| abstract
| - The cast of Sluggy Freelance has gone missing. Pete Abrams and David Allen of Plan 9 Publishing decide to find replacements, which end up being characters from other webcomics. The casting process turns out to be problematic:
* Nick of General Protection Fault is nearly hired to play Torg, but he was just looking for the bathroom. Bruno of Bruno the Bandit happily takes the role, unaware that the part isn't typically very heroic.
* David considers Kevin of Kevin and Kell to be perfect for the role of Riff, but he is not available. Tyler One-Eye of Bruno the Bandit, Gav of Nukees, Fooker of General Protection Fault and Ralph of Kevin and Kell all audition for the part, but each inadvertently causes an explosion in his lab.
* Ki of General Protection Fault is cast as Zoë, but one of the explosions destroys her costume and singes her hair. The new wig she is given makes her look like Oasis.
* Lindesfarne of Kevin and Kell is cast to play Gwynn, but never even gets a costume that fits.
* Gav of Nukees initially aspires to play Bun-bun. David selects Trudy of General Protection Fault instead, but she takes over his office. Ultimately, no one is cast in Bun-bun's or Kiki's roles.
* Shirt-Guy Tom wishes to audition for the role of Pete, but since Pete's he's not missing, Tom is sent back to make more Quatrix shirts. The casting, explosions and resulting costume changes ultimately result in the "cast" resembling the cast of "Scooby-Doo" (Lindesfarne as Velma, Ralph as Scooby-Doo, Fooker as Shaggy, Ki as Daphne, and Bruno as Fred). Angry readers congregate outside the Plan 9 corporate headquarters with pitchforks and torches, so David sends the "Scooby gang" in a construction van (with "The Masonry Machine" emblazoned across the side) to find the original Sluggy cast. They head to a forbidding-looking castle, and after a fruitless consultation with a gypsy fortuneteller and Adrienne Barbeau, split up to look for clues, overlooking the original cast bound and gagged right next to them. With the help of Warner Bros.'s Pinky and the Brain, the usual bad-guy-dressed-up-as-a-monster is captured. Under the monster mask, he wears five more: Reakk, Dr. Irving Schlock, Al Gore, Nikolai Tesla and "kindly old Mrs. Appleby." Under all of them was Shirt Guy Tom, who initially claims to want to take over Sluggy Freelance, but really just wanted some help making Quatrix shirts. Believing there to be yet another mask, Bruno accidentally rips off Tom's head. Tom wakes up in bed, realizing that the events of the entire story were a dream. This story had been prepared with the assistance of guest artists in order to allow Pete to take time off when his daughter, Leah, was born.
|
![[RDF Data]](/fct/images/sw-rdf-blue.png)