Weather System – SEE SAW Comics, Webcomics from the Sequential Artists Workshop

Weather System

The title panel reads, "Weather System by Vanessa Davis." A yellow flounder fish swims through a splash of purple. 1. "A couple of years ago, I saw an expensive therapist whom I found pretty challenging." Adult Vanessa sits across from her therapist, a woman with a brown bob and bangs, glasses, and a blue suit. The therapist asks, "Is that a FEELING or a THOUGHT?" Vanessa crosses her arms and scowls. "Both!" she replies. 2. "Unfortunately, I ran out of money before I could digest and really inhabit her insights." Vanessa has her hair up in a bun and wears a white sleeveless nightgown. She pulls a blue curtain panel to the side and looks out of a window, scowling. She says, "He's brought in the garbage cans exactly zero times!" 3. "There was a hurricane circling around Florida. When I called my mother, it didn't sound like she'd done enough to prepare." A curly landline cord divides the panel in two diagonally. To the left, Vanessa's mom slumps her shoulders, looking pained while talking on the phone, "Honey, it's just STUFF." On the other side, Vanessa, hair in bun, frowns, eyebrows furrowed, and replies, "That's not actually reassuring." 4. "But what could I do? It's not like I'm there to help." Vanessa, hair in a bun and wearing a red tank top and green shorts, uses a power drill to install hurricane shutters. She smiles, eyes closed. Her mom watches her lovingly, clasping her hands together and tilting her head to the side while smiling.

5. "Last year, she sold out house and downsized to a very nice condo." Vanessa and her sister stand in front of a condo with terra-cotta tile roofing. Vanessa's sister looks sad and says, "I'll miss this house!" Vanessa frowns, mouth turned as if in slight disgust. She furrows her brows slightly and says, "Eh, fuck it. Dad died here." 6. "We were pretty ruthless about getting rid of stuff, but we had to rent a storage unit for my father's slides. Neither my sister nor I have room for them yet." Vanessa uses a dolly to wheel out three moving boxes inside of a storage unit building. 7. "The feeling of paying for a storage space is the feeling of kidding yourself that you have all the time in the world. (If that's even a feeling?!)" A map of the continental United States. The far West, around California, is labeled "Where your life is happening." The Southeast, around Georgia, is labeled, "Where your stuff is." 8. "Oh! I had a colonoscopy this week. The attending nurse was, unfortunately, very handsome." Vanessa lies in a hospital bed, wearing a gown and a cap. She frowns as she looks over at her nurse, a man resembling Shemar Moore - bald, with a cropped vandyke-style facial hair and tawny brown skin. He types at his computer, smiles slightly, and says, "Afterwards, you can expect to be really just, like, non-stop farting." 9. "When they rolled me into the procedure room I felt an overwhelming instinct to jump off and help push the gurney." Two people in scrubs push Vanessa's gurney. Vanessa is still in her hospital gown and cap, and is tucked into her blanket. She looks concerned and thinks, "I'm just lying here." 10. "When we were going through stuff at the old house, we gave our concrete umbrella base to my friends who live nearby." A green umbrella with tassels sits in a decorative concrete base. Next to the base is a baby sitting on the ground. The baby wears a pink onesie and looks wide-eyed at the viewer. In the background is a house window with potted plants both on the ground and hanging.

11. "We didn't even use it at the house. It last held an umbrella at our first house, the one on Sequoia Drive." Someone wearing pink shorts stands on the concrete umbrella base. 12. "My friend called yesterday to let me know the stand had rusted out and did I want it back? It's a 50-pound, unusable umbrella base in Florida. What am I going to do with it?" Vanessa looks ahead, concentrating. She thinks, "It's all ugly Walmart Junk. They don't make them like that anymore. I could solder in a new pipe." Over the thought bubbles, in big red letters, is "MY UMBRELLA BASE." 13. "Thanks to insurance, I have a new therapist." A woman with wavy brown hair, a long sleeved beige shirt and yellow pants, sits in a blue rolling office chair, one leg crossed over the other and holding a clipboard in her lap. She scowls and holds out one hand in slight exasperation. She says, "All right. Now this is when I start to get impatient." Only Vanessa's head is visible in the bottom corner, looking small and sad. 14. "There's a distinct possibility she thinks I'm pretty annoying, but I like her." Vanessa's therapist smirks cheekily (?) and says, "You're just second-guessing yourself." Vanessa leans in slightly and replies, "But I'm always wrong!"

15. "Letting go of things is supposed to free you." Vanessa sits on a yoga mat in a child's pose. She is following along with "Yoga with Adriene" on YouTube, who says from the screen, "Surrender. You do not have to push and struggle. Find ease." Vanessa farts. 16. "I think sometimes I've tried to let go of stuff and it's ended up feeling the same as loss. Both require me to be helpless." 17. "If you thought me drawing this comic would be a way to work out whether I should keep the umbrella thing, I gotta tell you:" The green tasseled umbrella stands in its concrete base in a fenced backyard with bright green grass. 18. "It didn't!" The concrete base is at the bottom of the ocean, covered in algae and surrounded by fish, including yellow flounders, and aquatic plants.

Published On: November 26, 2023

In a thought bubble, young Lynn makes a pancake using a Kenner Easy Bake Oven. She smiles sinisterly while pushing the tray in. Next to the batter bowl is an open box of Lucy's Rat Poison. In another thought bubble, Lynn serves the cooked pancake to Adam.

Adam as a boy throws several rounds of punches in quick succession. They are drawn as disembodied fists circling out of spiral motion lines. He bares his teeth and scowls, shouting, "Punching machine!"

In big block letters, the title: "Milk." Derek skips exuberantly while holding a leaking trash bag over his shoulder, on his way to the dumpster. Both of his feet are off the ground. Flies circle around the trash bag. He wears an apron over a t-shirt, pants, and loafers. His head is back, facing up towards the sky, and he smiles widely.

Enzo stands in the kitchen, working over a bowl in the sink. He is shirtless but wears an apron and joggers. There is a carton of eggs on the counter.

1. Someone with dark hair pulled back in a low ponytail climbs a tree. They are up in the branches, surrounded by rounded leaves. “May 27. Thursday. Forest class - we learned some irrigation, some pruning. Felt a little weird later, sickish.”

Lynn's brother Adam, as a boy, wears a red vest and black bowtie over a white button-down and black pants. He has on his signature thick, square glasses. He is attempting to tap dance. He looks off balance and awkward. He grimaces.

Sunny, Derek's acquaintance smiles while ringing a doorbell, "DING-DONG." The onomatopoeia is drawn in big block letters. Sunny wears a sweater over a turtleneck. His hair flows effortlessly.

Kim pets her dog on the back. The dog smiles widely at the viewer. "May 21. Did bills, homework in the morning. Worked, then picked mom up at the airport."

Lynn's mom Lorraine uses a handheld vintage film camera: "WRRRRRR."

In block letters, the title sits at the top of the page: "Priority." Derek sits on a stump outside. His knees are tucked close to his chest. He hunches over slightly. He holds his phone to his ear and hides part of his face with his other hand. He looks nervous as he talks to someone on a phone call.

From above, we see spread of fruits and vegetables - pomegranates, pea pods, a mango, a pepper, etc.

Adult Vanessa sits across from her therapist, a woman with a brown bob and bangs, glasses, and a blue suit. The therapist asks, "Is that a FEELING or a THOUGHT?" Vanessa crosses her arms and scowls. "Both!" she replies.

Young Vanessa, with short hair and glasses and a pink one piece swim suit, floats in a tube along a marshy spring. She is drifting into the marsh despite trying to steer with her hands flapping in the water. In a panic, she shouts out to her peers who have floated much farther past her, “Guys!! Wait!”

Outside on a winding sidewalk path, a man with floppy hair and a dark parted pencil mustache approaches Derek. The man wears a shirt with a large collar and three large buttons, and pinstriped pants. He snaps he fingers with one hand and holds his other up with a limp wrist. He shouts out, "There he is! [in big block letters:] World's Greatest Dad!" Derek looks over at the man, smiles, and replies, "Haha, Sunny!" He looks relaxed, shoulders back and hands in his jean pockets. He wears a tight-fitting t-shirt with a large number one in the center.

A hand firmly holds a bunch of lemongrass. There are trees and a fence in the background.

The episode's title is drawn in large block letters: "Modern! Cartoonist" Derek sits on the ground with his legs criss-crossed before some sort of stone altar letting off a thin stream of smoke. Derek appears to be meditating. He wears glasses and a jacket with a large decorative collar and other stylish elements. Text, ranging from speech bubbles to onomatopoeia, surround Derek.

Kim looks at her reflection in the mirror. She has pulled the her shirt sleeve off of her shoulder to examine it. She looks tense. "May 3. Monday. Pulled out a bunch of dead Areca balm branches. Came inside and about 20 minutes later noticed a big bug on my shoulder. Put it in a big jar with water, watched SAW workshop video and started sketching ideas. Sent picture of bug to Tony. He texted back, 'Yikes, it's a bot fly!' I looked it up and panicked, was I bitten? Made an appointment with dermatologist for tomorrow."

An older man, with grey hair that's balded on top, wears dark shades and a green collared shirt. He looks straight ahead as he drives a car. There is a girl in the back and a woman in the passenger seat. The woman says, "To the mall, Jeeves!"

A guy in a blue snow suit races the Iditarod with standard poodles.

Lynn as a young girl wears a pink dance dress, with spaghetti straps and decorative bows, and white tights with the black tap shoes from before. Her hair is tied up in a pony tail with a white ribbon. Her hands are on her hips. She thinks to herself, "shuffle, ball change," "whoops," "step, ball change, step, ball change." An arrow points out that she is "mostly copying the other girls."

Enzo sits on the floor of his room shirtless, back turned to the reader. In front of him is a wall of floating shelves holding books and trinkets. Next to him is a clothes hamper. He is holding a book open. "April 27. Worked. Had an early work meeting. After work, chopped a bunch of Mexican sunflower to feed some plants in need. Enzo dug through his comic collection."

Lynn's brother Adam reaches into a crib and touches baby Lynn's eyes with his "grubby mitts." He says, "Open your eyes, baby sister!"

Enzo waits in a park for Kim to pick him up, on a strip of sidewalk surrounded by grass. He wears a t-shirt, jeans, and sneakers, all black or simply silhouetted. There are lamp posts and palm trees in the background. "April 20. Worked. Enz left school early, coughing a lot. Went to Mom's while Enz did mock trial. Picked him up from the park."

Vanessa sits on a couch hugging her knees to her chest. A man sits next to her. They both look solemn, and are colored entirely in blue, except for their brown hair.

One thought on “Weather System”

donna
11/27/2023, 12:45 pm
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gorgeous watercolors!

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