On the Fastrack
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On the Fastrack is a comic strip by Bill Holbrook (Safe Havens, Kevin and Kell), launched by King Features Syndicate in 1984 and still running as of April 2020. Its tech-centered humor is set in the offices of Fastrack, Inc, a company that stores all of the world's data. It stars Wendy Welding, the executive assistant of the CEO and the person who actually keeps things running.
Tropes used in On the Fastrack include:
- Bad Boss: Rose Trellis, most of the time. And despite her business savvy, she sometimes veers to Pointy-Haired Boss.
- Character Blog: Dethany tweets. Bud used to have a weekly blog.
- Child Prodigy: Every major kid in the comic.
- Floral Theme Naming: Rose Trellis and Thornton Saguaro.
- The Hecate Sisters: Fastrack is run by the trio of CEO Rose Trellis (crone), her executive assistant Wendy Welding (the working mom) and (the maiden) Dethany Dendrobia.
- Immortality: The computer bugs.
- Inside a Computer System: The action often moves there.
- Meaningful Name: Everyone has at least one.
- Nerd: Bud Spore is the most glaring example.
- No Periods, Period: Averted. Patina Welding gets her first one, much to her father's embarrassment.
- Our Dragons Are Different: The Moat Monster is rarely even identified as a dragon, though she certainly has the key trappings of one. One difference is her Shapeshifting.
- Our Vampires Are Different: Thrip is now a data vampire.
- Out of Focus: Bob Shirt, former protagonist.
- Perky Goth: Dethany Dendrobia.
- Right Behind Me: A mild example.
- Shared Universe: With Safe Havens. Havens' main character, Samantha, has a standing job offer from Rose (whom Samantha's father works for).
- Superheroes Wear Capes: iPatina's cyber-superhero cape looks like a cursor.
- Took a Level In Kindness: Rose isn't as bad as she used to be -- barely. This may be an example of Pragmatic Villainy.
- At least some of the change appears to have resulted from discovering one of her employees is the daughter she had to put up for adoption because her husband/business partner had embezzled their funds and she couldn't afford to raise the twin children she gave birth to not long after he ran off. Being reunited with the kids, now adults, seems to have softened her ... a bit. (It helps that her long-lost son is a billionaire software developer.)