Jones St., Chapter 2: Pages 17-18
Page 17, 5 Panels- Sif's, Jones St. Lit Crawl, Las Vegas NV
Panel 1-2: A two-part set of panels that focuses on Tara as he first looks over at Melanie's direction as she walks away. Then, in Panel 2, he turns around and starts to look around at the comic books that were on display behind him in Panel 5 of the previous page. He hums another song from Phineas & Ferb ("Flying Fishmonger") to himself in an attempt to tamp down the anxiety, though (as you can see by the ever shrinking energy bar above him in both panels) it's hardly that successful.
DREAM [Off-Panel, Panel 1]: If you submit To my godly verse CARTER [Caption, Panel 1]: That was...interesting. DREAM [Off-Panel, Panel 2]: You need not fear Need not worry MELANIE [Caption, Panel 2]: That's what people say when they're about to trash something they hate.
Panel 3: Cut to a shot of Melanie and her date Carter walking outside Sif's minutes after the set from "Witches of Neverwhere" had ended. You can see part of the doors behind them in the background along with a few others moving to the next spot on the Crawl or, in the case of Tanya, (who is visible in the right edge of the panel view) heading to their cars as well as the sign on top of the modest looking comic book shop.
DREAM [caption]: Just make your wish It'll be a breeze. CARTER [defensively, to Melanie]: I didn't hate it. I just...I think the choice of costumes was a little tacky.
Panel 4: We move to a close-up on Ms. Haynes a second later. She shoots her date a look of incredulity at the admission from the young man. The background behind her shows a glare of yellow coming from one of the shop's display windows.
MELANIE [to Carter]: Tacky? You're a fan of KISS for fuck's sake! They all wear costumes!
Panel 5: Cut to a similar type of close-up on Carter a beat later, walking alongside her. He shrugs at the question, struggling for a moment to come up with a satisfactory answer at that moment. In the background, you can see the sides of the heads of other people nearby them along with the street and a few buildings (including an apartment building) across the way.
CARTER [escalating]: With KISS, there's an actual story, an epicness behind their costumes. Them dressing up as Neil Gaiman characters? It just makes them no better than some stupid fan band. If they actually dumped the cosplay they could... MELANIE [Off-Panel, interjecting]: [angry sighs]
Page 18, 6 Panels- Jones St. Lit Crawl, Las Vegas NV
Panel 1: Back to Melanie in the same setting and layout as Panel 4 of the previous page. She shakes her head in frustration, bottling up the rage she wants to exhibit at that particular remark. Her gaze is shifted down toward the ground as she walks; in the background, the shop is only barely visible and you can see a little alleyway with a shot of nearby streets behind her.
MELANIE [muttering, to herself]: Unfuckin'believable...
CARTER [Off-Panel]: What? The whole thing struck me as pointless.
Panel 2: Back to Carter in a similar setting and layout as the end of the previous page; the background behind him though doesn't move as quickly from right to left, signifying a slowing down in stride. You can see in his eyes a look of exasperation and annoyance at the young woman's display of anger just then.
CARTER [Cont., to Melanie]: They could've gone out there in regular clothes, or only made subtle references in their jackets or something, and gotten their point across. Then again, it might also highlight some of their deficiencies in songwriting and the lead vocalist.
Panel 3: Same setting/layout as Panel 1. A second after the remark, Melanie stops and starts to turn properly toward her date. The rage that she had, till then, been able to contain is now on the cusp of coming out in one foul swoop. You can see the same alleyway that was visible then more prominently in the background behind her as she speaks.
MELANIE [forward angry/defensive tone, to Carter]: I'm gonna ignore that last one...since I don't wanna spend the rest of the night in a jail cell. If you actually listened instead of chugging cocktails and yammering about the brilliance of Jimmy Fallon, you'd know that the base guitarist Fleur said in the Q&A that the costumes were a way to draw power and strength from the characters they loved while onstage. Just like your precious KISS!
Panel 4: Back to Carter in a similar body positioning that we saw our protagonist in in the previous panel. He rolls his eyes at the stream of thought coming from his date, holding both of his hands out in a "STOP!" position as he speaks. You can see a car just coming into the shot in the background.
CARTER: Whatever. Just stating my opinion...no need to bite my head off.
Panel 5: Same setting/layout as the previous panel. A beat later, his arms drop to the side; a little grin comes across his face as he tries to diffuse the situation and return to normalcy. In the background, the car that was visible to the left of the background is now toward the center-right part of that area.
CARTER [Cont.]: Let's just grab a bite to eat and forget all that happened.
Panel 6: Back to Melanie in the same setting and layout as Panel 3, along with the same background behind her. She just looks at him and shakes her head; her gaze already over to her right in the direction of the parking lot.
MELANIE [scoffing laughter]: It's adorable, after all that, you think this date is gonna continue for one more second.