Lackadaisy is an ongoing indie animation show, currently featuring a webcomic and a pilot, hopefully with a season one on the way, created by Tracy J. Butler. I’ve read both volumes of the comics and a few of the ones that are currently available only on the website. I’m going to rank some characters based on how much I enjoyed them in the pilot and the comics.
10. Serafine
Serafine Savoy is the hired gun and supplier for the Marigold gang and the secondary antagonist in the series. She and her older brother, Nico, ended up at a presumed orphanage or similar, and they were going to separate the boys and girls. Serafine didn’t want to leave her brother, so she told the girls she was going to cut her hair and act like a boy so she could stay with Nico, but no one believed her. She and Nico then snuck out and got lost in a bayou, but the two followed a glowing gator that Serafine believes was sent to them by Maitre Carrefour, to Maman Eulalie and the Voodooiennes of the Nowhere Isles. Serafine and Nico decided to live there and learn from them. I liked Serafine for being a female villain, but there wasn’t really that much lore to her that I thought there would be, and I hope there would be more lore to her and her brother when season one rolls around.
9. Nicodeme
Nicodeme Savoy, or Nico, is a hijacker for the Marigold gang and a supporting antagonist in the series. Nico has the same backstory as Serafine does because there’s nothing else to the two villains as of right now. I put Nico higher on the list because I liked his charming personality.
8. Viktor
Viktor Vasko is a member of the Lackadaisy crew. He’s currently the bartender; however, before bartending, he was a triggerman and rumrunner under Atlas until he was injured in a confrontation with Mordecai. He formally worked on a farm with his brothers and cousins before moving to the United States; he never finished his education due to this. In 1917, during World War I, he was sent to France and fought under the United States Army. It was believed that Viktor served with the 16th Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Division, and saw combat at Cantigny, Soissons, Saint-Mihiel, and the Meuse–Argonne. He later worked as a dockworker. In 1920, he got in a fight with strikebreakers during a striker’s rally, leading to the loss of his right eye due to a pry bar injury from police, and was charged with multiple counts of assault, though Atlas helped Viktor get a lawyer and had his sentence reduced. After Viktor was released from jail, he began working under Atlas as a triggerman. When Atlas died in 1926, Mordecai and Viktor got into a fight about Viktor retiring, leading to Mordecai kneecapping Viktor, though Viktor stays with Lackadaisy because he has “nowhere else to go.” He later works as a bartender. During the pig farmers’ attack on Lackadaisy, Viktor gets shot in the chest by Emery with a double-barreled shotgun. Though injured, Viktor was still able to protect Ivy and kill Benjy with his bare hands. Eventually, he becomes weaker and has his bullet removed by Doctor Leo. After the incident, Viktor sits in bed and constantly coughs. A lot of things were good about Viktor, and I’m curious to see who his mysterious wife is.
7. Mitzi
Mitzi May is the current head of the Lackadaisy crew, who owns and operates the Little Daisy Cafe and the Lackadaisy Speakeasy since the death of Atlas, her husband, in 1926. It is rumored that she may have been responsible for his death. Ever since Atlas’s death, Lackadaisy hasn’t been as busy as it used to be, and because of this, Mitzi doesn’t have any money to keep the party going. She has tried to get Mr. Sweet to lend her money, but he denied her request. Mitzi then tried with Sedgewick, but he also declined; however, while over at his place, Mitzi found one of his checks and stole it for herself. Lacy found her suspicious, but they never got the check back. She forged Wick’s signature and cashed the check that she’d made herself. She was able to convince her band members to play with the money that she had, but Lackadaisy was still empty. I like Mitzi’s design, but I didn’t exactly like that she would do anything just to keep her business running for the money. If she really was the one to kill Atlas, why? She said she truly loved him, but did she really? Did she just stay with him for the money? It could be possible because she’s in a relationship with Wick now, and he’s loaded with money. I’m just not sure how much I liked Mitzi compared to some of the side characters.
6. Zib
Dorian “Zib” Zibowski is the leader of the band that performs regularly at Lackadaisy. Despite the decline of Lackadaisy since the death of Atlas, the band continues to perform there. After a squirmish with Mitzi that caused Zib to break the necklace Atlas had given her, Zib was thrown in jail for fighting with Virgil, which Mitzi had done herself when Virgil wouldn’t give one of her pearls from the necklace back. After being interrogated by Dom Drago, Zib lost his special Lackadaisy pin that showed that he was a member down a drain in his cell. I liked Zib for his rebellious personality, and in the pilot, he treats Rocky like his own son, in my opinion.
5. Ivy
Ivy Pepper is the daughter of Ruby Pepper and the goddaughter of Atlas. She usually works as the cashier at Little Daisy Cafe, but she commonly helps with rum runs along with Rocky and Freckle. Ivy is currently in college to study (most likely, based on pictures I’ve seen) something in the medical field, but it isn’t stated what exactly. The minute Ivy saw Freckle, she instantly had a crush on him, even though Freckle was hiding from her, and stated that he “…must be the cutest thing this side of the river!” Freckle wasn’t bothered to be her boyfriend at all because he never denied that he wasn’t her boyfriend when she told Viktor they were dating, and he enjoyed the kisses she gave him. Ivy cares for her friends as well, risking her life just so Rocky could seek medical attention. She did, however, try to get more information about Freckle from Rocky while Rocky was groggy, but Rocky gave her information about his childhood instead because he was so dazed. I like how Ivy is a tomboy but romantic at the same time, but I didn’t like how she claimed Freckle as her boyfriend, as if he were an object. I do like them as a couple, though.
4. Sedgewick
Sedgewick “Wick” Sable is a businessman and one of the few remaining patrons of Lackadaisy. Wick is currently in a relationship with Mitzi May and truly loves her, but sometimes he’s scared for his life because of what happened to Atlas and the rumor that Mitzi may have been involved. Sometimes he stays up late to take care of his business, but he always gets caught by Lacy and is lectured to take a break and rest. He denied a partnership with Mitzi for her business and apologized politely to her. He loves to talk about rocks and will talk endlessly about them if someone doesn’t stop him. On his first day at Lackadaisy, Wick had to glance, touch, taste, and lick the rocks on the walls just to find out what type of rock it is. Mitzi has to stop him and instantly gets a whole lesson about limestone. I like Wick for how silly I think he is, and I don’t think there’s anything about him that I dislike.
3. Freckle
Calvin “Freckle” McMurray is Nina’s son, Rocky’s younger cousin, and the deuteragonist of Lackadaisy. After he is rejected from the police academy due to an “incident”, Nina inadvertently causes Freckle to become involved with the Lackadaisy crew as a rumrunner. Freckle meets Ivy there and seems afraid of her, but Ivy instantly develops a crush on him and later says that they’re dating. Before this, Rocky and Freckle set a pig farm on fire, causing the farmers to raid Lackadaisy and start shooting at them. Rocky finds a small rifle and attempts to shoot back, but Freckle tells him he’s “…not holding it right,” and takes the gun from Rocky, going completely sadistic and chasing after the pig farmers. Ivy later asks him if it’s true that he killed the pig farmers, but Freckle fails to answer the question and leaves her dubious. He and Ivy have their first kiss in Lackadaisy’s car with Rocky inside, and Ivy tells them they will kiss again in the future. Freckle seems agreeable to this. Ivy asks if she can see Freckle’s mother, but both Rocky and Freckle say no, and Rocky later shoves her head into the gear shift when she’s been looking up for too long, saying, “She’s probably lurking around out here with her gardening shears. Just waiting for me to mess up.” Freckle is afraid of Rocky when he sees the scar he gained when he was hit by a car with corn choppers on it. I like Freckle because of his shy and sadistic personality, like an angel-devil kind of personality.
2. Mordecai
Mordecai Heller is a bootlegger and triggerman for the Marigold gang and a major antagonist in the series. He previously worked for the Lackadaisy crew. Mordecai was born on March 28, 1899, in New York City, New York, to German-Jewish immigrants. Before starting education, Mordecai suffered from congenital myopia and was forced to wear spectacles. After his father, Issac, passed from a stroke, Mordecai became very protective of his family when they moved to the east side of Manhattan in terrible living conditions. He only finished his primary education. At 13, Mordecai began working as an accountant and bookie for grifters, loan sharks, and gambling operations. In need of money at 17, he extorted money from someone minor in the crime world, murdering them as he replaced their role and was able to embezzle money from higher ranks, though he was later caught. In fright, Mordecai gets on a getaway train to either Chicago or Detroit while leaving all his money for his family; however, while finishing a letter to his mother explaining the situation, he notices two criminals in the traincar watching him, and realizes he is being pursued. While Mordecai is asking around for a stamp, the train enters a tunnel before Atlas appears from the shadow, coming to sit on the other side. He and Mordecai exchanged glances briefly before Atlas stood up to leave for his destination, all the while leaving a revolver inside the newspaper that he carried onto the train. Mordecai took the revolver and used it to defend himself and escape from his pursuers. Atlas helps Mordecai get out of his former troubles, and Mordecai decides to join Lackadaisy as a sharpshooter. Though after Atlas died in 1926, Mordecai got into a fight with Viktor and eventually kneecapped him. He was later hired by Asa Sweet in early 1927 to be a triggerman for Marigold. I like Mordecai for how intelligent he is as a villain and how grumpy he is most of the time.
1. Rocky
Roark “Rocky” Rickaby is the main protagonist of the Lackadaisy series, who joined the Lackadaisy crew as a rumrunner and an addition to Zib’s band. After the death of Atlas and the departure of much of Lackadaisy Speakeasy’s staff, Rocky began doing odd jobs for Mitzi. He is the nephew of Nina and is also Freckle’s older cousin. Roark Rickaby was born on December 19th, 1904, in St. Louis, Missouri, to Ransom and Sophie Rickaby. At a young age, Rocky lived in a nice house with his mother while his father worked on a railroad. During this time, he learned how to play the violin. Later, his mother became sick and bedridden (likely due to the plague), leaving Rocky to have to go live with his aunt Nina and cousin Freckle; however, at the age of 16 Rocky was kicked out of the McMurray House for unspecified reasons so he decided to move in with his uncle in Kankakee, Illinois where he would work as a farmer. Only 3 months after moving into his uncle’s farm, he left and took the Pacific Railroad to Central Oklahoma, where he joined a circus as a roustabout. When the circus went south, Rocky found himself stuck in South Dakota with a violin that was gifted to him by a hobo. Sometime after that, he attempted to hitchhike back to his parents in St. Louis, but for whatever reason, the driver immediately kicked him out of the vehicle. Instead, he hopped on a cargo train car and rode into the city. When he arrived, he found what was presumably his parents’ house abandoned, clearly for some time. To make money, he began busking on the streets. There, he met Mitzi while she was on a walk with her husband, Atlas. She took a liking to his street music and took him in to become a violinist for Zib’s band. After Atlas died under mysterious circumstances, and Viktor’s knees were disabled by Mordecai, Rocky volunteered to become the new rumrunner. He later managed to rope his cousin, Freckle, into helping him with his booze-collecting missions, and the two are joined more often than not by Ivy. During Freckle’s first “mission”, the duo ended up burning down a moonshine barn, and as a result, the speakeasy was attacked by the owners. One of them managed to shoot Viktor in the chest during the attack. Following the information from Viktor, Rocky and Ivy went on a mission to retrieve wine from a cellar. They were caught and chased by the Arbogasts. During the chase, Rocky got his head smashed in by their hearse; as he was unconscious, Ivy managed to convince the drivers of the hearse to help him, so they brought him into their home, where Elsa, a nurse, stitched up his head, leaving him with a massive permanent scar across his forehead. On the drive back from Elsa and the cellar, Ivy asked a barely-conscious Rocky where he lived, leading him to reply with “we’re already there” and subsequently revealing that he’d been living in the car. Still half-asleep and not fully himself, Rocky revealed a few other bits and pieces of his past to Ivy, though much of it was still obscured. Ivy took him back to her school and snuck him in, where he called Mitzi to assure her that everything was fine. That night, he snuck out, leaving a note on the wall for Ivy in her roommate’s lipstick. He met back up with Freckle, and the two continued their work. I love Rocky, and I feel bad for what happened to him. Rocky is such a goofy guy who changes his personality from poetic to chaotic.
This was somewhat hard for me to rank because Lackadaisy is one of my favorite fandoms, and I love all the characters, but Rocky is still my favorite, so that ranking wasn’t hard at all. I’m really hoping to learn more about these characters if season one comes out!
