Bittersweet Candy Bowl

Intermission: Out of the Frame, original chapter posted 5/14/07

Page 1 of 4

Transcript

*A gavel comes down hard on the table.*

*Sue stands, holding the gavel in front of her.*
Sue: A-hem..
Sue: Are we ready to begin?

*Katie, the Three Weird Girls and John are sitting at the table as Sue speaks.*
Sue: I hereby open the first meeting of Roseville High’s Neglected Club!

*Sue waves her hand and smiles.*
Sue: This club is a support group for characters who tend to remain in the background or are generally forgotten.

*Sue grins cheerfully and points.*
Sue: Need to vent? We’ll be here to listen! There are no insecure Khao Manees or oblivious Korats to get in your way and steal the spotlight!

*Katie slams both fists on the table.*
Katie: Hey, I’m not in the background!! I’m like, the most popular girl in our grade!!
*Sue glares at her as John looks on warily. Stacy stares ahead blankly.*
Sue: Then what are you doing here?

*Katie taps her chin and looks thoughtful.*
Katie: Um, like, I thought this club was about, like, getting more attention.

*Katie looks smug.*
Katie: Instead it looks like I joined the club of, like, sour grapes!
*Sue snarls.*
Sue: If you’ve got a problem, you’re free to LEAVE.
*Stacy pouts and rolls her eyes.*

*David leans over with a bright smile.*
David: If she’s already popular, maybe she can give us some pointers on how to be like her!

Sue: Well, maybe..
*Sue narrows her eyes and jabs her finger in his direction.*
Sue: Wait.. DAVID! You’re not supposed to be here! You’re basically a regular!

*Katie sneers at David.*
Katie: Looks like you’re even a loser among the losers, hon.
*David puts his hands on his hips with a defiant grin.*
David: Hey, you know what they say..

David: There’s NEVER enough David!
*David gives himself a thumbs-up and a cheesy smile.*

*Sue stares silently at the smiling David.*
Sue: …

Sue: OUT!
*Sue kicks the surprised David in the rear end, knocking him out of the room.*
David: !

*David growls back over his shoulder at Sue.*
David: Hey! I could get you shut down for racial discrimination, you know!
Sue: Nobody cares, David!!

*Sue stands beside the Three Weird Girls.*
*Girl 1 looks worried.*
Girl 1: Wasn’t that a little mean?
*Girl 2 is upset and balls up her hands.*
Girl 2: Maybe he could get us ALL in trouble!
*Girl 3 looks hopeful.*
Girl 3: A series regular could have lots of advice..

*Sue looks confused as she watches the girls debate.*
*Girl 1 looks at Girl 2 in confusion.*
Girl 1: You’d really listen to him?
*Girl 2 glares at Girl 3 in annoyance.*
Girl 2: He barely passed English last year!
*Girl 3 leans her head on her hand.*
Girl 3: He did show me a real good creative writing assignment yesterday..

*Sue starts sweating.*
Sue: Do you guys.. always do this?
*Girl 1 eyes Sue.*
Girl 1: Do what?
*Girl 2 smacks the tabletop with her fists.*
Girl 2: Don’t you try to kick us out too!
*Girl 3 looks away from the rest of the group.*
Girl 3: I’m just saying, don’t underestimate him..

Author commentary

Veronica: Hey, new (and old!) readers, welcome to a completely revamped version of “Out of the Frame”!

This was a chapter that needed to be redrawn/rewritten pretty substantially!

Originally it highlighted a ton of fancharacters from the DeviantArt days that really shouldn’t be here anymore. And now they’re not, but this comic still is! It took a lot of work, but I was pretty determined to keep it,

I thought it was fun, there’s a lot of cute jokes, it depicts some nice development with Sue and McCain, and I thought some of the parts could still be recovered. It’s not like Sue didn’t stop feeling inferior, and I like the idea of Sue doing something petty like this! I felt it woulda been a disservice for Sue to have this one Sue-specific chapter be canned, so I wanted to save it.

Ultimately, I realised I created a lot of official minor characters that could fill the roles that needed to be replaced in this comic, and this is the result!

I honestly really like this change because I feel the original Out of the Frame was a little more mean-spirited? Which I didn’t want to maintain.

Besides, Katie would absolutely be jealous and eager to join a group if it meant getting more popularity! She fits into the role very well, and so the chapter wrote itself!

Also really happy to have another opportunity to utilise the three girls.