Book Ends: Difference between revisions

* Part of the opening scene of ''[[Bone]]'' has Smiley Bone unexpectedly charging Phoney Bone a dollar for a random tattered map he found on the ground. Phoney's angry reluctance to pay this impromptu fee causes Fone Bone to chide him that they're lost in the middle of the desert, so he should cough up the dollar. The very last scene repeats this occurrence, with the map replaced by one of their food rations.

* In the first set of ''[[Elf Quest]]'', there's a book end that occurs within the main storyline while Cutter and Leetah have been struck by "Recognition", a biological imperative that's trying to force them to mate and have kids. In one scene [http://www.elfquest.com/gallery/OnlineComics/OQ/OQ03/DisplayOQ03.html?page=12 Cutter knocks on the window of Leetah's hut] to demand why she's continuing to resist, and she angrily rebuffs him. It's probably not a spoiler-worthy surprise that she eventually gives in, and the scene is bookended by [http://www.elfquest.com/gallery/OnlineComics/OQ/OQ05/DisplayOQ05.html?page=28 Cutter knocking at her window again], only this time it's to invite her to make love under the stars. Aaaah.

*** Chapter I: [[Posthumous Character|The Comedian]].

*** Chapter XII: {{spoiler|Rorschach}}.

* [[Transmetropolitan]]: The first issue is Spider driving down from the mountain, the last issue is Royce driving up the mountain. Some of the panels are staged almost identically, with Royce in Spider's place. Additionally, it incorporates an off panel [[Brick Joke]] involving a beating Spider promised to a [[Asshole Victim|tollbooth attendant]] in issue 1.

* [[Marvel Zombies]] begins with the Zombie Sentry going into Earth-2149 from his dimension. Marvel Zombies Return ends with him [[Stable Time Loop|leaving his dimension to Earth-2149.]]

* Starling Gates started and ended (for now -- hopefully) his run on [[Supergirl]] by using a Cat Grant news piece.

* In-story example in [[Edward Gorey]]'s illustrated short ''The Unstrung Harp; or, Mr Earbrass Writes a Novel.'' The titular author, C(lavius) F(rederick) Earbrass, begins the first draft of the manuscript for ''The Unstrung Harp'' with "It had begun to snow" and finishes with "It was still snowing."

* ''[[Fifty Two|52]]'' begins and ends with [http://dc.wikia.com/wiki/File:52_1.jpg similar] [http://dc.wikia.com/wiki/File:52_52.jpg covers] (emphasizing [[Superman]], [[Batman]], and [[Wonder Woman]]'s absence during the [[Time Skip]] that took place after [[Infinite Crisis]]).

 

 

== Fan Works ==

* The ''Star Trek: New Voyages'' episode "World Enough And Time" has beginning and ending scenes that take place about 30 years from the time of most of the episode, all based around the character Hikaru Sulu.

* ''[[A Very Potter Musical]]'' begins with the musical number "Gotta Get Back To Hogwarts." Fast forward to the end of the sequel, when [[Darren Criss|Harry]] finishes a moving speech and the whole cast breaks into song. Guess what they sing?

** At the very beginning of the First Movement, Paul and John nervously walk along the beach, completely new to the world, wary of each other, and frightened. At the end of the Second Movement (in the chapter “Full Circle, Moebius-Style”), they walk together along another beach, back to being friends, more or less accustomed to the world (if not to their new magic), and enjoying sharing this utterly unique experience.

** When the four first arrive in Ta'akan, they have a frightening experience in the Owner's Head Tavern when an enormous [[Bar Brawl]] erupts around them. When they leave the city for the last time (not counting when Ringo accidentally teleports back there), they have dinner in the Owner's Head and laugh at how tame the nightly brawl seems now.

*** Not exactly. "Da Capo (al Fine)" means "return to the start and play again until the "Fine" (an indicator in the music where it should end).

* ''God (A Play)'' by [[Woody Allen]] ends with a closed loop - the dialog is the same as the beginning, it is suggested that the play could go on forever (like ''The Song that Doesn't End'').

* [[Stephen Sondheim]] and James Lapine's ''[[Sunday in The Park With George]]'' begins with an artist musing about the blank piece of paper on which he is about to start sketching: "White. A blank page, or canvas." A hundred years later, his great-grandson sets out to create a new piece of art, and ends the musical with the exact same words.

* The first and last words in [[Stephen Sondheim]]'s ''[[Into the Woods]]'' are "I wish", sung on the exact same notes.

* ''[[Rent]]'' begins and ends with Mark and Roger in their apartment, the former narrating as the latter tunes his guitar, right before Collins comes home after some time away. [[The Movie]] shows this by having him call from a payphone outside asking for the key. Mark even lampshades this by yelling, "Don't get your ass kicked this time!" as he tosses it from the balconey (Collins was mugged in the beginning).

** An alternate ending included on the movie's DVD shows that it was originally going to have [[Book Ends]]: the movie begins with the lead characters singing "Seasons of Love" on a bare stage, and the alternate ending depicts them singing "Finale B" on the same stage. However, even though that opening still appears in the final film, the ending was replaced because the director felt that seeing {{spoiler|Angel return}} would ruin the emotional impact of {{spoiler|his death about 15 minutes earlier}}.

* ''[[The Skin of Our Teeth]]'' ends with {{spoiler|Sabina starting her first scene of the play over again. She stops midway through to tell the audience [[What Do You Mean Its Not Symbolic|the end hasn't been written yet.]] The play ends.}}

* The overture to Mozart's ''[[Don Giovanni]]'' begins with a short, somber song fragment that is actually rather boring. The end repeats this song, but with the Don, Leoporello, and {{spoiler|the Commander}} all singing, in such a way that sounds much more awesome.

 

== Tabletop Games ==

* The ''[[Eclipse Phase]]'' intro fiction 'Lack' begins and ends with Sava waking up in a new body and asking what the date is.

 

 

== Web Animation ==

** This is also the canonical ending.

** Grif and Simmons also once again call shotgun on the new vehicle, this time in reverse.

* The first scene of [[There She Is]] is Nabi being harrassed by Doki at a drink machine. The final scene is {{spoiler|Nabi wiping racist graffiti off of it while sharing a drink with Nabi}}.

* The Strong Bad E-mail "theme song" from ''[[Homestar Runner]]'' actually begins and ends with Strong Bad singing "When E-mail Comes to Town, It's Like a Rainstorm in your Browser."

 

 

* ''[[Concerned|Concerned: The Half-life and Death of Gordon Frohman]]'' begins and ends with a snide joke about Valve's constant delays in releasing games.

* Though not in the chronologically-first strips, ''[[Girly]]'' created these with the [[New First Comics]] and the [[Grand Finale]].

* The [http://concessioncomic.com/index.php?pid=20060701 first] ''[[Concession]]'' comic is mirrored by the [http://concessioncomic.com/index.php?pid=20101224 appropriately-titled] [[Word of God|fifth-to-last]] comic. The [[Alt Text]] confirms that it is indeed the same customer.

* ''[[The Phoenix Requiem]]'' begins with a celebration of "All Souls' Night" (in that setting it has similar importance than our Christmas/New Year's Eve). The comic ends with the same celebration 2 years later. {{spoiler|The first scene begins with Jonas arriving. The last one ends the same way.}}

** The end-of-Act 5 [[Animation Bump]] did the same thing: {{spoiler|to represent all of the kids' reality being fundamentally reset by [[Reset Button|the Scratch]], when Jade is enlarging the Fourth Wall for her and John to travel through, it displays a rapidly-reversing slideshow of many of the earliest panels of ''Homestuck'', ending with the very first page of [[Good Morning, Crono|John standing in his room]] before cutting to white.}}

** The first pesterlog of Act 5 Act 2 ended with John telling Karkat "See you soon". The last pesterlog starts with Karkat repeating the same line to Jade.

* ''[[Irregular Webcomic]]'': [http://www.irregularwebcomic.net/1.html "Hey, there's comics] [http://www.irregularwebcomic.net/3182.html on the Internet!"] Keep in mind that {{spoiler|2011 David Morgan-Mar's soul was transported back into his 2002 body and Death made him forget everything that happened over IWC!'s run. Also, #3182 is only the [[Grand Finale]] of the main arcs; guest comics and Annotation comics have been posted since.}}

 

 

* The [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yUEFxSOVd6A pilot] of [[Cause of Death]] begins and ends with a shot of the sunny street, which counters the horrible things that happened inside that house...

* ''[[Awkward]]'' begins and ends with the same discussion between Alex and Lester. The context and roles have changed, but the location and dialogue are the same.

** And speaking of ''The Nostalgia Critic'', most of his reviews actually begin and end with him saying, "I'm the Nostalgia Critic. I remember it, so you don't have to!"

** [[Suburban Knights]] begins with Angry Joe believing he's won a free car. It ends with Chester A Bum believing he's won a free car.

** In Survival Island (a custom map that eventually starts having slight relevance to the main plot that is billed as Season 2), they are in a slight hurry at the start to get coal for torches. Near the end, they again go looking for coal, this time to {{spoiler|fuel the airship that will take them home.}}

* Volume 3 of ''[http://www.dialbforblog.com Dial B for Blog]'' began with [http://www.dialbforblog.com/archives/501/zero-hour.jpg this image] and ended with [http://www.dialbforblog.com/archives/590/zero-hour.jpg this one]. Both are based on [http://www.coverbrowser.com/image/strange-adventures/162-1.jpg the cover to Strange Adventures #162].