Today in 3 Panels, by Dean Mang-Wooley

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

Dean's friend Alison is at a clothing store. She looks into a box of hats and sees a baseball cap with a large garish cross printed on it. She buys the hat at puts it on. She grins and gives a thumbs up.

Fate

Aug 14, 2008

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

Panel 1 image: Dean lying down on a couch. Panel 1 text: Is it 2006 or 2016? Am I 28 or 18? Panel 2 image: A record playing on a turntable. Panel 2 text: I feel like I've been repeating the last 10 years without any aim or intention. Panel 3 image: Dean's hands taking the record off the turntable. Panel 3 text: Feeling guilty about not moving forward.

Time loop

Aug 1, 2016

Dean is looking at a news story on the CBC website. The headline reads: BC minimum wage now the lowest in Canada. Dean thinks to themself: "God. Why am I quitting my job?"

Minimum wage

Apr 5, 2016

Dean is looking for their cellphone charger. Panel 1: Dean is opening a drawer in the kitchen and shouting over their shoulder. They say: "I can't find my..." Panel 2: Dean has a look of annoyed concentration on their face. They are miming the action of plugging a charger into a cellphone. They say: "Phone...plug...in..." Panel 3: an image of a bottle of ritalin with cobwebs all over it, signifying the fact that Dean has not taken ritalin in some time.

Adventures in pharmaceuticals I

Sep 7, 2008

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 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

"I think that guy is taking photos of us" *waves*

Buccaneer days ’16

May 15, 2016

Dean and their dad are cleaning in the basement of Dean's old school. Panel 1: Dean's dad holds a plastic bag in front of his face and says: "Qu'est-ce que the hell est this?" Panel 2: Close up image of the plastic bag's contents. A dried-out, moldy piece of fruit. Image text reads: "Maybe it was a mango?" Panel 3: Image of a table with a large stain on it. Image text reads: "After a year or so in the school's basement, its juices had coagulated into a dark brown tar on one of the tables."

A mystery

Aug 21, 2008

Dean and Naz are sitting on a couch together. Dean asks Naz: "How...are you?" Naz replies: "I'm good. I'm tired. Grief is exhausting. But I'm good."

Check in

Aug 15, 2016

Dean walks down a residential street, looking happy. Suddenly, they look a little worried. Image text: "I walked home without shoes. As soon as my feet touched the cool concrete, I felt a sudden electric surge of joy. Until I realized I was walking down the wrong street."

Barefoot bliss

Aug 16, 2008