TITLE The Bastich By Hart
PANEL 1 (BASTICH raises his fist while watching television.) BASTICH: SMACK HIM! Dammit, Oprah! Why won't you take a stand?!
PANEL 2 (FAITH approaches BASTICH holding a small bag.) Howdy, Stich! BASTICH: Hi, Faith! Whatcha got there? FAITH: Just a Bag O' Candy.
PANEL 3 (BASTICH snatches the bag from FAITH's hand.) BASTICH: What!? Don't eat those!! The new blue-colored candies are obviously a Trojan Horse for some Top-Secret government mind-control serum!
PANEL 4 (BASTICH examines a piece of the BLUE candy through a convoluted sci-fi contraption.) BASTICH: My vastly complex and scientific equipment will decipher their true chemistry!
PANEL 5 (BASTICH looks closely as a long printout.) BASTICH: Ahh... very crafty... To all appearances the chemistry is identical to that of an ordinary candy... But I shall find the key to unlock this mystery!
PANEL 6 (Close up on a RED piece of candy atop a pile of other pieces.) RED CANDY: Operation: Blindside is a success. The world has forgotten all about me...Neh-Heh-Heh..!
CREDITS (c) 1996 Joshua Adam Hart
Commentary
This was a rare case of color in THE BASTICH. Years later, I still have no color sense and prefer black and white when I draw, but this was a fun exception. It was a web-only strip to kick off Summer Vacation, so I didn't have to worry about printing in black and white.
Around this time, blue was being added to M&M's candy as part of a big color update. There was a lot of marketing around the blue M&M and it was covered on the news as if the axis of the Earth was being adjusted. Meanwhile, there had been a lot of hooplah over the red M&M and Red Dye #40 a few years earlier so I thought it was a funny idea that the whole thing was a ploy to distract us from the true purpose of red M&M's.
The other pop culture reference this time around is to Oprah Winfrey who I'm sure everyone knows about. You might also notice a small model of the NCC 1701-D on top of the TV. Nerd stuff.