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The Lilac Menace
@lilacmenace509.bsky.social
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lilacmenace509.bsky.social
Hopefully we get to see you next month!! 🫶🏻
May 24, 2025 at 3:50 AM
Reposted by The Lilac Menace
rvr67michael.bsky.social
This has blown up sufficiently that I'd just like to gently point out my good friend's comic kickstarter! It's in it's final days and could really use a last-minute blow up. Give it a look if you've got a chance! bsky.app/profile/abby...
abbydenton.com Abby Denton @abbydenton.com · Apr 2
Pages 1-4 of GAMER MOM: THE MOM WHO GAMES, the project written (and lettered) by yours truly with art by the brilliant @monoapilas.bsky.social - currently funding itself on Kickstarter for as little as $1! Check it out and see what you think.

www.kickstarter.com/projects/abb...
PANEL 1 CARD GAME WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP CONVENTION HALL. We see a younger AGATHA, our titular gamer mom, receiving a grand world champ trophy from an EMCEE IN A SUIT. She is about 15 or 16, dressed kind of like Yu-Gi-Oh himself. Black, leather, gothy belts and chains. She’s hard-edged. She’s got her “gangster eyes” on. The game they play, named on banners (I can just letter ‘em later unless a cool logo strikes you) is called BATTLE TAROT NARRATION BOX I have always seen a path to victory stretching before me, gleaming and warm. PANEL 2 Young Agatha’s in a shady roadhouse bar full of gangsters. Broken windows, busted furniture, peeling wallpaper. Tough guy central. She prepares to throw a dart while talking to a huge, scary-looking biker dude. NARRATION BOX It was a strange childhood. I tasted loss, but never defeat. YOUNG AGATHA We playing for pink slips? I like the look of your bike. PANEL 3 Young Agatha‘s in a grand casino and places a BATTLE TAROT card deck (again, like a normal tarot deck, but 90s) confidently on a velvet poker table. She now has a BIG SCAR over her right eye. There's crime scene tape or a chalk outline of a body behind her and she’s wearing a Sherlock Holmes deerstalker cap. YOUNG AGATHA (CONT’D) You planned a perfect crime, Santiago. I could never prove you did it. -- But if I know you, I think you’ll ante your confession for a shot at the rarest card ever printed. PANEL 4 AGATHA’S LIVING ROOM - NIGHT In the present (normal colors) present-day AGATHA, THE GAMER MOM is sitting, legs crossed, at a coffee table, maybe echoing her pose from panel 3. She’s getting SHAKEN out of her memories by her bratty 7-year-old, NEVIN. A late-game Scrabble board is set up in front of her. Her cool scar has shrunken a little with age. AGATHA is like if your mom was also a hardened gangster - tough, cool eyes that never betray surprise. JoJo protagonist eyes. NEVIN is wide-eyed as he shakes Agatha’s arm. NEVIN Mommy! It’s your turn! PANEL 1 Establishing - Agatha’s living room, messy and lived-in. In addition to Agatha and Nevin we see ROGHAN, who is a lot like young Agatha with a more modern fashion sense - think Korean street fashion. She is surly and mean and disengaged from the game. AGATHA Fine. “C-A-T.” Can you read that? NEVIN Cat! That’s easy! ROGHAN She’s going easy on you because you don’t stand a chance. PANEL 2 Nevin’s POV looking at his available letter tiles - CZJSUIZ. We see Nevin’s filthy little kid hands trying to arrange the tiles into something decent. Roghan glowers at him across the board. ROGHAN (CONT’D from off-panel) You’re behind 70 points. Just give up. PANEL 3 Agatha sips some tea, serene. Nevin is off to the side, but low in the panel (a speech bubble will go over his head, off from Agatha.) AGATHA You need to relax. We should get a jacuzzi. Under this speech bubble, Nevin’s eyes go wide looking at his tiles. PANEL 4 Roghan rolls her eyes while Nevin raises his hands, excited and energetic. Their speech bubbles interweave, talking over each other for Agatha’s attention. This is dialogue heavy so don’t worry too much about the background. ROGHAN Like we could afford one. NEVIN Mommy! ROGHAN By the way, don’t forget to bring pizza after school tomorrow. NEVIN How do you spell “jacuzzi?” ROGHAN And then leave before anyone at history club meets you. NEVIN This is IMPORTANT! PANEL 5 Small panel - A tiny hand spells the word “JACUZZIS” on a scrabble board, using an A from the word “SMALL.” PANEL 6 Nevin, stars in his eyes, puts the last tile on the board. NEVIN (CONT’D) Jacuzzis! Triple world score! Do I win? PANEL 1 Agatha examines the board, doing some mental math. Roghan burns with rage as Nevin EXPLODES with joy, doing a little victory dance. AGATHA 155 points. Nice going, sprout. ROGHAN You cheated. NEVIN I win! I am so great! PANEL 2 Small panel - Agatha starts packing up the board. Nevin is still dancing. He looks real dang annoying! AGATHA How could I cheat? NEVIN I am the spelling champion! Me! PANEL 3 BIG PANEL - We see Nevin’s space at the board overlayed with what one might call GAMER EYES - like the Terminator or Robocop’s HUD, little measurements and labels appear over the table, like a digital readout (I could add them myself if you would prefer.) Much of these will be covered by Agatha’s speech, but we’ll see enough to get it, notably: Two arcs are drawn labeled as NEVIN’S ARM REACH, SITTING/STANDING The bag of tiles has a probability breakdown of remaining pieces A list on the side says “Block Roghan’s favorite words: TWERP, IDIOT, MORON, TERRIBLE, MOTHER, ORPHAN“ AGATHA (CONT’D) Are you suggesting I memorized the pattern of wood grain on every tile and spent the game blocking you, all to give Nevin one perfect move? PANEL 4 Roghan’s mouth hangs open in horror. ROGHAN Something is broken inside of you. PANEL 5 Agatha sips a cup of tea, serenely, a job well done. Roghan walks away from her mom, waving a hand in teenage disgust. AGATHA It’s probably genetic. -- So, history club! I didn’t know you were into history. ROGHAN None of us are. But Elitsabeth’s mom lets us do whatever we want so we have pizza parties in the library every week. – They’re the coolest kids in school, so promise you won’t do any… weird stuff. PANEL 1 THE NEXT DAY, OUTSIDE THE MIDDLE SCHOOL Agatha stares up at the school. She’s confident, she’s cool, and she’s holding those big vinyl bags they deliver pizzas in. Viewed in full, LINCOLN DOUGLAS MIDDLE SCHOOL is a dilapidated public school on the outskirts of Pittsburgh - lots of hills and trees everywhere. April, a kindhearted, bookish, shy - frankly, nerdy - Black girl in Roghan’s class wearing “slight” cosplay - tasteful enough to look cool to a reader, obvious enough to mark her as a total dork among classmates - stares at her phone, waiting in front of the school. She’s not “important” to this panel, but she should be visible. AGATHA Weird stuff, huh? PANEL 2 Agatha approaches the front doors. April bows, mock-Ren-faire. April Hail and well met, Roghan’s mom! AGATHA April! What are you doing out here? PANEL 3 We get a bigger introduction to the nervous April. She’s embarrassed by pretty much everything she says. April My dad can’t pick me up until late, but RPG club got banned. – Of course, since Roghan left I was the only member anyway… AGATHA Banned, huh? Why don’t you join the history club? April Roghan won’t sponsor me to join. PANEL 4 April takes it back, afraid of offending. Agatha frowns. She is still in her eyes-closed nice-mom mode, but it’s a strain sometimes. April N-not that she owes me that! You raised her very well. AGATHA I’m not sure I agree. – Come on, let’s see if I can put in a good word. PANEL 5 She throws open the door. AGATHA So how does an RPG club get banned? April Not just the club. All gaming is banned. Too many fights over trading cards, supposedly.
April 23, 2025 at 8:11 PM