Maraschino mall
| Maraschino mall | |
|---|---|
 | |
| First appearance | Hot Pursuit, page 8 September 6, 2006 |
| Related characters | Mike, Lucy |
Maraschino mall is a huge, upscale shopping mall in Maraschino City, the big city a bus ride out from Roseville. The comic has shown it exactly once, in Hot Pursuit, when Mike chased a girl he had mistaken for Sandy through the place.
Description
The mall stands several storeys tall among Maraschino’s skyscrapers, close enough to the city’s parade street that its escalator can be spotted from the crowd outside.[1] Out front is a paved forecourt with a fountain that shoppers sit on the rim of, plus a hot-dog stand close by the doors.[2] The entrance itself is a big wall of glass panes with store signage overhead.[3]
Inside, escalators lined with sale placards connect the floors. There is a large toy store with shelves of plush animals and dolls, including one very large plush elephant, and enough open floor to drive a ride-on toy truck through at speed.[3]
History
In Hot Pursuit, Mike is in Maraschino convinced that Sandy is visiting the city for the day. After a reporter at the parade brushes him off, he spots a girl with a bow in her black hair riding the mall’s escalator and bolts inside, leaving Lucy behind on the street.[1] A saleswoman in the toy store pitches him the Vroom Vroom 9000, a ride-on toy truck discounted to $973. Mike simply hops in and drives off. He tears through the toy store before sliding down the escalator handrail after the girl.[3]
He catches up with her outside, sitting on the rim of the forecourt fountain. She turns around and asks if he’s looking for somebody — she’s a complete stranger. Mike walks away on the brink of tears, wondering “Why does it always end up going wrong?”[2]
Trivia
- The toy store is modeled on the famous (and since closed) F.A.O. Schwarz store, escalator-to-the-second-floor layout included, according to the authors’ commentary.[3]
- The commentary also points out a tribute to Jackie Lesnick’s webcomic Girly hidden on the toy store’s shelves.[3]
- Per the commentary on the chapter’s first page, Maraschino City is deliberately “totally NOT New York”, and got a made-up name (after a color, “or was it some sorta coffee”) to match Rickter, Sandy’s home town.[5]
- The mall is never named on panel. Characters only ever call it “the mall”.[3] The cast’s later mall trips happen at the Garden Square mall instead, which Sandy names on panel when she asks Mike to take her there.[6]