Comics

Sheryl Doesn’t Work Weekends: A Hard Lesson Learned for an Aspergillus Fae

Page one of the comic Sheryl Doesn’t Work Weekends by Jessi Eoin. Panel 1: An establishing shot showing an ad agency in the late evening in October. It’s dark outside, but the windows inside the agency are all on, and there are three cars in the parking lot. Text reads, “Tuesday. 4:58 PM. Dreams Come True Ad Agency.” From inside one of the windows, a speech bubble yells, “FUCK! How did the design team mess this up so bad?” Panel 2: Two people inside an office. One continues speaking while the other– a cane user– stands. The man speaking says, “The client needs it by Friday, so… I’d say we’ll be here til 9 tonight at best.” Panel 3: The cane user walks out of the office, looking at their watch. A text box identifies them: “Sheryl, 53. She/they.” The man still sitting in the office says, “Where are you going??” Sheryl replies, “Home. It’s 5:00.” The man yells angrily, “Didn’t you hear me? It’s due in 72 hours. It’s an EMERGENCY!!”
Page two of the comic Sheryl Doesn’t Work Weekends by Jessi Eoin. Panel 1: Sheryl replies calmly, “Mark, there’s no such things as emergencies in advertising. Good evening.” Panel 2: A low angle shows Sheryl’s cane and feet as they leave. In the background, Mark says, “...Seriously?” Panel 3: A purple and pink comic panel showing a bookshop called The Nose Inn, decorated for Halloween. Trees frame the panel alongside bushes and scattered autumn leaves. A sign outside reads, “Scary Story Time at 4 PM!” with little Halloween doodles on it. A shadow of a tall figure with a broad hat looms large against the front door. Text reads, “Meanwhile… The Nose Inn. Tuesday. 7:22 PM.” Panel 4: A fat, Black person wearing glasses and an outfit reminiscent of Rosie the Riveter’s kneels down in front of a bookshelf, putting a book onto the shelf. She notices a customer in the foreground and says, “Oh! I didn’t hear you come in! Can I help you, sir?” The person in the foreground is wearing a ridiculously long yellow suit with curling coat tails dangling down by his garishly green boots. He carries a red briefcase. Panel 5: A close up of the man’s mouth reveals an unsettling smile filled with dark yellow ribbing like the underside of a mushroom or perhaps like the inside of a baleen whale’s mouth. He says, “Why, yes, Milly, I believe you can…”
Page three of the comic Sheryl Doesn’t Work Weekends by Jessi Eoin. Panel 1: A close up of Milly’s face as she gasps, noticing the strangeness of this being. She stammers, “Uhh, y’know what, I–” Panel 2: She continues to speak, backing away from the man until she bumps into another bookcase behind her. “Uhhh… I forgot we’re actually closing now, so–” Panel 3: She continues to speak: “if you could come back tomorrow…” We see over her shoulder, a claustrophobic view of the man’s disturbing smile and his obnoxiously yellow suit as he blocks her way out. Something is strange about his face. Bits of hair seem to clump in random places across his face and neck, like a mushroom might. The man replies, “Oh, surely, you can stay another minute, can’t you, Milly? I’ve started a business, you see.” Panel 4: An up close shot of his mouth from the side as he continues, “And I’m offering hardworking people like you the chance to get in on the ground floor.” Panel 5: An up close look at his hand, holding a clear glass vial with a cork stopper. It shimmers unnaturally in the same yellow and green as him. He says, “It’s a great opportunity for you.” Panel 6: Milly frowns and says, “How is this an opportunity for me, exactly? Do you pay above market rates? Offer good benefits?”
Page four of the comic Sheryl Doesn’t Work Weekends by Jessi Eoin. Panel 1: The man shoves the vial into Milly’s face, and she looks grossed out and annoyed. He says, “PAY?? Gods, no! This is an opportunity for YOU to work for ME. You’ll also have access to my vast network and product samples.” Panel 2: Milly, despite being afraid, gives the man a stern look. We see her from over his shoulder. His hat seems to be fused to his head. She says, “That sounds less like an opportunity for ME and more like FREE LABOR for YOU.” Panel 3: A close up of the man reveals he has yellow eyes and a long, narrow nose. He looks at Milly sideways and raises one eyebrow as he says, “Surely a step up from the mundane task of putting books on shelves all day, no?” Panel 4: Milly holds up a hand and says firmly, “NO. I love my job, and it pays me well enough. Thanks, but not thanks.” Panel 5: A vibrant pink background with lots of mushrooms and their spores illustrated around it, frame the vial opening up and releasing the strange yellow and green strands inside, moving toward the viewer in an ominous way.
The panels here are off-kilter, suggesting something is wrong. The colors of the backgrounds change from panel to panel, all keeping the mushroom and spore illustrations, suggesting a psychedelic change is happening. Panel 1: Milly coughs and holds one hand up to her nose. She squints and waves one hand around as if to fend off the spores. She says, “What is that??” Panel 2: Milly holds up a hand to her temple, her eyebrows scrunched together as she closes her eyes. The man replies, “Spores, dear.” Milly says, “What the–? Spores from what?” Panel 3: Milly blinks heavily and says, “What’s…? Happe…ning? [What’s happening?]” The man replies from off panel, “It’s all right, sweetheart.” Panel 4: The man’s hand looms toward Milly through the spores as he says, “You won’t feel woozy long.” She replies, now off panel, “No… get away from me…”

Sheryl Doesn’t Work Weekends: A Hard Lesson Learned for an Aspergillus Fae.

48 page work in progress.

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