Page 001

Fumble

Original fictional prologue

Four-panel black-and-white manga page headed THE TRADING FLY with the Japanese subtitle トレーディング・フライ. Panel 1: a finger presses a SELL key next to a small rising black line ending at a point marked SOLD. Panel 2: the fly, a lanky adult in a black overshirt and white undershirt with cobalt compound eyes, lounges in an office chair and says “easy.” Panel 3: a close-up of one huge cobalt eye reflecting a nearly vertical blue line; he says “wait.” Panel 4: a tiny chibi version of the fly holds his head in an enormous chair while a wall-sized monitor shows the same line continuing far above the SOLD mark.
Ink on paper. The page is shown whole; nothing is cropped or edited. View full artwork
Panel by panel
  1. Sell. A finger comes down on a SELL key. Beside it a small black line has been climbing; it ends at a dot labelled SOLD.
  2. “easy.” The fly, arms loose, sunk into an office chair against a city window, says the word and means it.
  3. “wait.” One compound eye fills the panel. In it, the line has gone almost vertical, and blue.
  4. After. The same fly, now chibi and very small, hands on head in a chair far too big for him. The monitor behind shows the line continuing well past SOLD.

A drawn story. It records no trade, no fill and no account; the show on the main page is where the fly's paper account lives.