On the Fastrack

On the Fastrack is a comic strip drawn by Bill Holbrook about the curious characters employed at the fictional Fastrack, Inc. Launched March 19, 1984, it was initially distributed by King Features Syndicate to 50 newspapers worldwide, later increasing to 75 papers. King Features offers this summary of the strip:

On the Fastrack chronicles the comic misadventures at Fastrack Inc., a wry mirror of the contemporary work scene. Ruthless boss Rose Trellis runs Fastrack, Inc. and thrives in an atmosphere of corporate political intrigue and back-stabbing. ... The strip is sprinkled with office romance, computer technology mayhem and lovesick moat monsters.

On the Fastrack
Author(s)Bill Holbrook
Current status/scheduleSunday comic (1984–1999)
Daily comic (1999–present)
Launch dateMarch 19, 1984 (March 19, 1984)
Syndicate(s)King Features Syndicate
Genre(s)Humor
Followed bySafe Havens

Publication history

For the first 15 years of its publication, the comic was a Sunday only "gag a week" comic, with the characters aging very slowly. However, in March 1999, the format changed to a daily strip, usually with a week-long story or related strips, with an unrelated Sunday comic. In early 2002,[1] Holbrook explicitly switched to a real time format, like its companion strip Safe Havens, which shares some of its characters.

Characters and story
  • Rose Trellis – a corporate leader with a seldom seen charitable side.
  • Wendy Rommel Welding – Rose's assistant who does much of the day-to-day work of running Fastrack. She recently earned a Ph.D.
  • Art Welding – Wendy's husband, who "works" in the computer room.
  • Rusty and Patina Welding, their children, who lead an online existence their parents are only dimly aware of, battling the Y2K bug and assisting Santa Claus with their computer skills. Patina in 2018 is seen more often at Safe Havens, where she has custody of Samantha Argus' genetic supplies while Samantha travels to Mars.
  • Bud Spore, the head of Fastrack’s Information Technology Center, a stereotypical computer geek. On April 25, 2010, he started his own blog, titled Spore Sample[2] in which he comments on various aspects of Fastrack as well as his family life with:
    • His wife, Chelonia, the daughter of Rose.
    • Their daughter, Cookie, who "takes after her [maternal] grandmother in all ways, save that she’s too young to have read Machiavelli."
  • Dethany Dendrobia – Wendy's assistant, a 25-year-old (in 2016) Goth who is defined by her conscientious work ethic, intelligence, talent, and mainly her ability to confound others' expectations based on her appearance. She was hired after Wendy earned her Ph.D.[3] Originally named Bethany, she changed her name when she turned 21.[4] Dethany has also appeared in the Dick Tracy comic strip as an informer on the villain Rikki Mortis.[5] Dethany in 2018 also serves as mission manager of the Fastrack One mission to Mars at Safe Havens.
  • Ada Counter – A midwife whose former career was in computers and who now consults at Fastrack. She goes out with Chelonia's twin brother Mark Domain.
  • The Moat Monster – A dragon-like creature that was spawned by Fastrack’s toxic waste dump. Currently in charge of corporate security. The Moat Monster is capable of shapeshifting into the form of an attractive human woman, who uses the alias, "Candy Moatmonster." She has an ongoing cyberspace love affair with an IRS agent (who knows her true form).
  • Fistula Breech – Company accountant in her late thirties who strongly dislikes Dethany. She was one of the earliest bloggers, writing one in 1993 while at college.[6] She and Dethany are distant relatives via a pair of sisters who lived in Yorkshire in the early nineteenth century.[7]
  • Don Argus – The safety manager at Fastrack. His daughter Samantha is the principal character in Safe Havens, and she works summers at Fastrack assisting Bud Spore.
  • Philby Fenster – Rose's ex-husband (and Chelonia's father) is a hacker and convicted embezzler whose hacking skills are so formidable that he managed to hack his way out of prison on more than one occasion (in a continuing story arc beginning in late August, 2007, he did so using an abacus).
  • Thornton Saguaro – Married to Rose, he is the CEO of another company. He is as flinty as Rose Trellis. After the two met she asked him to be a member of her board of directors, where he provides the challenge that she needs. He set up a charitable foundation so that they could have something to work on together. He has been described as politically liberal.

The strip was originally centered around Bob Shirt, a slightly-nebbishy but likable middle-management employee, Melody Acapella, his attractive co-worker, Melody’s daughter Laurel, Art Welding, Bud Spore (their immediate supervisor, then age 17) and CEO Rose. Bob and Melody receded in importance over the years, but still appear occasionally, since Melody runs the company day care center where Patina and Rusty spend their after-school hours.

Books
  • On the Fastrack: In a Buncha Easy Lessons
  • Freshly Dethany
  • Dethany: The Corporate Goth
  • Dethany Exhumed!
  • The Best Christmas Ever
  • Tomb Raiding for Fun and Profit
  • Surviving Y2K – Outlast, Outwit, Outsource
  • Spore 2.0
  • Bailout!

References
  1. Bill Holbrook (2002-02-25). "On the Fastrack". Official website. Retrieved 2014-11-29
  2. Spore Sample
  3. "On The Fastrack". www.comicskingdom.com. Retrieved Mar 4, 2020.
  4. Bill Holbrook (2013-11-05). "On the Fastrack". DailyINK. Retrieved 2013-11-07.
  5. Curtis, Michael with Joe Staton (2016-08-01). "August 01, 2016". Dick Tracy. Retrieved 2016-08-02.
  6. Bill Holbrook (2013-10-14). "Dethany Denbrobia". Twitter. Retrieved 2013-10-15.
  7. Holbrook, Bil and Amy Sweeney (September 21, 2019). Office Oracles: Workplace advice from Dethany and Fi (VOD). YouTube.
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