

GAAAAH! Stop making sense!

I think America has a real problem with millionaires lobbying with politicians and less scrupulous journalists to get unpopular politics like tax cuts for the super rich through government.

It's called "regulatory capture," and it isn't just America's problem. Any large organization — corporation, labor union, nonprofit society, government bureaucracy — has a large incentive to look out for its own interests at the expense of the public; one way in which they do this is by lobbying legislators (and "lobbying" covers a multitude of techniques — some benign, some malignant). The public has relatively little incentive to counter any individual special-interest group, and even fewer resources to do so. As a result, laws get passed that screw the public in general, and that favor existing organizations but prevent the formation of competing organizations.

People of the same trade seldom meet together, even for merriment and diversion, but the conversation ends in a conspiracy against the public, or in some contrivance to raise prices.

– Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations, Book I, Chapter X.

Edited by Hexapodia on Jul 22nd 2018 at 5:40:24 AM

New strip: http://www.sinfest.net/view.php?date=2018-07-23

Hey, remember Absinthe and WokeMonique? No consequences!

And you're surprised? Those two have had immunity to any true consequences for years.

You know it would be hillarious if their was a reason. You know, like the Devil purposely let Monique go because she serves a cautionary tale of what you'll turn into if you submit to her idealogy.