Jones St., Chapter 5: Pages 17-18
Page 17, 5 Panels- Melanie's Apartment, Las Vegas NV
Panel 1: Cut to a shot of Melanie seated at her couch, looking down at her laptop screen. Her mind is just as racked in thought over the E-Mail to Tara that was alluded to earlier in the chapter. You can see the glow of the TV screen emanating from the off-panel left view area, along with the glow of lights at the top of the panel signifying night.
CAPTION: Melanie's Apartment That Night TARA [Off-Panel caption]: "Okay, Dad." CASSIE [Off-Panel right, to Melanie]: I have a lot of experience with breaking bad news to guys (and girls) I'm not interested in. I've found it's easier than people give credit for...
Panel 2: Cut to Cassie walking in from the kitchen a second later. She's dressed in a comfortable black tanktop with Deborah Harry's face plastered on the center of it in a retro '80s tour fashion, holding a bottle of beer in her right hand. You can see part of the kitchen itself in the background.
CASSIE [Cont.]: ...Unless you actually are interested in him.
Panel 3-4: A two-part set of panels that starts out with a facial shot of Melanie from behind the couch, watching as her friend walks over to join her at that moment. In Panel 4, she turns her attention back to the laptop at hand. In the background of each panel, you can see part of the TV which shows the Netflix home screen.
MELANIE [dismissive, to Cassie; Panel 3]: No. Not that way, at least not right now. But there's enough there for a friend level that it... MELANIE [Cont., Panel 4]: Just trying to frame it in a way that he won't go uber stalker on me, like that guy Wallace a couple years back. CASSIE [Off-Panel, Panel 4]: A fine balance beam for our gender MELANIE [Panel 4, Bubble 2]: Ha...oh, yeah! I'm close to finishing it though.
Panel 5: Back to Cassie standing to the side of the couch moments later; her free left hand gently touches the top of the upholstery as she speaks. You can see parts of the wall and ceiling in the background, illuminated by the lights above her as well as those off-panel left.
CASSIE [satisfied]: Good, 'cause I don't want to hear you grumbling to yourself while I’m getting my MST3k on.
Page 18, 7 Panels- Melanie’s Apartment, Las Vegas NV
Panel 1: Cut to Melanie moving slightly toward the right arm of the couch to make room for her friend as she gets set to sit down next to her. You can see part of the laptop screen next to her which shows the E-Mail compose screen that was seen back earlier with Melanie at Best Buy, along with the Opera browser outline.
MELANIE [to Cassie, trying to understand as she types]: And this lasted for more than a decade, just riffing off bad movies?
Panel 2: Back to Cassie just as she sits down next to her friend. She glances over in Melanie’s direction, reaching out to the coffee table to grab the small black remote that controls the Netflix app on the TV. You can see, along with the table on the bottom right corner of the panel view, bits and pieces of the apartment’s living room in the background including a lamp and a framed band poster of the Witches of Neverwhere.
CASSIE [wide grin, to Melanie]: Girl, it’s sooo much more than that! There’s great puppetry, puns abound, weird obscure references (at least to anyone who doesn't live in Wisconsin or anywhere in the Midwest). Not to mention the great comic team of Doctor Forrester and TV’s Frank—
Panel 3: Back to Melanie in the same setting and layout as Panel 1. She glances over to Melanie with her own playful grin, set to answer the question. Her hands, along with the rest of her arms, are blocked by her body; hovering above the keyboard as the bulk of the E-Mail appears to be finished at this point.
MELANIE [interjecting, holding in a laugh]: TV’s Frank? That's his name.
Panel 4-5: A two-part set of panels that goes back to Cassie in the same setting and layout as Panel 2. In Panel 4, she starts to lean back against the cushion, pressing the button that gets them into the main menu off-screen. Moments later, in Panel 5, she glances over in Melanie’s direction after having MST3k cued up and ready to go.
CASSIE [nodding, Panel 4]: Yep yep. He's one-half of the queerest non-queer couple this side of Smithers and Mr. Burns. MELANIE [Off-Panel against a fury of tapping keys, Panel 4]: How the hell did you get hooked on it?
CASSIE [a little embarrassed; Panel 4, Bubble 2]: Well…I had a crush on Joel Hodgson in middle school. Same with Mike Servo, which might explain why I’m into Polyamory. Now… CASSIE [Cont., Panel 5]: You finished there? MELANIE [Off-Panel, Panel 5]: Just about…
Panel 6-7: Back to Melanie in the same setting/layout as Panel 3. She nods in a silent confirmation to Cassie’s previous question from Panel 5. From the laptop, you can see the browser screen changes; a prompt printed out in big red letters “Your E-Mail Has Been Sent Out!” across the top half of the screen. In Panel 7, she takes the laptop up to her lap and starts to turn it off; her gaze over in the periphery toward Cassie as she speaks.
MELANIE [Cont., Panel 6]: Done! CASSIE [relieved, Off-Panel; Panel 6]: Great…still hard for me to believe I’m the one introducing Ms. Space Adventure to MST3k. MELANIE [explanatory, Panel 7]: I was mostly a Techie geek rather a Pop Culture geek growing up (outside of comics...and Firefly, of course). CASSIE [Off-Panel, Panel 7]: Fair enough. Now…