Thanksgiving - Tradition - P. A. Nolte

1/ A man stands in the checkout line at a grocery store.  He is surrounded by the harried faces of people buying one last can of cranberry sauce, or another bag of ice, or any number of minor things that slipped through the cracks in their extensive shopping lists.

2/ The items on the belt are recognizably his.  A few frozen pizzas and a six pack of beer.

3/ The cashier chirps at him with a smile on her face.  He smirks and slides his debit card.

Cashier: That'll be $16.21.

Man: Ominous.

Cashier: I'm sorry?

Man: Nevermind.

4/ Outside of a small house is a parked car.

5/ The man sits on his couch in front of a television.  He has a beer in one hand and a piece of pizza in the other.  He is content. On the TV is the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.

TV (digi): --another balloon from the popular children's show--

Thanksgiving - Mixed Blessings - Perry Kent

Panel 1

A girl, around 12, trudges out the front door of a house. She has a large puffy jacket and a dour expression on her face. Her hands are in her pockets as she is looking toward the ground. Yelling issues from inside the house.

1. VOICE #1 (shout, inside house): He isn't qualified to run anything bigger than a bowling alley!

2. VOICE #2 (shout, inside house): He's better suited than that crooked loser!

Panel 2

The girl sits on a bench next to the sidewalk. Fall leaves are strewn across the ground. Her hands are still in her pockets.

3. GIRL (thought): I'm thankful for quiet moments.

Panel 3

The girl chews, her one hand holding a roll and the other holding a napkin wrapping of more food. A stray dog walks up to where she sits on the bench.

4. GIRL (thought): Mhmm...and rolls.

Panel 4

The dog looks up at her with big, sad eyes. It is begging for a meal.

[NO COPY]

Panel 5

Similar to panel 3: The girl chews, her one hand holding a roll and the other holding a napkin wrapping of more food. The stray dog sits at her feet, chewing on a roll.

5. GIRL (thought): And new friends.

- END -

Thanksgiving – Overthankful – MK Stangeland, Jr.

(5 Panels)

Panel 1: A family is seated around a table as they prepare to eat Thanksgiving dinner.

GRANDPA: Son, would you do the honor of leading us in grace?

FATHER: Really? You mean it?

GRANDPA: Of course.

Panel 2: FATHER stands as he begins to say ‘grace’. The rest of the family members at the table bow their heads.

FATHER: Dear Lord our Father, we come together to offer thanks for this day, for this meal, for this gathering…

Panel 3: FATHER continues to say grace, the rest of the family is showing signs of confusion at the length of it.

TEXT: 5 minutes later…

FATHER: …and for this nation, and all that it entails, that we live in such a great nation, may we be humbled by all the blessings it has received. May we not take this great nation for granted, oh Lord…

Panel 4: FATHER is still saying grace, the rest of the family clearly wishes he’d just wrap it up at this point.

TEXT: 10 minutes later…

FATHER: …and for all the other gifts of this day, including our freedom to celebrate this day, let us give thanks to you…

MOTHER: Dear, I think…

GRANDFATHER: Thank you God, amen, let’s eat.

Panel 5: The rest of the family starts serving the food, while FATHER still stands there, knowing he messed up somehow but lost on how.

FATHER: …

GRANDFATHER: Just be thankful and get on with it, son.

(END PAGE)

THANKSGIVING: No Fear--David Press

PAGE ONE.

Five panels. Let’s see if this works—four panels are shifted to the left hand side of the page with 1.4 going down the length of the right-hand-side of the page vertically.

1.1 EXT-SUBURBAN STREET: A nice, normal, nondescript suburban home with about five or six cars in the driveway.

NO DIALOGUE.

1.2 INT-HOUSE:  From a bird’s eye view of the living room and den, make it sectioned off, but we can see that there are about ten adults to about five kids running throughout the house. The ADULTS are sitting at a long table. The FIVE KIDS are running around the house playing with each other.

KIDS:                                     HAHAHA!

1.3: Over to the dining room table where the adults sit. On one family member, the NEW FATHER there’s a baby being bounced on a leg. The dialogue can be floating over the heads of the adults, not attached to anyone in particular.

ADULT 1:                              Well, I’m just thankful that we’ll be getting jobs back in the US.

ADULT 2:                              Are you kidding? Trump does most of his merchandizing in China.

1.4: The NEW FATHER—bouncing the infant on his knee—makes a worried face. This is the vertical panel.

NEW DAD:                            This is what I’m thankful for: that we are in control of what we bring into our houses.

1.5: Over to the rest of the people at the table. Three or four older faces. Let’s say they’re the Grandparents.

NEW DAD [Off]:                   And I won't let hate, bigotry, and sexism into my house or around my kids. To vote for him is to endorse that behavior, and there's no way around that. 

Thanksgiving - Canadiana - Grant McLaughlin

I couldn't help but use this as an opportunity to educate on Canadian Thanksgiving.  I imagine this would be in a very cartoony / exaggerated style, leaning into corniness.  My apologies for the wordiness.

1 - We've got a pseudo-title screen here, with a big logo at the top of the panel reading "Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Canada (But Didn't Know to Ask About)!".  Beneath is our "host", Mountie Mike (who is a cartoony mountie with a hilarious moustache), greeting the "audience" filled with cheer.  Beneath Mike is an unfurled scroll which reads "Canadian Thanksgiving".

MOUNTIE MIKE (1): Welcome to another edition of everyone's favourite Canadiana explainer!

MOUNTIE MIKE (2): This week:

SCROLL: Canadian Thanksgiving!

2 - Mountie Mike stands in a black, backgroundless panel, looking as cheerful as ever.  He holds up one hand, his finger pointing upwards to grab one's attention.

MOUNTIE MIKE (1): You read that right!  In one of its ongoing efforts to differentiate itself from its American neighbours, Canada has its own Thanksgiving.

MOUNTIE MIKE (2): And it's worth noting that ours actually came first!

3 - Samuel de Champlain and another settler sit at a table that has the remainders of what was clearly a large feast.  Both have smiles on their face and full tummies.  The settler extends a medallion to Champlain.
LETTERING NOTE: We're going to have lots of captions from Mountie Mike.  It's not strictly necessary, but perhaps we could have a little cartoonier Mountie Mike face to put at the beginning of the first one (to really emphasize the after-school special nature of all this).

CAPTION (MOUNTIE MIKE): "It's true!  French explorer Samuel de Champlain's settlements held annual feasts of Thanksgiving as of 1606 - 17 years earlier than the first recorded American one!"

CHAMPLAIN: Thanks for the meal!

SETTLER: Thanks for the idea!

CAPTION (MOUNTIE MIKE): "These guys were so thankful that they started the Order of Good Cheer to make sure everyone knew!"

4 - Similar set-up with two Victorian-era dressed people (a man and a woman) sitting at a table with the remainders of a large feast.  They're as full as the guys on panel 3, but they look a lot less excited about it.

CAPTION (MOUNTIE MIKE): "However, thankfulness fell out of fashion after that early start, leaving Canada with only the occasional celebration every few decades, generally popping up after wars or rebellions."

MAN: Aren't you glad those conflicts are done?

WOMAN: Eh, it's cool, I guess.

5 - A newspaper boy stands with a stack of papers, the top one reading "Prince Feeling Much Better!".  A passerby looks at the headline and looks relieved / jubilant.

CAPTION (MOUNTIE MIKE): "The first Canadian Thanksgiving after Confederation was in 1872, when Canada came together on April 5th to celebrate of the Prince of Wales' recovery from a serious illness."

PAPERBOY: Extra! Extra!

MAN: Oh, thank goodness!

CAPTION (MOUNTIE MIKE): "(Canada was really into its monarchy at the time.)"

6 - A First World War-era Canadian soldier apologizes to an anthropomorphic turkey.

CAPTION (MOUNTIE MIKE): "Canada used to be in the habit of celebrating Thanksgiving in November, but once Armistice (now Remembrance) Day came into vogue in the years following the First World War, we decided we'd be thankful in October instead."

SOLDIER: Sorry about that.

TURKEY: Naw, it's cool.

7 - Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson stands outside Parliament Hill, talking with a colleague.

CAPTION (MOUNTIE MIKE): "That said, we didn't settle on a recurring date until 1957, when Parliament officially set Thanksgiving as the second Monday every October.  Until then, it was set by proclamation every year - a fancy way of saying we decided willy nilly."

PEARSON: What do you think - Tuesday?

8 - A modern-day family sits at a table, with the same remnants of a hearty meal on their table and in their tummies.  They look happy and pleased.

CAPTION (MOUNTIE MIKE): However, that's where the differences end, because today it's pretty much an excuse to get together with family and eat too much food, just like the American iteration!

WOMAN: Yum!

9 - On a football game, but all the players are beavers and moose - except for Mountie Mike who is there in the quarterback position.  While he holds the ball aloft, he looks towards the reader with a smile on his face.

MOUNTIE MIKE: We also have an annual Thanksgiving Day Classic, where our Canadian Football League teams play each other (yes, Canada not only has its own version of Thanksgiving, but also its own version of football - but that's a story for another day!).