The Academy

Anyway, had to get it in there before we wrapped things up. It does make me wonder what would become of all of the gang down the road. It would be roughly their 15 year reunion if we brought it up to today...

Definitely denouement now. Spencer's line in the second panel is inspired by Uncle Buck (1989) with "I won't have any problem cashing a second-party, out-of-state paycheck, will I?" And here we upped the ante!

I felt I needed to wrap up the whole impetus for Roger and Ling seeing each other again, but it is definitely too late in the story to try to add drama to something so background. So, switch it up! Turns out there was a whole bunch of drama that we just missed since that isn't our story. Fortunately, there are always other stories going on all around us.

Despite all the drama, the scheming worked! If Spencer and Victorie hadn't come to stick their noses in, Roger and Ling would've had a good time together capped by an awkward conversation. Without Roger already being emotionally exhausted with all the frustration, he likely wouldn't have volunteered to uproot his life like he's planning to do now. They would've just gone their separate ways.

Daw

I laugh every time thinking about how out of left field this is. Teens!

Experimented with not having word bubble tails in the fourth panel, which had a lot of timelessness to it, but I decided it took away too much immediacy.

Changed a lot of the dialogue in the second panel so Roger doesn't just blame someone else for his actions. He's growing up, y'all!

Had fun researching '40s and early '80s clothes on this

Ling's family story I've had written in my head for over a decade.