On the Fastrack

On the Fastrack is a comic strip drawn by Bill Holbrook about the doings of various characters at the fictional Fastrack, Inc.

Fastrack is run by its foundress, Rose Trellis, who is portrayed as a ruthless corporate leader, but with a recently discovered but seldom seen charitable side. Most storylines involve other characters, though, such as:

• Wendy Rommel Welding — Rose Trellis’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” (if you can call it that) 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.
• Bud Spore, the head of Fastrack’s Information Technology Center, a stereotypical computer geek. On April 25, 2010, he started his own blog cleverly titled “Spore Sample” in which he comments on various aspects of Fastrack as well as his family life with:
  • His wife, Chelonia, the daughter of Rose Trellis.
  • 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 Goth who is defined by her conscientious work ethic, intelligence, talent and mainly her ability to confound other's expectations based on her appearance.
• 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).
• 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 — 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. Recently Rose married him. (More discussion needed here.)

The strip was originally about Bob Shirt, Melody Acapella, Art Welding, Bud Spore (their immediate supervisor, then age 17), Rose Trellis and Melody’s daughter Laurel. Bob and Melody still pop up occasionally, as Melody runs the company day care center where Patina and Rusty spend their after-school hours.

Collections of On the Fastrack exist, but are not always easy to find.

External links

• On the Fastrack (Home)
• On the Fastrack (King Features)
• On the Fastrack (The Washington Post)