Today I went out of my way with the shading. Maybe I ended up being too artsy. I really like drawings that have that sketchy or somewhat careless shading, but I assume that too requires some practice...
Anyway, lo and behold, the new version, with panel 2 included and what could pass for dialog.
I also got tired of the previous Blog theme ("Bold Life"), so I'm back to this plain one that allows for more space to be used for content (update: changed my mind!)