History Illustrated: TV Vietnam

History Illustrated: TV VietnamBy: Ricardo SerranoPage 1

Panel 1: Front-shot of an old, 1960s television. We’re inside an average white American living room. Television was a privilege back then. The TV is displaying a group of American soldiers rushing a Vietnamese village.

Caption: It was the Sixties. Kennedy had died and having a television was a thing of privilege. Something to be proud of.

Panel 2: We see a soldier with a flamethrower spraying the village with fire. There’s chaos in background. We’re still looking at these images from the TV set, in the living room.

Caption: But it was a privilege that came with a price. It made the horrors of the world an inescapable reality, and they came in a variety of channels.

Panel 3: Still a front-shot of the TV from the living room, the TV showing a burning hut in the village. We see a burning body next to it.

Caption: The Vietnam War was one such horror. This was a war America would lose.

Panel 4: Same scenario, TV in the living room, but now with a reporter interviewing a soldier as the village’s destruction plays on in the background.

Caption: The myth of the country’s innocence would shatter. America's soldiers became the bad guys, both in the countries they fought for and against.

Soldier being interviewed: ---should be proud. We’ve got a bunch of nasty killers fighting for freedom here.

Panel 5: Shot of the television being shut off, the image basically turning into a thin line of static.

Caption: It would not be last war to be televised.

History Illustrated: 9/11

History Illustrated: 9/11

By: Ricardo Serrano Denis

Page 1

Panel 1: Shot of the Twin Towers standing tall on the 11th of September, 2001. It’s a bright sunny day, and the towers are shinning.

Caption: The Twin Towers fell on a bright day. A perfect day to go outside and look up.

Panel 2: Same shot but with a small flock of birds flying before the Towers. It’s as if they’re crossing the space the Towers occupied.

Caption: Earlier that day, just as America was waking up, a group of terrorists hijacked four planes.

Panel 3: Same shot but with one of the planes flying towards the first tower, not hitting it as of yet.

Caption: Two of them hit the Towers, one for each.

Panel 4: Shot of one of the Towers up in smoke, but collapsed yet.

Caption: They would fall, America would lose its confidence entering the new millennium, and war would once again become the status quo.

Panel 5: Shot of the Towers, one smoking, the other still standing as the second plane approaches in the background.

Caption: 2,996 people died that day. Almost immediately, the twenty first century started to look a lot like the twentieth, a century people desperately wanted to forget.

Animal Days by Ricardo Serrano

Hawkeye, Fraction (w) and Ajá (a).

Animal Days

By: Ricardo A. Serrano Denis

This story is about the things that survive the end of humanity. It follows a group of dogs surviving a post-Apocalyptic world in which new monsters roam the streets without paying much attention to anything other than the stray human survivor. These dogs form their own alliances, and they have a knack for betrayal. I'm going for a 28 Days Later meets The Warriors meets White God with this one. Here's a sneak peek.

Animal Days

Page 1

Panel 1: Side-shot of a German Shepherd, called Pope, walking down a ransacked cereal aisle in a deserted grocery store in Zodiac City (a big West Coast city known for being dog-friendly to a fault). The store is small and looks like it was tossed over in a hurry by people who knew packaged meats and canned goods were quickly about to become a thing of the past. We see torn cereal boxes, cereal spilled around the floor, broken shelves. This is what a grocery store looks like after the apocalypse, which hasn’t shaken Pope’s hope of finding what he’s looking for.

Pope VO: You have to wait it out. Not panic.

Panel 2: Same shot but with Pope advancing further down along the aisle (Pope’s in the middle of the panel). We see more food, boxes and cans, strewn about. We also see rotting food on the floor, flies hovering over it.

Pope VO: The trick is to let people fight for their stuff first, and to watch it all from a safe distance. Very bad stuff will happen.

Panel 4: Same shot but with Pope now looking up as he walks. He’s found what he was searching for and it is just off-panel. He’s walked past a badly decomposed body, a dead shopper missing an arm and a leg. They look like they were ripped off.

Pope VO: It’ll die down eventually though. After that, all you gotta do is trust in this simple fact: when the world ends…

Page 2

Full-page shot: Shot of Pope sitting in front of three shelves fully stocked with giant bags of dog food. The shot feels bright, colorful, with various brands on display. Pope is wagging his tail.

Pope VO: …everyone leaves the dog food behind.

Pope: Bingo.

Page 3

Panel 1: Shot of Pope looking to his right as if he’s been alerted by something moving close by. He’s snapping to attention.

Panel 2: Shot of Pope looking towards the end of the aisle at an infected butcher monster walking towards him. (The monsters in this story are people infected by a virus of unknown origin that mutates their bodies into bloated alien-like creatures. After infection, the jaw splits apart, showing a long stinger-like tongue and sharpened teeth. There are two large and thick fangs coming out of the inner edges of both jaw sections. The infected also become obese, like big blood balloons ready to burst. They look like they’re in the process of transitioning from human to primitive alien creature. Last but not least, our infected are dumb, violent brutes…and they look it. The infection devolves the human subject and transforms it into something else.) Pope stays put, looking calm and unpreoccupied. The butcher monster has a hatchet stuck to his head. He’s also holding a big butcher’s knife on one hand, casually. The hatchet on the head immediately communicates the fact our infected don’t die from head wounds. In fact, they don’t die at all.

Panel 3: Shot of the butcher monster walking past Pope without even noticing he was there. Pope remains calm, looking up at the zombie. The monster poses no kind of threat. Dog is not a food source for it (yet), nothing worth fighting over. Just part of the scenery.

Panel 4: We see the butcher monster walking towards the doors that lead to the street outside, Pope looking at a big, black but sickly-looking Doberman standing at the other end of the aisle (close to the entrance). The Doberman looks like he’s ready to rush at Pope and spill some blood. He wants the same thing Pope is currently standing in front of.

Panel 5: Extreme close-up of the Doberman’s angry eyes. He’s growling although we don’t see him bearing his teeth here. We can tell from the eyes. The Doberman’s building up towards the fight.

Page 4

Panel 1: We return to Pope for an over-the-shoulder view of the Doberman in the distance (the shot comes from behind Pope). The Doberman is ready to attack. We see the butcher monster in the background, wandering. He has no interest in the dogs.

Pope VO: Then there’s this.

Panel 2: Side-shot of the Doberman rushing towards Pope, bloodthirsty. There’s foam on his mouth making him look more than just violent. He looks vicious.

Pope VO: This isn’t so much an enemy as it is a victim. He’s confused. He doesn’t know this place’s taken.

Panel 3: Front-shot of Pope barking calmly, composed. He’s going to call on a friend who’s close by.

Pope VO: And it looks like he’s decided to learn about it the hard way.

Pope: Rory.

Panel 4: Shot of a bigger, meaner, and more healthy-looking Doberman coming into the aisle behind Pope. His name is Rory and he looks ready for a fight. He evokes strength, wisdom, discipline. He also looks like he can turn anything into a massive bloody wound should the situation call for that kind of thing.

Pope VO: Survival depends on surrounding yourself with problem solvers.

Panel 5: Shot of the sickly Doberman stopping in his tracks. He’s scared. A new threat has entered the arena and it doesn’t look like something that used to losing in a fight.

Page 5

Panel 1: Shot of the sickly Doberman looking at Rory, Pope next to him, from a short distance away. He knows not to get closer.

Pope VO: This one’s mine.

Panel 2: Pope barks at the sickly Doberman while Rory stands ready next to Pope, like a bodyguard. The sickly Doberman has his down. He looks ashamed.

Pope: Place’s claimed. Had you been here a couple of minutes earlier it would’ve been us doing the trespassing.

Panel 3: Close-up of the sickly Doberman, head bowed, speaking. He’s answering Pope.

Sickly Doberman: I was already here when you came in, hiding. You’re the ones trespassing.

Pope (off-panel): You saying you want to fight for this place?

Panel 4: Close-up of the sickly Doberman looking up at Rory, who’s walked up much closer to the sickly Doberman. Rory’s looking down at him, serious. He’s not growling nor is he showing his teeth. His presence is enough.

Rory: Doesn’t seem like that’s something you can say ‘yes’ to, is it?

Page 6

Panel 1: Front-shot of Pope and Rory standing in front of the entrance to the grocery store, watching Rory walk away defeated and tired. The place is a mess, made by people rushing and fighting their way through the store to grab as much food and supplies as they could. It now looks empty and forgotten. A hollow place were it not for the dog food we already know everyone left behind, and the wandering butcher monster.

Pope: Hey!

Panel 2: We pull in for a shot of Pope and Rory still looking at the sickly Doberman. Pope makes one last remark before their parting.

Pope: Keep your chin up. Like the guy who bought me used to say every time he took me to the park.

Panel 3: We flip the image to see Rory answering Pope dismissively. Behind Rory we see a street filled with bloated and hungry monsters.

Pope (off-panel): The world is your oyster.

Page 7

Panel 1: Rory talking to Pope as they look at the horde of infected dressed in all variety of clothes (we see infected tourists, doctors, soldiers, maybe a clown, our version of the Hara Krishna zombie from Dawn of the Dead).

Rory: Your owner really used to say that?

Pope: Yes. And he didn’t own me. He just paid for my company.

Panel 2: Pope walks back into the store. Rory stays behind taking one last look at the horde.

Pope: Let’s get our stuff. It doesn’t look like it moves by itself, you know.

Panel 3: Shot of Pope looking up at the butcher monster. The thing’s standing right in front of Pope, trying to make sense of it, like a child contemplating a new discovery.

Butcher monster: D…dd…dd-d…

Panel 4: Rory comes up behind Pope. Pope is still looking up at the butcher monster.

Rory: That horror trying to speak?

Pope: I don’t know. If it is, do you think it’s something we’re going to have to worry about down the road?

Panel 5: Pope and Rory walking back towards the dog food. We see the butcher monster half-turned, still looking at the dogs.

Rory: So long as it doesn’t ask me to roll over it can say whatever it wants.

Sneak Peek of A Kind of Vengeance by Ricardo Serrano and Norrie Millar

Here's a small glimpse of A Kind of Vengeance's main character, Azim, a Middle-Eastern comics artist who will be offered the opportunity to turn pen and paper into tools of violence, fear, and revenge.

A Kind of Vengeance was created by Ricardo Serrano Denis and Norrie Millar.

God and Country (Working Title)

This story is about an American Superhero who thinks he is an American God. He is an unstable character who has literally become unstuck in time, meaning his country's history can bleed into his present unannounced (although it has a tendency to do so when he's in the middle of a fight). The American Past is the hero's primary source of power and identity, but it is also his weakness—an ambiguous rallying cry that can turn patriotism into a burden. Ultimately, it makes him question his own sanity, all while trying to keep his own God Complex in check. He can fly, is super strong, and can shoot controlled bursts of energy at his enemies. His name is Pax and he will either bring about a second American Revolution or start a new Civil War.

God and Country (Working Title)
By: Ricardo A. Serrano Denis

Page 1 (This page is composed of four horizontal panels.)

Panel 1: We open with a shot of American Rebel from the Revolutionary War looking up at Pax, our story’s mad superhero—one who thinks he is America’s own personal god. We’re in a woods area (a setting that captures the feel of the American Wilderness, rich and vibrant yet dangerous). It is day. Pax is off-panel. He is tall and classically muscular, a sense of history about him. We want to make him feel timeless, aged, like an icon—a god (think Dr. Manhattan meets Kingdom Come’s Superman). Pax is composed of three skin colors: red, white, and black (three colors running vertically from head to toe in that order, from left to right). His left side is red (which stands to represent his country’s Native-American roots, which will be questioned as the story progresses), his right side is black (representing African-American identity, which will also be questioned), and in the middle—separating the two colors—is a very pure and solid white (which stands to represent not just white America but the divide between its different populations). He’s a walking Melting Pot and he is wearing a long black Rebel overcoat (his costume will change throughout the story, depending on the time period we’re at in the story). We only see his shadow as it covers the Rebel, the soldier overtaken by fear and wonderment. He’s looking at a god, at something that is beyond comprehension and yet is still somewhat familiar, recognizable.

Pax VO: I sometimes feel like a walking anachronism.

Pax (off-panel): Load up, son.

Panel 2: Close-up of a black hand offering a 9mm handgun to the Rebel. We just focus on the hands here, both Pax’s and the Rebel’s. Just the hands.

Pax VO: A thing that resists the idea of staying where it belongs.

Pax: No one said fighting for your country was a bloodless affair.

Panel 3: Shot of the Rebel’s hands holding the gun, as if he’s still unsure what to do with it. This is POV shot (Point of View), the Rebel looking down at the gun in his hands.

Pax VO: Perhaps I shouldn’t be too bothered by it.

Pax (off-panel): In fact, spilling blood? It’s how we speak war…how we communicate our discontent to those who seek to oppress.

Panel 4: Shot of the Rebel sliding the handgun’s barrel back, half-turned and looking for the enemy. We see Pax There’s a sense of newfound purpose with the Rebel, inspiration. The gun has made him realize he’s fighting for his country. He is now a Patriot.

Pax VO: Better to take it as a minor consequence of being…

Pax: It’s how revolutions start. Now…

Page 2-3

Double-page splash: This is a big wide-shot of Pax ordering his Rebels to charge and fire against the enemy while realizing something’s wrong: reality is shifting and is reshaping the woods area into a busy New York City street where five bank robbers armed with heavy machine guns are firing towards the Rebels. The fight is taking place in front of the bank the robbers have just help up. The scene is split into two pages. The first page is still mostly woods are and sees four Rebels firing and charging towards the bank robbers. The Rebels are carrying modern weaponry (9mm handguns and riot shotguns). One of them is a woman, one is black, and the other two are white. The second page, then, is left up to the modern day New York City street. The five bank robbers (which are all male) look like they belong to a classic supervillain organization (think HYDRA or A.I.M.). They’re dressed in full white suits and masks, big red swastikas splashed on their chests and on their faces. One of the robbers has been shot in the head and is in the process of falling back. The others are taking cover behind civilian vehicles on the street. Some vehicles still have their drivers in them, and they are frightened, paralyzed. Both realities are bleeding into each other, with the modern setting more aggressively invading the wilderness.

Pax VO: …Timeless.

Pax: ...let’s make these tyrants bleed!

The Invaded #1

Alien 3 (1992). Dir. David Fincher.

The Invaded

By: Ricardo A. Serrano Denis

This story is about an alien invasion that happened by mistake. A race of female aliens crash lands on Earth and decides to take over, enslaving what's left of the human race. But this isn't a 'see what happens when woman inherits the Earth' type of scenario. Everyone will get their equal share here, for the female aliens were forced out of their planet by their male counterparts. And this conflict will spill over to Earth, where a small community bands together in the hopes of surviving another planet's gender issues. I was thinking of Y The Last Man, Saga, and Alien when plotting the story out. I hope to write it for as long as I have interesting things to say with it.

The Invaded #1: Script

Page 1 (series of horizontal panels)

Panel 1: Front-shot of two teenage kids standing in the middle of field. One kid (shaved head—we only see a grey outline where the hair is supposed to grow back—black shirt and an air of roughness about him) is pointing an air-rifle towards something that’s in front of him but off-panel. The other kid has black hair and a red shirt. He doesn’t look as rough as the kid with the rifle. The kid with the red shirt is called Simon. The kid with the rifle is called Jason.

Simon: Maybe it’s better we practice with cans, Jason. Let’s just take it down and put it back where we found it.

Jason: If you’re gonna aim at something, Simon…

Panel 2: Side-shot of the kids. We see a line of trees behind them. They’re not far from a woods area. Beyond the woods is a farm with various families. The kids come from that farm.

Jason: …better make it you’ll be shooting at it further down the road.

Panel 3: Extreme close-up of Jason bolting up the rifle, readying it.

Jason: My Pa used to say that. Never knew what he meant until now.

Panel 4: Extreme close-up of Jason’s finger pulling down on the trigger.

SFX: Pht! (air-rifle sound)

Page 2

Panel 1: Shot of Jason and Simon looking forward (at the thing Jason shot at which is off panel). Jason is holding the rifle up.

Jason: Headshot.

Panel 2: Big panel of a female alien creature tied to tree. It looks like it’s been dead a while, way before the kids tied it up. There’s a black spot on her forehead where the air-rifle pellet hit. The pellet is stuck on her forehead. It has four arms and a very ugly face. Her jaw is open and we can see her mouth is just filled with sharp teeth. She has black spiked hair (punk-styled) and her shoulders, chest, and parts of her legs are covered in a rudimentary yet alien kind of armor, light armor (the same goes with other alien characters in terms of armor). We mostly just see her skin which is half black and half white (this one is split down the middle in terms of the black and the white—one side black and the other white—but other aliens will vary in terms of color variation). She looks strong, a mass of muscles that makes her look imposing and badass. She has four long fingers per hand and sharp nails. The nails look almost like blades. Her breasts are big enough to get the point across that the alien is female. There are flies buzzing around the alien’s corpse. Her eyes are entirely black with white irises. (Insert title here: State of Hell, and credits.)

Panel 3: We see the kids walking up to the alien’s corpse. Jason is reloading the rifle.

Simon: But you’re dad’s dead, Jason.

Jason: Doesn’t make it bad advice.

Page 3

Panel 1: Shot of Simon untying the body from the tree and Jason looking forward. We’re standing behind Jason. Behind the tree we see a dark four-armed silhouette walking towards them.

Simon: We should bury it. We wouldn’t want them to find one of their own with a pellet—

Jason: Simon, get up.

SFX: crack (sound of twigs breaking close to the dark silhouette)

Panel 2: We see Jason pointing his rifle towards the thing that’s coming their way. Both of them look very scared. The alien is still pretty much covered in shadows. It has a big Mohawk.

Simon: Quick, shoot it.

Panel 3: Close up of Jason aiming his rifle while a white four-fingered hand is grabbing the rifle. Jason is looking at the hands. The fingers’ nails are sharp, like blades.

Panel 4: Both kids look over their shoulder to see what’s behind them. There are big shadows cast over them. Jason is still holding onto the rifle with one hand while it’s being raised up by a heavily muscled white arm.

Page 4

Panel 1: Big panel of two more female aliens that look just like the alien tied to the tree. One has her hair spiked up and is smiling, showing her sharpened teeth (her face is entirely black but her body is almost entirely white with exception of two of her arms). The one that’s holding on to the rifle has hair on one side of her head and is looking at Jason (the top part of her head is black while her lower part is white, and so it goes with the rest of her body). This one’s not smiling. Jason’s rifle goes off. Both aliens carry a big curved blade with them that resembles a scimitar but with its edges rugged (like a chainsaw).

SFX: BOOM

Panel 2: We see the two kids looking up to the aliens whilst a third alien walks out of the woods. She has a big black Mohawk and there is a very big scar running down from her forehead all the way down to the left corner of her mouth. The area around her eyes are black but she’s mostly all white with exception to the area below her knees which are black. She looks like the pack’s leader. She also has a blade.

Spiked hair alien: (alien language).

Panel 3: Shot of the Mohawk alien standing in next to Simon but talking to the alien who spoke first (Spiked hair alien). She looks like she’s giving an order.

Panel 4: Spiked hair alien grabs Simon by his neck.

Panel 5: Simon has been picked up by the neck and is brought to level with the alien’s mouth. We just see her sharp teeth. She’s speaking to Simon. Simon looks terrified.

Spiked hair alien: Run…and don’t forget to scream.

Page 5

Y The Last Man. By Brian K. Vaughan and Pia Guerra.

Panel 1: We’re inside a house, in the kitchen. Now we meet our protagonist: Lynn Donovan. Lynn is tall, slim but athletic, dark haired, and has a scar on her neck. It looks quite healed but is still visible. She’s dressed in a red button shirt with its sleeves rolled up and jeans. She’s cleaning the plates. We can see the kitchen table in the shot. Her husband is sitting down in one of its seats. His name is Earle Donovan. He looks fit, has short scruffy hair, and has an army tattoo on his forearm. The tattoo says U.S. Infantry and has a M1 Grand rifle across it. He’s missing his right leg. He’s just sitting at the table, his chin resting on the knuckles of his hands. He looks serious. He is missing his right leg (we see his crutch leaning on the wall). There are windows behind Lynn. Through them we see other houses close to the woods area. Her house is close to the woods as well but there’s a distance between them. We see people going about their business. There are seven houses in total. The first house belongs to the Donovans. Sharon and her boy, Jason, live next door (Jason is the one who shot the air-rifle). Bill and Cordelia live in another house, an elderly couple with conservative sensibilities (farmers straight out of American Gothic). Clark lives alone further up (we see him soon). Joseph and Peter Land occupy another household. They are a married gay couple (we’ll get to know them further along the story) with an adopted teenage girl, Jess. Kristy lives in another house, alone. She sticks close to the Lands. She’s an old hippy. Quentin and his grandson, Simon (Jason’s friend), make up the last household. Quentin is big, strong man that is a step behind Clint Eastwood in Gran Torino. And yet, he looks defeated. He only looks after his grandson and has now aspirations to leadership.

Lynn VO: Funny how horrible things start like that.

Clark VO (this character will be introduced shortly): Start like what?

Panel 2: We see Lynn turning around to look outside the windows as if she’s been startled. Something’s happening outside. We don’t see this, but Simon has come back and he is screaming. Earle stays in the same position. He doesn’t move or get alerted.

Simon (off-panel): AAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!

Lynn: No…

LynnVO: With a scream.

Panel 3: Front shot of Earle sitting on the table, his chin still resting on the knuckles of his hands. He’s just looking forward. We see Lynn walking behind him towards the front door.

Clark VO: Who was on watch duty?

Lynn VO: Does it matter? Whoever it was wasn’t doing their job, letting two kids run alone into the woods.

Panel 4: Front-shot of Lynn standing on her front door looking to where the scream came from. It came from inside the woods, closer to the little farm community. Again, there are seven small houses in total. There is a big cattle shed at the far end of the community. The cattle shed is not fully closed up so as to let air flow through it. They have cattle there. But this kind of cattle is different. We will see what makes it different shortly.

Clark VO: Again, Clark, does it matter? What’s done is done. That’s punishment enough.

Page 6

Panel 1: We see Lynn standing on her front porch looking at Simon as he comes running out of the woods. He’s still screaming.

Simon: HEEEELP!

Panel 2: Front shot of woods with the three large four-armed aliens and Jason walking closer to the edge of the woods. The alien with half a head of hair is grabbing Jason. There’s blood on his face. They’re still heavily shadowed.

Panel 3: Now they’re out of the woods. Jason is being held up by his arms. He looks in pain. The aliens look calm, composed, as if personifying the calm before the storm.

Panel 4: Same shot with Jason being thrown down to the ground.

Page 7

Panel 1: Front shot of Jason’s mother, Sharon, looking one as the situation with her son develops. She looks numb, not in a state of worry or panic. She’s has short light hair and is of normal height. She looks experienced, rugged, like a woman who wears hardships on her sleeves for all to see. She has a basket with white sheets on her side. It looks like she has no intention of screaming, crying, or saving her son (think of American women during the Great Depression—hard features that coincided with the times). We get a better look at the small community behind her. More people have come out of their houses. Some have dropped what they’re doing to see what’s happening. We Lynn’s house in the panel and Lynn running to Sharon.

Clark VO: Whose kid was it?

Lynn VO: Sharon’s. She didn’t try anything. She just stood there, looking.

Lynn: No! Stop!

Sharon: It’s ok, Lynn. He knew he shouldn’t have been out there. Boy’s as stubborn as his father was.

Panel 2: We return to the Jason and the three aliens. The spiked hair alien looks like she’s receiving an order from the Mohawk alien.

Mohawk alien: (alien language).

Clark VO: I see. Which arm?

Panel 2: Same shot but with the spiked hair alien unsheathing her blade.

Panel 3: Spiked hair alien puts her blade on Jason’s right arm. She’s measuring, getting a clearer picture of where her sword will fall.

Panel 4: The spike haired alien lets the blade fall. It is but a fraction away from impact.

Panel 5: Close-up of Sharon looking at forward, towards her son getting his right arm separated from his body.

Lynn VO: His right one.

Jason (off-panel): AAAAHHHH!!!

Page 8

Panel 1: Front shot of the boy on the floor spurting blood from his wound, profusely. The blood is landing on the spiked hair alien. The Mohawk alien is talking to Spiked hair while the other alien just looks on at the people who have gathered before them.

Mohawk: (alien language).

Spiked hair: You…cattle…show me.

Panel 2: Side-shot of Sharon walking past Spiked hair as it walks towards Lynn. We see Jason grabbing his wound. His severed arm is next to him.

Panel 3: Shot of Lynn and Spiked hair walking towards the cattle shed. We see it not too far up. Inside it we see two long rows of strange cow-like creatures running up the shed with a walking path in between them. They are the alien’s food source. The aliens came to Earth, fought off the military, slowly invaded the U.S., and enslaved those who survived the war. Slavery, here, means raising alien cattle, butchering it, and packaging the meat for the aliens. The cow-like creatures are big (like cows), have a single white horn, no eyes, and mouth that parts vertically and opens up to show two large rows of teeth that look quite harmless. They eat grass. The male creatures are black and have white horns. The female creatures are white and have black horns. At the far end of the shed we see two large metal slabs where people set up to cut the meat up.

Panel 4: Large panel of the inside of the cattle shed. The male cow-aliens are mixed in with the female-cow aliens so they can mate. They are in free stalls which are bared up so as to keep the animals in. There are big open space below so the animals can stick their heads out and eat as they are fed. We see the metal slabs at the end with two men with bloody white aprons looking as Lynn and Spiked hair walk down the middle path of the shed. Spiked hair is looking at a male cow-alien.

Panel 5: Close-up of Spiked hair looking at the male cow-alien as she grabs its horn with one hand.

Page 9

Mars Attacks (1996). Dir. Tim Burton.

Panel 1: Spiked hair lifts the animal up. Her sword is in her free hand now. We see Lynn is close to her but looks alarmed.

Panel 2: We pull back to see as Spiked hair cuts the animal’s throat with her sword. The animal’s blood lands on Lynn.

Panel 3: Spiked hair is walking out of the shed, dragging the animal behind her. The animal’s carcass is leaving a trail of blood behind her. We see Lynn looking at Spiked hair as she leaves with the animal.

Spiked Hair: Good slave.

Clark VO: She actually said that?

Lynn VO: Yes. Quite freely, I might add. It actually stung. Takes a real woman to make something like that leave a mark.

Lynn: What the fuck?

Panel 4: Now we’re in Clark’s front porch. Night has fallen. Clark is a tall late-40s man with a grey moustache, an eye-patch covering his left eye, and greying hair. He’s in jeans and a red plaid shirt. Lynn is standing on the porch’s railing, her hands on supporting her on it. Clark is extending a cup of coffee towards Lynn. He has a cup for himself as well.

Clark: Do we really know they’re female, though? I mean, since when do a pair of tits make you a woman? Believe me, I know I’m one of the few to actually argue that.

Lynn: We’ve already accepted them as such. All I know is I resent it. Makes it look like man’s greatest fear was justified. Woman inherits the Earth, enslaves man. They really played into it, giving the rest of us a bad name.

A Hateful Man

A Hateful Man #1: A Fistful of Years

By: Ricardo A. Serrano Denis

This is a story about slavery, black magic, dead cowboys brought back from the grave, and Western violence. Logan Hook is a black slave-owner who used to ‘loan’ special slaves to high-profile plantation owners. The reason behind this lies in his slaves’ abilities: they are all shamans, black magic priests from obscure tribes. In comes Jerret Skinner, a mysterious figure who is planning a hostile takeover of Hook’s business, with a mind to expand. Expansion, in this story, is a language spoken with guns, and Skinner knows how to speak it well. Hook and Skinner reach a predictable point of disagreement that results in a bullet finding itself into Hook’s head, leaving our protagonist in an unmarked grave in the middle of the desert. Ten years go by when he is visited by a dead Native American with a large Mohawk, named Maquinna (which means Unknown [Nootka origin]), who revives Hook (who is mostly just bones) and tells him it’s time to take up a new perspective on life, one with more violence in it. Hook is given somewhat of a life back and the means to go looking for his son and the slaves he’s lost to Skinner. But the world he wakes up to is stranger than the one he left behind, much stranger. And so the story begins.

Page 1

Panel 1: Top-down shot of Logan Hook crawling through the rocky desert. We see trail of blood, his blood, behind him. It is a bright and hot day in the American West. Logan is a big black cowboy dressed in a long blue overcoat with a white shirt and black pants underneath. He has a beard sans the mustache and looks quite angry. He’s in a different kind of slave business so he has to look the part. Jerret Skinner is close behind him, off-panel. We’ll see him soon enough.

Skinner (off-panel): There’s nothing but miles and miles of sand out there.

Panel 2: Front-shot of Logan getting up on his knees while holding on to his stomach wound. We see an older-looking white man walking up behind him, revolver in hand. He’s dressed in a proper gray suit, looking very much like a man of means. He has medium-length, greying hair and is clean-shaven. His hair is combed back. His name is Jerret Skinner and he is about to kill our main character. In the background we see an abandoned train station. It looks quite decrepit. There are four horsemen in background, close to the station. They have white sacks over their heads, their eyes and mouths cut out. We won’t be able to see them in much detail, so just keep these details in mind for when we meet them again.

Skinner: You crawling a little further isn’t going to change that. Especially not with a bullet lodged in your gut.

Panel 3: Close-up/side-shot of Logan looking down, making his peace with what’s coming. We see Skinner’s gun pressed to the back of Logan’s head. Remember, Logan is on his knees. Skinner’s gun is polished silver with a white handle.

Logan: My son…tell him---

Panel 4: Same situation but from the front. We see everything except Skinner’s face (off-panel).

Skinner: Let me stop you right there. I hope you’re not planning on asking for a favor here. Not that you aren’t entitled to a dying wish. But, if I may offer a word of advice, aim low…

Page 2

Once Upon A Time In The West (1968). Dir. Sergio Leone.

Panel 1: Close-up of Skinner’s hand coking his revolver.

Skinner: I’d hate to say no to a dead man.

Panel 2: Close-up of Skinner’s finger pulling the trigger.

Panel 3: This is a wide-shot of Skinner shooting Logan. We see Logan already falling (but not yet hitting the ground). We see blood spray. Skinner is standing sideways, his stance a bit stylish.

Panel 4: Close-up of Logan’s face on the ground, blood coming out a small hole above his right eye. There’s a small pool of blood in front of him. His eyes are wide-open.

Skinner (off-panel): I’ll go see about someone burying you real quick. Your grave, it won’t be marked. Your son…

Page 3

Panel 1: Small panel of Skinner walking away, towards the station. We only see him from behind.

Skinner: …it’s better he doesn’t know what earned you that bullet.

Panel 2: Big panel, top-down shot of Logan on the ground, a large pool of blood close to his head. This isn’t a hero’s death. It looks messy and unbecoming. We insert title and credits here. The credits can be written in Logan’s blood, as if it were slithering in the sand.

Skinner VO: I hope you come to appreciate the gesture.

Panel 3: This is still a top-down shot. We zoom out to see Logan’s body and one of the horsemen getting closer to the body. He’s brought a shovel with him.

Page 4

The Sixth Gun. By Cullen Bunn (w) and Brian Hurtt (a).

Panel 1: Shot of Logan’s grave. Night has fallen. All we see is a mound, the abandoned train station in the background.

Panel 2: Front-shot of the abandoned station adorned with the bodies of at least 8 dead men. We see several propped up against the wall, which is blood spattered. One of the men is hanging from an old sign post that reads Sweetwater Station. We see the path towards Logan’s burial side to the side. We will meet the character speaking here in the next panel.

Maquinna (off-panel): There’s a lesson in this.

Panel 3: Front-shot of a Skeleton man mounted on a red horse, looking forward, towards the gruesome death scene. The Skeleton man’s name is Maquinna and he is a Native American. Maquinna has a big fragmented Mohawk (three sections) and is wearing a brown leather pants and a matching long-sleeved shirt. He has a small pouch with him and black repeater rifle. Maquinna’s jaw is painted dark red. The rest is white. There’s a presence to him. He somehow looks strong, bulky (but not overtly so). Maquinna’s horse is standing in the middle of train tracks (remember, where in front of an old station).

Maquinna: Never surround yourself with armed men. All they ever amount to is blood and body parts. And it’s usually someone else who has to clean it all up.

Panel 4: Shot of Maquinna taking the path up to Logan’s burial site.

Maquinna: Luckily for me, these men are destined to rot in their places untouched.

Panel 5: Shot of Maquinna pulling up next to Logan’s grave.