Brother Business is the first Carol Day story set in the art world, a milieu that became a favorite of Wright’s for the strip.

In this story, Carol meets Clive Ellis and his brother John, both artists, when her Uncle Marcus requests her to have her portrait painted. John is a successful academic painter and member of the Royal Academy, getting large fees for his society portraits. Clive is a somewhat unscrupulous starving artist, refusing to compromise, and forced to live “by cadging off [John] - and from anyone else who’d wear it”, as Clive himself puts it.

The brothers compete for Carol’s attention and affections and each paints a portrait of Carol, though Clive’s is only a sketch. In a neat reversal John turns out to be the real scoundrel, and Clive the better artist. After winning over Carol, Clive does a runner because he knows he will be no good for her. In typical David Wright manner, no one gets what they want in this story, except perhaps Uncle Marcus who ends up with a good portrait of Carol.

This story is scanned from tearsheets.