Crisis Weekly #6

PAGE ONE

Panel 1 (splash)

We’re inside the Oval Office.  Seated around President Lorraine Reilly (Firehawk, but still in her civilian guise) are, to her immediate right and left, Wonder Woman (wearing the cape she sometimes does, to appear more stately) and Vice President Emil Hamilton (a staple of ‘90s Superman comics and also featured in Zach Snyder’s Man of Steel, where he was played by Richard Schiff), and then Mexican Vice President Eduardo Dorado (El Dorado) next to Wonder Woman and new character Karma, an ambassador from India, next to Hamilton.  She’s dressed in formal Indian attire.  In the background is Bloodwynd, near Reilly, wearing shades to hide his eyes; looks like Secret Service.

CAPTION: The Oval Office

CAPTION: US President Lorraine Reilly (Firehawk)

CAPTION: Amazonian Ambassador Diane Prince (Wonder Woman)

CAPTION: US Vice President Emil Hamilton

CAPTION: Mexican Vice President Eduardo Dorado (El Dorado)

CAPTION: Indian Ambassador Fatima Sharma (Karma)

LORRAINE REILLY: Thank you all for coming.

LORRAINE REILLY: It’s my hope that we can stem this crisis in the bud, before it spins entirely out of control.

WONDER WOMAN: Madam President, I have little doubt that those assembled here today are among the best qualified in the world to accomplish that.  I’ve worked with and trust implicitly each of you.

TITLE: “Gimme Shelter”

WRITER: Tony Laplume
 

PAGE TWO

Panel 1

Close-up of Ambassador Sharma.

KARMA: The loss of public trust in superheroes.

KARMA: The assassination.

KARMA: The school shooting.

KARMA: The continued racial unrest within your country.

KARMA: Illegal immigration.

KARMA: This is quite an unholy conflagration you have here, President Reilly.

Panel 2

Close-up of President Reilly.

LORRAINE REILLY: You, ah, forgot about the spy problem. Iron Joe.  The matter that most unsettled public and indeed world trust in this government.

Panel 3

Close-up of Wonder Woman.

WONDER WOMAN: And the matter of the White Martians.  As a member of the Justice League, and more importantly a member when they were first encountered, the League that chose to solve that problem the way we did, I can’t help but feel personally responsible for them.

Panel 4

Close-up of Eduardo Dorado.

EDUARDO DORADO: There’s also not merely the matter of immigration itself, but the fact that my own president, the Caballero, is part of the problem.  We have an honest-to-god supervillain running things down there!

 

PAGE THREE

Panel 1

Close-up of Karma.

KARMA: Do you know why this isn’t a press conference?

Panel 2

Same as previous panel.

KARMA: Other than that asshole Jack Ryder, whom you’ve been doing everything to avoid?

Panel 3

Same as previous panel.

KARMA: Very presidential, by the way.

Panel 4

Same as previous panel.

KARMA: Because the term ‘superhero’ has become anathema.

KARMA: Because of you…Americans.

KARMA: And your allies.  Diana.

Panel 5

Same as previous panel.

KARMA: You went from leading the world.  To poisoning it.

Panel 6

Same as previous panel.

KARMA: And now it’s time for you to.  Go the way of Rome.

Panel 7

Same as previous panel.

KARMA: I’m saying, among other things.  ‘Wonder Woman’ is no longer welcome as an ambassador of.  Hope.  To the world at large.  Go play war games with the rest of the Amazons, Diana.  Wherever they are.  Hiding.

Panel 8

Same as previous panel.

KARMA: Isolated from the rest of the world.

Panel 9

Same as previous panel.  No dialogue.
 

PAGE FOUR

Panel 1

Close-up of President Reilly, looking perturbed.

LORRAINE REILLY: Ambassador Sharma.  Karma.  You can’t just sit there and…

Panel 2

Close-up of Wonder Woman, looking unsettled.

WONDER WOMAN: Actually, she can, Madam President.

WONDER WOMAN: She’s right.

WONDER WOMAN: I’m not bigger than any of this, and right now…I’m doing more harm than good.  After the Lord scandal…I don’t know how…

WONDER WOMAN: Even superheroes are accountable.  That’s what I’m saying.

Panel 3

Close-up of Vice President Hamilton.

EMIL HAMILTON: I hate to agree with Ambassador Sharma’s…harsh assessment, Madam President, or suggest that Wonder Woman, of all people, should be chastened, but let’s face it: sometimes the best response to a bad hand is to…fold. For the time being.

EMIL HAMILTON: The Justice League has been silent.  No one’s heard a word from Superman himself.

EMIL HAMILTON: The good guys already made up their mind.  They listened to the public.  And the public is angry, Madam President. 

Panel 4

Close-up of Dorado, who looks incredulous.

EDUARDO DORADO: President Reilly, Lorraine, you can’t just…

EDUARDO DORADO: Are you guys being serious?

EDUARDO DORADO: What happens when the good guys admit defeat?

EDUARDO DORADO: In the middle of a crisis?

 

PAGE FIVE

Panel 1

Close-up of Reilly, with Bloodwynd behind her, reacting to something we can’t at the moment see, looking off to the side and above.  Reilly is exhibiting new resolve.

LORRAINE REILLY: We’re not admitting defeat, Eduardo.

Panel 2

Close-up of Bloodwynd, still looking at something we can’t see, but the dialogue makes clear.

BLOODWYND: No.  Not now.

BLOODWYND: The bats, Madam.

Panel 3

The group all together again as they all look in the same direction as Bloodwynd, where there’s a flood of bats, more than we’ve seen in any one image since the page full of them back in the first week.  Everyone is united in horror.

EMIL HAMILTON: How did they get…?

Panel 4

At last we see our second of the two major villains of Crisis Weekly: Man-Bat!  He emerges from behind the flood of bats in attack mode.

MAN-BAT: You’ve been compromised!

 

PAGE SIX

Panel 1

Sharma is switching into costume, which is like the goddess mode of her civilian appearance, including the multiple arms of the Hindu god Ganesh.  Wonder Woman is drawing her sword.  We finally see Reilly burst into Firehawk, though Bloodwynd, who has removed his shades, is standing in front of her, his eyes smoldering red flames.  Dorado is removing his sport coat, under which we can see El Dorado’s cape.  Hamilton is, naturally, behind all of them.

Panel 2

Wonder Woman is charging ahead of the others toward Man-Bat.

Panel 3

The bats are surrounding Wonder Woman now, flooding her.  We can barely make her out.  She’s throwing her arms up in protection.

Panel 4

With one blow, Man-Bat knocks Wonder Woman aside.  Her sword is, additionally, falling out of her hand.

WONDER WOMAN: Ahh!

 

PAGE SEVEN

Panel 1 (splash)

Karma is unleashing a concussive blast of light against Man-Bat.  One of the immediate effects we can see on the page is that the bats are in retreat.

KARMA: Allow me.

 

PAGE EIGHT

Panel 1

Smoke is billowing around the Oval Office.  Wonder Woman is struggling to get back up.  Karma stands triumphant.  Bloodwynd has backed off Reilly, who still appears as Firehawk.  Further off we see Eduardo cloaked in the cape of El Dorado, obviously ready to take Firehawk elsewhere, clutching the sides of the cape, staring at Karma.  No sign of Man-Bat or his bats.

KARMA: There, you see?

Panel 2

Karma is offering her hand to Wonder Woman.

KARMA: The enemy is in retreat.

Panel 3

Eduardo, still looking less than satisfied, is closing his cape around himself and is already vanishing.  His word bubble is in small letters.

EDUARDO DORADO: Forgive me if I am not relieved.

Panel 4

Karma has now pulled Wonder Woman to her feet.

KARMA: A new day has dawned.

Panel 5

Karma is returning to her civilian guise.

KARMA: The rules are changing.

Panel 6

Firehawk has likewise changed back into Reilly.  Bloodwynd stands beside her.  He doesn’t look any more pleased about all this than Eduardo.

KARMA (off-panel): And we’re all going to have to adjust accordingly.

Crisis Weekly #5

PAGE ONE

Panel 1

We see Eduardo Dorado, El Dorado, at night, standing looking up at the moon.  He has a dufflebag slung on his shoulder.  He is dressed in civilian clothes.

EDUARDO DORADO: Give me the strength…

Panel 2

As Eduardo reaches into the dufflebag, and looking down at it, we see bats fluttering across the night sky.

Panel 3

His hand still in the dufflebag, Eduardo is once again looking up at the moon, at the bats.

EDUARDO DORADO: They come again.

Panel 4

Eduardo has now pulled free a cape from the dufflebag.  Unlike the simple one he wore in Super Friends, El Dorado’s cape in Crisis Weekly is ornately designed, evocative of the ancient Aztecs.

EDUARDO DORADO: Let them come.

TITLE: “Desperado”

WRITER: Tony Laplume
 

PAGE TWO

Panel 1

Eduardo has begun running, securing the cape around his neck as he does so.  The cape flaps around him dramatically, because that’s always a cool visual.  The bats are descending from the skies behind him.  We become aware that the landscape around Eduardo is barren, on the border between Mexico and the US.

CAPTION: I don’t know why they meddle in these affairs, but the bats always appear to harass the migrants.

Panel 2

We see Eduardo approaching a group of huddled migrants.  He holds the sides of his cape flared outward.  The bats are hovering just around them.

CAPTION: They can try.

EDUARDO DORADO: It’s okay.  I’m here to help.

Panel 3

Eduardo throws the cape around the migrants, closing it as he does so.

EDUARDO DORADO: They can’t follow us where we’re going.

Panel 4

There’s a blank space where Eduardo and the migrants had been.

Panel 5

Eduardo and the migrants have reappeared, under the mass of the cape.
 

PAGE THREE

Panel 1

Eduardo is lifting his cape, and the migrants have astonished looks on their faces.

CAPTION: The cape allows me to help.  It has been in the family for generations.  My father liked to say it went all the way back to the old days, before the conquistadors, when it served a more ceremonial purpose. 

Panel 2

Eduardo is once again reaching into the dufflebag.  The migrants are standing a little ways off, watching him curiously.

CAPTION: There are days I would like to know what purpose, exactly, it served, in those days.  I honestly can’t imagine a better one than it serves now.

Panel 3

Eduardo is handing a package to the migrants.

EDUARDO DORADO: Take it.  It contains food, money.  Enough to get you started, anyway.

Panel 4

The migrants are bodily expressing gratitude to Eduardo now.

CAPTION: I knew Chavo as a boy.  The rest of them, they’re strangers.  But they don’t need to thank me for what I’ve done tonight.  Sometimes I wish they didn’t.  It would make it easier.

 

PAGE FOUR

Panel 1

The migrants have begun walking away.  Eduardo watches.

EDUARDO DORADO: Would you believe there was a time when the great “El Dorado” worked alongside the Justice League?

Panel 2

Alone now, Eduardo’s expression falls.

CAPTION: But that was a long time ago.  A lifetime.  It doesn’t seem real anymore.

Panel 3

In fact, Eduardo is now collapsing entirely.

CAPTION: Sometimes I doubt they even remember.  If anyone does.

 

PAGE FIVE

Panel 1

Eduardo is in a hospital bed.

CAPTION: The one drawback of using the cape is that it drains me physically.

Panel 2

A doctor, a woman, is looking at his chart.

DOCTOR: You’re going to have to take it easy for a few days, Eduardo.

Panel 3

The doctor is now looking at Eduardo directly.

DOCTOR: Don’t think I don’t know who you are, what you do. 

DOCTOR: Everyone knows, Eduardo.

Panel 4

The doctor continues to talk.

DOCTOR: You’re doing a great thing.

PAGE SIX

Panel 1

Eduardo is walking out of the hospital.  The dufflebag, with the cape inside is, is once again slung over his shoulder.

CAPTION: It’s humiliating, the “superhero” needing to be rescued from the effects of his own heroics.

Panel 2

Eduardo walks the streets.  There are people loitering about.

CAPTION: Sometimes I wonder if I’m truly accomplishing anything at all, if it’s really just my vanity.

Panel 3

Eduardo continues walking.  We see Bloodwynd in the panel, loitering like everyone else, dressed like everyone else, identifiable by his distinctive white eyes, which he is not trying to hide here in Mexico.

CAPTION: People say I’m doing good, and I guess I am, but it never seems to be enough.

Panel 4

Eduardo continues to walk.  He’s passed where Bloodwynd was standing.

CAPTION: After all, the migrants are always there.  Always wanting to go there.  Am I really helping them?

 

PAGE SEVEN

Panel 1

Eduardo is walking into his house, placing the dufflebag down by the door as he does so.  Contrary to the poverty we’ve seen around him, Eduardo’s home is actually nicely furnished.

CAPTION: Fortunately, like a lot of superheroes, El Dorado’s secret identity is capable of doing things, too.  “Eduardo Dorado” might have a less flourish sound to it, but there are benefits.

Panel 2

Eduardo is walking to his bedroom now.  A servant has appeared behind him, holding the dufflebag.

SERVANT: Should I put in the usual place, sir?

EDUARDO: The cape?  Thanks, yes.

Panel 3

The servant is holding the cape and opening a secret closet, next to the one Eduardo himself is opening, which is filled with suits.

Panel 4

The servant is closing the secret closet again, as Eduardo looks at a suit.  He looks less than excited.

EDUARDO DORADO: Time to save the day.
 

PAGE EIGHT

Panel 1

Exterior of Los Pinos, the Mexican equivalent of the White House.

CAPTION: This is where “Eduardo Dorado” works.  Los Pinos.  Home of the Mexican president.

Panel 2

Eduardo, now dressed in formal wear, is walking the corridors of Los Pinos, filled with staffers wandering about.

CAPTION: Mexico hasn’t had a vice president in a hundred years.  The dubious means by which our current president took office, I thought I owed my country service, regardless of who I’m serving under.

Panel 3

We’re entering the office of the president, whom we met at the beginning of Crisis Weekly: the Caballero, who is standing to greet Eduardo.  Caballero still wears his luchador mask, but a different one, more ornate, though it is still fashioned to look like a bat.

CAPTION: He calls himself the Caballero.  I have other names for him, but none of them are polite.  One of them sums them all up: El Dorado’s archnemesis.

EDUARDO DORADO: Mister President…

Crisis Weekly #4

PAGE ONE

Panel 1

We see an older model car driving down the road.  Not only is this an older car, but it’s obviously banged up.  Obviously the driver doesn’t have a ton of money to spend on these things.  There’s no indication that it’s going fast, but there’s also no reason to believe it’s doing anything particularly wrong.  No damage to the taillights, either.  Also important to note that it’s nighttime.

CAPTION: “His daring life of crime…”

Panel 2

But somehow a cop car still shows up behind it with flashing lights to pull it over.

CAPTION: “…Made him a legend in his time.”

Panel 3
The two cars are pulled over and the cop has gotten out and is walking toward the old car.  The cop has red hair.  We’ll find out shortly that it’s our old friend, Guy Gardner.  The driver of the old car is a black man, and we’ll find out shortly that it’s Bloodwynd.  We see Guy from the back and Bloodwynd from the side.

TITLE: “The Ballad of Billy the Kid”

WRITER: Tony Laplume
 

PAGE TWO

Panel 1

Now we see Guy Gardner properly as he approaches the driver of the old car, whom of course we know is Bloodwynd but we still can’t properly identify him, as he’s looking forward and we’re looking on from the side, so we can’t see his distinctive eyes yet.  Guy has grown back that beard and mustache look he had in the pages of Red Lanterns.

GUY GARDNER: Okay.  License and registration.  No funny business.

Panel 2

Bloodwynd is reaching into the glove compartment, so obviously we still can’t see his eyes.  Guy looks impatient.

Panel 3

Bloodwynd is still rooting around in the glove compartment.  Guy still looks impatient.

Panel 4

Bloodwynd is still rooting around, Guy still looks impatient.

GUY GARDNER: Look, is this going to take all night or summat?

Panel 5

Bloodwynd has now located the registration and is handing it over to Guy.  His eyes are downcast, his manner meek, as Guy continues to look impatient.

GUY GARDNER: What are ya, mute?  Know why I pulled you over?

GUY GARDNER: Okay, forget this.  Step out of the car.  Hands where I can see them.

Panel 6

Bloodwynd is emerging from the car, hands raised with documents in them, eyes still downcast.  Guy’s hands are resting on his belt, one planted firmly on his service pistol.

Panel 7

We see that Guy has shoved Bloodwynd roughly against the side of his car and has begun patting him down.

GUY GARDNER: Don’t have anything I should know about, do ya?

Panel 8

The pat down continues.

GUY GARDNER: Y’know, this would be going a lot more smoothly if you just stopped resisting.

Panel 9

Guy’s hand has reached for his club.
 

PAGE THREE

Panel 1 (splash)

Bloodwynd has turned around, only he’s no longer an anonymous black man but very clearly Bloodwynd, in all his awesome ‘90s glory (metaphorically speaking, as…I’m one of the few fans nostalgic about him an’ all).  Which is to say, in full white bodysuit and black cape garb.  He’s literally glowing, lighting up the whole page.  You’d think his eyes would be glaring but his look is entirely benign.  His arms are outstretched, holding up his cape like Bela Lugosi used to as Dracula.  Guy looks completely astonished, and incidentally he’s also facing us, with his head turned around, as if he turned in fright, the club falling out of his hand to the ground.  This is also to say, we can see his named listed as “Gardner” on his uniform.  Bloodwynd’s word bubble is of course ringed by his distinctive red fringed outline, which is one of the reasons why we didn’t hear him talk before, to help emphasize this moment and surprise (for anyone theoretically seeing this as an actual comic rather than reading it as a script).  We can also see that Guy is wearing the yellow ring for the first time in this particular script, the first real confirmation we’ve had of that fact.

BLOODWYND: Guy Gardner, you ignorant slut.

 

PAGE FOUR

Panel 1

Now that he’s revealed himself so spectacularly, Bloodwynd has reverted back to civilian clothes, and has a meek expression on his face.  Of course, he still has his distinctive totally white eyes, which is another reason why we never saw them before.  Guy still looks completely astonished.

GUY GARDNER: Bloodwynd…!

GUY GARDNER: Oh my god!

Panel 2

Bloodwynd continues to stand by his car patiently.  Guy is suddenly looking apologetic, his hands raised out in front of him, no longer threatening or reaching for weapons.

GUY GARDNER: Bloodwynd…!  How was I s’pposed to know it was you?

Panel 3

We see Bloodwynd frowning.

Panel 4

Bloodwynd is reaching down for the fallen club.

Panel 5

Bloodwynd is handing the club back to Guy.

Panel 6

Bloodwynd is still frowning as he finally replies.

BLOODWYND: Why would it have mattered?

 

PAGE FIVE

Panel 1

Guy suddenly has a friendly posture.  Bloodwynd has not changed his expression.

GUY GARDNER: Bloodwynd, buddy! 

GUY GARDNER: Long time no see!  How long’s it been?

Panel 2

Bloodwynd has no immediate response.

Panel 3

Bloodwynd continues to frown as he responds.

BLOODWYND: Not since the Doomsday business, I imagine.

Panel 4

Guy is running his hand through his hair with an abashed look on his face.

GUY GARDNER: Yeah.  That.  Nasty business.  None of us came out looking good after that one.

GUY GARDNER: ‘Course, Superman dyin’ an’ all…

Panel 5

Flashback panel to Guy in the immediate aftermath of Doomsday smashing his face, his eye sockets completely crushed, that ridiculous bowl haircut that artists finally moved past.  Of course he’s also in that blue costume we’ve been referencing in Guy’s previous Crisis Weekly appearance, and although we can’t see it, has the yellow ring the first time.  This callback to Doomsday will prove more significant in later weeks as we revisit Bloodwynd’s experiences related to it, so this also amounts to a teaser and preview of sorts.

 Panel 6

Guy is stroking his jaw, back in the present. 

GUY GARDNER: Face still hurts.  Case you were wondering.

 

PAGE SIX

Panel 1

Bloodwynd and Guy continue to talk.

BLOODWYND: This was unnecessary, Guy Gardner.

Panel 2

Same as previous panel.

BLOODWYND: This business of pulling me over.  Because I am black.

Panel 3

Guy is suddenly looking defensive.

GUY GARDNER: Whoa, whoa!  Let’s not be hasty here!

Panel 4

Bloodwynd shoots Guy a look.

Panel 5

Same as previous panel.

BLOODWYND: Guy Gardner.  Do not lie to me.

 

PAGE SEVEN

Panel 1

Guy has begun leaning against the side of Bloodwynd’s car.

GUY GARDNER: What kin I say?  It’s been rough recently.  Been under a lot of stress.  You have no idea.

Panel 2

Same as previous panel.

GUY GARDNER: Okay, I admit it.  Okay?  I don’t even know why.  Okay?

Panel 3

Same as previous panel.

GUY GARDNER: It wasn’t even black people.  It was White Martians. 

Panel 4

Guy is looking at Bloodwynd, searching for sympathy, of which he is receiving none.  Bloodwynd is blank, stoic.

GUY GARDNER: I know, I know.  The White Martian business was after your time in the League.  Technically after my time, too, but I was still active in the field.  You weren’t.  But we all know you spent time trapped inside J’onn.  You knew about the White Martians, right?  You know what I’m talking about?

Panel 5

Bloodwynd doesn’t immediately respond. 

Panel 6

Same as two previous panels.

BLOODWYND: I know about the White Martians.

Panel 7

Another silent panel as Guy continues to look at Bloodwynd, this time with a curious expression.

Panel 8

Guy looks amused.

GUY GARDNER: “Ignorant slut”?

Panel 9

Guy is smiling.

BLOODWYND: A cultural idiom.  I heard it on TV once.  I was trying to fit in.

 

PAGE EIGHT

Panel 1

Guy has stood back up from Bloodwynd’s car, getting ready to go back to his squad car.

BLOODWYND: Guy Gardner.  Wait.

Panel 2

Guy has turned back toward Bloodwynd.

BLOODWYND: About the White Martians.

BLOODWYND: I have agreed to investigate them for President Reilly. 

BLOODWYND: Regardless of what happened here tonight, I would appreciate your help.

Panel 3

Guy looks relieved.

GUY GARDNER: Yeah.  Sure.  Anything I can do, buddy.

GUY GARDNER: Sorry about all this.  Swear I’m not bad.

Panel 4

Bloodwynd is responding, but he’s also distracted.  He’s looking upward.

BLOODWYND: No, you’re simply Guy Gardner.  You cannot help yourself.

Panel 5

We pan upward and see what has caught Bloodwynd’s attention: a swarm of bats in the night sky.

Panel 6

Bloodwynd continues to look toward the sky.  He is alone in this panel.

BLOODWYND: Bats…

Crisis Weekly #3

PAGE ONE          

Panel 1

Exterior of Wesley Dodds High School.

CAPTION: The end of the world begins with a bang.

Panel 2

Exterior of Wesley Dodds High School, this time with flashes coming from one of the windows.

SFX: Bang! Bang! Bang!

TITLE: “It’s the End of the World as We Know It (and I Feel Fine)”

WRITER: Tony Laplume

PAGE TWO

Panel 1

This is of course a school shooting, and now we’re in the interior of WDHS, in the classroom with the shooter, with students trying to find cover all around him.  We see bodies already fallen.

CAPTION: Even if you’ve heard about this a thousand times, it doesn’t prepare you to experience it personally.  It just can’t.  How could it?

Panel 2

Panning around the room we see that it is a science room, and that the teacher is Ray Palmer, the erstwhile Atom.  He has a little pin on his tie with the Atom symbol on it.  He’s as pinned down as anyone.  No heroics from a superhero today.  He’s clearly traumatized by what’s happening, but still trying to shield some students from the bullets.

CAPTION: That’s Mister Palmer.  We’re not supposed to know anything about it, but he’s Ray Palmer, the Atom.

Panel 3

Panning further around the room, our as-yet unidentified narrator has now drawn our focus to Marty Kirby, one of the students.  He’s a slightly overweight youth who’s as terrified as anyone else in the situation.

CAPTION: That’s Marty.  Marty Kirby.  We’re not friends, but I-I know his name.  After today, Marty’s going to be living a very different life.  He’s going to be curious for the first time ever about the namesake of Wesley Dodds High School.  He’s going to become the new Sandman, and he’ll investigate why this happened.

Panel 4

Finally we see the narrator as the pan around the room.  We see a girl more or less in front of the shooter.  She’s got freckles and out-of-control red hair.  Her name is Rachel Rogerson. 

CAPTION: That’s me, Rachel Rogerson. 

PAGE THREE

Panel 1

Exterior of WDHS again as the same window flashes again.

SFX: Bang! Bang! Bang!

Panel 2

Exterior with the same window flashing.  One final shot.

SFX: Bang!

 

PAGE FOUR

Panel 1

Police have entered the school, and the students are scattering.  We see Marty among them.  Ray Palmer is talking with a cop.

CAPTION: The normal thing to say here would be, “It happened so fast.”

Panel 2

Down a corridor where everyone is streaming in the opposite direction except the police.

CAPTION: Except it wasn’t fast.  Everything happened in slow motion.

CAPTION: I can remember all of it, and I don’t think that’s ever going to change.

Panel 3

We follow the cops back into the room. 

CAPTION: How can I forget?

Panel 4

Now we’re back in the room, and we see nothing but dead bodies, and Rachel.  We see bullet holes in her clothes, but no blood.  She’s in complete shock.

CAPTION: But there are no words that can describe any of it, and there never will be.

 

PAGE FIVE

Panel 1
Ray Palmer has helped escort Rachel from the room, and there are emergency workers ready to attend to her.  Ray looks remarkably calm.

CAPTION: It’s everything that happens after that’s a blur.  Meaningless.

Panel 2

As the EMTs check Rachel out, Ray Palmer remains at her side.  His face is full of grief now that he doesn’t have to remain strong for her.

CAPTION: They want me to call it “survivor’s guilt,” what I’m feeling, as if that will make it better.

Panel 3

The EMTs are leaving, and Ray Palmer remains with Rachel, holding her.  She’s crying.

CAPTION: I’m crying and I don’t know why.

Panel 4

Rachel’s parents have arrived, and Ray Palmer is letting her go.

CAPTION: I don’t feel anything.

 

PAGE SIX

Panel 1

Rachel is sitting in her room.  It’s filled with the typical accoutrements of a teenage girl’s interests.  Apparently the big boy band phenomenon of the moment is BTS, so there’s lots of posters of them on the wall.  We see that Rachel is wearing different clothes, but holding the old ones in her hands, though she’s not looking at them.  She’s not looking at anything in particular, in fact.

CAPTION: I don’t mean that figuratively.

Panel 2

Rachel continues to sit in her room.

CAPTION: I don’t feel anything at all, emotionally.  Physically.

Panel 3

Rachel continues to sit in her room.

CAPTION: And suddenly I have no idea when that started.

Panel 4

Rachel continues to sit in her room.

CAPTION: And that scares me the most of all.

 

PAGE SEVEN

Panel 1

Rachel’s parents are at the door of her room, trying to coax her out.

CAPTION: I’m like that guy in the movie, who found out he was invincible, and tried to remember if he’d ever been sick.

Panel 2

Rachel’s parents continue to try.

CAPTION: I look back, and try to remember if I ever felt anything.  Surely someone would’ve noticed?  Someone would’ve cared?

Panel 3

Rachel’s parents continue to try.

CAPTION: I don’t mean to suggest my parents are monsters or anything, but it’s easy to get caught up in life, if nothing ever makes you stop and pay attention.  That can happen to anyone.

Panel 4

Rachel is reluctantly getting up.

CAPTION: Sometimes the most obvious thing in hindsight is impossible to see beforehand.
 

PAGE EIGHT

Panel 1

Rachel is morosely seated at the dinner table.  Her parents are once again trying to encourage her.

CAPTION: The EMTs examined all the bullet holes in my clothes. 

Panel 2

Rachel continues to pretend she’s interested in sitting at the table.

CAPTION: There were no wounds behind the holes.  There were fifty-two holes.

Panel 3

Rachel is still at the table.

CAPTION: The shooter killed everyone else he hit. 

Panel 4

Rachel is getting up.  Her parents look on sadly.

CAPTION: So, I’m bulletproof.  Yay.