New Year's Eve 1997

‘New Year’s Eve 1997’ is the first chapter of the comic, followed by New Year’s Day 1998.

Episode 1

Zach collects donations outside Habibi’s Diner. Musa and Sam donate. Zach and Sam start a conversation in the diner. Zach tries to pay for the meal using donations, to Sam’s anger.

Episode 2

Sam chases Zach into the street. Zach loses his business cards, which Sam discovers are for a phone sexline. Zach prints new ones at AA-Xerox, and takes Rumeha’s donation bucket in exchange for a future copy of Balqis.

Episode 3

Zach returns home. He and Harshul complain about the boiler and Cid not paying either of them yet. Zach gets a call on his sexline phone from Zhen asking for emergency services.

Episode 4

Zhen says he needs to talk through something awful he learnt that morning. Zach tells him that Zhen has rung a sexline, not the Sacred Star Charity Emergency Help Line like he thought, but he wants to help Zhen through his distress. Zhen tells Zach that his family has a secret that his father doesn’t want anyone to know about. Zach tells Zhen his name, but Zhen’s name is cut off by New Year’s fireworks and Zhen’s payphone disconnecting.