6. Mom before me: an album (Part IV) – SEE SAW Comics, Webcomics from the Sequential Artists Workshop

6. Mom before me: an album (Part IV)

One panel fills the page. In full color, mostly tones of wintry blue, a twenty-something Lorraine sits in a pile of snow. She has longer wavy hair which falls past of her shoulders. She is wearing a fashionable blue coat over a yellow shirt, along with dark pants and black boots mostly buried in the snow. She looks seriously at the photographer/reader, one eyebrow slightly cocked. She is wearing a deep red lipstick and her cheeks are slightly flushed. The sky is blue and there is a leafless tree in the background towards the left. Lynn narrates, “WWII ended as Mom entered her 20s. Economic hardship was shrinking from view. She’d been working for years already, starting with her first job slinging hot dogs at the downtown Woolworth’s. It’s easy to idealize other women’s lives, not knowing the depth of their challenges. Looking at these photos I catch myself thinking wow, so glamorous and what swagger! They all seem to know who they are. Photographic evidence shows me that as a youth Mom was healthy, active and fit, if a little malnourished at times. What happened to render her so sickly by the time she was in her forties?”

Another one-panel page. A young Lorraine, perhaps in her late twenties, sits on a table topped with a blue gingham cloth, pack of cigarettes, and a bottle of Seagram’s 7. She is holding a glass of it on the rocks in one hand, cigar in the other, and she’s laughing boisterously at someone off panel to her right. Her hair still falls past her shoulders, but her curls are tighter. She is wearing a lack blouse with one sleeveless shoulder, a floral print knee-length skirt, and black heels. She has jewelry and makeup on, looking glamorous. Lynn continues her narration, “Booze and disappointment, perhaps. Yet I love this image. My inner party girl wanted to know this Lorraine. The social queen bee. Crazy, as I was often witness to the aftermath, the tears of her clown facade, and yours truly a character in the story of her pain. What does that level of denial say about me? Girls just want to have fun, make with the medication?”

Published On: February 6, 2024

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In the gray and white of Lynn's near-present day, Lorraine holds onto James's arm as they walk on a path from a house blanketed in snow. They are dressed in hats, scarves, and winter coats.

A close-up of young Emil's face drawn with vampire fangs and a ravenous expression: mouth open, eyes wide, brows bent in a scowl.

Enzo is standing next to a bed and bending down to reach something on the ground. “October 3, Sunday.”

Young Adam is hunched over, hands on knees, throwing up: "BLEH"

Kim is standing outside, using a fire extinguisher on what looks to be a bush in front of her. She looks calm. “September 26.”

A baby with glasses, smoking a pipe, wearing a violet bathrobe, and reading a Playboy magazine with an unimpressed expression. The background is pink.

Guy is relaxing on the couch watching TV with a pink-haired woman. His hand is resting on the woman’s thigh. They are both sitting in the same position, right leg crossed over left.

A view of a classroom from Kim’s perspective. A man with a goatee wearing a button down shirt stands behind a podium with a desktop computer, speaking to the glass. There is a projector on a stool in front of him, displaying an image of a rocky formation and body of water on the screen on the back wall. Two men sit in the desks in front of Kim, leaning in and listening. “September 20. Our group had its first presentation today. I had dreaded it, but we did well and now it’s over with.”

Enzo is standing in the kitchen, holding Tonks the cat in his arms like a baby in a front-facing carrier. He is smiling softly. “September 14. Made turkey meatballs before work. Crappy work day. Class after with quiz.”

Stylistically rendered with bright, flat colors, simplified shapes, and no line work: a man faces the reader across a cyan background with pink buildings and peach clouds. He stands on a pink road between cyan sidewalks. He is wearing aviator sunglasses and has a thick mustache with a stubbly chin. He wears a blue and black coat over a white Armani t-shirt; his hands are in his jacket pockets, to his side. We see down to his knees before the image cuts off. He is rendered with blue hair, peach skin, and a pink nose. He has an air of intimidating confidence.

Lorraine sits next to Lynn’s dad, both looking like young twenty-somethings. They are both dressed in formal wear - Lorraine in a floral print dress, Lynn’s dad in a suit and tie - and they smile for the camera.

Kim is reading from a book opened to a page full of pictures of different kinds of mushrooms. She is lounging, wearing comfy pants and sitting with her knees up. “September 8. Ordered mushroom cultivating supplies after doing some research. Worked until 7 p.m.”

Kim tends to a rack of bananas hanging from a rod in her house. “September 7. Felt crappy again. Made a big wall calendar to help manage time. Had class today.”

A zoomed in view of hands holding a plant’s steam with a leaf attached. In the background are more leaves and plants. “August 27.”

A sepia-toned family photograph, showing five people in formal wear posing stiffly for the camera.

Kim stands among banana trees outside. She is looking down, where a rack of bananas lies at her feet. “August 21. Worked. Blue java rack fell prematurely.”

From behind, we see Kim bend over as she steps into her bathtub. She is naked. “August 15. Sunday. Painted. Bath.”

Derek is in bed lying on his stomach. He holds the pillow over his head, pencil in hand, so he is buried under his blanket and pillow. In the background, the word "FLUSH" is written in large block letters. Derek asks, “What’s the point?”

1. Rory sits in the corner of a large sectional couch, holding her phone close to her face. She is covered in pillows. “August 9. Worked. I had planned on meeting Mom and Rory at the pool after but it was closed. Told my work I’ll need Mondays off (class).”

Close up of Lorraine's hand aggressively crushing her cigarette in her blue ash tray, surrounded by dramatic lighting and jagged lines.

Jasper sits on the foot of Derek's bed, elbow-deep in a bag of popcorn, which he munches on. He stares ahead blankly while chewing.

1. From behind, we see Kim sitting at a desk in a swivel office chair. She is bare foot. She sits in front of a keyboard using a computer mouse. A dog stands behind her, looking to the side. A dark, round table takes up the left foreground, balancing out the panel. “August 2. Worked. Went to UTC Mall after class to get school clothes for Enzo. August 3. Class down in Naples. Finished my journals at 7p.m. Sammi and Carlye took Enzo to registration at school.”

Young Lynn, in full color, looks at herself in an oval-shaped mirror, smoking a cigarette. Her head is tilted slightly to the side and she is smiling with her lips puffed out a bit. She thinks to herself, "I look so cool."

Derek is lying in bed, completely covered by his comforter and the pillow on top of his head. He huffs a “(muffled) SIGH” (drawn in big block letters). From off panel, one of his kids calls, “Dad?”

1. A man, who is only visible by the torso, holds a black and white kitten in his arms like he’s cradling a baby. The kitten’s head is smaller than his hand. He is petting the cat’s head with one finger. “July 27. Class in Naples, more food forest install. Met up with Tony on campus and had a meeting with my advisor. Then we went to the FGCU FF. Tony’s parents got a new kitten.”

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