"john henry gets spiked"

Today is one of my days off. Tomorrow is my 45th birthday :\ Just scanning and photo-correcting old art today and trying to kick Captain Saucer in gear again.

Here's the John Henry picture again. This time it's colored! It went with my next entry in the Fox and Film Roman contest:

“John Henry gets Spiked” Synopsis
By Doug Holverson

This, of course, is an update on John Henry, finding himself automated out of a job in the 21st century. This closely adheres to the tradition of the classic Jay Ward Fractured Fairy Tales.

John Henry shows up for work in front of the building for the H&O Railroad, “rarin’ to beat my personal best rail spike poundin’ record!”

Standing there is his friend, Shorty, a diminutive white trashy fellow with an engineer’s cap and overalls, who explains “Ya cain’t, all ya steel drivin’ men have done been laid off ‘n’ replaced by a gizmo called the Inky Poo!”

John strikes an assertive pose ready to take his case to various facets of Management. Shorty explains “Ya cain’t!” and then explains it case by case. The complaint department has been replaced by voice mail. Human resources have been replaced by web services. Accounting has been replaced by computers. The Bossman’s secretary has been replaced by a robot. Even the Bossman himself, has suffered a “worser” fate of being outsourced! “That shouldn’t even happen to a dog that won’t hunt.”

John decides to take his case to the media and challenge the Inky Poo “Mano y Machino!”

Shorty replies, “I’ll get pay-per-view. There’s good money in people publicly humiliatin’ themselves!”

The big contest comes with confident John Henry, with a sledgehammer in each hand, squaring off against the The Sioux City Cast Iron Foundry and Cookie Shop’s five point two metric ton Inky Poo Twenty-one Hundred, Mark Two. A popgun is fired and the race is on! John Henry is in “The Zone”, running over hills and valleys while pounding away like crazy on those railroad spikes like he never has before. He pauses to raise his hand to wipe the sweat of his brow and look behind him. “I’m so far ahead I can’t even see that Inky Poo!”

Shorty corrects him, “Um, John Henry…. Look the other way….”

John watches as the Inky Poo disappears on the distant horizon, leaving miles of track behind it. John doesn’t quite believe it because a living breathing soul is supposed to beat the machine when they put their mind to it! Shorty asks what century is that sappy sentiment from? John answers the nineteenth. Shorty then asks what century “is we currently residin’ in?” John sheepishly answers The Twenty-first. John ponders “what’s an able-bodied man s’pose to do for gainful employment in these here modern times?”

John and Shorty are wearing silly hats and aprons while working at a burger franchise. Shorty is holding up some fries “Want fries with that?” John trying to grin while cringing while holding up a 55-gallon paper cup, “How about super duper sized?”