Hourly Comic Day 2023

Feb03
by on February 3, 2023 at 8:44 am

A set of hourly comics. Each hour (or group of two hours) is represented by two panels. They are all rendered in shades of gray. 6 AM: in the first panel, Emily is in bed, grumpy and hidden under the covers. Her phone buzzes with an alarm, and she lets out a loud “ughhhHHHH.” The second panel has the text “Hourly Comic Day 2023” with sparkles around it. The subtitle under the panels reads “looks like hourly comics are back on the menu, boys!” 7 AM: in the first panel, Emily is in a car, dressed in winter attire, loudly singing along to Heel Turn 1 by the Mountain Goats. The narration clarifies the scene: “Commute to work (it takes me an hour so I start at 6:30)” In the second panel, Emily stands at a counter, holding a mug and a carafe of coffee. The narration continues, “I’m usually one of the first people in the office, so I make the first pot of coffee for everyone.” Emily in the comic comments “this is the important service I can provide.” The subtitle under the panels identifies the song. 8 AM: in the first panel, we see a daily journal on a table, with notes on either page. The narration labels the scene: "Setting up my to do list for the day." In the second panel, the narration continues, "I feel like I lost a couple of weeks in January due to Garbage Brain (tm), so I'm definitely playing some amount of catch-up re: remembering how to be functional again." In the panel, Emily sits at her laptop but pulls out her phone, saying "ah right I gotta pay rent." The subtitle under the panels identifies the podcast she's listening to, Sawbones (the Grapefruits episode.) 9 AM: The first panel is labeled "Morning scrum" with sparkles. Emily stands, now masked, motioning to a website screenshot floating in space. "Behold," she says, "a web'd site." The second panel returns to Emily at her desk as the narration explains, "normally around this time I take a silly little walk for my silly little mental health, but the Real Feel temp is like 11 degrees," to which Emily editorializes "sorry, work is fairly boring," before the narration concludes, "so, inside I remain." The subtitle under the panels reads "[strong bad voice] website'd!" 10 AM: Emily stands in the breakroom, observing a counter filled with treats. There's a bundt cake among them, which the narration identifies, "there's a Crush-flavored bundt cake in the break room." The second panel turns to show Emily's skeptical expression. "Its existence both intrigues and horrifies me," the narration continues. The subtitle under the panels reads "like it can't be good, right." 11 AM to Noon: In the first panel, Emily sits at a desk by a laptop, sandwich in hand. The narration begins, “work and lunch per usual, until—“ and it’s cut off by a dark thought bubble from Emily labeled “formless anxiety echoes]” She replies with a tired “ah damn it, ok.” In the second panel, Emily walks down an office building hallway. The narration observes “guess we’re taking a silly little walk after all.” The subtitle under the panels reads “it’s not the same as an outdoor walk but it gets the job done.” 1 PM: In the first panel, the aforementioned Crush bundt cake is sitting in the break room. In the second panel, the scene is the same, but Emily looms forebodingly in the distance. The subtitle under the panels reads “it was, in fact, not good.” 2 to 3 PM: In the first panel, the narration begins “I’m going to be honest, I think I somehow lost these hours to the void or it was just like, convos with coworkers and texts from friends.” Emily is obscured at the bottom of the panel, quietly saying “weh” with exhaustion. In the second panel, the narration continues “sitting at a computer all day unfortunately does not make for good comics!” accompanied by an even tinier and sadder Emily going “weh.” The subtitle under the panels reads "not everything can be a Crush bundt cake." 4 to 5 PM: In the first panel, Emily stands outside an office building, dressed in winter attire, t-posing. The narration labels the scene as “going home” as Emily lets out yet another “weh.” The second panel shows Emily driving her car, belting out “I DON’T GIVE A RAT’S ASS YOU RAT BASTARDS” as the narration comments “gotta do an hour and change of this again first.” The subtitle under the panels identifies the song Emily is yelling along to, Billy the Kid's Dream of the Magic Shoes by the Mountain Goats. 6 PM: In the first panel, Emily lounges on the couch in the living room as Em leans over from the hallway. They ask “wanna do tacos?” to which Emily replies “ya.” In the second panel, Emily stands at the stove in an apron, holding her phone. She asks “hey can you tell me if this sounds normal” to which Em, leaning in from off panel, replies “ya.” The subtitle under the panels reads “I am consistently recreating that one Reductress article.” 7 PM: The first panel is labeled “Dinner!” by the narration, and there’s a plate of crispy black bean tacos, Mexican rice, and salsa verde in a small dish on a plate. Extra narration editorializes “it whipped ass.” In the second panel, Em and Emily sit with their plates in the living room, on separate couches, Em with a remote and Emily vibrating expectantly. The narration reads “Poker Face episode four time.” The subtitle under the panels reads “the tacos were a recipe Em found.” 8 PM: In the first panel, the narration begins “Poker Face continues to be extremely good” as Emily yells “was that a reference” and the narration text confirms it was. In the second panel, Emily and Em discuss the episode, but most of the text is blocked out for spoilers. The subtitle under the panels reads "It's good! A delight! A character name that might be--" with the rest of the sentence blocked for spoilers. 9 PM to unknown: In the first panel, Emily, now sans glasses and in a sleep shirt, says “ok I’ve only gotten like 10 hours of sleep in the last 48, I’m gonna go to bed.” In the second panel, the narration text appears with sparkles, reading “and then I proceeded to look at my phone in bed for way too damn long” as a tinier Emily says “until next year!” The subtitle under the panels reads "Good night!"

Thanks as always for reading.

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