Sweating the Small Stuff

"When it comes to reality, you take what you can get."

―Dez

Sweating the Small Stuff was a webcomic about a bluepill who starts to see through the virtual reality of the Matrix, his girlfriend's run in with a criminal cartel and their subsequent escape from Agents.

It was made by Bill Sienkiewicz (and Spencer Lamm) for The Matrix Comics Series 1 (released on WhatIsTheMatrix.com on April 1, 1999) and was later published in The Matrix Comics Volume 1.

Story[edit | edit source]

The story starts with Dez, a bluepill who thinks he is losing touch with reality. He convinces his girlfriend Mia to stop drug running for cartel boss Marlowe, which she does on bad terms with them, and takes up gun running instead.

As he starts to tell her his fears, that he can see through to the code that underlies everything in the Matrix, the door explodes and gunmen that Dez assumes to be the "guys in black suits" he thinks watch him as a threat and see his every move have found him. He runs, only to hear one of them shout "Marlowe says hello", which makes him realise they are just cartel gunmen after Mia.

She emerges from the smoke with a machine gun and time slows for Dez; he sees everything in beautiful simplicity, again with code, but this time also seeing "the answer". He snaps out of it to see the look of fear in the gunmen's eyes as Mia opens fire, killing all of them.

Suddenly Dez hears helicopters approaching, and in his mind he sees a multitude of Agents, each far deadlier than the gunmen just killed. Mia grabs his arm and together they run, not knowing where they are going or what is going on, but trying to escape the immediate danger and find answers.

Characters[edit | edit source]

Dez

Dez
Mia
Marlowe (only mentioned)
Cartel gunmen
Agents

References[edit | edit source]

The Cartel
Helicopters

Editing[edit | edit source]

Sweating the Small Suff was edited when it was included in The Matrix Comics Volume 1; the following changes being made:

Page 1: "Based on concepts by Larry & Andy Wachowski" was removed from the bottom of the page, leaving a blank space below "And she said:"
Page 4: Third period added to the ellipsis at the end of the second sentence: "Everything I see... everything..."
Page 4: "psychice" corrected to "psychic"
Page 5: The line "The irony of the thought makes me gag." was indented
Page 6: "Between bursts of machinegun fire," changed to "Between bursts of machine gun fire,"

Credits[edit | edit source]

Comic[edit | edit source]

Words/pictures: Bill Sienkiewicz
Plot: Spencer Lamm; Bill Sienkiewicz
Based on concepts by Larry & Andy Wachowski

The Matrix Comics Volume 1[edit | edit source]

Story & Art: Bill Sienkiewicz (Table of Contents)
Editors in Chief: Andy & Larry Wachowski
Editor: Spencer Lamm
Assistant Editor: Sharon Bray
The Matrix and all related characters and elements are trademarks of Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.