Lackadaisy

Lackadaisy is a webcomic created by artist Tracy J. Butler, set in a Prohibition-era 1927 St. Louis inhabited by anthropomorphic cats. The plot chronicles the fortunes of the Lackadaisy Speakeasy after its founder is murdered.

The style of the comic is highly detailed, and the pages are sepia-toned, resembling aged photographs. Launched on July 19, 2006, the comic updates on an irregular basis. As of November 24, 2010, 98 pages have been posted, with 68 of these, 14 pages of sketches, 8 pages of mini-comics and 2 pages of tutorials making up the printed Volume 1. Recently released Volume 2 has 140 pages of the comic and 34 pages of mini-comics.

Premise
When Prohibition gripped the country in 1920, Atlas May set his eatery, the Little Daisy Café, as the front for a massively successful establishment—the Lackadaisy Speakeasy. Situated within a network of limestone caves at whose mouth the café is situated, access to the speakeasy is only granted to those showing a club-shaped pin.

With fairly easy access to illegal spirits and a steady clientele, business burgeons and the Lackadaisy becomes a premier establishment.

In 1926, however, Atlas was murdered by members of a rival establishment, and management of the Little Daisy and Lackadaisy fell to his widow Mitzi. Patronage at the Lackadaisy gradually fell off, bringing it to the brink of collapse. This is where the comic's story begins.

Main characters

 * Atlas May is the founder of the Little Daisy Café and subsequently the Lackadaisy Speakeasy. He was murdered by members of a rival establishment in 1926.
 * Mitzi May is Atlas' widow and the current owner of the establishment. As its new owner she faces slacking sales, doubts about her ability, and the looming cloud of her husband's murder.
 * Roark "Rocky" Rickaby is a violinist in Lackadaisy's jazz band, though with the speakeasy's decline he has also become its premier gin and whiskey runner. He has a manic personality which is interrupted only by bouts of surprising insight and also has a MacGyver-esque propensity for escaping from dangerous situations.
 * Ivy Pepper is Atlas' goddaughter, a flapper and a university student working the cash register part-time at the Little Daisy. An intelligent, though somewhat volatile girl, Ivy is aware of the goings-on in regard to the speakeasy below.
 * Viktor Vasko is a former bootlegger for the speakeasy but has been relinquished, by occupational injuries and advancing age, to less physical tasks. He now serves the speakeasy primarily as its bartender.
 * Sedgewick "Wick" Sable made considerable assets off of work in the local mining and quarrying industry. He is a frequent and longstanding Lackadaisy patron, and he is Mitzi's latest escort.
 * Nina McMurray is Freckle's mother and Rocky's aunt. She is a devout Irish Catholic and a stern disciplinarian who harbors some gripes with the state of the world in the time of the comic's setting.
 * Calvin "Freckle" McMurray is a genteel son to Nina, but perhaps harbors some surprising predispositions, mainly favoring homicidal tendencies. Failing in his bid to become a police officer, Freckle (sometimes not entirely willingly) assists Rocky with carrying out his duties.
 * Serafine Savoy is a member of the rival Marigold gang and self-declared Voodoo priestess. She is also the sister of Nicodeme.
 * Nicodeme "Nico" Savoy is the brother of Serafine and a Marigold gang member with a nihilistic demeanor.
 * Mordecai Heller is a former employee of Lackadaisy from its glory days. He now serves the Marigold gang.

Secondary and incidental characters
These characters appear at least once in the first chapter, though as of September 2008 they are not listed on the website's list of main characters.


 * Dorian "Zib" Zibowski is the leader of the Lackadaisy jazz band.
 * Horatio, presumably a busboy or waitstaff for the speakeasy.
 * Captain Kehoe, though his role hasn't been completely revealed, is a smuggler of liquor and alcohol.
 * Lacy is the personal assistant to Sedgewick.
 * The farmers Avril, Emery, and Avery run a pig farm outside of St. Louis. They are also aggressively competitive bootleggers.

Awards
In 2007, Lackadaisy was nominated for, and won four awards in the Web Cartoonists' Choice Awards. It won the award for Outstanding Newcomer, Outstanding Artist, Outstanding Character Rendering and Outstanding Anthropomorphic Comic.

In 2008, Lackadaisy won four Web Cartoonists' Choice Awards (Outstanding Artist, Outstanding Black and White Art, Outstanding Character Rendering and Outstanding Website Design) and was a finalist in one other award (Outstanding Character Writing).

Tracy Butler was the Guest of Honor for Furry Connection North 2009. The art of webcomic is featured prominently on the convention website.

At the The Webcomic List Awards 2010, Lackadaisy was nominated for Best Black and White

Lackadaisy has been in the runners-up at the Ursa Major Awards for Best Anthropomorphic Graphic Story for 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2015, 2016 and 2017 before finally winning the 2018 award

Books

 * Lackadaisy Vol.1 (Renoir Comics, 2008, ISBN 88-9526-135-6)
 * Lackadaisy Vol.1 (4th Dimension Entertainment, 2009, ISBN 0-9819-5990-3)