The Shape of Comics to Come Episode 18 – SEE SAW Comics, Webcomics from the Sequential Artists Workshop

The Shape of Comics to Come Episode 18

This comic deviates from the others in this collection in that there are six panels on the page rather than three, and they are colored in various shades of yellow and orange. It is titled in block letters, “Nunc Stans.” 1. Derek sits in his beat up armchair, looking ahead at the reader. He rests one ankle over his knee, and holds both hands together under his chin. He is wearing his regular outfit: his number 1 t-shirt, jeans, and heeled boots. There is a large pencil tucked behind his ear. He has a serious expression on his face as he begins his monologue, “Frustratin’ to be stuck in this in-between time, ain’t it? One foot stuck in the mud of how it was. The other with toes outstretched toward the future. No foothold. But temporal escape ain’t real. 2. Derek is drawn twice in this panel. In the first, he is running dramatically, facing the right of the page. He is now gripping the pencil in his left hand as he charges forward, one leg kicked back as high as his waist. He says, “Those are the receipts of hope and nostalgia. They’re unreliable.” We then zoom in a bit closer on Derek, so we just see him from the elbows up. His brows are furrowed now as he continues, “Escapisms that sever you from the now.” 3. Now from slightly behind, we see Derek running still charging forward, now aiming his pencil for a sheet of paper nailed to a post in front of him. His mouth is open wider now, as if he’s talking louder. In the background are lines of smoke and the sounds of explosions: “BAM! POW! BLAM!” Derek continues, “In the time we’re livin’ in, more precise tools are needed: Experience. Faith in your abilities. The synthesis of speed, line, and intention is attainable!” 4. Derek stops running, now standing with his weight leaning backwards, as if stopped suddenly and standing back in fear of something ahead of him. He is leaning against large block letters, stacked vertically the same height as Derek: “BANG! CRASH!” He is looking up, eyes wide and mouth agape. He sweats and lets out a “whoa.” then continues his monologue, “Accept that we won’t win, in the most conventional sense. We have no desire to play the game anyways. Sing, dance, draw, laugh while they fixate on the annihilation of transience.” 5. Derek now leans his weight forward, bending over slightly and huffing out in exhaustion, “Oof.” He grips his pencil in his left hand at his side; his right hand is on his hip. Behind him, loud noises continue: “BAKKA BRAKKA! PYOOM” A line of smoke stretches out diagonally behind him. He says, “Consider sublimation. Less flowers on the brocade. More like handin’ out ice cold water on a hot day to get folks across the finish line. We’re here now. Together. We got this.” 6. From behind, we see Derek standing in front of an easel-like structure, with a paper clipped upright to a clipboard, and two sheets of paper taped below it on a wooden base. He turns his head to the side, looking slightly behind him. Smiling, he says, “The onslaught of normalized passive cruelty will only make us love harder, jerks. LOL! The world is stupid but life can be good. Please keep on makin’ stuff.” In the background is a lone “POW!”

The back cover of the book, rendered in full color: Derek, in a highly exaggerated gesture, runs away from two bullets that are just a couple feet away from his head. He looks back at them nervously, clenching his teeth and gulping. His right arm hangs behind him and he holds a block of Swiss cheese in his hand. His left arm swings in front of him as he holds a sack with a hole ripped at the bottom. He is wearing a variation of his number 1 t-shirt, which is white with green hems around the neck and arms, and a yellow circle in the top left of the shirt with a green number 1 in its center. He wears brown pants and dark gray heeled boots. In the background behind him (to the left of the page) are palm trees with saw palmettos at the base, and a cinder-block building with smoke coming out of its chimney. Above this little scene, in huge yellow block letters, are the words “POW POW!” Below him on the ground are little sparks that skip beneath his feet. Ahead of him (to the right of the panel) is a fence made of two wooden posts and three rows of barbed wire. A piece of bread is suspended in the air above his left arm. Filling the rest of the background are words drawn in red and blue block letters: “FREEZE. POP. KRKKKK! DAD? CLOP” The bottom of the page, in gray text, reads, “Presented by the Sequential Artists Workshop.”

Published On: January 24, 2024

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.”

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.”

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.