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Jamie and Thomas Almost WHAT?

THE LEGEND OF JAMIE ROBERTS

Three wide comic panels show a scene where a bulky, red-headed man faces two young people, his back to the viewer. Between him and the youths is a tree stump with a sword placed in it, like the sword in the stone. In the first panel, the red-headed man says, “What a surprise to see the little pirate here at Shippu Kass…” The two youths are ready to fight. The genderqueer blonde is ready to draw their sword. The brunette young man has his fists wrapped and raised for boxing. Panel 2, we zoom in medium close-up on the youths. The brunette, Thomas, whispers, “’Little Pirate’?” The blonde, Jamie, whispers back, “He doesn’t know my name. Or yours, either. Keep it that way.” In panel 3, the bulky man takes a step towards the stump with the sword. We can see the bulky man’s hand form a fist. Something supernatural and black covers his fist. Jamie draws their sword and aims it at the bulky man, shouting, “STAY RIGHT WHERE YOU ARE, RANKI!”

VANITA AND THE DEMON KING

Panel 1: Don places a bag full of takeout on the counter. Upon seeing it, Claudia smiles and claps her hands. Don: I come bearing Mawit food. Panel 2: Claudia kisses his cheek – MWAH – and says, “Bless you!” Panel 3: Don walks around the counter and stands by Claudia. Claudia: I still have to close out the register, though. Don: That’s fine. You do that, I’ll tidy up the store. Panel 4: Claudia sits down on a stool to rest her pregnant belly. Don kneels beside her. Claudia: Oh, but let me sit down first. Don: How’s the baby? Panel 5: Close up on the pregnant belly as Claudia says, “Sleeping right now.”

I mentioned this in the Friday newsletter, but yes – a new short comic is in the works!

The inspiration came from this jam on itch.io, with the theme “5 times your characters almost kissed.” I took one look at that prompt and went, “JAMIE AND THOMAS.”

Admittedly, I find romance pretty hard to write, since I’m aromantic. My idea of expressing affection to someone is looking them in the eye and saying, “I like your face,” basically. So when it comes to Jamie and Thomas, I struggle a bit. Claudia and Don are a very straightforward couple, as are Charlie and Clow.

But Jamie and Thomas? They’re young. They’re infatuated. They’ve known each other for years. And they have no idea if they can even confess their feelings for each other without making it weird.

It’s a hard head space to write in, because I’ve not experienced it myself in my own life. So this short story is going to be an exercise, for sure.

There is a rough outline at play. Now I just have to write and draw the dang thing.

CLUB REWARDS

The day job kept me so busy that I forgot to add to my running list “Reformat the Black History Month zine.” I still need to do that.

For the mini-print, I’m bringing Jackie Ormes!

When I found out about her legacy I was like, “This is a badass lady!” First African American cartoonist, maker of black girl dolls, and even a sports commentator, she’s so hecking cool. Maybe one day I’ll make a comic about her lol.

That’s all for now...

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