OPEN MOUTH
This is pretty cool. My buddy Dave Lewis has a mini-site for his new OGN, LONE AND LEVEL SANDS, up and running. The PDF is nice but it takes a few minutes to open.
Nothing like good ol' fashioned Biblical comics.
Nothing new here. Started the AMERICAN CAESAR adaptation last night... twelve pages in. Also started writing WALLY MEIERS #2... got 5-6 pages done.
Also finished the third page of my HO12 comics.
Not a bad night's work.
Tonight it's dinner with cute girl and food shopping.
You?
OPEN MOUTH
Back into the usual swing... or on my way, anyhow.
Nights filled with comics and the gym again - scanning/imagine for NINETY CANDLES tonight after which I'll finish page 3 of my HOUSE OF TWELVE tale...and maybe ink the first page of my submission for the SPX-thology-potpourri. Sat down for two hours with character descriptions for a new OGN I'm collaborating on with a pal and tonigh I need to finish the pitch for MURPHY'S LAW and maybe, MAYBE start writing the second issue of WALLY MEIERS.
Westcan is chomping at the bit to get the 90C files - but can't do much 'til I get the do-re-mi from Xerical Land. Next week is Diamond Week for Neilus.
Speaking of Greek/Latin suffixes, I want to think of a good MacBeth adaptation. Maybe that's a summer project along with DEAD RONIN, reformatting AMERICAN CAESAR and drawing MUSE.
Me so crazy.
I cannot wait for May/June. It's a short con season for me this year, as I can't do SPX in October and there aint no way i'm getting out to San Diego... so come see me at MoCCA and maybe at Wizard World Philly if I'm feeling ambitious (and some nice, generous folks offer me a bit o' table space).
I STILL want to get THE FIFTIES done. Dammit.
One day.
Y'know what I bought two days ago? A pen that has a Rock Em Sock Em Robot on the end... it's superkeen. I got Michal a pen with the game, Operation. Where do I get these wonderful toys.
Notice I used to link in these blogs? Remember when I did INSERT FOOTs? I'm a lazy bastard.
Me go sleepandwork now.
OPEN MOUTH
God bless the weekend.
Looking forward to a bit of snooze and comics... Michelle is coming tomorrow night and then its gym/drawing on Sunday so all is well with the world.
Platinum and I will be talking about a possible JULIUS CAESAR project soon which makes me happy - the guys there are really good and have been open to hearing ideas and directing me, as well. I can't wait to nail something down with them.
I've decided I don't like corn as much as I used to. I also have decided that the things I DO like now are killing me - pizza, lasagna, salami, soda. Damn it, why are deadly things so tasty?
So I am DONE with watching OZ. I finished Season 6 yesterday and all in all, I have to say WOW. Go and watch this if you haven't and can get past the manlove and dismembering violence. It's a touching series about life and society.
Well, look at me ramble. It's weird.... when you take a week of comics/writing sabbatical to watch TV and go to the gym, there's really not too much to say.
The struggle begins again on Monday.
Woo hoo!
Be good to each other.
OPEN MOUTH
Diggin' through the old scripts and files and I found the ten EPIC projects I sent along to Marvel when I was young and stupid a few months ago. Some of them were simply awful... but some I'm quite ticked I didn't get to do. Snazzy Scottie Chantler emailed me today and he mentioned the WW2 pitch we had sent along to some publishers... and that reminded me about the EPIC project we were gonna work on: THE INVADERS. Unfortunately, Marvel is pulling a half assed concept out of their bag soon and doing THE INVADERS in the here and now as opposed to WW2 era, like Scottie and I wanted to do.
In any event, here's the pitch and some script pages from my failed EPIC project, THE INVADERS. Enjoy.
THE INVADERS
All characters copyright and trademark Marvel Entertainment Group, 2004
Prepared for Marvel Comics
Writer: Neil Kleid; Artist: Scott Chantler
Pitch: LIMITED OR ONGOING SERIES
THE IDEA
The world would never be the same again.
At its end, Word War Two would splinter a continent, divide a city, usher in a dangerous new age and murder over six million. War was perfected and lines were drawn – in the deserts of Africa to the beaches of Normandy, men of all races and religions struggled to find their place, to make sense of their own mortality within the vast, inescapable madness of war. For at its heart, past the military tactics, beyond the new technologies and styles of warfare, the war was carried moment to moment by human hands. Whether they be American or German; Axis or Ally — it made no difference. War is a human endeavor. And at times, superhuman as well.
With the 1941 entry of American forces, the Axis troops had an even greater problem than pushing back a three front attack: they also had to factor in the Allied heroes. The blazing android Human Torch. Prince Namor, Sub-Mariner of Atlantis. England’s Union Jack, already embroiled in holding together a battered country. The tag team of Miss American and the Whizzer and, of course, the symbol of freedom, Captain America. While historians have spent a bulk of their time regaling the general populace with their thrilling exploits, most of these reports include fantastic villains, robotic adversaries and a fun loving camaraderie that belies the actual truth.
The Invaders’ tour of Europe and the Pacific was not always heroic fun and in some cases was a reluctant mission. A great deal of the modern world was violently opposed to the jingoism and divisiveness of war – including Namor and the Whizzer. And then there were the vast differences within the Allied Front itself – from Churchill, General Montgomery and Union Jack (just another fighting man on the front) to FDR, Eisenhower and Captain America (a rallying point for American troops and those on the home front). Each man or woman approached the war in his or her own fashion, each dealing with it on a level that only that individual could comprehend. The thousands lost in the attacks on Pearl Harbor, the Russian front and upon the vast French countryside. The untold horrors within camps scattered among the German and Polish forests. The small but vital efforts of Resistance movements all across Europe — these and more prove without a doubt that at its heart, World War Two was nothing more but the greatest drama ever carried out in human existence.
And throughout those years, mingled among the paratroopers dying in the winters at Bastogne; side by side with the men who stormed the sands upon Utah Beach; and flying neck and neck with Allied Bombers over the shores of Okinawa, they were there. Dressed in prime colors, beacons of hope amid the bloodshed and tears, they led charges, consoled wounded and struggled with loss, pain, fear and death. They trained with the best, preparing them for the worst, and when the time came on H-Hour, D-Day, they stood as one. No longer divided by background, race, nationality or legend, the superhumans joined hands with the thousands of humans armed for war, and together they invaded countries, pushing forward into a terrible new world.
They were Heroes. They were Invaders. This is their story.
THE FORMAT
THE INVADERS is the epic depiction of how the Marvel Heroes really fit in to the grand, sweeping stage of the Allied attack on the European and Pacific Theatres of Operation in World War Two. In the past, whenever Marvel scribes told stories on the wartime adventures of Captain America, Namor and the Torch, nine times out of ten they were banded together to fight the Red Skull, U-Man or some giant robot Nazi war wheel. When they joined up with Union Jack, there were no hesitations, no mistrust despite the fact that in the “real world,” the Allied Forces could barely agree on summit meetings much less something as vast as Operation: Overlord (the actual name for the D-Day invasion). Comics based on INVADERS adventures always seemed too happy-go-lucky, as if they weren’t involved in the greatest military engagement known to man, but rather playing pick up football back in Brooklyn or Manchester. Sure, the Invaders were the only ones who could go head-to-head with Axis super villains and the like — but they were also on the lines. Captain America dug in on cold nights with infantry making their way through France and Holland. The Human Torch flew brightly and fought hotly in the Battle of Midway. Union Jack jumped over the Atlantic Wall with the British Airborne. They gave their all for the war effort, and shed tears of exhaustion and frustration when victory did not come as swift. Employing grand, cinematic storytelling as seen in SAVING PRIVATE RYAN, BAND OF BROTHERS and PEARL HARBOR, THE INVADERS begins with America’s entrance to the war and works its way past Allied training, battles on the several fronts and straight on through to D-Day and the beginning of the atomic age. The series will eventually answer questions such as “why didn’t the Human Torch fly to Germany and simply capture Hitler?” and “How did the Allied forces react/recover from the loss and apparent death of Captain America?”
An ongoing series, THE INVADERS begins with a six -issue arc entitled “The War Effort” that sets the heroes up for their first foray into the war as a team. A smaller arc, focusing on how the heroes relate to their non-super infantry and airborne counterparts in the African Theater follows.
THE SCRIPT
THE INVADERS
written by Neil Kleid
Issue #1: "The War Effort, Part One"
Page 1 (4 PANELS)
PANEL ONE
EXT. LONDON, EAST END- NIGHT: 1940
It’s dark but we can make out the silhouettes of broken and bombed homes, dimly lit by the blaze of ongoing fires. Structural integrity is breaking down all along the East End of London for this is the middle of the German Blitz in the midst of the Battle of Britain.
PANEL TWO
Pull in on one of the jumbled streets, a nightmare of rubble and broken glass - a man in his late twenties hesitantly picks his way through, a small case in his arms.
1 CAP: LONDON, EAST END. NOVEMBER 13, 1940.
PANEL THREE
Suddenly, an incendiary bomb bursts into flames above the buildings – the man looks up, scared and stunned as the tendrils of flame and smoke begin to devour the buildings on either side of him. We can see the shadowed German Luftwaffe planes flying far above, dodging anti-aircraft fire. The man hugs his case to his chest as his eyes go wide, already realizing he’s seconds from death.
PANEL FOUR
The building to his right bursts into flames and explodes, brick, mortar and shrapnel bursting forth – just as a lean, athletic figure in dark blue hurtles from the shadows, shoving the man away from the wreckage and oncoming destruction. The case bounces along the gravel, soot and filth of the East End streets, pebbles and building wreckage raining down around it.
Page 2 (4 PANELS)
PANEL ONE
The rescued man raises his head and shoulders from where he landed. He’s dazed and groggy, covered with ash, dust and soot. His jacket and clothes are torn and scuffed and he’s slightly bleeding from a scrape on his arm – but he’s alive.
1 MAN: …BLEEDIN’ HUNS…
PANEL TWO
He looks up and sees his case under some gravel and rocks a few feet away. He starts to get to his feet, flames and destruction all around him.
2 MAN: —MY KIT!
PANEL THREE
The man rushes to scoop up his case, dodging a small blaze. Behind him, in the shadows of the ruined buildings, a graceful, lithe figure dusts himself off.
3 MAN: THANKS FOR THE SAVE, GOV’, BUT WATCH THE VALUABLES, RIGHT?
PANEL FOUR
The man turns and pulls two bottles from the case, wiping them clean. In our immediate foreground, we can see his lithe savior pulling on a pair of brown leather work gloves over a pair of thinner dark blue ones.
4 MAN: HERE’S THE LAST GIN N’ WATER IN ALL EAST END!
5 MAN: BREAK ‘EM AN’ IT’D BE LIKE BURNIN’ THE —
Page 3 (4 PANELS)
PANEL ONE
Large shot – the man stares up in awe at his quiet benefactor. The lean figure is garbed in dark blue and a mask that covers his entire face. A dagger is strapped to his leg and a sidearm to his waist. Down the center of his chest is emblazoned the image of Britain’s greatest symbol – the UNION JACK from which this man takes his name. He finishes wiping soot from his arms as he stands amid the burning square.
1 MAN: —UNION JACK.
PANEL TWO
The rescued man’s mouth and eyes go wide, his hand still clutching the bottle before him. Jack stands impassively, watching the disheveled quasi-drunk.
PANEL THREE
Same shot – the man smiles and holds the bottle out to Jack.
2 MAN: ER… FANCY A DRINK?
3 UNION JACK: THANKS, BUT I’LL PASS.
4 UNION JACK: YOU SHOULDN’T BE OUT NOW.
PANEL FOUR
Jack unhooks his sidearm and turns away from the man, towards the city center. The drunkard stows his bottle back in the case.
5 MAN: HEAVY BLITZ TONIGHT. GERMANS MUST BE AFTER ME BOTTLE.
6 UNION JACK: WELL, LET’S GET IT OUT FROM UNDER FIRE THEN. WHICH WAY’S HOME?
Page 4
SPLASH
EXT. LONDON- NIGHT
Paint a large panoramic vision of Hell on Earth. The city is in flames and under a heavy blanket of thick smoke. Buildings are crumbling and bombs are dropping from thousands of screaming Luftwaffe bombers. Ack-ack (anti-aircraft) fire dots the red-singed skies, tracing and targeting the passing raiders. Glass, soot and brickwork litters the jagged, twisting streets and there’s barely anyone out on the sidewalks apart from the small figures of our town drunk and his guide through Dante’s Inferno, UNION JACK. The two men have their backs to us, lit by the glowing embers of the destruction and chaos. The canyons of rubble and ruin reach the sky to either side of them, threatening to topple and bury them under their unforgiving weight. The St. Paul Cathedral and Big Ben/Parliament rise from amid the fog and haze, affected by the constant bombing. The drunk calmly points into the heart of this madness, showing Jack the way home.
1 MAN: RIGHT THROUGH THERE.
TITLE: “THE WAR EFFORT, PART ONE”
CREDITS
Page 5 (5 PANELS)
PANEL ONE
Jack and the younger man pick their way through the ravaged streets, careful not to step on glass and shrapnel. Jack leads the way as the man struggles up behind him with the bottle of water – the gin is either within or somewhere far behind them.
1 UNION JACK: WHAT WERE YOU DOING OUT IN THE FIRST PLACE?
2 MAN: PINT N’ A SHOW. WENT ‘ROUND THE THEATRE.
PANEL TWO
Jack turns, shocked. The man grins weakly back.
3 UNION JACK: ARE YOU DAFT? THERE’S A WAR ON IF YOU HAVEN’T HEARD!
4 MAN: I’M STILL ALIVE. MIGHT AS WELL LIVE WHILE I CAN.
PANEL THREE
The man walks along the cobbled streets, hands in his pockets, backlit by the flames of a burning building.
5 MAN: HOLED UP UNDERGROUND WAITIN’ FOR THE GERMANS TO GET BORED.
6 MAN: THAT’S WHAT THEY WANT.
PANEL FOUR
He walks over to Jack and hands him the water bottle. Jack lifts his mask so he can drink, sweat and soot smearing his chin and lower half of his face.
7 MAN: I’M NO SOLDIER, MATE. MIGHT AS WELL DO THE LITTLE I CAN. CHIN UP AND ALL THAT.
PANEL FIVE
The man smiles, hands resting on hips as Jack drinks deeply from the bottle, water refreshing him.
8 MAN: ‘SIDES, WHAT KIND OF MAN WOULD I BE IF I SAT AROUND AND DID NOTHING?
Page 6 (5 PANELS)
PANEL ONE
Jack lowers the bottle and the two men grin at each other.
1 BOTH: AMERICAN.
PANEL TWO
Worm’s eye shot - Jack lowers his mask and looks up at the planes.
2 MAN (OP): THINK THE YANKS’LL GET IN THIS WAR?
3 UNION JACK: EVENTUALLY HITLER’LL FANCY A NEW YORK VIEW.
4 UNION JACK: TIME TO MOVE.
PANEL THREE
The two progress forward into the streets, Jack heads straight at us, the deep red of his chest emblem dead center.
5 UNION JACK: HONESTLY? I HOPE THE AMERICANS STAY HOME.
6 MAN: WHYS THAT?
PANEL FOUR
Same shot but Jack is closer, the emblem now taking up most of the panel.
7 UNION JACK: THEY’RE SELFISH, THE YANKS.
8 UNION JACK: SOMETHING TERRIBLE’D HAVE TO HAPPEN TO GET THEM INVOLVED.
PANEL FIVE
The red of his emblem fills the panel.
9 UNION JACK(OP): GOD HELP US IF IT DOES.
10 UNION JACK(OP): GOD HELP US ALL.
Page 7 (4 PANELS)
PANEL ONE
Red panel.
PANEL TWO
INT. JAPANESE FLYING TIGER – DAY
Pull back – reveal that the red is part of the Japanese flag, emblazoned on the headband of a Kamikaze pilot.
PANEL THREE
Pull back further – we can now see most of the plane’s interior. The two pilots are grim and intent on their suicide run. Outside the canopy, we can see thousands of diving planes and dropping bombs.
PANEL FOUR
EXT. JAPANESE FLYING TIGER- DAY
Reverse shot so now we’re riding on the wing of the falling airplane, heading south towards the Hawaiian port city the maniacal Japanese seem dead set on strafing, bombing and annihilating. Various troop ships and battleships are under heavy attack.
1 CAP: “YESTERDAY.”
Page 8
SPLASH
EXT. PEARL HARBOR- DAY
Angle: from the ground looking up. Scores of American soldiers and servicemen rush screaming from the docks and battleships, taken virtually unaware as Japanese pilots and bomb rain down on them. This is no Ben Affleck love story – this is history; this is tragedy. This begins the swift and brutal Japanese sweep of the Pacific Theater and the catalyst that launches the American troops full throttle into the war. The sky is blue and clear and the ground is hot and bright as naval destroyers are attacked and sunk quickly without provocation.
1 CAP: “YESTERDAY, DECEMBER 7, 1941 — A DATE WHICH WILL LIVE IN INFAMY— THE UNITED STATES WAS SUDDENLY AND DELIBERATELY ATTACKED BY NAVAL AND AIR FORCES OF THE EMPIRE OF JAPAN.”
2 CAP: “NO MATTER HOW LONG IT MAY TAKE US TO OVERCOME THIS PREMEDITATED INVASION, THE AMERICAN PEOPLE IN THEIR RIGHTEOUS MIGHT WILL WIN THROUGH TO ABSOLUTE VICTORY.”
3 CAP: “FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT, U.S. ARMED FORCES, COMMANDING.”
OPEN MOUTH
So, I'm sitting around the other day, trying not to die, and I realized it's been forever and a day since I've posted anything here. And since Movable Type might just have a time limit on these thing, I'm going to start again.
What to say?
The play is over. AMERICAN CAESAR played five nights to great acclaim. At least 60-70 people in a 95 seat theatre each show and EVERYONE loved the story. The actors were great and the set was wonderful. Ed Mathews of PopImage claims that he'll do up a nice review, so that rawks. There's a little interest from other prod. companies and a few small indy film folks. But for now, it's a matter of tightening the script up and adapating it into OGN form for Jake to draw after BROWNSVILLE.
BROWNSVILLE, by the by, is moving along nicely. Jake just sent me tightened pencils for the cover as well as up to page 52. It really does look good and we're only 30 pages from the end of Book One. Time to get the press machine up and running.
But first I need to focus on deadlined work: I have a 6 page comic due by the end of April for HOUSE OF TWELVE 3: FIESTA. set to debut at MoCCA. After that, I want to do a 4-6 pager for the SPX anthology before I begin the next graphic novella - a silent 72 pager called MUSE.
NINETY CANDLES? About to go to print. I just formally requested the Xeric cash, and next week I begin the final production work to get the disk to WestCan. Once that's done, I need to send the distribution packet to Diamond. The book WILL debut at MoCCA and I'll have half a table in the BM section, along with my minis and an ashcan version of BROWNSVILLE. Rumor has it, Jake might join me... along with some folks like Ted Rall, Lea Hernandez and maaaaybe Tristan Crane. Cool.
Writing-wise, it's back to the well. Once CAESAR is an OGN, I have to finish pitches for HENCHMAN (now re-titled MURPHY'S LAW) and a new OGN with Garrett Dwyer called INSIDE JOB. Then I want to write the second issue of WALLY MEIERS... Tom is trying to get to the art for ish one, but is busy with TSSTG...which is understandable. Nice thing is I have two interested publishers, it seems. So I got that goin' for me. Which is nice. Once that all clears, I leave myself open to write DEAD RONIN finally and get back to work on the novel...which I might need to start rewriting a bit to make the arcs clearer.
Rumor also has it the Dabb-related project could get rolling if we push it... so we might. Also, Platinum might have something cool - need to call Lee about that.
Lots of good work. Still... lots of publishers I still wanna work with. Oni. Top Shelf. AIT. Vertigo. Sigh.
Goin' home for Pesach in two weeks to see the fam. Also looking into a small vacation in July... but cashflow might be sorta tight for that. I'm taking a work sabbatical this week and then after the weekend it's back to comics comics comics.
And maybe a screenplay.
I'm sick, I know.
Back to sleep, folks. I'll be around with more interesting non-Neil stuff... I promise.
OPEN MOUTH
And breathe.
It's been a crazy month, folks. But, finally, FINALLY I can come up for air. The day job and two plays took me out of the running for a bit but one play (a short comedy) was finished Saturday night, and the rewrite for AMERICAN CAESAR were done on Friday. I still have CAESAR rehearsal all week and into the next, so i can't really start attacking comics yet, but at least I won't be doing rewrites til 3 am anymore. Also we're past hectic season here at work so I don't feel as stressed.
With that said.
Time to get back to comics.
NINETY CANDLES, yeah. Working out the printing costs details this week - have to get invoices and such to Xeric and then prep it for Westcan printing. I don't want to contact Diamond until I know an EXACT final print date, y'know? I hate to say it'll be done in April/May and shoot for a June/July ship date when I don't know for sure I'll have the Xeric money by then. So one thing at a time.
WALLY MEIERS. Starting Issue Numero Dos while Beland beautifully renders Issue Uno. Good thing is I have an interested publisher. So I got that goin' for me. Which is nice.
This month is HOUSE OF TWELVE month, artistically. 6 pages in by the first week of April, yo. Let's crack dem knuckles. Next month I tackle a mini for MoCCA and a 4-6 pager for the SPX anthology.
Neil Vokes and I turned in our 4 pager for HERO HAPPY HOUR's Big Fun Special, or whatever good Master Dan Taylor is calling it. It's a pretty cute little story and I think folks will get a kick out of my drunken ramblings. At the very least they'll, LOVE Neil's animated style drawerins.
BROWNSVILLE. Well, Jake is sending tightened pages to 50 and the cover this week. I think this book's schedule is getting pushed a bit but NBM seems cool with that. I'll have some free ashcan swag for folks at MoCCA with some of Jake's pages and the cover. We're also starting to discuss our follow up book and it looks like we might be leaning towards an adaptation of AMERICAN CAESAR.
Which you're all coming to, right? March 10-14 at the Director's Company, Third Floor Theatre? Tickets only 15 dollars at www.smarttix.com
Thought so.
Finally, I HAVE to finish my HENCHMAN pitch for Platinum. I think the name wil be changing to MURPHY'S LAW due to HENCH, the new OGN from Adam Beechen and Manny Bello from AIT-PlanetLar, the publisher I and online pal Garret Dwyer would love to talk to about the prison drama/murder mystery we're going to co-write.
Larry? Ryan? Anyone? :)
Okay, enough shilling. I'm going to get some work done.