I was watching Silverado tonight and it's even better than I remember. And I remember it as one of the greatest Westerns ever.
About ten years ago, I wrote a Western that I was happy to find wasn't a rip off off Silverado, unconscious as that ripping off might have been. I put together a four-page comic pitch that I published in an ashcan of my writing samples back in 2006.
Since nothing's come of it, I might as well share. Art here is by Bill Mitchel.
Oh, and go watch Silverado. It's available for streaming on Netflix.
PAGE ONE – FOUR PANELS
Panel 1:
This shot should take up a third to half of the page. We see a long distance shot of a small farm in with the Rocky Mountains in the background. Think Little House on the Prairie without the prairie.
SFX: (small): BLAM BLAM
Panel 2:
The remaining panels are side-by-side across the bottom half of the page. In this one, CORDELIA, a baby girl, is laying in the dirt crying.
SFX: (extend unbroken over remaining panels) WHAAAAAAA
Panel 3:
Pulling back, we see a dead woman lying near CORDELIA. Fresh blood is oozing from bullet holes in her back.
CAPTION: I don’t know. I don’t think we’re supposed to kill the kid too.
Panel 4:
Pulling back even further, we’re now watching the scene over the shoulders of two gunmen, STACY and ERNEST, who have their guns drawn.
ERNEST: (off panel) Of course we’re supposed to kill the kid too.
Alternatively, you could do this as one large image split into three panels giving CORDELIA, the dead woman, and the outlaws each their own panel.
PAGE TWO – SIX PANELS
Panel 1:
Low angle looking up at ERNEST and STACY (CORDELIA’s POV) who have their guns pointed at the baby. STACY is the bigger and younger of the two. ERNEST is thinner and older. Neither seems very happy about pointing a gun at an infant.
SFX: WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
ERNEST: You hear those stories about guys who come for revenge because their parents got killed when they were kids. Where do you think those guy come from?
Panel 2:
STACY lifts his gun.
STACY: I… I didn’t sign up to kill any babies.
Panel 2:
ERNEST gestures with his gun.
ERNEST: Remember in MacBeth? He finds out his uncle killed his dad to marry his mom so he kills his uncle.
Panel 3:
ERNEST and STACY argue, ignoring the baby.
STACY: That’s Hamlet.
ERNEST: No, it’s MacBeth.
Panel 4:
STACY looks off into the distance, away from ERNEST but NOT BEHIND THEM! ERNEST looks at STACY, rolling his eyes.
STACY: Where’s Walsh? He’d know.
ERNEST: Walsh never read MacBeth...
Panel 5:
STACY looks back at ERNEST to clarify.
STACY: No, he’d know if we’re supposed to kill the kid.
ERNEST: Of course we’re supposed to kill the kid. We were hired to kill the whole family and the kid’s part of the family.
Panel 6:
STACY aims his gun at CORDELIA again.
PAGE THREE – SIX PANELS (2 per row)
Panel 1:
STACY lowers his gun and turns to ERNEST again.
STACY: Then you do it.
Panel 2:
ERNEST and STACY look at the crying baby. ERNEST is hesitantly chewing on his lower lip trying to find an excuse to get out of infanticide.
ERNEST: I… I shot the lady. You shoot the kid. It’s only fair.
Panel 3:
STACY is yelling to the side. ERNEST cringes at the loudness.
STACY: WALSH!
Panel 4:
STACY shrugs.
STACY: I just want to make sure before I do thi-
Panel 5:
A bullet bursts through STACY’s chest.
SFX: BLAM
Panel 6:
Two more holes tear through ERNEST’s chest as STACY slumps forward to the ground.
SFX: BLAM BLAM
PAGE FOUR – FIVE PANELS
Panel 1:
ERNEST falls in the foreground. Behind him, we see a man holding a pistol with smoke pouring from the barrel. This is TAYLOR. He is a cold, dangerous looking man with a noose dangling from his neck, the end of it frayed. He looks like he’s been roughed up recently.
SFX: WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
Panel 2:
Stepping forward, TAYLOR keeps his gun on STACY, making sure the two are really dead.
Panel 3:
STACY and ERNEST lie face down on the ground. TAYLOR turns toward CORDELIA.
Panel 4:
Barreling forward, he sweeps her up in his arms, still holding the pistol in his right hand.
TAYLOR: Shh… shhh… it’s all right. Daddy’s here.
Panel 5:
He holds CORDELIA tightly to his chest as he looks down on his dead wife.
TAYLOR: Stop crying. Daddy’s got you. You’re safe now.
Ultraviolet by Patrick Scherberger
Here's another sketch from the long lost sketchbook. Patrick Scherberger drew this for me at Atomic Comics during Free Comic Book Day in 2009, about a year before SECRET IDENTITY CRISIS came out. I get the feeling there is little else an artist dreads more than when someone steps up says, "This is a character I made up myself. It's not anything that's published yet, but I want you to draw it and treat it with the same respect you would Batman or Captain America," but Patrick barely rolled his eyes when I showed him Chris's cover on my laptop.
Dr. Malcontent by Todd Nauck
I'm about to move again. I've only been in this place about seven months and hadn't even bothered to unpack all my boxes. I opened up one of them and found a sketchbook that I hadn't seen in years, and in it were some Nate Banks sketches, including this Todd Nauck take on Dr. Malcontent from Phoenix Comicon 2007.
We got a good review from a kid who goes by Rustin Hieber, though I'm going to guess that's not his real name...
I am working on a new project with Joe Bowen. I can't say too much yet, but as the artwork rolls in, I want so badly to share. As if reading my mind, Joe decided to knock out a teaser poster of one of the characters from the book, Intrepid, a superhero with a fairly large ego.
I got this along with an email explaining, "I drew up Intrepid doing the Hulk Hogan pose, because I thought that was awesome."
I hope to have more to tell you about this and another project I am doing with Shannon Denton around the time of San Diego Comic Con.
It's been about a year or so since Joe Bowen and I put together our pitch for this story, and I feel selfish for keeping this artwork all to myself.
Major Liam Quatch just might be the Special Air Service’s best soldier, but you don’t get to the top without drawing the attention of some enemies... especially when you’re a Bigfoot.
This proposed three-issue series tells the story of Quatch as he returns from the front lines in Afghanistan only to find himself framed for the murder of a soon-to-be-appointed Deputy Minister of Defence in London. Quatch has no choice but to clear his name the only way he knows how... with over the top action sequences!
But as Quatch learns more about the plot against him, he finds himself deep in mystery... and deep in Loch Ness.
Come on! Tell me you don't want to read that!
Chris and I got interviewed by the I Have Issues guys at Phoenix Comic Con. You can watch it at 17:23, but feel free to watch all the other guys, too.