Working Daze - Changes in Look

Changes in Look

All of the characters have changed in appearance. The changes are due primarily to the turnover of artists, but have occurred even within a single artist's term on the feature. Perhaps no character has changed more than Rita, the money crazed office manager who is eventually promoted to a lower level VP. Andre Noel's Rita didn't change a lot during his short time on the strip, but subtly altered. Mostly she was a Miss Gulch type. Lanky and shapeless, black hair pulled tight in a small pony tail, a large nose and heavily lidded eyes. She wore mostly black, but Noel changed all the characters' outfits from day to day, and sometimes Rita was seen in other garb.

Miller started off with an entirely revamped Rita. She was more casual and friendly looking. Her hair was still pulled back, but was fuller and wavier. She wore more relaxed clothes and had a far more feminine shape. At least- at first. Slowly, Miller's Rita transformed into a tightly wound martinet. Her easygoing facial expression changed to a permanent scowl. Even when smiling, her eyes glared. As Miller established iconic costumes for the characters, Rita adopted a permanent grey blazer, at first accessorized with a necktie, but later without. All of Miller's characters were short and thickset at first, but he stretched them out as he went along. Rita became very long and wiry. Her early incarnation would have been intimidated by her later form. Much of the humor in a Rita gag could come from her look.

Roberts initially went for a caricature of a woman he had seen at an office where he temped. She seemed to fit Miller's earlier take on Rita. The pony tail puffed out so it was bigger than her whole head. The grey blazer was replaced by one in lavender, although Roberts kept many of Miller's costume choices. As readers complained that the new look was too cute, the characters, and Rita especially, became modified. The pony tail shrunk to a few spikes, but she became shapelier, leaving behind the Andre Noel broomstick physique. The most familiar aspect of Roberts' Rita is the ever present water bottle in her fist. This appeared in the first week of new strip, and then on and off for while, until it became almost inseparable. When asked why it was there, Roberts explained that it was inspired by a piece in TIME Magazine about bottled water. The article indicated that women were more prone than men to carry it, and often as a fashion accessory. Roberts chose to make it more like a talisman for Rita, or a kind of security blanket. She is only complete when she has it. She can also occasionally use it as a weapon, like a blackjack. In mid 2009, Zakour wrote a gag in which Rita hires Steve Wozniak to give her a makeover. Roberts took this as a cue to try a new look for the character, ditching the traditional pony tail and center hair part for a short, bobbed look. It has grown out some since its initial helmet like appearance, but has remained ever since.