In which I stop even pretending this story isn't about me.
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We have already established that Locke is my id but buckle up for he is about to become the id-iest id that ever id-ed.
I'd love to make fun of Locke wearing a bowling shirt to the club but single Tim (version 1) wore a lot of bowling shirts to all kinds of places and the truth is single Tim (version 2) has recently started adding bowling shirts BACK into his wardrobe so I guess some things never change. Or go out of style? (Like describing yourself in the third person.)
Anyways, the narration on this page may as well be straight out of my brain. I hate dancing. I have always hated dancing.* I'm bad at it and I don't give me that bullshit that no one is watching because I haven't been to a wedding where someone hasn't made some comment about me being the whitest white guy dancer on the floor. This is why I usually slam a beer first too.
*I do love a good slow dance to a 60s love song because I AM A ROMANTIC but that's hardly what we're talking about here.
Anyways, thank you Locke for giving a voice to people like your loving creator. (I will be rooting for my own character quite a bit in this commentary. You've been warned.)
The club music design effects on these pages are a little busy but that's kind of club atmosphere, right? (I don't go to clubs so just go with it.)
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The two characters on the left of panel one are from Counter-Productive the comic strip that shared Misfit-Media with Reckless Life. The creator, J. Jason Groschopf was once one of my best friends but we haven't spoken in 10 years because: life. He's still a super talented artist and you should check out his work.
The club SFX get more specific here and yes, the song is Better Off Alone by Alice DJ. I'm kind of a night owl and I heard that song on a commercial for those mail order cd compilations they used to advertise on late night tv and it just struck me as a good fit. (Again, I don't know club music.)
Anyways, I sat down one Saturday made sure those D-D-D-D-DOOTs running up the side of the page are actually accurate to the electronic notes of the song. No one would ever know this if I didn't tell them so I tell people at every available opportunity.
Is Locke shuving away the randos a little bit of an homage to the greatest scene in movie history? YES.
You got this Locke! Go get her!
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As I've mentioned before I don't do a lot of splash pages partly because this was a one page per update webcomic and partly because I love page design. Either way, you know if I break one out it's for a big moment. For many comic artists that's the big fight. For me it's the big kiss. This is your full-on rom-com brought to you by the Hallmark Channel moment and I apologize for nothing. It's also not a bad rendering for someone who hadn't done a ton of kissing at this point in his life.
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Wow, 2003 Tim. No other super hero book had done the back scars on the lead bit. SOOOOO creative. The idea there was to show that Locke has seen a little shit despite his usually goofy attitude. And to steal from Batman and Daredevil.
This whole scene is a little cliche but I'm gonna let it slide and I hope you do too. It's worth it to see that smile on Locke's face. For the second time in this story we get to see him legitimately happy and I think that may be part of why I like this story so much.
NEXT WEEK: Domestic bliss.