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.