Create Your Own Comic: Don't Panic.

Creating a comic is harder than it looks. I am a big fan of shows like The Regular Show with a whimsical storyline that people can also relate to. I'm also a fan of Tim Burton with his more Gothic and strange drawings. "Don't Panic" was heavily inspired by those two styles. My own experiences and personality went into the idea as well. Anne is a bit of a failure by design. She likes to blame her brain for tripping her up, she considers getting work done at the last minute to be her superpower and the only creature on earth she feels comfortable with is her dog. A lot of people seem to be able to relate to "loser" qualities like that.

This is the tale of tragedy and woe of a young girl trying to function on her own accord in the real world yet finds herself being pulled into her own mind on a regular basis to do vicious battle with her own brain. Anne is another technical grown-up completely unable to function in the grown-up world. Her best friend is a dog and her archenemy and god-like hero both only exist inside her head, so it’s safe to say she’s got everything under control.

Anne has a lot on her plate. She has to deal with school, her job, family and the evil Brain who keeps trying to foil her attempts at happiness. Every task minuscule task in her life is enhanced into a great battle between herself and Brain. Easy homework assignments, semi-important phone calls and running boring errands become life or death situations and that makes everyday life pretty hard. At the moment Anne is just trying to graduate university with passing marks, but that is easier said than done with the embodiment of evil living in your head. Sometimes she wins, sometimes she loses and sometimes she has to be bailed out by her wildly successful alter ego, Future Anne. In the end everything is supposed to work out, Anne is just worried that it won’t for her.

In essence it is a never-ending story. How are we supposed to win when we are our own worst enemies? When the rest of the world seems to have everything sorted out already it can be hard to see your place, especially when you don’t want to settle for just any life. Anne doesn’t want fame or fortune, although it might be nice, she just wants to be happy. Life is constantly reminding her that finding happiness is easier said than done.

Cast:

Anne- The law states that she’s technically an adult, so why hasn’t that magic transformation happened yet? Anne is unhappy most of the time and trying to stave off an anxiety attack all of the time. Perpetually tired and misunderstood she is trying to figure out what is going on in a world where everyone seems to already know what he or she is supposed to be doing. On top of her real life responsibilities she is forced to battle against her own mind as it tries to thwart her every attempt at being a moderately successful and content human being. Armed with nothing but a dog, an alter ego and uncontrollable imagination Anne is determined to essentially stop herself from destroying herself.

Brain- “Didn’t you forget to do something? I’m pretty sure you forgot to do something? I don’t care that it’s three a.m. you seem a bit too comfortable with the fact that you definitely forgot something very important and should be panicking about it!” Meet Brain, or more specifically Anne’s Brain. It's a bit of a jerk. Brain’s only purpose in life seems to be to make Anne miserable. By sparking bouts of severe self-loathing, forgetfulness and Anne’s kryptonite, the anxiety attack, Brain tries to force Anne into mediocrity. Brain is, well, a floating orb of pure energy who follows Anne around and pops up at the most inopportune times distracting Anne with irrelevant thoughts and funny Internet videos. Worst of all Brain is a part of Anne so there’s no escape.

Future Anne- Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No it’s Future Anne! Anne’s perfect alter ego who works out every morning, gets everything done on time and has a ton of self-confidence. When everything gets out of hand Future Anne is there to save the day. While constantly annoyed at Anne’s inability to do anything right Future Anne has no objections to cleaning up her messes and helping her find the ability to function like the grown woman she really is. Future Anne is everything Anne hopes to someday be, and can be when she’s able to get her life sorted out.

Geoffrey- At the end of it all Anne cannot count on anyone like she can count on her dog, most of the time. Every superhero needs a sidekick and Anne has Geoffrey, the fluffy dog-like creature who sleeps at the end of her bed. Geoffrey loves sugar cookies and going for rides in the car almost as he loves his owner. Everyone needs a shoulder to cry on and Anne has Geoffrey. Though not everyone can understand him, Geoffrey speaks to Anne a lot and is basically her fuzzy little anchor in her ongoing battles against Brain and life itself. For Anne people aren’t all that great, dogs are much better.