Enter The Stingers: Part One
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| "Enter The Stingers: Part One" | |||||||||||||
| First published | September 21, 2016 | ||||||||||||
| Written by | Kelly Thompson | ||||||||||||
| Art by | Meredith McClaren | ||||||||||||
| Colors by | M. Victoria Robado | ||||||||||||
| Letters by | Shawn Lee | ||||||||||||
| Edits by | Sarah Gaydos and John Barber | ||||||||||||
The Holograms seek a new drummer while the return of Pizzazz's temper spells trouble for The Misfits.
Synopsis[edit | edit source]
At the Benton home, Kimber and Aja are doing their makeup while expressing their apprehension towards looking for a new drummer when Jerrica walks in, disguised as Jem, telling them to get a move on. While Aja points out that they don't have holograms to help them get ready, Kimber is more surprised to see her sister in disguise, prompting Jerrica to explain that she's thinking the people auditioning will expect to see Jem and points out that she'll have to be Jem a lot more often now that they'll be working with a stranger. As Jerrica rushes her sisters out to the van, Aja proposes that they let Craig try out, an idea her sisters quickly shoot down thinking they'll be right back where they started once he and Aja break up. As Aja growls with irritation at her sisters' insistence that her relationship is doomed, Shana watches them speed off from the house's balcony, thinking that they've already adjusted to her absence.
At 5x5 studios, The Misfits begin playing only for Pizzazz to quickly tell them to stop, something about the song not working. Watching them from outside the booth, Harcourt agrees with Pizzazz's sentiment. Though Eric defends them and says they'll get it eventually, Harcourt has run out of patience with them, the fact that bringing Eric on to help hasn't seemed to lessen the amount of trouble they get into not helping her opinion. Needing the room back, Harcourt sends The Misfits out on a lunch break and gives Eric a 48 hour deadline to get The Misfits back in order or else they're being dropped. Just a few minutes later, Jem and the Holograms arrive and take the booth for their drummer auditions.
While her bandmates are all eating, Pizzazz stands outside the restaurant with Eric, complaining about Harcourt's ultimatum. Eric proposes just dropping Blaze, seeing that as the simplest way for them to get back to their old sound, though Pizzazz is insistent that they can't go backwards and that their newest member is adding something exciting that's going to take them time to properly integrate. Though he understands, Eric continues to emphasize that they're working on a pretty hard time limit. Already frustrated, Pizzazz begins to fly even more off the handle when a small crowd of fans and paparazzi begins to form around the restaurant, prompting Eric to try and restrain her to keep her from causing another scene. Watching all this unfold from inside, Jetta and Roxy lose their hopes that Pizzazz had learned a lesson about keeping her temper under control, though Blaze and Stormer still come to her defense.
Back at 5x5, The Holograms are unhappy with all the drummers they've auditioned. Coming back in, Harcourt lists off a few of the drummers the label was happiest with and asks for The Holograms' input, but when they're unresponsive she huffs and tells them that they're never going to find someone good enough to replace a family member, but that they still need to pick one. A few moments later, Jem steps out of the studio looking for Harcourt and hears some other music echoing through the halls. Following the sound, she finds Harcourt in another studio where The Stingers are playing. Harcourt explains to the fascinated Jem that they're a new band who's just relocated to LA and, as part of courting them into signing with 5x5, they're letting them practice in their studio, noting that they had to bump The Misfits to make room for both them and The Holograms, which the recently returned Pizzazz angrily confirms.
As they continue playing, The Stingers notice the two frontwomen beginning to argue. As they finish and exit the booth, Rapture and Minx comment on the volume of Jem and Pizzazz's voices while Riot introduces himself to Jem, taking her hand between his. Seeming a little dazed from the gesture, Jem tells Riot how she found them by following his voice, which he comments sounds like something out of a fairy tale. Frustrated, Pizzazz asks Harcourt if they're done for the day and angrily pushes past the recently returned Kimber and Aja once she knows that they are, The Holograms noting that their truce seems to be over. Still keeping one of his hands holding one of Jem's and keeping the other on her shoulder, Riot asks what all that was about. When Jem explains that she and Pizzazz have never gotten along but thought they'd made peace, Riot asks what he can do to help, but she tells him to stop being silly as she and her band can handle it, though she still thanks him for the offer.
As The Holograms drive back home, Jerrica is teased by Aja for acting so lovey dovey around Riot and defends herself by telling her sister that she didn't hear him sing and that she's allowed to get starstruck every once in a while. Aja then brings up that she doesn't think they should tell Shana the auditions didn't go so well, thinking that if they let her know how hard of a time they're having finding a replacement, she'll just feel more guilty. Kimber makes the point that her thinking they had no problem replacing her might make her feel worse, but Aja still believes it's a risk worth taking, feeling Shana is more likely to feel guilty and, if she feels guilty, is more likely to give up on her internship and will always regret that. Jerrica agrees, not wanting to deny her sister her dream, but Kimber still worries that her inability to lie might let the truth slip anyways.
Meanwhile, Harcourt apologizes to The Stingers for Pizzazz's interruption and hopes that it won't effect their decision over whether or not to join 5x5, the five of them unaware that Pizzazz is listening in on them from inside the booth. Standing up, Riot puts his arm around Harcourt's shoulder and claims that he understands there's a rivalry between The Misfits and Holograms. With that in mind, he tells her that The Stingers will sign an exclusive contract with 5x5 on one condition... that they drop The Misfits!
Featured characters[edit | edit source]
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)
| Jem and the Holograms | The Misfits | The Stingers | Others |
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Quotes[edit | edit source]
Notes[edit | edit source]
Covers (3)[edit | edit source]
- Regular cover: The Stingers, by Meredith McClaren
- Subscription cover: Jem and Riot, by Jen Bartel
- Convention exclusive cover: The uncolored lineart to the regular cover, by Meredith McClaren
