Deirdre’s book is entitled “Practical Evil: Seven Steps to a More Demonic You.” I leave the aftermath of this strip to your own fertile imagination.
Marlowe’s “Faustus” is actually filled with several subplots that go pretty much nowhere. I suspect this is largely because Kit figured out that he didn’t have enough material to fill an entire play. Indeed, even with the pointless tangents, the play still has a pretty short page count. This particular strip is about a subplot featuring random characters that appear suddenly, and then vanish equally quickly a few pages later.
A stable boy steals one of Faustus’ books of black magic, and proclaims pretty much exactly what Deirdre says in the second panel. His friend is all, “Yeah, magic. Whatever. Dude, get back to work.” The would-be-magician, though, swears that work is dorks and that magic is where it’s at. Indeed, with his new magical powers, he could make his friend totally drunk without needing to drink any wine! His friend still isn’t sold, so the boy wonder sweetens that pot: he can make a pretty little kitchen maid his friend’s plaything. Their minds subsequently filled with sinister lust, the servants ditch their stable and head out for evil with their magic book.
