Today in 3 Panels, by Dean Mang-Wooley

Dean is using a tablet in a classroom at school. There is a loud, repetitive "pow" sound coming from the adjacent room. Dean thinks: That hammering is driving me NUTS! Dean walks to the adjacent room, thinking: What are they doing? When they get to the room, they see the source of the noise: a video projection of balloons popping, with popped balloons scattered on the floor in front of it. Dean thinks: Oh.

Wall of noise

Sep 30, 2008

Dean and their dad are at Value Village, looking at a trophy with a country's flag printed on it. Dean asks their dad: "What country's flag is that?" Their dad replies: "Taiwan." Dean asks: "How do you KNOW this stuff?" Dean's dad shrugs and says: "I don't know!"

Value Village

Sep 13, 2008

A stranger starts talking to Dean on a path. The stranger says: "Excuse me, does this path lead to the water?" Dean replies: "Yes. I think so? The water is kind of...diagonal from here." The stranger says: "But I can get to the boats from here?" Dean replies: "Yes. Maybe? Douglas...uh, Dallas street...Dallas road will take you there." Dean starts sweating and thinks to themself: "6 years I've lived in this city and I still can't give directions."

Directions

Sep 9, 2016

Dean is talking to their mom on her birthday. Dean says: "You are 48 years old. How do you feel?" Dean's mom says: "Old. My sister didn't get to be 45."

Birthday blues

Oct 13, 2008

Dean sees a newspaper on a table. Dean says: "Hmm?" The newspaper headline reads: "Angry kids may suffer defiance disorder." Dean gets angry and slams their fist down on the table, saying: "Oh, what the HELL?"

Defiance

Aug 5, 2008

Dean is at the cashier's desk at an art supply store. Image text reads: "At the art supply store, I suddenly began to pass out. As the room shifted around me, I sank to the floor in a cold sweat. The clerk was good about it." The clerk says to Dean: "Are you hiding?"

Fainting in the aisles

Aug 6, 2008

Dean is taking care of two dogs. Dean and their brother Jordan are standing near the living room. Jordan is pointing at something. Jordan says to Dean: "Maybe we should'e let them out more than once?" There is a close up image revealing three pieces of dog poop on the living room carpet. Dean looks horrified.

Adventures in dogsitting, part II

Aug 11, 2008

Panel 1 image: Dean as a child looking toward the right with an awed expression. Panel 1 text: When I was really young, I had a very strong emotional response to Rick Moranis. Panel 2 image: 3 portraits of actor Rick Moranis portraying Seymour in Little Shop of Horrors; Doug McKenzie on SCTV; and Wayne Szalinsky in Honey, I Shrunk the Kids. Panel 2 text: Seeing him evoked a feeling that was simultaneously positive and negative--a mixture of reverence, recognition, and embarrassment. Panel 3 image: a portrait that is half Dean as a child, half Rick Moranis. Panel 3 text: I felt like we were the same person, living two different stages of the same life.

Rick Moranis

May 5, 2018

Panel 1 text: A note about Stampede season. Panel 2 image: 3 police officers standing together. Panel 2 text: Cops: scary. Panel 3 image: the same 3 police officers standing together, wearing cowboy hats. Panel 3 text: Cops in cowboy hats: exponentially scarier.

Stampede season

Jul 16, 2018

Dean is on the main floor of their house. They hear their dad yell from the basement: "Something down here just REEKS!" Dean goes down to the basement and thinks: "I don't smell anything." They smell their own underarm and think: "Maybe it smells exactly like me."

Reek

Sep 17, 2008

Jordan and Hannah are sitting together in their liing room. Hannah says to Jordan: "If you're bored, you should do something. We could dress up in silly costumes and clean our rooms!! We could pretend to be superheroes!"

Superheroes

Aug 26, 2008

Becoming our dads

Becoming our dads

Jul 7, 2016