2172 Nobody Was Looking.

Patreon
Subscribestar
Comic Vote
Reddit
Wiki

I was having an abnormally hard time getting motivated in the face of all the civil unrest, but I got my big boy shorts on and did my fucking job.

I went in to the store the other day & now I’m subconsciously convinced I’m sick, but really its probably just my allergies. The number of cases of covid in this area are in the tens still, but I guess you never know. You might be reading one of the last pages of my comic. Guess we’ll see if I end up becoming the story you tell your friends about.

24 Comments

This story arc isn’t working for me at all. The identity of the body is known, the group are at best visitors and at worst, trespassers. They have no legal claim to anything found there, and the authorities have taken charge of the body (which will presumably be buried at public expense, unless claimed by living relatives, and any identifiable assets passed to heirs or sold to defray public costs. The group seem to be acting as thieves?

The deceased’s wife and only child have already passed away. Not sure about any next of kin, but it was mentioned that the landlord was a skeezebag and would also likely get to lay claim to the stuff.

Additionally, as it’s already been pointed out in comments and comic, it depends on the laws of the state they’re in as to whether they get to legally claim the stuff they found. You’ll have to look up the laws for Kansas. If county law differs, it’d be for Sedgwick county (if I’m not mistaken).

There is a difference between theft and salvage.

They made a wonderful distinction between the two in earlier strips, noting that, since the decedent had no next of kin and had been deceased for what they believe to be several decades, anything of value would have gone to the building’s owner, a dyed-in-the-wool asshole in his own right. So they not only took credit for the find–which they made–they also preemptively took a percentage of that find (which they would have an ethical right to as the finders but probably would never have seen as the aforementioned beneficiary is an asshole), which in this case amounted to “damn near everything.”

The building’s owner can content himself with newfound notoriety and the free subbasement he now has. That the crew stripped the place of anything valuable first, well, I refer you to that most classic of found property cases, Finders V. Losers.

I think it’s good that some questionable decisions are made and debatable morals shown now and then. Keeps things lively!

You should have been here when Brooksie changed teams.

Does being bi count as switching teams?

When asked about crushes in the first ghost hunting outing, there’s guys and gals in her thought bubble.

Speaking of online auctions, I just found recently that eBay takes out roughly 17% of what you make. 5% to promote a listing, 2% to transfer money through PayPal, and 10% of the item’s value at the end of the month. Definitely not the place to sell gold.

That’s really not far off from what a lot of auction services charge. Now days Ebay seems more concerned with the “stores” than with individuals auctioning off single items, but it the time when this story is occurring it was still possible to make some substantial pocket money selling random items. I managed to sell a lot of random stuff that would have only had a limited market locally but online auctions provided a worldwide market. I sometimes sold things off for friends and family just as Patty is being asked to do.

Wait, the comic’s not happening in the present?

I don’t know that Jackie has overtly anchored the comic to a specific date. My understanding is that the story is based in his experiences working in retail. He has mentioned that the chain that he worked for is now defunct. It went under several years ago. I’ve taken it that the story is loosely based in the 90’s. Video rental is still a thing in the story line. That said, online auctions are still a thing and you could probably set the story anytine in the last 30 years.

There seems to be too many specific things that date it to me, especially in the beginning. Thomas playing Nintendo DS Lite, mention of Stewe Irwin’s death, Nina’s fangirling over Harry Potter (I’m fairly certain the last books have been mentioned). At most I could see it being in the late 00’s to early 10’s sort of time period if it’s not current.

Like Bergioyn, I imagined something in the 2005-2015 time frame. It’s past the point when most video rental places have gone belly up – and they’re feeling that in the story. There’s a lot of comments about how the store is struggling, and while their location tends to get treated fairly poorly by corporate, it’s not just their location.

Also it’s my understanding that a lot of stores with many locations have people at many of the stores talking like their store is the dumping grounds, even if they’re being treated better than most. If it’s not the flagship store, there’s a good chance they think they have it the worst, unless they actually spend time in other stores.

Even if they *are* the flagship store, they *could* still think that, it’s just less likely.

The first thing that has to happen to the body is that it’s taken to a medical examiner for the purpose of writing a death certificate; this is pretty important, because legally nothing else can be done to a body without a death certificate. Before a death certificate can be written, the medical examiner has to positively identify the body and determine the cause of death (or make sufficent effort to conclude that one or both of these things can’t be done). Depending on how busy the medical examiner is, this can take some time, since more recent deaths can easily take precedence over a corpse that has been dead for decades. So the body is probably still waiting for its death certificate.

Public cremation and stuck on a shelf is what most homeless get. If no one claims the body that’s likely what will happen here.

Hopefully by the time you read this, you realize it is only allergies.
If you are unsure, get tested.
If you are high risk and positive, get your doctor to get you in a test treatment program if possible,
Or have her/him prescribe a treatment. If they don’t have a regular treatment, possibly suggest the following?

Hydroxy Chloriquine has a lot of anecdotes saying it works with Zinc if treatment is early. If you have heart problems, it isn’t a good choice. Bangladesh had a recent study of Ivermectin with good results, and Australia was testing it two months ago. Ivermectin has been used for lice and scabies for decades.
Don’t forget Vitamins and supplements, A, C, D, and Zinc. Vitamin D seems to be critical for determining mild or severe cases. If you are an indoor person, or dark complected, you are likely Vitamin D deficient. I was. There is a ~$20 blood test for that.

Stay well. I enjoy your story telling.

Btw, I liked Carol in panel 1. A bit different both in drawing style and personal style. And sound effects, that’s new I think.

Probably good from the practical PoV too since you now have three voluptuous red heads (if Rulette counts), in the same scene even.

Leave a Reply to Mgnostic Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published.