Mr. William Schwenck Gilbert, the lyrics-writing half of Gilbert and Sullivan, was indeed a minor official before making it big as a playwright. For four years he was an assistant clerk in the Education Department of the Privy Council. Summing up the experience, he wrote later, "I was one of the worst bargains any government ever made."

I think the second comic idea I ever drew up back in late 2006 for FtG was a Gilbert one (the first, as I recall, involved an encounter with P.T. Barnum). I should dig that out and post it here for purely historical purposes...

For those wondering, the departmental motto in the back there reads "Bland Efficacy in All Things of Import"...

- Count Dolby von Luckner

Ah. Here it is! I don't remember what the reasoning was behind making Gilbert's body into an egg decorated with the British flag. PROBABLY had something to do with eggs being easier to draw than human bodies....

Having performed in several Gilbert and Sullivan operettas, it is interesting to see how The Count renders the various G&S conventions he has seen into a comic.

--Geoff