By: Ricardo A. Serrano Denis
Panel 1: A shot of a wooden apartment door. It looks worn and it has a 6B on it, identifying the room number. A superhero lives here.
Panel 2: We’re inside a small, beaten down New York City apartment looking at one of our main characters, Mitchell Veidt, a.k.a. The Ghost (he is tall, sports a short crew cut, and his body is filled with battle scars—but not exaggeratedly so). He’s in the bathroom, shaving, and has nothing on except his boxers. The shot is from inside Veidt’s bedroom, the camera set across the open bathroom door where Veidt is. The shot is wide. We can see part of Veidt’s bed and a small desk, and desk chair, next it. There’s a radio/police scanner on top of the desk, next to it is an electric alarm clock that reads 6:45am. The scanner is how our superhero knows about on-going crimes. Veidt’s superhero costume is hanging from the desk chair. It is a half-white/half-black full body spandex suit that covers everything except his mouth (think of Mark Millar’s Nemesis). Veidt uses a brown trench coat over it (not too dissimilar to the one Rorschach uses in Watchmen), and a yellow utility belt (where he can carry small gadgets) to complete the outfit. There are two very fine black lines outlining the character’s eyes when in costume (they are both completely white on the inside).
Ghost V.O.: Another cold morning. Makes it harder to get up, get ready. I just hope criminals have the same reluctance to get out of bed on cold mornings as I do.
Panel 3: Close-up of an American Airlines plane ticket, flight 11. It’s a bit wrinkled, looking like it was in someone’s pocket for quite some time. We don’t see the whole ticket. Just the part with the necessary information. The flight is from Boston to Los Angeles. Boarding time is 7:35am. Departure time is 7:49am. Seat 8D (this is important), business class. The passenger’s name, also visible on the ticket, is Mohammed Atta. We don’t see the day’s date anywhere. This shot is supposed to align with the first panel, the apartment door being directly above the plane ticket.
Panel 4 & 5 (panel 5 is within panel 4): Panel 4- We’re in Logan Airport, Boston, and we’re focusing on Mohammed Atta, our second main character. He’s staring at a digital screen looking for the terminal where his flight will be departing from. The airport is very busy, with people walking all around Atta, carrying their luggage, trying to get to their gates on time. Atta is dressed in a long-sleeved blue shirt and black pants. He’s of medium build, black hair, and has strong dark eyes. He is carrying a medium-sized bag and a coat, resting on his arm. Panel 5- Inside this panel, in the bottom-left part of it, is a smaller panel (a panel within a panel) focusing on the time (6:45am) projected on the digital screen.
Atta V.O.: It’s 6:45am. I know it because I am looking at a big screen with flight terminals and their gates on it and it is telling me that 6:45am is the time. But, for a moment, I got confused and thought the numbers were actually counting down to something instead of telling the time. Perhaps I was not wrong in thinking that…
Panel 1: We’re back in Ghost’s apartment. This is a close up of Ghost’s alarm clock, reading 6:46am, and the radio/police scanner next to it.
Atta V.O.: …Perhaps they are.
Police Scanner: All units, possible hostage situation in progress, 350 5th Avenue, Empire State Building…
Panel 2: We see Veidt hunched down over the bathroom sink, cleaning his face. The shot is still from the bedroom. It is meant to evoke direct continuity from the previous page.
Police Scanner: …Suspect is white-male, armed, and dressed in a black dress suit and cape…
Panel 3: Veidt is now grabbing his costume off the desk chair. He is going to put it on. He is still in his boxers.
Police Scanner: …There are four other males, also armed, wearing Halloween masks…
Veidt: Aren’t they all?
Panel 4: Veidt is sliding into the white suit. It looks very casual. His yellow utility belt is laid out on the bed, close to him. Beside the belt is a grappling gun. He uses this to get around the city and as a combat weapon.
Police Scanner: …Small group, ten to fifteen people, trapped in 80th floor…
Panel 5: Veidt is now suited up, except the mask (which is part of the suit and is hanging from the back of his neck), and is now putting his trench coat on. He has put his utility belt on as well.
Radio/Police Scanner: …Dare to Dream exhibit area. Suspect has not made contact…
Panel 6: Side-shot of Veidt pulling his mask on over his face. We only capture Veidt from the waist up. The point is to focus entirely on Veidt putting his mask on. The mask is stretchy, so let’s make him pull the mask on quite a bit. We want to show that putting on the mask is not an exact science.
Radio/Police Scanner: …Proceed with extreme caution.
Panel 1: A close up of Atta’s wristwatch. His shirt sleeve is pulled back just a little so we can see the watch. The time on the watch is 6:52am.
Panel 2: We see Atta sitting down, holding a cell phone to his ear while looking at his wristwatch. He’s just listening, paying more attention to the time on his watch. There are more people sitting around the gatehouse. We see a large commercial plane parked outside, close to the gate. The plane is looming, looking enormous next to Atta.
Atta V.O.: My watch has stopped. 6:52am. This could mean many things in many different cultures. But that doesn’t matter right now. What matters is that I am being spoken to from the other end of the line. And yet…
Panel 3: We see Atta looking at someone approaching him. This is Abdul Aziz al Omari, Atta’s partner, so to speak. He looks younger than Atta. He has black hair, a long-sleeved white shirt, and grey pants. He is carrying a medium-sized bag. The age difference between the two would make anyone confuse them with being father and son.
Atta V.O.: …I was troubled. There is nothing more disconcerting than time standing still.
Omari: Is everything in order?
Panel 4: Omari is sitting next to Atta now. Atta is still looking at his watch while putting his cell phone away in his pocket.
Atta: <Next time you have a question, Omari, you sit down and you ask it in our language. Is that understood?>
Omari: <Yes. I apol—>
Atta: <Has your watch stopped?>
Note: There should be a small caption below the panel with an asterisk (*) that says that the spoken dialogue is translated from Arabic.
Panel 5: Omari checks his wristwatch while Atta looks at him, addressing him. It is basically the last panel with inverted roles.
Omari: <No. It’s running. It is five minutes to—>
Atta: <It’s ok. Give it to me.>
Panel 6: Close up of Omari and Atta exchanging the working wristwatch. We only focus on their hands.
Atta: <When the time comes, follow me, brother…>
Panel 1: Wide-shot of Ghost stepping out of his apartment through his bedroom window, pointing his grappling gun to the edge of another building. The outside of the apartment building is all brick. So we really just see a couple of windows in sequence and Ghost coming out from the window that’s closest, if not in the exact middle of the panel. He has his grappling gun ready. His grappling gun shoots a line he can swing from. He can retract the line so he can continue swinging in midair if he wants. It’s similar to Batman’s grappling gun.
Atta V.O.: <…Follow me.>
Ghost V.O.: There was a small life-style piece on The Times last week, asking people how I should be referred to. “What is The Ghost to New York City?” it read.
Panel 2 & 3 (panel 3 will be a smaller panel within panel 2): Panel 2- Side-shot of Ghost shooting the grappling gun towards the edge of building next to his. He’s still halfway out the window. We see the line from the grappling gun has dug itself into the edge of the next building, leading to the rooftop (the line is diagonal, Ghost shot his grappling gun from a couple of floors down in relation to the other building’s rooftop). The shot looks video game-ish, as if taken from an old school sidescroller (think David Ajá’s take on Hawkeye, the Christmas issue). Panel 3- this is a smaller panel located just below the line of the grappling gun, running with it. It shows Ghost being pulled by the gun up to the edge.
Ghost V.O.: ‘Concerned citizen’ was option A. A safe response if you ask me. Option B was more interesting, ‘a reflection of itself.’ Not sure how many people caught it, though.
Panel 4: Shot of Ghost jumping over the edge of the next building. He is going to land on the roof top.
Ghost V.O.: ‘Nut-job’ was option D, just below C, ‘Vigilante.’ ‘Hero,’ on the other hand, wasn’t in the running. The omission felt too deliberate.
Panel 5: Shot of Ghost walking across the rooftop, hands in his coat pockets.
Ghost V.O.: As if thinking that would imply quite a stretch of reality. Not that I care about these things. An identity is nothing if you don’t build it yourself…
Panel 1: We’re back to Atta’s story. We’re looking at three other Middle Eastern characters, all sitting together. They are Satam al Suqami, Wail al Shehri, and Waleed al Shehri. We are looking at them from Atta’s and Omari’s point of view. They are in the panel, their backs to the camera. The other three characters are looking forward, and we can see them in between the space separating Atta and Omari. Suqami has his wristwatch up to his ear. It appears to have stopped working as well.
Ghost V.O.: …Regardless of what people end up knowing you for.
Omari: <They should not have sat together, Atta. At the very least Waleed should have sat alone. Maybe we should tell—>
Overhead speaker: Good morning passengers. This is the pre-boarding announcement for American Airlines flight 11 to Los Angeles. At this—
Panel 2: Atta is now standing up, close to Omari. This is a wide shot where we can also see passengers forming a line to board the plane. The airport is busy, so we still see people moving around, trying to get to their gates. The point is to offer a stark contrast between the people who are going to board flight 11 and the people who aren’t. Atta stands out in the panel.
Overhead Speaker: —I repeat, have your boarding passes ready. This is a non-stop flight from Boston to Los Angeles.
Atta: <I will go make the line first. Don’t get up so fast. Take your time and then make the line. Be strong, Omari. We are nearly there.>
- The following panels run vertically, one next to the other. They are three individual beats in time.
Panel 3: We’re focusing on the gate’s entrance, the one that leads to the small tunnel that goes to the plane. There are people in line to get in. There is a flight attendant checking one of the passenger’s boarding pass. Atta is third in line to get in. There’s a digital clock atop the gate’s entrance. It reads 7:37.
Panel 4: Same shot but with the other three Middle Eastern characters in line. The flight attendant is checking Suqami’s boarding pass. The clock now reads 7:40.
Panel 5: Same shot, with Omari now going through the gate. The flight attendant already checked his boarding pass. The clock stands at 7:42
Panel 1: We’re back to Ghost’s story. This a page-long vertical panel of the Empire State Building. We can see it from top to bottom. There are police cars in the bottom. It is an establishing shot of sorts but it is also there to give the reader a sense of enormity, of how huge the building actually is. The rest of the panels on this page will be fitted to the right of this first panel.
Panel 2: We see Ghost standing on top of another building looking to the Empire State Building. There is one building between him and the Empire State.
Ghost V.O.: It takes a while, getting from Brooklyn to Downtown Manhattan.
Panel 3: Side-shot is of Ghost jumping from one building to another.
Ghost V.O.: Especially if you don’t want to loudly announce you’re about to the save the day. There’s a subtlety to this. You have to let yourself be seen…
Panel 4: Another Side-shot of Ghost running with his grappling aimed at the building across from him, the Empire State Building. (His aim should be in the direction of the Empire State Building panel)
Panel 5: Ghost is swinging in midair to the Empire State Building. We are looking at Ghost from a street level perspective. We can see both cops and civilians looking and pointing at Ghost as he swings in midair.
Ghost V.O.: …at the right moment.
Random Civilian: Is that Ghost?
Random Cop: If anyone gets killed in there, it’s on him.
Random Civilian: At least somebody’s doing something.
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