I thought this was all going to fit in one strip, but I didn’t count on an unnecessary and huge silhouette panel. I am getting profligate with those silhouettes.

“Who’s that in the mirror? He’s cute” is the only one of these Lance has actually said.

After I had started writing L&E, I stumbled on a set of character sketches drawn up by Paul and Nate ages ago, one of whom was a cool guy named Lance. His personal quote was “There ain’t no cure for Gorillian fever,” and since then I have used that when I need a stereotypical catchphrase for Lance. It is entirely meaningless.

He has not, to my recollection, recently claimed to do six hundred pushups a day, although he used to talk about it in the old comics.

In the sitting room
PICKERING (reciting): In Hartford, Hereford and Hampshire, hurricanes hardly ever happen.
LANCE (lounging): Uh… good.
PICKERING: You don’t sound very enthused.
LANCE: I wouldn’t say stuff like that.
PICKERING: That doesn’t matter.
LANCE: It’s the only thing that matters.
PICKERING: Teach me.
In Higgins’s office
HIGGINS: Pickering.
PICKERING: H-Hey baby.
HIGGINS: Well, today was a wash. How are you doing?
PICKERING: Who’s that in the mirror? He’s cute.
HIGGINS: Pardon?
PICKERING: Um, I mean… (turns pages in notebook)
HIGGINS: Is there something wrong with you?
PICKERING: There ain’t no cure for Gorillian fever!
HIGGINS: (stares)
PICKERING: I do six hundred pushups a day