Some Like It Hot

A Some Like It Hot AU. That says a lot if you know the movie (knowing is recommended): Jake accidentally witnesses a murder and escapes in a disguise with an (almost) all-female band.
Drawn for a contest as a part of Dirk/Jake team.

Notes:

In 2016 I was a part of a Dirk/Jake team and was tasked to draw a comic exactly 30 pages long; I used pens and paper and didn't even have a ruler. In 2019 I've decided to refurbish it digitally.
Why did I pick this particular movie? I grew up on it. I found it funny and light, and the ending was my first exposure to queer relationships in media (looking back now I'm surprised my conservative country allowed this on TV; then again, it we were a bit more free when I was a child). Oh, that ending is so so iconic. I could write an essay on its impact on me.
When I rewatched it in 2016/2019 to refresh my memory before drawing, I found that it still gives me positive emotions.
After I chose the source material I started reworking the plot to fit four characters instead of three, who would be in different roles (while also maintaining the page limit!). I took this as an opportunity to fix some cliches in those "man/woman dress up to present as a different gender" plots (She's The Man and Tootsie come to mind).
1) They always end up being super heteronormative like "oh, I'm a boy/girl, and I like this girl/boy, but I can't ever tell them because it'll blow my cover, so I just have to pretend being their bro!!" and the love interest is like "I like you but obviously I don't consider you dating material - OH WAIT you're girl? It's cool then, let's kiss."
2) Often the MC presents themselves as two different people: the real one and the "disguise" one. The "disguise" one becomes a close friend of the love interest, but they don't know the real one!!
3) Those relationships end up being built on lies.
Anyways, I put kind of a twist on those conflicts and minimized the lying part as much a possible. It was important for me to show that the characters spent time together and learned things about each other - lies are still there, but at least they built a foundation.
Phew.
Enough torturing you with my ramblings.
I kept the black-and-white aesthetic in the comic to match the movie, hope you like it.
There's a bonus full colour cover in the end.

(See the end of the work for more notes.)