Okay, first the good news.
Yes, this is Laura at her day job and the Wilmot world is expanding again. Her lab partner might be interesting as either adversary or normal person.
The bad news--the text in the lab partner's speech about his holidays is so hard to read that it could be almost anything and therefore undercuts the rest of the comic.
That is a mistake. This entry is excellently drawn and a good bridge to the next subplot, but confusion over that one speech bubble almost totally nullifies it. Usually, our reaction is, "Ooh, that was great! I can't wait to see what happens next! Please, please, please, grant us another issue!"
Entries like this one make us ask for bonuses in self defense. They seem to require...almost demand either context or a shift back to an explicable plotline. Or in internet shorthand WTHF?
Panels 1, 4, and 5 seem pretty clear, but the confusion over the text in panel 2 allows for multiple interpretations of panels 3 and 6, and that unbalances everything. Perhaps you could at least give us the legible uncrossed out text of what Laura's lab partner said to her. After looking closely, I can read most of it.
The lab partner's name is Vikram and he and Laura are doing perfume research (Wilmot's version of Scent Lure?
) and his family is disappointed he's not an engineer and that he hasn't pursued an arranged match with his distant (I hope) cousin's daughter. His sarcastic impression text is very hard to read. At first glance it looks like he's mumbling about a watch and there are all sorts of asterisks which looks like he's trying to invoke a trigger (like Daffyd) instead of doing impressions of his disapproving family. Perhaps looking for a more legible font for such speech bubbles would be a good idea.
Panels 3 and 6 are the real puzzlers. 3, mostly because I couldn't read Vikram's response well. Taking a closer look at his narration of his conversations with his foks eliminates some disturbing possibilities, for the moment.
Panel 3 is actually a flashback to some of the things that Derek made Laura do. In fact, it looks like he had her "undress" as Queen Amidala and orally pleasure him while he waved around a cheap light saber.
Panel 6 is meant to be an old-fashioned SJI cliffhanger. If this is Vikram's accidental discovery of female-specific Scent Lure perfume, this is the moment when the full effect of the musk hits Laura setting us up with a whole bunch of questions for the next month.
Unfortunately, the text problems in Vikram's speech bubble ruin this effect and make the comic 5 times as hard to follow and almost impossible to enjoy. Please abandon this particular font. It almost kills an excellent introductory entry.
