★ Notes on Year 3, Comic 15 - Dinner at Marty’s? ★







Later!

Bitty: Hey there, sweetpea!

Jack: Hey. I haven’t looked at the box score yet. I’m pulling it up. How’d it go?

Bitty: Well, we won! But still take a look…

Jack: Haha, okay…HEY! You scored?!

Bitty: But remember—before the game —

Jack: hahaha oh no…

Bitty: We have to! I gotta sob on the phone with you before every single game now.

Jack: No, haha, please don’t…

Bitty: Well, now we gotta keep track. I’m hoping it was both my parents texting me. That’s a much better ritual.

Jack: It is. Because I don’t think I can take you crying before every game. Haha.

Bitty: You see Whiskey scored?



Whoa! A blog post! Yeah, I said it would take a while to get the last one up! Hope you had the happiest of holidays!







✓ Is Poots called Poots because the Falcs blamed a fart on him? Oh boy, out the gates with the good stuff. Happy New Year!!





✓ Sebastien St. Martin is a pretty dece bro. Pretty dece, pretty dece. Fun fact: the title of this comic was going to be “Dinner at Marty's”—without a question mark, until I realized that would be extremely misleading. Growing up, Marty never really understood why gay jokes were funny. Like the running around naked or the attempts to mess with other guys’ junk in the locker room—the stuff guys’ll do every once in a while when you’re younger. All those weird dick pranks in juniors? Like he got it “ha ha” but he didn’t get it. Anyway, he’s a professional, an adult, and a human being. They all know there are dummies in the league. They all went through the inclusion panel. Joking about certain stuff and phrases like “dur you skate like a girl”? (When Boss happens to be a girl? And has more Olympic appearances than you???) Don’t be a dummy. Grow up! Come on, Zimmermann, a boyfriend joke?





✓ But Jack Wasn’t Joking??? “wait what. OH HE’S SERIOUS. Quick–be enthusiastic and welcoming No—act like it’s not a big deal and you don’t care skkrrrt plot twist SAY jUST A BunCHofWoRdS”





✓ I can’t wait to see Jack and Bitty having dinner with Marty’s family. Bitty’s going to bring over so many pies! Marty’s going to see the happiest JLZ ever! Okay, this blog post is simply jam-crammed with spoilers. *sigh*…the next comic…Will not take place at Marty’s house. Sorry! ://////





✓ BAAAAH! What am I reading this stinkin’ comic for anyway? But dibs! Graduating seniors? Post seasons? Working on Year Three for the next two years is an option, though. Okay here’s how the episode “Dinner at Marty’s (no question mark)” would play out.

Page 1 – Bitty Intro

Page 2 – Bitty freaking out. (“Do you think they’ll like me???”)

Page 3 – (“Bits you’re so good with people everyone will love you.) (…Bitty freaking out.)

Page 4 – Dinner. Thirdy’s there! (JLZ+ERB knew this)

Page 5 – Dinner. Time jump. Bitty has stolen someone’s child. Yes, if you can get the kid to Samwell, Bitty is available to babysit. Let’s work something out for this summer?

Page 6 – Dinner. Blah blah blah. Bitty chirping Jack. Jack chirping Bitty. It’s cute, it’s gross.

Page 7 – Dinner. Pies. Bitty’s a pie god. Worship him.

Page 8 – Bitty freaking out. (“Do you think they liked me???” “SERIOUSLY? BITTLE. I THINK YOU’RE A CHILD’S GODFATHER NOW?”)

Page 9 – Bitty outro.

ETA: Introducing Eric “Bitty” “Bits” “Dicky” “Junior” “B” Bittle.

Bitty: Did you forget my first name???

Jack: No, I was deciding if Bittle was too formal.





✓ But Coach and Mama Bittle. Like…do Bitty’s parents know…? That Bitty likes boys and specifically likes a very nice boy from Canada? No. They aren’t aware. Or is it a situation where they don’t want to be aware that they’re aware? You’d be surprised at how efficiently people from the south can operate while knowing something to be true for a fact and simultaneously dismissing it entirely. But the other option is…Coach and Suzanne really don’t know. Like they don’t know about Jack and Bitty. And they also aren’t making assumptions about Bitty at all. (Other than assuming he’s straight…and that he’ll “find a girl!”) Who knows. Southern denial and epistemology.





When Jack visited Bitty’s hometown of Madison, Georgia, Coach was thrilled to see Bitty finally making friends with guys like Jack. Solid guys. Tough guys. Guys who definitely wouldn’t kiss his son on the cheek when he and Suzie weren’t looking. Jack’s clearly a student of his game while being a gifted and dedicated athlete. Coaches love this. Coach loves this. Similarly, Coach also loves his son. (SPOILER!) But he’s most proud of Junior when Bitty’s pushing himself and using all of his talents. Sure, the kid might be small, but of course he can be a play-maker. He’s a Bittle! All it takes is a little elbow grease. He just has to be a little tougher…





Suzanne loves her son a lot. (SPOILER!!!) Bitty loves her too. Bitty’s mom even beats out Jack in the Eric Bittle Best Friend Contest. She loves how Samwell seems to be the perfect place for Dicky and how he’s finally found a good—great friend in Jack Zimmermann. She never thought Bitty could get that close to someone who wasn’t interested in pastries, let alone a full-fledged jock. (But that boy sure is full of surprises!) Bitty wants his Mama to accept him for who he is more than anything, but he’s just not sure if she can. Also, he just wants to gab with her about Jack! Come on! He wants to ask her for advice. He wants to talk to her about how being in a relationship is a whole new set of responsibilities. He wants her to help him come up with a scheme for getting rid of Jack’s running shoes. But if they’re best friends, Mama Bittle’s gotta sense that Bitty’s hiding something from her, right? Even if he’s full of surprises…





✓ OH MY GOD SPOIL ME—will the Bittles be okay? Will Bitty be okay? …Yeah!!





✓ Faber really does light up in the afternoon, doesn’t it? It does. Afternoon skates in Faber are a treat. Hm. Imagine gliding around center ice while the afternoon sunlight filters in through the windows. Yes…How picturesque! How romantic…





??? ???





☆ Up Next: Dibs, senior plans, and replacements? It’s the end of Bitty’s junior year at Samwell!









☆ ☆ ☆ NEWS ☆ ☆ ☆

☆ Hey!! How do the next few months look like for you, Ngozi? Oh my gosh, thanks for asking! They’re admittedly going to be pretty busy.





January: Kickstarter commissions / fulfillment / etc. I won’t be drawing comics this month. I’ll be working on fulfilling commission tiers for the kickstarter and finishing up postcards, prints, etc. OH!! If you’re in New Haven on January, I’ll be at Yale to give a talk to undergrads/people in the community. I’m supremely excited!! (I’m gonna watch another Yale hockey game!)

February: No conventions, no traveling—this is hopefully when I’ll be getting a significant amount of comic drawing done.

March: Emerald City Comic Con! I’m lucky enough to have been invited as a guest! This event occurs smack dab in the middle of when I’d like to be noodling away comics. This is also when I’ll be shifting focus to Kickstarter shipping prep. This is also the month I hope to have some updates done. Busy, but such is life.





The more I work on the Kickstarter, the sooner that project gets done, but the more delayed updates become—and vice versa! I’ve been juggling both so far. Additionally, conventions soak up a significant amount of drawing time and are a different kind of work. No updates for a long while, but I’ll keep you in the loop! The blog here at @omgcheckplease should be updating with finished commissions, Kickstarter designs, and convention announcements.





Cool cool cool. Thanks for reading this blog post and for catching up on matters Check Please!

Bye!!