Saturday, December 22, 2018

Crisis Weekly #9

PAGE ONE

Panel 1 (splash)
Doomsday and Bloodwynd are clashing.  This is during the epic “Death of Superman” storyline, specifically the infamous Superman #75 itself.  There’s devastated Metropolis around them.  This page evokes, funny enough, Avengers: Infinity War, Captain America using both hands to hold back Thanos’ one hand.  I love that image.  I feel no compunction against borrowing it.  Bloodwynd has the same determination and strain showing on his face as Cap, Doomsday as he was during that whole storyline in full beast mode, roaring at him.

TITLE: “The Man Comes Around”
WRITER: Tony Laplume
 

PAGE TWO

Panel 1
Bloodwynd, in his present-day civilian guise, sitting at a desk in a darkened office.  He looks incredibly moody.

CAPTION: What they never talk about is the aftereffects of the superhero life.

Panel 2
A figure from behind about to open the door to this office.  We see on the glass the words BLOODWYND INVESTIGATIONS.

CAPTION: The toll it takes on you.  What it takes from you.

Panel 3
We’re still peering from behind the figure after he’s opened the door, and Bloodwynd is rising to his feet, a grimace of pain on his face.

CAPTION: Put another way, the names you’re most familiar with can be summed up thusly: they are the survivors.

Panel 4
Bloodwynd is offering his hand to the figure, whom we can see clearly for the first time, and suddenly we see quite brilliantly, as he wears a superhero costume, a bright gold one, a mask that covers his whole face (in the mode of Mister Miracle or Batman Beyond, so we can still see his mouth, in whatever way physics is supposed to explain that).  He’s got pearl white embellishments, including a belt, a plain circle on his chest, gloves and boots.  If you feel all this ought to be reflected in the previous two panels, so be it. 

CAPTION: They’re the ones who have emerged relatively unscathed by this life.  They were not maimed by the experience.

CAPTION: Not all of us are so lucky.

BLOODWYND: Zion.
 

PAGE THREE

Panel 1 (splash)
Like Superman #75, the Doomsday pages are all splash pages.  This also continues the alternating pattern of Crisis Weekly #8, including the silent nature of the flashback pages.  This page looks like the kind of action we’ve seen before in Crisis Weekly; Bloodwynd is unleashing his eye-blast powers on Doomsday.
 

PAGE FOUR

Panel 1
Present-day Bloodwynd is gesturing for Zion to sit down.

CAPTION: There are many obscure names I could recite, here, to give you an idea.  I have no doubt I would be among them, were someone else reflecting on this now.

BLOODWYND: Have a seat.

Panel 2
Bloodwynd and Zion are now seated in the office.  It remains darkened.  This is nighttime.  Zion’s costume somewhat adequately illuminates the panel.

CAPTION: But there are names you will recognize, too.

BLOODWYND: Naturally I was pleased when I learned you wanted to offer your assistance.

Panel 3
They continue to sit conversing.

CAPTION: There was a crisis that claimed two of our number, Ralph Dibney and Ray Palmer.  It was a complicated affair, but suffice to say, neither was ever the same again.

BLOODWYND: So few have wanted to talk with me about these matters.

Panel 4
They continue to sit conversing (Zion will be talking soon, worry not).

CAPTION: Dibney, the Elongated Man, was at one time known as one of the brightest of us.  Few enough of us know how his story ended, but it did end.  And it never continued.  This may sound like a redundant statement.  Sadly, it is not.

BLOODWYND: We have allowed fear to dictate events.

Panel 5
They continue to sit conversing (it won’t be on this page, however).

CAPTION: Palmer, the Atom, eventually was found, in the kind of microscopic reality he had obviously claimed as sanctuary, but had previously been merely the realm he was uniquely suited to explore.  He had walked away.

BLOODWYND: And it has compromised my efforts.  It has compromised all of us.

Panel 6
They continue to sit conversing.

CAPTION: He emerged a few times, nurtured a successor at times.  But he was never the same.  Eventually he hung up the costume.  But even that didn’t stop it from happening again, and I fear that this time we will have lost him permanently.

BLOODWYND: So again, I deeply appreciate your coming here tonight.
 

PAGE FIVE

Panel 1 (splash)
Doomsday is unleashing one of his devastating concussive blows on Bloodwynd, sending him flying.  This was a monster that decimated a Justice League with ease.
 

PAGE SIX

Panel 1
Close-up of Zion.

ZION: You needn’t be so kind.

Panel 2
Close-up of Zion.

ZION: We have all been compromised by the White Martians, and we haven’t even begun to understand the scope.

Panel 3
Close-up of Zion.

ZION: Not only in terms of who is secretly a White Martian, some of whom don’t even know it yet, but those who have chosen to align with them.

Panel 4
Close-up of Zion.

ZION: I came here tonight with some very specific intel that you’re going to find interesting: the President of Mexico, the Caballero, is a collaborator.

Panel 5
Close-up of Zion.

ZION: And what’s more, as El Dorado has been speculating, as I know he’s told you already, the Caballero is directly responsible for the Man-Bat crisis.

Panel 6
Close-up of Zion.

ZION: So it was no coincidence, the White Martian assault Martian Manhunter and President Reilly endured at the Capitol, under the guise of Man-Bat acolytes.

Panel 7
Close-up of Zion.

ZION: I can only speculate as to the identities of other White Martian infiltrators.  Except one, and I’m sure you will find this interesting as well.

Panel 8
Close-up of Zion.

ZION: You’re sure you’re ready for a bombshell?

Panel 9
Close-up of Zion.

ZION: Karma.

ZION: The so-called new champion of the world.  President Reilly’s so-called new best friend.

ZION: Yeah.
 

PAGE SEVEN

Panel 1 (splash)
Bloodwynd looks on with horror, in a prone position from the last horrible blow we saw, as Doomsday comes springing at him with both bone-protruding hands clasped together ready to strike again.  Crucially, we see Bloodwynd attempting to protect himself by bringing his legs upward to his chest. 
 

PAGE EIGHT

Panel 1
Close-up of Bloodwynd.

BLOODWYND: I had suspected both of these things.

BLOODWYND: I assume you have proof?

Panel 2
Close-up of Zion.

ZION: Of course.

Panel 3
Close-up of Bloodwynd.

BLOODWYND: I was tasked with ending a crisis before it truly began.  I haven’t been entirely successful.  The assault at the Capitol, even shielded from the media, is proof enough of that.  Eventually, even that will be known. 

Panel 4
Close-up of Bloodwynd.

BLOODWYND: We have been on the defensive this whole time.  I am more than a little tired of this.

Panel 5
Close-up of Zion.

ZION: Even superheroes can’t prevent bad things from happening.

Panel 6
Close-up of Bloodwynd.

BLOODWYND: By the very nature of our work.  Some confuse this point, and some are all too happy to exploit it.  They fundamentally misunderstand…

Panel 7
Close-up of Zion.

ZION: Bloodwynd, I know.  I know what this life cost you.  Why you now run your affairs out of an office.  Why you retired the costume.

Panel 8
Close-up of Bloodwynd.

BLOODWYND: I don’t speak of that.  

Panel 9
Close-up of Zion.

ZION: Relax.  I’m not here to hurt you.  I’m not going to expose you.
 

PAGE NINE

Panel 1 (splash)
Doomsday’s blow has landed.  Bloodwynd’s left leg has been completely shattered, and we see him howling in pain.
 

PAGE TEN

Panel 1
Close-up of Bloodwynd, who suddenly looks angry.

BLOODWYND: Do not threaten me. 

BLOODWYND: I know your secret, too, Zion.

Panel 2
Close-up of Zion.

ZION: Relax, okay?  I told you already, I am not looking to hurt you.

Panel 3
Close-up of Zion.

ZION: That has no relevance to these matters.  You can trust me.  No one knows what I know, what I don’t choose to tell them.  I have a great many secrets.

Panel 4
Close-up of Bloodwynd.  This is a silent panel.  He doesn’t look entirely mollified.

Panel 5
Close-up of Bloodwynd. He still has a scowl on his face.

BLOODWYND: It was not necessary to bring it up in the first place.

Panel 6
Close-up of Bloodwynd.  He still looks angry.

BLOODWYND: If you do not wish to threaten, please attempt to practice that discretion of yours.

Panel 7
Close-up of Zion.

ZION: And they say I don’t play well with others…

Panel 8
Close-up of Zion.

ZION: You know, there’s a reason, other than the obvious, why you were never exactly considered a team player.

Panel 9
Close-up of Zion.

ZION: And I’m not talking about your brooding nature.  I know all about brooding.  Brooding doesn’t alone prevent fruitful partnerships.
 

PAGE ELEVEN

Panel 1 (splash)
The broken Bloodwynd watches, in agony, from the ground as Superman slams into Doomsday.  The beauty of Superman #75 and its all-splash page glory is that there’s plenty of room around the action for moments like what we’ve been experiencing, Bloodwynd’s perspective on that momentous occasion.
 

PAGE TWELVE

Panel 1
Close-up of Zion.

ZION: And since we were already on the subject, it’s about trust, Bloodwynd.

Panel 2
Close-up of Zion.

ZION: From the moment you emerged, your whole time with the Justice League, you kept up a thick wall of silence. 

Panel 3
Close-up of Zion.

ZION: You never let anyone in.  You kept everything about yourself a big secret, a mystery.

Panel 4
Close-up of Zion.

ZION: And listen, I know about keeping secrets.  That’s my whole gig.  But that was taking it just a little too far.

Panel 5
Close-up of Zion.

ZION: They never even knew what else to call you, something other than “Bloodwynd”!  Anything!

Panel 6
Close-up of Zion.

ZION: So don’t sit there now and put on your wounded act and try to claim that it’s anything I said or implied or brought up that’s causing you to once again build your wall and isolate yourself, pal.

Panel 7
Close-up of Zion.

ZION: Because it’s not going to fly.

Panel 8
Close-up of Zion.  A silent panel.

Panel 9
Close-up of Zion.

ZION: We clear?
 

PAGE THIRTEEN

Panel 1 (splash)
Bloodwynd, grimacing all the more, is pulling himself up, clutching his leg.  It’s clear he won’t be able to stand on it.
 

PAGE FOURTEEN

Panel 1
Close-up of Bloodwynd.  He doesn’t look angry.  He has reverted back to his usual passive look.  A silent panel.

Panel 2
Close-up of Bloodwynd.  Same expression.

BLOODWYND: Thank you.

Panel 3
Close-up of Bloodwynd.

BLOODWYND: You have no idea how refreshing honesty is.

Panel 4
Close-up of Bloodwynd.

BLOODWYND: I needed to be sure I could trust you.

Panel 5
Close-up of Bloodwynd.

BLOODWYND: Rest assured, I would expect nothing less than what I have just endured from someone I am willing to trust.  It is, perhaps, something I picked up from the Martian Manhunter.

Panel 6
Close-up of Bloodwynd.

BLOODWYND: I never…had a secret identity.  My life has been a complicated one.

Panel 7
Close-up of Bloodwynd.

BLOODWYND: Call me Joe.

Panel 8
Close-up of Bloodwynd.

BLOODWYND: What do I call you, other than “Zion”?

Panel 9
Close-up of Zion, his mask peeled up above his mouth now.  We see that he has a brown mustache.  He’s flicking a match.

ZION: Malone.
 

PAGE FIFTEEN

Panel 1 (splash)
The famous final image from Superman #75, Lois cradling the dead Superman as Bloodwynd (he really is there in that image, too) and others observe.  We now catch no glimpse of pain on Bloodwynd’s face.  He once again has that steely resolve, that passive look.
 

PAGE SIXTEEN

Panel 1
Zion is leaving Bloodwynd’s office.  Bloodwynd is standing.

CAPTION: There are scars that are a little more literal than the ones endured by Ralph Dibney, by Ray Palmer.

Panel 2
Bloodwynd is once again alone, and has seated himself back down. 

CAPTION: During the Doomsday crisis, I endured something terrible.

Panel 3
Bloodwynd is still seated in darkness.  His expression has now settled on pain.

CAPTION: We all did.  Superman died.  I understand this.

Panel 4
Bloodwynd is reaching toward his left leg.

CAPTION: I have carried the pain of that day with me ever since.  I have never detected comparable residual effects in anyone else who was there, not even Superman, who came back from the experience apparently totally unscathed.  Not even Guy Gardner, whose face was smashed.

Panel 5
Bloodwynd is now rolling up his pant-leg.  We see his prosthesis for the first time.  It attaches at his thigh.

CAPTION: I don’t mean to suggest that I believe everyone else forgot, or that they don’t suffer psychological scars.

Panel 6
Bloodwynd has detached the prosthesis, and we see him staring at his stump, a blank expression on his face.

CAPTION: Anyway.  The worst of it is that I know what no one else knows.  Doomsday’s ultimate purpose.  And that he is coming back to finish what he started.

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