"Writing, at least fiction writing, we must not forget, is nothing in the world but
the most highly conventional form of picture painting."
-William Foster-Harris, The Patterns of Plot

One of the benefits of having a website is that it brings me into contact with other writers I might never have otherwise had the opportunity to meet. Even better, many of these writers, inspired by the comics material on my website, tell me they would like to try writing comics and ask me for advice about how to write a comic book script.

The first thing I tell them is, if you are going to write a comic book script, do it for the fun, because chances are that script is never going to sell. The comics market has been depressed (I know it has made me depressed) since 1994, although it did show signs of maybe turning around during 2001. Even if the market does rebound over the next few months and years, most comics publishers, taking a cue from Hollywood studios and New York publishers, no longer accept unsolicited submissions.

So most comic book writers, to be blunt, write comic book scripts more for the pure love of the medium and the joy of collaborating with pencillers, inkers, letterers, and publishers than the money. Well…some pencillers, inkers, letterers, and publishers. There are a few stinkers in every crowd.

If you want to know how to write a comic book script, first learn how to tell a story. After all, you would not write a screenplay before knowing the basics of storytelling. The same principle is true for comic book scripts. If you are already a competent writer, great! Let me start you off with a homework assignment. All you have to do is run down to your local comics shop and buy yourself a cheap copy of DC Comics’ MAN OF STEEL #3. You can probably find one in a quarter box.

Got it? Okay, now read the following excerpts from my how-to manual on writing comic books, PANELPLAY. These excerpts will not tell you everything you need to know to write a comic book script, but they do provide the basics to help get you started.

Good luck!

Be a True Professional

A comics writer writes stories for comics.

Try saying that three times fast.

Writing stories for comics is not the same as writing novels, screenplays, short stories or stage plays. Comics writers write comics stories.

But riddle me this: "What is comics?"

You might be surprised how many writers working in the comics industry cannot answer that question. Stumped, some will pick up a comic book, hand it to you and say, "Two of those is comics."

A professional in any field should know what he is doing, but a random sampling of contemporary comic books today suggests that an overabundance of writers have no clue what they are doing. There are too many comic books with stories that are top-heavy with words, or consist of one powerful image after another with no concern for plot and character development, or that make no sense and leave the reader confused about what is happening.

Don't make these mistakes. Learn what is comics. Take pride in your work and become a true professional.

What is Comics?

Comics is a medium.

A medium is a form of communication.

When people communicate they transmit information.

Movies, TV, radio, newspapers, magazines, novels and computers are media. So are telephones, speech, Morse code, sign language, and smoke signals.

Each of these is a medium, a unique form of communication.

For example, movies and TV seem similar. That is because they are audio-visual media that communicate by marrying sound—speech, music, sound effects—with images. In spite of this similarity, however, movies and TV are different media.

A movie is a sequence of images projected on a screen in such rapid succession that, due to the persistence of vision, create the optical illusion of moving persons and objects.

In TV images are transmitted by radio carrier waves or over wires to a receiver such as a picture tube.

Besides being audio-visual, movies and TV are also verbal-visual media. This means they combine words and images to transmit information. Comics is a verbal-visual medium, too. However comics is not an audio-visual medium. It is a literary medium. A cartoon, comic strip, or comic book has to be read.

The Definition of Comics

Comics is a sequence of images with dialogue and narration included inside the images.

That is the definition of comics.

Learn it. Live it. Love it.

The job of a comics writer is to write stories that can be communicated through a sequence of images with dialogue and narration included inside the images. Write anything else, and, no matter how good it is, it is not comics.

Comics, like all media, has its own unique limitations.

The most obvious limitation is the lack of sound. All speech must be communicated through balloons or captions, and any noise described by the story's script or represented by sound effect words like POW, BAM or WHOOSH.

Another big limitation is space. Spot cartoons like In The Bleachers and Dennis the Menace only have 1 panel to communicate. The average daily newspaper comic strip ranges between 1-4 panels. Comic books and graphic novels vary in the number of pages they contain, but no matter the number of pages the typical comic book page is restricted to an average of 6 panels. A comics story must conform to these space limitations. The medium cannot conform to fit the story.

Limitation number three may be the biggest restriction. Comics is a collaborative medium. Story and art must work together in comics, so the writer and artist must work together to create a comics story. That is not always easy to do, especially if you are passionate about your work. Nevertheless there is no getting around this limitation even if you are a writer-artist, a one-man team that can write and draw his stories.

The best way to begin to learn how to write comics is to study other comic book stories and dissect them. Break them down. Get under their skin and find out what makes them tick.

Look at the first three pages from MAN OF STEEL #3 by John Byrne. Byrne, a writer and artist, is a craftsman who knows a story must grab a reader at once. "That means page one, word one," writes Syd Field in his screenwriter’s handbook SCREENPLAY.

Comic books have historically started with a splash page—a striking picture that monopolizes an entire page—on the first page to grab the reader's attention. Byrne, a master at hooking readers with beautiful or stirring splash pages, opts for something different in MOS#3, pushing the splash page to PAGE TWO.

So how does Byrne make PAGE ONE in MOS#3 a grabber?

By turning the reader into Batman.

The reader sees what Batman sees on PAGE ONE because the camera's POV—point of view—is Batman's POV. We are Batman, so to speak. Byrne also draws the reader into the story by forcing the reader to scan PAGE ONE. Not read, but skim, reaching the last panel before he realizes what he is doing. Byrne lays out the panels in a simple grid of 3 tiers of 9 panels, 3 panels of equal size in each tier, and employs no words, which would interrupt the eye as it travels down the page.

"What's Batman doing?" the reader wonders. "Why is he chasing this crook?" Byrne has dangled his hook, and the curious reader turns the page.

PAGE TWO is our splash page, a Full-Page Shot (FPS) of Batman standing over Bull. "You're wasting my time, Bull," Batman says, the story's first words. "You know how I hate having my time wasted."

We find out through dialogue how Bull is wasting Batman's time on PAGE THREE.

"She's going to strike again, Bull. I know she is. But you know something more. You know where. And you're going to tell me." Bull won't talk. Whoever this woman is, Bull is more intimidated of her than Batman, even after the hero threatens to hurt Bull. "And you'll stay hurt. Now spill it. Every second you waste my time here is a second in her favor. Eight people have died already. I'm not going to tolerate any more deaths. Now talk. Where does she plan to strike next?" Instead Bull hurls garbage into Batman's face.

This is hardly the most original opening ever written, and it is certainly not an action opening like RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK, but Byrne makes the most of his story by the way he uses words and pictures.

Byrne employs interesting visuals to begin his story (e.g., the POV perspective on PAGE ONE), then is careful not overload the reader with information, but rather entice the reader with dialogue hints on PAGE THREE.

Who is this woman Batman is after?

Why did she kill eight people?

Why is she going to kill again?

All of these questions will be answered in the proper time. Field is right when he writes, "The reader must know what's going on immediately," and Byrne does that. What Byrne does not do, but many beginning writers do, is make the mistake of trying to tell everything right away. All this mistake accomplishes is boring or intimidating the reader and leaves you with no story to tell.

But Byrne has done much more than this on these pages. Things that too many comics writers take for granted as the purview of his collaborators, the penciller and inker, but that the writer can and should have as much say in as any artist drawing his story.

"It is the writer's and artist's job to supply the reader with a stream of panels which show selected highlights from the action of a story," says comics writer and editor Alan McKenzie in his excellent textbook How To Draw and Sell Comic Scripts. These selected highlights are called the story's breakdown.

The breakdown is a definite stage in communicating your comics story, one of four graphic elements of comics art. These four elements, as defined by comic book communication pioneer R.C. Harvey in his COMICS JOURNAL article "A Lingering Look at the Comics Art of Marshall Rogers", are

narrative breakdown: the division of a story into panel units

composition: the arrangement of images within a panel

layout: the arrangement of panels on a page and their relative size and shape

style: the way a writer uses words or an artist handles pen or brush

Take a look at the narrative breakdown, composition, and layout in MOS#3. Remember that the way Byrne employs them are as much Byrne's style as the way he writes dialogue or draws Batman.

With its basic grid of 3 tiers of 9 panels and 3 panels of equal size in each tier, the narrative breakdown and layout of PAGE ONE are uniform. These 9 panels convey a sense of time within the story by creating an uniformed rhythm in the reader's mind, each panel ticking away like a second hand circling a clock.

Byrne disrupts this rhythm with the splash page on PAGE TWO, using the large panel to give Batman's introduction both visual and narrative impact, Batman dominating the scene as much he dominates Bull.

Uniformity is reestablished on PAGE THREE, where panel 1 is the same height as panels 2 and 3. All three panels are rectangles, as is panel 4, but this last panel is so thin that its size momentarily disrupts the uniformity metered out by panels 1-3.

Contrasting with this uniformity is these pages' composition, which incorporates a great deal of variety. While all 9 panels on PAGE ONE are seen through Batman's POV, the camera moves in five, or over half, of the panels. The first panel's establishing shot of Gotham City on a dark and stormy night and the descent into the alley are cinematic, reminiscent of the work of self-conscious film directors such as Orson Wells (CITIZEN KANE), Alfred Hitchcock (PSYCHO), Stephen Spielberg (JAWS), and George Miller (ROAD WARRIOR). Byrne even places Batman's trademark bat-symbol in the middle of the page, at the heart of PAGE ONE'S center panel, a conceited but clever touch these directors would probably approve.

Panels 5-9 use the same camera angle—a medium shot of Bull—but notice that the backgrounds from panels 1-4—the rain, the buildings, the garbage—are gone. Getting rid of these background details allows the composition in panels 5-9 to concentrate on Batman's vicious beating of Bull. The only disruption in this relentless pounding occurs in panel 7, where Batman pauses to look at Bull for two storytelling reasons: 1.) to establish Bull's physical identity, and 2.) permit the reader to see the helpless terror in Bull's eyes and on his face.

PAGE TWO belongs to Batman. His position, posture, and attitude demands the reader's attention just as it does Bull's. The hero looks as formidable as the Cyclopean brick walls rising beyond him on either side of the alley. Batman blocks the alley's only exit, but the chances of Bull making an end-round past this human gargoyle appear remote, especially with the camera angle creating the illusion that Batman is as tall and imposing as the skyscrapers in the background behind him.

Batman's visible domination over Bull carries over to PAGE THREE. Even though Batman and Bull are physically about the same size, in panel 1 Batman appears to be much bigger than Bull because he monopolizes ³/₄ of the panel. Bull is literally and figuratively shoved into a corner, where his blonde hair, pale skin and white t-shirt pale besides Batman's dark blue cowl and cape.

Panel 2's camera perspective is the same as panel 1, but the camera angle changes from a full shot to a close-up. The bricks in the background are now in focus, their presence underscoring Batman's determination to get what he wants from Bull. Again the dark blue of Batman's mask overshadows Bull's pasty perspiring skin. The iris of Bull's eye has just about vanished, constricted like an alley cat's with fear, while Batman's eye is a narrow slit resembling a knife blade.

Panel 3 incorporates two special effects. First, PAGE TWO'S illusion of the alley's walls raising up and out of view forever is repeated. The panel's upward camera angle is even the same as PAGE TWO, reminding the reader of Batman's impressive dominance from the FULL-PAGE SHOT. The hero is still blocking the way out of the alley, but escape for Bull seems even more impossible than PAGE TWO, in large part due to the second special effect: except for his hands Batman's costume is inked in black, which all but eclipses Bull's lighter colors. Batman no longer seems at all human but has metamorphed into something like a Scandinavian Night Elf, a creature stitched out of the remnants of the night.

Which brings us to panel 4, the page's smallest and most important panel. The camera angle here is the same as panel 3, but, as it did between panels 1-2, the camera pans in for a CLOSE-UP. Panel 4 is a wordless panel—except for the sound effect SPLAT!—and it is the only panel on PAGE THREE to depict action. Thanks to the sound effect this panel—unlike the 9 wordless panels on PAGE ONE, whose uniformity created a sense of passing time—has a photographic feeling. Any good action panel should catch its activity at its height, at its most energetic, and this panel does that, but because of its size and because it has no dialogue this panel disrupts the narrative breakdown and layout of the previous three panels. Byrne takes advantage of the fact that comics is a static verbal-visual medium to freeze time in panel 4, if only for a moment.

The narrative breakdown, layout, and composition of these three pages are simplistic but they are anything but simple. They have been designed by someone who knows what he is doing to attract immediate reader interest in the story, introduce the reader to the characters Batman and Bull, establish their relationship (Batman wants Bull to rat out a psychopath before she can kill again), and tell the story in an entertaining and understandable manner. That much is obvious.

What may not be obvious is that these graphic elements have been manipulated so this opening scene climaxes with the last panel of PAGE THREE, where Bull beats the odds and escapes Batman's grasp by blinding the hero with a fistful of refuse, hence terminating the conflict between Batman and Bull, at least for now. What is unusual is that John Byrne, our writer and penciller, has highlighted this climax not with a large panel, as may be expected, but with a diminutive one. (In relation to the preceding panels on PAGE THREE, panel 4 is dwarfed by the three panels neatly stacked like crates on top of it.)

This approach is the least obvious, but sometimes the least obvious approach to storytelling can be the most effective. It also demonstrates careful consideration and planning on Byrne's part in the breakdown of his story, evidence that Byrne takes pride in his work and works hard to entertain his reader, a "mark" or "signature" of a professional writer or artist.

So What Does a Comics Script Look Like?

There are as many different ways to write a comics script as there are writers, but most can be broken down into four formats:

Plot script

Full script

EC style

Kurtzman style

Comics professionals often refer to plot scripts as "writing Marvel style" and full scripts as "writing DC style," because of these publishers’ preference for these respective formats.

In a plot script the writer breaks his story down into individual pages. The writer might include dialogue but does not "script" (i.e., compose all captions and dialogue) until the artist has drawn the story in pencil.

In a full script the writer breaks his story down page-by-page and panel-by-panel, describing what he wants to appear inside each panel, including all captions and dialogue.

Plot script and full script are the most popular formats in the comics industry, but there are some writer-artists who do use the Kurtzman style, which is attributed to the late Harvey Kurtzman, renowned editor of EC Comics’ TWO-FISTED TALES. With this style the writer breaks down his story into "page roughs" or "thumbnail sketches." Captions and dialogue are jotted down inside these roughs. An artist, either the writer or someone else, draws these roughs on full-size art board. Frank Miller (DAREDEVIL, DARK KNIGHT RETURNS) and the late Archie Goodwin (MANHUNTER, STAR WARS), both excellent artists as well as writers, favored this style and got excellent results.

The EC style, as far as I know, has gone the way of the dodo. The last artist I know to use even a variation of it is Jim Aparo, best known for his outstanding run on DC’s BRAVE AND THE BOLD during the 1970s. Attributed to the late William Gaines, Kurtzman’s publisher at EC, it is similar to Kurtzman style, except the writer submits a tight plot to an artist, who breaks the plot down into panels that are laid out on art board. The writer writes all captions and dialogue, which are pasted inside these panels, and then the artist draws the story around all of this paste up. It is a laborious and restrictive way of creating comics, with flaws that can be compensated by grandmaster artists like Aparo or EC’s Al Williamson and Wally Wood, but can swamp any artist of lesser caliber.

Plot Script and Full Script Examples

Below are examples of a plot script and full script.

The plot script is excerpted from my script for MIGHTY 1 #2, and the full script from my script for TATTERS #2. If you go "Current Works" on my home page menu and click on "Mighty 1" or "Tatters", you will samples artwork for these pages by Chris Jones and Aldin Baroza.

Do not forget, these are just examples of a plot script and full script. Every writer I know has developed his own unique variation of each format, within common sense, over the course of his career. If you stick it out, more than likely you will do likewise.

And please do not just use these as format examples. A good comics writer puts himself in his artist’s shoes, and you can practice this by reading my scripts and trying to imagine how the art would look like if you were drawing it. Are my directions clear? Do you agree with the way I break down a particular scene? Then go to Chris or Aldin’s pages and compare what you came up with to what they did. (If nothing else I hope you will at least notice that there is no one best way for a writer to break down a story’s scene or for an artist to draw any scene. You will definitely discover that an artist does not always follow your script to the letter. Aldin, for example, takes my two pages of script and turns it into three pages of art!)

PLOT SCRIPT FOR MIGHTY 1 #2 (pp.1-6)

PAGE ONE: A FPS dominates page. This is an ESTABLISHING SHOT of MIGHTY THREADS, a small warehouse/clothing factory on the first floor of the building where CHRISTINA PUISSANT lives (SEE "Free Publicity," PAGE 1, PANEL 4), nestled in New York City's garment district (SEE REFERENCES). An awning hangs over the front door as well as a large picture window, and both awnings have the name MIGHTY THREADS screenprinted on them. Two or three mannequins stand behind the picture window, modeling original superhero costumes. Outside a 19th-century crook-neck antique gas lamp stands beside MIGHTY THREADS' front walk, renovated and converted to electricity to add a touch of class to the establishment. In the street in front of MIGHTY THREADS are trucks of all shapes, sizes and ages, parked to make deliveries or pick up orders, while pedestrians make their way up and down the walk and between the trucks, carrying clothing boxes or portfolios or pushing carts stuffed with clothes on hangers. The place is well-rehearsed confusion. 

THREE SMALL CIRCULAR INSERT PANELS are situated around this FPS. The first is a MCU of CHRISTINA, smiling in that cute confident little MIGHTY 1 way; the second has a MCU of ANTONIO MASTRONI (SEE REFERENCE of young Dean Martin); and the third is a MCU of GINA VALLONE (5'9", 120 lbs., has a hard Italian face that isn't beautiful but not unattractive, sort of like the lead chick from BOSTON BOMBERS, except her hair is Swiss blonde instead of Sicilian black). These characters are identified by placing their names inside CAPS that arch across the bottom of each individual's panel. In CAPS we read, "New York's garment district, 2:03 p.m. Time for Christina Puissant's life to change forever." Inside the building an OP JANET says, "Ginnie! Get away from there!"

title: REAL TRUE HEARTBREAKIN' ROMANCE

PAGE TWO: CUT INSIDE the shop to MIGHTY THREADS' reception area and final fitting area. The reception area is in front, consisting of a large semi-circular sofa and a circular coffee table, a Mr. Coffee machine and a tray of cups and saucers as well as a small pile of fashion magazines and mangas piled on the table. The walls are decorated with neutral paint, oak wainscoting, and framed posters of some of CHRISTINA'S superhero costume designs. KRISTIE ANN OWEN (Irish, 34, 5'5", slightly overweight, ginger hair with touch of gray, green eyes, dressed in fashionable navy slacks and sky-blue long-sleeve blouse) is relaxing on the sofa and trying to ignore JANET and GINNIE by sipping coffee and reading a copy of the April '97 American Spectator (SEE REFERENCE OF COVER ART). JANET and GINNIE, meanwhile, are in the final fitting area (mannequins, mirrors, sewing equipment, squat platforms for customers to stand on to allow for easier tailoring and alterations, and cubicals with curtains used for changing booths), where JANET has caught GINNIE trying to peak at an OP customer (JONATHAN PENN) inside one of the changing booths. "You want us slapped with a sexual harassment suit? Behave!" GINNIE is hardly deterred. "But, Janet, he's so dreamy! And that accent...!"

KRISTIE doesn't take her eyes off of magazine as she comments, "The gal's got a point. He's fine."

JANET acts as if she is a trifle tempted to sneak a peak herself but maintains her stance. "True, Kristie...but, dang it Ginnie!, we're professionals. Let's act it."

SCENE CHANGE to CHRISTINA on rollerblades in the middle of typically congested NYC traffic somewhere in the garment district. (In CAP JANET says, "Speaking of which, where's Christina with our client's costume?") CHRISTINA is skating at top speed, a clothing box tied shut with twine tucked under one arm, her face flushed with Norman impatience. "Why am I always running late?" she thinks to herself.

PAGE THREE: In a series of PROGRESSIVE PANELS running across the top of page, we watch from a STRAIGHT-DOWN PERSPECTIVE as CHRISTINA artfully zig-zags her way through the traffic. "I didn't think I'd be at the leather-workers so long," she thinks as she daringly threads through the trucks and cars. In last panel of this tier CHRISTINA cuts it particularly close to a black Cadillac, causing its driver to hit the brakes to avoid her.

CUT INSIDE the black Caddy for a 2-SHOT of GINA (riding shotgun, dressed in a two-piece Steve Ditko gangster suit and short-brim fedora) and her driver ROCKO SALCE (45, second-generation Italian-American, 6'4", 240 lbs., built like a gorilla and twice as ugly, dressed in casual slacks and polo shirt). GINA gives CHRISTINA the Italian salute as the rollerblader glances over her shoulder to apologize to the Caddy's occupants. All GINA has to say back is, "Watch where yer goin', ya midget!"

CUT to MIGHTY THREADS three minutes later as CHRISTINA comes bursting through the door, holding high the clothing box as triumphantly as Macduff carrying Macbeth's head. "I've got it! Where's Johnny?"

PAGE FOUR: KRISTIE points a thumb towards the changing rooms. JANET and GINNIE act embarrassed as KRISTIE reports to CHRISTINA, "Ask those two. They've been keeping an eye on him."

CHRISTINA skates up to the changing room's curtain like an indignant Mother Superior. She whispers, "I expect this from Ginnie, but you, Janet?", then louder to the OP PENN, "Here's your togs, Johnny."

PENN'S hands reach out from the changing room to accept the package, affording CHRISTINA with an unexpected glimpse of the OP PENN wearing next to nothing. "Super!" he thanks a slightly flustered CHRISTINA, who tries not to blush. "Uh...my...pleasure...really." As the curtains close JANET and GINNIE give CHRISTINA the hairy eyeball while CHRISTINA tries to act as if nothing has happened. "Qu'est-ce que c'est?" JANET and GINNIE'S rebuttal, "Put a sock in it, you cream puff."

Meantime the shop's front door opens and GINA and ROCKO ENTER. ROCKO ganders at any babes in the posters as GINA snarls at an unimpressed KRISTIE, "Hey, are youse in charge?" KRISTIE jerks her thumb towards changing rooms again. "Back there. They're ranked by decreasing height."

GINA does not understand, which makes her impatient, which makes her angry. An anger that flares like gasoline on a fire when CHRISTINA skates up. "Kristie means the shortest girl's in charge." GINA recognizes CHRISTINA a spare instant before ROCKO. "You?!"

PAGE FIVE: GINA wastes no time bending down and getting in CHRISTINA'S face, suddenly enjoying this job. "Lissen, Frenchie, we gotta talk." CHRISTINA: "A `Frenchie' is a broasted sandwich, and I don't gotta do anything." But GINA disagrees, poking a finger into CHRISTINA'S chest. "You don't understand who I am, Frenchie." CHRISTINA: "I understand you'll have to learn to dial a phone left-handed if you don't move your finger."

This tit-a-tat is interrupted by the OP voice of PENN, who says in French, <"They are gangsters, Mdlle. Puissant, seeking protection money."> GINA and CHRISTINA look in the OP PENN'S direction, GINA comically stunned by PENN'S good looks ("Woof!") and CHRISTINA forgetting about the rude woman, delighted by what she sees PENN wearing. "Johnny, you look terrific!"

Next panel is a nice view of PENN standing in front of the changing room, its curtains drawn back, dressed in his leather battle outfit, one hand sparkling with magik energy. JANET and GINNIE are admiring PENN in BG, one girl on either side of the changing room. <"Thank you. It fits quite well. Shall I break it in?">

PAGE SIX: CHRISTINA is horrified by PENN'S suggestion. <"Before your final fitting. Certainly not!"> Our heroine turns to look way up at ROCKO and points at her shoulder. "Hey, Hercules, wanna play chicken? You can go first."

ROCKO grumbles, "Smart-mouth broad." Punches CHRISTINA hard in the shoulder. Grabs his fist in agony, having broken a few knuckles. CHRISTINA sweetly peeks around ROCKO to ask KRISTIE in French, <"Are we insured?"> KRISTIE answers, <"Only for fire and acts of God."> CHRISTINA: <"Please open the front door.">

Next panel CUTS OUTSIDE to the street for a FS of ROCKO sailing out of MIGHTY THREADS' front door, arcing like a wedge shot over the traffic on a course that will drop him on the sidewalk across the street. (CHRISTINA in CAP: "Look both ways before you cross the street, Hercules!")

Back inside the shop GINA can only gape at the OP front door ("Holy Holly! He cleared the street!"), while CHRISTINA clasps her hands behind her back and does an exaggerated shy Shirley Temple impersonation ("I always got As in gym.").

FULL SCRIPT FOR TATTERS #2 (pp. 22-3)

PAGE TWENTY-TWO:

Pnl 1: INT., DAY

FS of gym/studio, where four more DECOY GANGBANGERS wearing ski masks (not counting the two on the stage) have arrived to simultaneously cover the cowed audience as well as make certain the CAMERAMEN and FLOOR MANAGER keep working so what is happening here will be broadcast. All four SECRET SERVICE AGENTS who had been guarding the gym's exits are dead. IMPORTANT: Somehow the drape over ISAIAH'S graffiti has come at least partially down so we can see a healthy sample of his interpretation of the Ten Commandments. On stage D.G.#1 still holds DeWITT captive and D.G.#2 is still covering LYNN and SMABY.

CAP:

From here the plan is a cake walk.

#2:

Kill DeWitt and any Secret Service grunts still breathing.

#3:

Then sweep the audience to cover their escape.

Pnl 2: FS

of one of the DECOY GANGBANGERS (D.G.#3) standing in front of the wall with the spraypaint Ten Commandments, his attention centered on the audience and TV crew in front of him. He fails to notice that TATTERS is stepping out of a shadow behind him.

CAP:

Simple. Nothing can go wrong now.

TATTERS(WB):

pssst

Pnl 3: P.O.V. SHOT

TATTERS' P.O.V.: CU of D.G.#3 who turns to look at us and falls prey to the OP

TATTERS' mesmeric powers. The eerie light from TATTERS' eyes are reflected in D.G.#3'S eyes as well as the skin directly around his sockets.

D.G.#3(small letters):

UHHN!

TATTERS(WB):

Do like I say!

Pnl 4: FS

of stage as D.G.#1 and D.G.#2 (who has turned away form LYNN and SMABY to look at D.G.#1) prepare to instigate the last stage of the assassination plan.

D.G.#1(to DeWITT):

You were right, G. Ain't nobody safe these days!

#2(to D.G.#2):

Whack 'em.

D.G.#2:

Done.

Pnl 5: 4-SHOT

D.G.#2 turns around to discover that TATTERS has appeared behind LYNN and SMABY, the hero startling the woman as D.G.#2 falls prey to TATTERS' mesmeric stare.

D.G.#2(small letters):

UHHN!

TATTERS(WB):

Do like I say!

LYNN:

It's you!

 

PAGE TWENTY-THREE:

PANELS 1-4 RUN IN A ROW ACROSS TOP OF PAGE

Pnl 1: THIN PANEL

MS of the fourth DECOY GANGBANGER getting shot through the head by a bullet from OP D.G.#3. (NOTE: D.G.#3 is using a high-caliber weapon, so instead of creating a crater of an exit wound, the bullets in this and proceeding panels simply pierce their targets without creating massive amounts of blood and gore.)

CAP(TATTERS):

"Sorry. Can't talk now."

SFX(OP gunfire):

CRACK

D.G.#4:

***!

Pnl 2: THIN PANEL

MS of fifth DECOY GANGBANGER being taken down by another head shot from the OP D.G.#3 a second after PANEL 4. (Hey, that D.G.#3 is a crack shot!)

D.G.#5:

Hey--***!

SFX(OP gunfire):

CRACK

Pnl 3: THIN PANEL

MS of sixth DECOY GANGBANGER managing to fire his own round at OP D.G.#3 before becoming the third person in the gym to die in the last three seconds.

D.G.#6:

It's Lonni--***!

SFX(OP gunfire):

CRACK

SFX(D.G.#6'S gunfire):

K-BLAM

Pnl 4: THIN PANEL

FS of D.G.#3 being slammed into the wall behind him from the impact of D.G.#6'S bullet piercing his chest. This bullet ricochets off the wall, taking off a large hunk of the word NOT from YOU SHALL NOT KILL. Meanwhile D.G.#3 reflexively triggers on more round as he dies.

D.G.#3:

Guh--***!

SFX(gunfire):

CRACK

SFX(ricochet):

bu-tack

Pnl 5: FS

of stage as D.G.#2 takes aim and drills D.G.#1 through the left eye. DeWITT cringes in reflex. TATTERS is diving towards DeWITT. LYNN can only watch, frustrated and outraged to be helpless when she is needed most.

D.G.#1:

***--!

SFX(gunfire):

BAM

TATTERS:

Don't move, Jeff!

Pnl 6: 2-SHOT

TATTERS grabs the terrified DeWITT even as the hero's cape wraps around the President like a Venus Flytrap.

DeWITT:

Keep away!

TATTERS: