Name: Bertha McSnagglesworth
Aliases: Lace, Lacey
Sex: Female
Age: 25
From: New York, New York

After Arsenic froze his former lab assistant Joe by accident, he put out a Help Wanted Ad in the newspaper. Of the many who answered his ad was Bertha McSnagglesworth, an unfortunately named woman who was struggling day by day to afford her college bills. Thinking that getting real, hands-on experience in a lab would look good on her resume, Bertha applied for the position.

After narrowly avoiding being frozen by Arsenic due to his growing infatuation with her [boobs], she was hired to perform the menial tasks around the lab and be the constant target of Arsenic's sexual harassment. Upon learning that Bertha was nicknamed "Lace" as a stripper (one in a string of menial jobs she took to pay her student bills), Arsenic began calling her "Old Lace," as a pun on the old play/movie. The nickname is one that Bertha hates, but has grown to begrudgingly accept.

Seeking more than just lab busy work, Lace eventually got Arsenic to bring her along with him on his daily activities - which shockingly included robbing diamond stores with a freeze ray and other devious deeds. Quickly realizing that this was no ordinary lab job - Old Lace weighed the option of abandoning Arsenic, but eventually decided to stick around for the sweet paycheck that was involved at the end of the day. And while she'd never admit it, Lacey secretly enjoys being bad - although she'd prefer different company to do it with. Until she decides otherwise, Old Lace will go on helping Arsenic to do the work that he's too lazy to do himself.

First Appearance: May 16, 2006

Misc: Arsenic and Old Lace were the original characters created in 2001 as a duo long before there was ever a "Home Base" webcomic (when they were in a text-based roleplaying game). Initially she was written as a dumb blonde stripper, but when the webcomic was started, she was rebooted as a more intelligent and competent "better half" to Arsenic. She's still an ex-stripper though because guys are writing this, and are thusly incapable of progressive female role models that don't fit into niche male fantasies. Her face design by Eddie Havoc is (somewhat recognizably) based on Elisha Cuthbert.

Holy Evil's rendering of Old Lace:

© 2006-2009 John Kastronis, Eddie Havöc.