The Shape of Comics to Come Episode 17 – SEE SAW Comics, Webcomics from the Sequential Artists Workshop

The Shape of Comics to Come Episode 17

1. Derek is slumped in bed, lying on his stomach with half his face buried in his pillow. He holds a large pencil in his hand resting on the pillow by his face. His other arm is hanging off the side of the bed. There are two sheets of paper lying on his bed comforter, along with a couple balls of discarded crumpled paper. He is looking off into the distance, frowning with an open mouth. In the background is a bunch of clamor: “Ow! FART! Bam! Clang!” Derek mutters to himself, “They just gas you up. Tell you to ‘follow your dreams.’ Then, bam! Turns out those dreams don’t exist in a real sustainable kinda way. Gas up. Gaslight.” 2. Derek is now on his back, half sitting up in bed. He holds onto the comforter, which is pulled up over his chest. He still has the pencil in his right hand, and the sheets and balls of paper are still on the blanket. Noise continues in the background, “Pop! Arf! Toot! Burp! CRASH! BAM!” Derek says, “How do you keep goin’ in a world that endlessly disappoints even the most bare minimum heart’s desires?” 3. Derek moves back onto his stomach. He now holds the pillow over his head, pencil still in hand, so he is buried under his blanket and pillow. In the background: “Ow! BARK! BAM! Flop! FLUSH! Pop!” Derek asks, “What’s the point?”

4. In a flashback, Derek stands at the side of a woman’s hospital bed. The woman, with straight, shoulder-length hair, is wearing a hospital gown and wristbands and holding a smiling, swaddled baby in her arms. She smiles widely; Derek also smiles and sniffles. He looks down at the baby and says, “I promise I’ll do everything I can to make this world better for you. No matter what.” 5. Back to the original scene, Derek bolts upright in bed. He rests his chin in one hand, looking ahead with quiet, wide-eyed horror. He is now holding his pencil to one of the blank sheets of paper. There appear to be more balls of crumpled paper scattered on his blanket than before. 6. Derek is hunched over a drafting table, drawing a larger sheet of paper under the buzzing light of a large desk lamp. He is scowling and panting, sweat dripping onto the page. He shouts (in large block letters), “FUCK THE WORLD!” Behind him (on the right side of the panel), Jasper, his younger kid, shouts into the cardboard tube of an empty paper towel roll and shouts, “Dad’s back to normal!’

Published On: January 22, 2024

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.”

1. A close-up view of two mushrooms with umbrella-like caps and long stems. The mushrooms are surrounded by twigs on the ground and a saw palmetto frond above them. “July 20.”

Derek is tucked in bed, lying down on his back with his head on his pillow and blankets pulled up to his neck. He yawns loudly (drawn in block letters). A light is shining on him and chatter comes from off panel.

1. An opossum stands chest to the ground in a spot of light; the rest of the background is dark. Their mouth is open so they look like they are almost smiling. Kim points to the opossum and labels them “Odetta” with a heart. “July 14. Last day in KY. Flew home after a delay involving landing gear. Unpacked, turned the compost pile. It’s good to be home.”

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