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I think my favorite panel might be #6, where we just get a glimpse at Mar’s hand with her wallet. It’s almost like they’ve escaped the eye of the viewer, finding an actual moment of disappearance. There’s a few things that make love exhilarating in my mind, and one is the idea that another person knows intrinsically what you want, maybe even better than you can express on your own. With experience we know this is rarely the case – it’s kind of an aspirational thing, a fantasy. But finding your person is sort of a fulfillment of that fantasy. There’s a disbelief that someone really could be this perfect. Even if they didn’t check all the boxes at first glance, something clicks and their features BECOME the boxes. Like deja vu, their very existence is uncannily similar to what you had in mind. Jane reverts to a cool demeanor on this page, even though she just took a terrifying risk, and it might seem for a moment like she’s leading the show. But soon enough we get confirmation that Mar wanted it all along, that she’s just as instrumental in her own capture. The canopy of half-formed mixed-use property is an inescapable backdrop, the “Live. Work. Play” paradigm depleted of meaning and in conflict with human desire. |
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I've always loved the sheer sense of excitement both of them carry in the first five panels. Even Jane seems filled with that blend of nervousness and "hurry up I can't wait" energy.
Love Jane's smile in panel 2 after that nervewracking pause awaiting Mar's response.
I always felt sad for the giraffe. Those ceilings aren’t high enough, it can only stretch out on the balcony.
Ahh, the face of gent-raffe-ication.
You need to know this was genius.
I've been with my partner for a long time, and while I know its the price of admission for lasting monogamy, this is the part of a crush-turned-relationship that I am most wistful for. The heart-pounding mix of adrenaline, desire, and nervousness when you realize the thing you've been (maybe even unconsciously) wishing for is happening, and the entire universe seems to focus in on the two of you. Its the stuff of cliche pop music and bad fan fiction and its amazing, even if (if I'm lucky) I'll never get to experience it again.
Completely feel you on that. I've been with my partner for over a decade, but there's something so nervous and freeing in those moments of vulnerability washing alongside desire that I likely won't ever get a chance to experience again. Watching it happen in media is so voyeuristic but you I can't help but long to feel that again subconsciously.
It comes back… or at least it can.
I've been with my partner going on three decades. Every so often, but never often enough because that's not the Universe we live in, the felted-dryer-lint pressure of the grinding world recedes and I realize: "Holy shit, this person gets me!"
I never noticed until today the sign emblazoned with "Special! Special! Special $1!" and it adds such a cute excitement to the panel. Then, their amazing faces on the following panel, especially Jane's face, full of high anticipation and some plans. Great page, thanks Meredith!
I can't read this one without hearing the top comment from when it first ran :D:D:D
THE CROWD.
GOES.
WILD.
Just one great touch of many on this page is the inevitability of "Jaws" being projected on the side of these sorts of developments' equally inevitable ~outdoor movie nights~
Trivial side note: haha those pastries are going to be crumbled and disgusting.
I used to be in charge of packing up the day-old pastries at the Starbucks I worked at to donate to the local food pantry. I was authorized to get us a nice clear plastic bin and we always layered them with paper so they would arrive in nice condition.
Then I moved out of state and worked at a different Starbucks. The donated pastries there were all piled into one paper bag. Jam oozed and icing got smeared and scones got broken and croissants got mashed. I made several polite, earnest pro-active pleas for us to think of the people who would be eating those pastries and that I would be happy to pack them carefully, but no one at that store was interested.
Totally suitable for Mar's godawful office party, of course! (It does seem like a waste of Hanna's skills. Come to think of it, that plays quite well thematically. Jane is making a choice.)
I really love the board reading "Special, special, special, special!" juxaposed with their expressions. It's a wonderful bit of character emotion bleeding out into the surroundings.