HOPE: NEW ORLEANS
"GOD SIGHS"
written by Thommy Melanson
*ARTIST/INKER NOTE: Please make all the borders and alleys of this story black.
PAGE ONE
PANEL 1 - EXT. OUTER SPACE - The cosmos laid out before us, stars and nebula clusters go on infinitely.
1 CAPTION: We are now as we have always been, and always will be.
2 CAPTION: Alone.
PANEL 2 - Behind mists of gaseous clouds, which appear to be "opening" as a theatre curtain would, is the planet Earth.
3 CAPTION: There is no fatherly deity nor impartial cosmic puppet master observing and/or controlling our existence.
4 CAPTION: All that awaits above us is the cold of space.
PANEL 3 - EXT. CITY - DAY - An aerial view of a city block. Think The Bronx. In the center of this rundown block is a tenement building, and it in turn is flanked by smaller tenements and rowhouses. Some cars and pedestrians can be seen milling about like casual ants.
5 CAPTION: That is...
PAGE TWO
PANEL 1 - INT. APARTMENT - SLIGHT WORM'S EYE VIEW - In a dank room a strange, obviously homemade MACHINE looms "grandly" before us. Think the mad scientist laboratory machines of "Frankenstein" and other Universal Studios monster movies of the 1930s, only made from junkyard and demolition site refuse.
1 WENDALL (off panel): ...until my machine kicks in.
PANEL 2 - SLIGHT BIRD'S EYE/REVERSE ANGLE to see whom is
staring up at this machine. WENDALL MITTY - a nerdy, unkempt hermit, more comfortable around books and clutter than humans.He's looking up at that pile of junk with absolute love in his eyes and wrings his hands with fevered anticipation.
2 WENDALL: And in that glorious moment, when I, Wendall Mitty, become one with the unbridled power of the cosmos, this unkind and decadent world will finally come to know a real God of wrath and vengeance.
3 WENDALL: Old Testament-style, bitches.
PANEL 3 - Wendall turns to a table littered with stacks of books and discarded fast food bags and wrappers. He's looking over crumpled and stained pages of scribbled chicken-scratch.
4 WENDALL: I've done all the formulations, scoured the ancient texts, cracked the DaVinci Code...
5 WENDALL: ...all that's left is to give my baby power!
PANEL 4 - BIRD'S EYE VIEW of Wendall raising his arms skyward in glorious rapture.
6 WENDALL: How I love that word. How it suits me so elegantly.
7 WENDALL: POWER!!!
PANEL 5 - Wendall turns as one would when pleasantly surprised to hear a long lost love's voice behind them.
8 WENDALL: Speaking of elegant suits...
PAGE THREE
PANEL 1 - Splayed across a chair is one ratty homemade supervillian costume. Ridiculously long cape, epaulets, buccaneer boots, fur trimmed gloves, and a helmet with a costume jewelry crown around it. Badly hand-stitched and looks to have been made from Salvation Army donations and raiding the clearance bin at a crafts store.
1 WENDALL: Regal attire truly befitting of the one true God...
2 WENDALL: ...me!
PANEL 2 - Wendall struggles as he puts on that costume, barely getting the shirt over his doughy paunch.
3 WENDALL: >phew< Enough dallying. It is time.
PANEL 3 - A full view of a really ridiculous looking Wendall in his full costumed "glory".
4 WENDALL: Time for this planet to quake and tremble before the one whom destiny has chosen to lead them...it.
5 WENDALL (lowercase): >sigh< stupid pronouns.
PANEL 4 - He picks up two massive electrical cords - one with three prongs, the other three holes. The cords face each other as he's about to connect them. His face is the definition of deluded self-grandeur.
6 WENDALL: This day in history will be celebrated as "New Christmas", for it is the day that the real Lord is born!
7 WENDALL: So I have written it, so let it be --
PANEL 5 - TIGHT on the cords as they connect. Electricity crackles all around, underlighting what we see of Wendall.
8 WENDALL (off panel, electric): -- DONE!!
PAGE FOUR & PAGE FIVE
DOUBLE PAGE SPREAD
EXT. TENEMENT - KABOOM!!! Huge cinematic David Finch/Bryan Hitch style explosion across these two pages! The center tenement is blown to bits, sending chunks and debris flying across the pages! Cars flip over and people on the street scatter and duck in terror!
PAGE SIX
PANEL 1 - BLACK. Nothing but black.
PANEL 2 - Exactly the same. Black.
1 CAPTION: W-w-what has...happened?
PANEL 3 - Black, but with a crease of groggy white across.
2 CAPTION: I-I CAN FEEL THE POWER!
3 CAPTION: So heavy it is upon my chest! Why, I'm almost...woozy from the pounding of this power in my head! The weight of the world rests in my han--!
PANEL 4 - Black, but that groggy crease is widening.
4 CAPTION: --I c-ca--can't m-move! What the --!
PANEL 5 - UPSHOT - His eyes have cracked open,and in HEAVY SILHOUETTE we can see a feminine form above us, long hair waving in the breeze. The exposed concrete rebar behind her shoulders vaguely resembles "wings".
5 FEMININE FORM: We got another one!
6 CAPTION: Angels...?!
PANEL 6 - SAME UPSHOT - Now fully focused, his eyes see what truly is above him. A FEMALE RED CROSS VOLUNTEER, in military khakis and the Red Cross insignia on her bicep and left chest pocket. She's calling out behind her.
7 FEMALE: Larimer! Soule! He's buried under rubble, gimme a hand!
8 CAPTION: No...it can't be...
PANEL 7 - DOWNSHOT - Wendall's eyes brim with tears, as a look of awe-stricken relief blooms across his flashburned and rubble-caked face. His crown/helmet is broken and dented.
9 WENDALL: ...we're not alone after all!
THE END
copyright 2006 Thommy Melanson ; all rights reserved
