Seriously Suzy Comic Commentaries
Seriously Suzy begins with a flashback (narrated by Jeana Jones), looking back on Jeana's life as her family moved from Indiana to South Carolina in search of better opportunities. Jeana finds it hard to adjust to the new city and school.
The 2nd panel was originally going to have a "Welcome to South Carolina" sign, but I couldn't find a suitable reference photo in time for pencilling. Thus Jeana is seen looking out of the van's window.
As stated in the original cast biography for Jeana (once featured on the Sundae Connection website), her family were originally from Ohio. I changed it to Indiana after discovering, via Internet research, that there is a real Jeana Jones who happens to be from Ohio!
Jeana originally appeared as a dozing student in the April 16, 2001 SunConn comic. She was intended to be a one-time background character, but I quickly thought of fleshing her out as a regular character.
The "TV factory" that closed may or may not be an RCA factory...
The bearded guy in the 3rd and 4th panels is Mark Jones, Jeana's older brother (about six years older). He first appeared in the July 23, 2001 edition of SunConn. Though not seen in the comic yet, he works as a bail bondsman. That is Jeana's mother in the 5th panel, appearing for the first time.
While producing Seriously Suzy (which is mainly a retooling/reformatting of Sundae Connection), most of the characters, including Jeana, went through some minor design "facelifts". Most of these enhancements were done to make drawing easier.
This comic (like the next several comics featuring Jeana's flashback) wasn't done first in production order. More details to follow.
One afternoon when school is out, Jeana finds that her ride is not waiting. She sits and waits, until she decides to call home, but she does not have change for the school payphones.
This is how Jeana met her first boyfriend T. J. He first appeared in the SunConn comic of April 4, 2002 (written Dec. 27, 2001); while Jeana is in ninth grade, T. J. reappears and tries to make up with her.
In the 3rd panel, T. J.'s gang appears for the first time.
What exactly is T. J. doing in the 4th panel? He gets Jeana a free phone call by using a "redbox" device. Redboxes are illegal and most payphones nowadays (the few that remain in operation) are modified to prevent such devices from being used.
While at school, T. J. tells Jeana of the gang's latest night expedition. Jeana comes along for the adventure.
This is how Jeana got into deeper trouble than she could've imagined. She sneaks out of her house to join T. J. and his cronies on an expedition. They head into the dumpsters of a local telephone office, probably to look for company manuals, discarded electronics, etc. While they were supposed to be keeping watch, T. J. decides to seduce Jeana...
A neat effect is applied to the last four panels. To simulate nighttime, I selectively darkened elements of each panel. For better legibility, I use white text lettering.
The 2nd panel was originally scripted to have more dialogue from Jeana and T. J. There was not enough room to squeeze text in, but I did not want to make the font too small. Here is what I originally wrote:
T. J.: "Hey baby! The gang is gonna dive into Delphia Tele-City's dumpsters tonight. Wanna come?"
Jeana: "Why do they want to go into those dumpsters?"
T. J.: "Company manuals, old electronic equipment, cool stuff..."
Jeana: "Oh."
Things began to unravel for T. J.'s gang, while Jeana wakes up to a mess of things.
Jeana wakes up, finds herself in T. J.'s bed and suddenly realizes her life is getting out of control. This is referenced in the April 11, 2002 edition of SunConn, where Jeana tells Chad that T. J. took advantage of her when she was young and powerless.
The situation of the last four panels help warrant the comic's Web-14 rating.
That cell phone Jeana is using happens to be T. J.'s. In my original story treatment, T. J. gives her a cell phone (presumably hacked/cloned.) While producing this comic, I could not find a way to effectively communicate that the phone was T. J.'s.
I've created an alternate version of this comic, using the last four panels from the next comic (B04A). Originally, I was planning on uploading the Seriously Suzy comics to the SunConn site, but having most of the serious stuff edited to ensure a Web-PG rating. That plan was scrapped.
A nervous Jeana tries to ensure that she's not in trouble, while trying to cope with falling asleep in class.
In the April 18, 2002 SunConn comic, Jeana tells Chad that she was lucky that she didn't wind up pregnant after her encounters with T. J. In this part of the flashback, Jeana uses a pregnancy test to help ease her mind.
Also in this comic, we see how Jeana started using sunglasses to hide her drowsiness.
This comic was written after comic B05 was storyboarded, when I realized that I should explain why Jeana started wearing those sunglasses.
The last four panels were combined with the first two panels of B04 to create an edited version of the comic. Refer back to the details of the previous comic.
One morning, Jeana watches a TV newscast and sees that T. J. and his gang were apprehended. Though still tired, Jeana begins to worry about being in even more trouble.
We see Jeana's father introduced for the first time in the comic. Also, we learn the full names of T. J. and his gang.
There is a slight error in the 3rd panel: the pictures of the three troublemakers appear on the TV while the anchorman reads their names. Based on what we saw in the previous comics, Jon and Eli's names are read in the wrong order. It can either be attributed to the anchorman reading the script wrong, or the cartoonist mixing up the two names...
The TV screen in the 1st and 3rd panels features a neat effect to resemble a not-so-strong signal.
There is an alternate version of this comic available, removing the mention of the drug charge in the 3rd panel (for the same reason that the B04 comic edit was created.)
Jeana heads off to rest in her bed, and the flashback ends. In the present day, Jeana is getting ready for the school dance.
This comic features a perfect way to fade from Jeana's flashback and into the present time (Jeana lays down on her bed and the scene shifts to Jeana looking in the mirror.)
Originally, Seriously Suzy was to begin right after Chauncey and Suzy's first dance (see the details for comic A01.) To ease into the new format of Seriously Suzy, I decided to begin the new comic by looking back on Jeana's life and a set of events that affected her.
Chad and Suzy were also redesigned for easier drawing.
The scene at the dance (the last two panels) is around the time of the May 20, 2002 SunConn comic (after Suzy asked where Azalea was.)
Chauncey and Suzy hang out together at the school dance. He offers to show her how to dance, while Chad and Jeana begin to slow dance.
The 1st panel refers to the May 20, 2002 SunConn comic while the 4th and 5th panels refer to the May 23rd one.
Yvonna, Marlene and Gerald are seen watching Chauncey and Suzy. They are first introduced (along with Chauncey) in the March 18, 2002 edition of SunConn. These characters were also redesigned for simpler drawing.
Yvonna comments on how cute Suzy and Chauncey look together, while Marlene wonders why Azalea and Chauncey didn't hook up...
Suzy and Chauncey slow dance while their friends look on. Chad and Jeana happen to share the dance floor.
The scenes of Suzy and Chauncey directly refer to the May 31st Sundae Connection comic (the last one made), with some slight changes in dialogue. An original plan was to feature actual scenes from that comic, but after I redesigned Suzy and Company, the plan was cancelled because the characters' looks wouldn't match.
Not much else to say... the dancers are having a great time on the floor.
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© 1996-2004 J. Goude.
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