God.

So Tad resolves his spiritual crisis by meeting God. The zit joke is actually a reference to Gabriel Garcia Marquez's short story "A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings," which I was teaching at the time, and the idea of the flesh v. the divine housed in one being. Or, if God made Tad in His image, then He must share all of Tad's faults and flaws as well. I meant to bring God back a few times but I think I'd said all I needed to say with these strips, and getting to Tad and Frank's first dates was way more fun. Why Clinique? It involves a weird inside joke between my best friend and myself called Fag Force Five (Clinique, Unique, Monique, Claire, and and Avante Garde) - another joke I'd planned to work into the future strips but never got around to. Who knew there was so much backstory in such throwaway jokes? (last note - I mirrored Tad's face in Photoshop to make sure it looked the same, which perfectly shows my lazy/obsessive attention to the weirdest details)