[blog] Year 3, Comic 14 - Monday in the Park with George
★ Notes on Year 3, Comic 14 - Monday in the Park with George ★
George: He made all this in a day? Isn't he in Massachusetts?
Jack: Yes. There's also a crate of jam in my car.
Well there are worse things than running in the forest after talking with your boyfriend about telling all your teammates that you wanted to be honest re: the origin of Nook Pies on a Monday. (And aren't you glad I didn't call this comic Into the Woods?)
✓ Jack and George running and talking about the important things in life! YOOOO I said this was going to happen! Sometimes these blog posts are useful:
G.M. is a great A.G.M! George scouted Jack, supported him, and put him in a position where he can have even greater influence on the team. She's like a human dowsing rod for hockey talent. And not only is she a good manager, she's just a good human being. SUCCESSFUL PEOPLE MENTOR OTHERS AND HAVE GOOD MENTORS. It's a huge deal that Bad Bob Zimmermann's son and one of the league's leading scorers is telling her that he is dating a cute boy from Georgia. But it also shouldn't be a huge deal because Jack Zimmermann happens to be a human being.
✓ Why the initial freak out then? We can surmise that after some hemming and hawing, Jack dropped some facts at the first quarter mile. These facts weren't entirely complete, thus leading to George's reaction. HE'S DATING ONE OF HIS TEAMMATES? HE'S DATING ONE OF THE FALCS? ONE OF MY BOYS IS DATING ONE OF MY BOYS? Why is he telling me thi--THIS CAN'T BE ALLOWED DO THEY COVER THIS IN THE NHL CODE OF CONDUCT HAHA OF COURSE NOT.
✓ You must really love drawing trees. I have drawn more trees in the last two comics than I have for the last two volumes of Check, Please.
✓ So how are the comics lining up with Bitty's Dec 2015 – Feb 2016 tweets so far? Oh boy, they're way off! I wrote all of those @omgcheckplease tweets in real time and have since revised a few sequences in the story. The comics in this arc are happening between November and February-ish, but you'll see some plot points in the December tweets that have yet to go down. I'm glad I had the chance to revise, though! Few opportunities to edit—one of the cons of publishing a comic in a serialized manner.
✓ Jack's shoes. Have you ever had a character betray you because their stylistic choices throw off your carefully planned color comps?
Bitty: Oh my goodness! Jack, honey, would you look at this! They're having a sale on running shoes. You've had yours for over a year, haven't you?
Jack: Yup.
Bitty: Oh, so you definitely need new--
Jack: But I have two pairs of these.
Bitty: --Of course you do.
✓ Marty wants Jack to come over for dinner??? You know, they're both french-speaking Canadians—they gotta stick together? The only issue about dinner? Marty mentioned that Jack should bring his girlfriend. (“My wife really wants her pie recipe!” “uh sorry we can't she's really busy with school and also nonexistent goodbye.” So Jack kept putting dinner off. But that was before Bitty was on board and before he got advice from his dad.
Consider too: to a lesser degree, Jack was wary about standing out in the beginning. He didn't want to be the guy who happens to be Bad Bob's son, and the guy who didn't play in the league for years because of a very public breakdown, and also the guy who happens to have a boyfriend. All of his teammates are non-prodigy, seemingly-stable, straight dudes who have worked hard and lived without the drama that has followed Jack around since juniors. At that point—as the new guy--Jack simply wanted to blend in, be part of the team, and play his best hockey.
But now he wants to sit down with his teammate, his wife, their kids, and Bitty and talk about Samwell, Quebec, and pie recipes. If being in a committed relationship and getting dinner with coworkers doesn't help Jack blend in and be part of the team, I'm not sure what else will.
Edited To Add:
Jack: Hey. Bits. Yeah. It went well.
Bitty: It did?!
Jack: Yeah I'd say pretty good run we did sub-8s had negative splits too George knows some neat stretches for loosening up those hip abductors going to incorporate some fartleks for our next meet up
Bitty: Honey, I meant the part where you told her we're dating.
Jack: oh i screwed that right up
☆ Next Up: Dinner invitations. (Zen and The Art of Hockey Stick Maintenance?)
☆ NEWS: Not much! The blog for 3.15 is gonna be very late! I'm traveling so don’t expect that post any time soon.
All right, one more Check, Please comic left in 2016! @_@ Almost there!