Saturday, February 2, 2019

Crisis Weekly #15

PAGE ONE

Panel 1
A foot.

Panel 2
A black panel.  Like last week we’re simulating movement in a nine-panel grid pattern.  This time we’re observing Bloodwynd’s limp.  As you will recall, last time we saw him in the spotlight (Crisis Weekly #9) we learned he has a prosthetic leg.  I indicated on the ninth page that installment that it was the left leg that was shattered and later amputated, so it’s the right foot we’re seeing every other panel.

Panel 3
A foot.

Panel 4
A black panel.

Panel 5
A foot.

Panel 6
A black panel.

TITLE: “House of the Rising Sun”

Panel 7
A foot.

Panel 8
A black panel.

WRITER: Tony Laplume

Panel 9
A foot.
 

PAGE TWO

Panel 1
Now we see Bloodwynd’s complete figure, from the back.  It’s clear that he’s limping, leaning heavily on his remaining leg.  He’s walking down the sidewalk.  It’s dawn, the sky showing blood red.  (That’s, ah, some subtle symbolism right there, in two ways.  “Red skies in morn, sailors warn.”  And the red skies of Crisis on Infinite Earths.)

CAPTION: Some days, I feel the absence of my left leg more.

Panel 2
We continue to watch Bloodwynd walk, but the vantage point is rotating.  We’re going to be seeing him more from the front as we go along.  We can see his hands bracing some imaginary object as he balances on his prosthetic.

CAPTION: Some days, it’s harder to tolerate the pain.  Some days it’s harder to forget what was taken from me.

Panel 3
The image continues to rotate as we now see Bloodwynd in profile, as he lands less heavily on his good leg than before.

CAPTION: I have to remind myself to walk straighter.

Panel 4
Bloodwynd walking steadily, no apparent problem here.

CAPTION: Someone once told me a Green Lantern ring takes a great deal of pain and effort to use, even if it doesn’t look likes it.

Panel 5
Bloodwynd, still in profile, is approaching the building where Bloodwynd Investigations is housed.  As we saw in classic gumshoe fashion previously on the door leading to his offices, that name is in fact on the door he’s opening now, in modest letters.

CAPTION: There isn’t room for pity in a superhero’s life, even one who is retired.

CAPTION: Mostly.
 

PAGE THREE

Panel 1
An image of Bloodwynd walking stairs.  You can imagine that it takes a great deal of effort, but again we see him giving no indication of discomfort or pain, his steely resolve once again dominating. 

CAPTION: Recently I was visited by a girl, no older than high school age, who told me something extraordinary, and introduced me to someone equally so.

Panel 2
Bloodwynd is now walking into his offices, holding the door handle as he goes.

CAPTION: Her name, as she gave it, was Bulletproof.  A superhero.  She handed me, perhaps, the last pieces of the puzzle.

BLOODWYND: Gentlemen.

Panel 3
We’re looking at Bloodwynd’s back again.  Assembled in front of him are Guy Gardner (once again in his yellow costume), Zion, and Iron Joe. 

CAPTION: After careful consultation with the president, I mobilized the CRU, the Crisis Response Unit.

GUY GARDNER: Took you long enough, pal.

ZION: Joe.

IRON JOE: Nice place you have here.
 

PAGE FOUR

Panel 1
A shot of the group conversing.

BLOODWYND: You all know what is at stake, our objective.

GUY GARDNER: Free the wetback.

BLOODWYND: Guy.

GUY GARDNER: What?  I’m joking!  You know me.  Don’t believe what the media says.  But…believe everything else.

ZION: Believe the hype.  Yeah. 

ZION: Sometimes I just want to punch you.  Just so you know.

Panel 2
The group continues to converse.

BLOODWYND: Now, I have a limited ability to mask our appearances.

GUY GARDNER: We’re gonna look like Man-Bats.  Personally I’m sick of Man-Bats.

IRON JOE: It’s not about what you look like, Guy.  You of all people ought to understand that.

Panel 3
Focus on Iron Joe.

IRON JOE: Anyway.  There’s something you should know. 

IRON JOE: The Russians have a centaur.

Panel 4
Guy enters the frame with Iron Joe.

GUY GARDNER: Our resident Russkie.  Awesome.  Thanks for that totally relevant intel.

IRON JOE: I was in Moscow for a reason.  We’re not just here to rescue El Dorado.  We’re the team tasked with mobilizing on his captor, too.  We’re going to need all the help we can get.

Panel 5
Focus on Zion.

ZION: Iron Joe’s got a point.  Moving against the Caballero won’t be easy, regardless of what we accomplish today.

Panel 6
Focus on Guy, looking smug.

GUY GARDNER: Whatever.  Enough chitchat.

GUY GARDNER: Let’s do this.
 

PAGE FIVE

Panel 1 (splash)
Some sort of hi-tech jet cutting through the air.

CAPTION: These are dangerous times. 

CAPTION: Not every crisis is obvious.  In the past we have been confronted with enemy forces far more directly.

CAPTION: It was easier to tell who the bad guys were, the confluence of worlds more spectacular.

CAPTION: There is more happening than is apparent.

CAPTION: There is, to use a phrase from pop culture, a man behind the curtain.
 

PAGE SIX

Panel 1
Three members of the CRU are now emerging from the jet masked as Man-Bats, shrieking.

Panel 2
We see Zion in the cockpit of the jet, watching his colleagues descend.  There is still a vast expanse of sky around them.  They’ve pulled this off high above the ground.

Panel 3
Our three Man-Bats are being greeted by other Man-Bats.  They’re all shrieking.

Panel 4
The Man-Bats are all flying off together.  Clearly the ruse has worked.  The jet is nowhere to be seen.  It flew off well before the meet-up.
 

PAGE SEVEN

Panel 1
Now the Man-Bats have entered the bunker where El Dorado is being held, flying down a corridor.

Panel 2
One of the Man-Bats is shrieking again as they approach the door to the room where El Dorado is being held.

Panel 3
The door has been opened and we see El Dorado, still strapped to a chair, in a pitiable state.  We see one of the Man-Bats flying away.

Panel 4
One of the Man-Bats, obviously from the CRU, is holding El Dorado’s magic cape now, rejoining the group.

Panel 5
A Man-Bat is shredding El Dorado’s bonds while the one holding the cape is tossing it at him.

Panel 6
The Man-Bats who aren’t part of the CRU finally realize they’ve been had and are turning on them.

Panel 7
El Dorado catches his cape.

Panel 8
He’s pulling the cape around the CRU, transforming back into their original forms, as the Man-Bats shriek and attack around them.

Panel 9
The Man-Bats are now alone, with mystified expressions on their faces.
 

PAGE EIGHT

Panel 1
Zion is looking behind him in the cockpit.  There’s nothing there yet.

Panel 2
Now the caped unit of El Dorado and the CRU has appeared in that space.

ZION: Welcome back.

Panel 3
El Dorado has collapsed.

Panel 4
Zion has turned back to the controls.

ZION: Gotta say, a lot of people would have assumed only Batman could’ve pulled this off.

Panel 5
Spotlight on Guy Gardner.

GUY GARDNER: Who the hell is Batman?

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