PAGE ONE DARK FORCES ISSUE ONE - ORIGINS
The first panel follows these words:
THE DARK FORCES –ORIGINS
CREDITS
If summary blurb is needed: Before the Allies invaded Normandy in World War II, these unknown heroes were the world’s best hope against the Nazis.
PANEL 1
CAPTION: MARCH 1943, MIT LAB
It is night. A man dressed entirely in black, including mask, nears building.
PANEL 2
The man is kneeling, using lock-pick to open door.
PANEL 3
The man goes through corridor in building.
PANEL 4
The man opens door.
PANEL 5
In the lab is a tall blonde woman scientist with glasses. Her name is Joan Wayne.
JOAN: What are you doing here?
PANEL 6
There is a gun in his hand.
PAGE TWO DARK FORCES ISSUE ONE - ORIGINS
PANEL 1
Joan quickly pours acid on her notebook.
PANEL 2
Joan starts to run. There is a beaker in her hand.
PANEL 3
The man searches for Joan.
PANEL 4
The man finds Joan under desk.
MAN: Joan Wayne, give me the formula or you die.
JOAN: Never.
PANEL 5
The man shoots Joan several times.
PANEL 6
Joan is on floor. She is not moving. The man searches for the beaker.
PANEL 7
The man sees that the beaker is empty.
MAN: Damn.
PANEL 8
The man flees from the laboratory.
PAGE THREE DARK FORCES ISSUE ONE - ORIGINS
The next 6 panels occupy the top thirds of the page.
Concentrate on one of Joan’s wounds, one that would not cause the reader to feel squeamish, like a hand.
PANEL 1
Wound is bleeding a lot.
PANEL 2
Wound is bleeding a little less.
PANEL 3
Wound stops bleeding.
PANEL 4
Wound starts to cover a lesser area.
PANEL 5
Bullet in wound starts to rise a little.
PANEL 6
Bullet in wound starts rises up more.
PANEL 7
CAPTION: INSANE ASYLUM, BERLIN GERMANY
View is outside of cell.
INSIDE CELL: Yes Mistress, I will obey you and reveal nothing.
PANEL 8
Three men are outside the cell. One is wearing a doctor’s coat. The other two are Nazi officers.
DOCTOR: Colonel, I must warn you that the man becomes hysterical every time anyone enters his cell. I doubt you will get any information from him.
COLONEL: That is my concern, not yours.
PANEL 9
The three men enter the cell. The man in the cell is in chains.
MAN: Get out of here.
PAGE FOUR DARK FORCES ISSUE ONE - ORIGINS
PANEL 1
The Colonel slaps the man in chains.
PANEL 2
COLONEL: What happened to the other men in your unit? Answer me or I will kill you.
PANEL 3
The man spits at the colonel.
PANEL 4
The Colonel punches the man in the head.
PANEL 5
CAPTION: AN HOUR LATER
The man has bruises and blood all over his face.
MAN: There were monsters in the castle.
PANEL 6
COLONEL: There is a castle in the area where the unit was patrolling?
LIEUTENANT: Yes, Colonel Hellstrom.
PANEL 7
COLONEL: Good. I will be speaking to Commander Goring next week. I will recommend that he put this castle on the list of places the Luftwaffe will bomb. Then those who live in the castle will know the consequences of challenging Germany’s might.
PAGE FIVE DARK FORCES ISSUE ONE - ORIGINS
PANEL 1
Joan Wayne is walking out of the hospital. She is no longer wearing glasses and appears to be in perfect health.
PANEL 2
A man in an army uniform approaches Joan.
MAJOR: I am Major Steve Taylor. You made a rather remarkable recovery for someone who was shot six times. Here is my card. Please report to my office at the army base at 6pm. It is vital to the security of the United States.
PANEL 3
Joan is at the major’s office.
MAJOR: Miss Wayne, my records indicate that you were working on a ‘super soldier’ formula. The fact that you recovered so quickly and completely from your wounds must mean you found the formula.
PANEL 4
JOAN: I do feel so much stronger now but I drank all of the serum and burned my notes so that spy could not get the formula. I can’t remember exactly what I did to the formula that night.
MAJOR: Let’s see what your abilities are. I made sure that the base’s track and field stadium would be empty tonight.
The next series of panels show some of Joan’s new abilities.
PANEL 5
Major has stopwatch. Joan, in sneakers but in a dress, crouches to begin run.
PANEL 6
Joan runs. Speed marks behind her.
PANEL 7
MAJOR: Around the track in 10 seconds. Incredible.
PAGE SIX DARK FORCES ISSUE ONE - ORIGINS
PANEL 1
Joan does high jump. She jumps way over bar.
PANEL 2
Joan throws shot put far into the upper levels of the stadium’s bleachers.
PANEL 3
MAJOR: Miss Wayne, America is at war and needs you and your abilities.
JOAN: It would be an honor to serve.
PANEL 4
MAJOR: So, Miss Wayne, you’re in the Army now. Give blood and tissue samples to your former group for research before you leave for training.
The next series of panels show Joan’s training. Hopefully CAPTIONS of learning local languages, demolition, self defense and assassination will not be required.
PANEL 5
Joan is seated at desk. Teacher has written following words on blackboard:
I am a friend
Hungarian: én egy barátom vagyak
Romanian: i sînt un prieten!
German: ich bin ein Freund
PANEL 6
Joan pushes down handle of detonator that causes a nearby explosion.
PANEL 7
Joan flips over her opponent using Judo.
PANEL 8
Joan sticks a knife into the neck of a dummy.
PAGE SEVEN DARK FORCES ISSUE ONE - ORIGINS
PANEL 1
A beautiful blond pilot greets Joan as she is about to enter the plane. The model for this character is Lady Blackhawk, Zinda Blake. She is wearing a similar uniform to Lady Blackhawk, but is wearing pants, not the miniskirt she sometimes wears.
Joan is wearing pants and is all in black. Around her waist is a pistol and a knife.
PILOT: Welcome aboard. We blondes have to stick together.
PANEL 2
They are in the cockpit.
JOAN: I hope I can complete this mission. A month ago I was in my safe world of laboratories and books.
PANEL 3
PILOT: From what I hear you’ve got the brains and strength, you just need to use your will and courage.
PANEL 4
JOAN: How did you get this job? I heard only men could become pilots.
PANEL 5
PILOT: By being the best. Remember that Ginger Rogers does everything that Fred Astaire does and she does it backwards and in high heels. Why don’t you relax a little? It going to take hours before we reach the destination.
PANEL 6
CAPTION: HOURS LATER
PILOT: I tried to contact the group that is going to meet you but all I am getting is static. That is a bad sign. Are you sure you don’t want to abort the mission? We could try again next week.
PANEL 7
JOAN: I want to continue. Tell me when we are near the drop off point.
PAGE EIGHT DARK FORCES ISSUE ONE - ORIGINS
PANEL 1
PILOT: Good luck.
Joan parachutes from the plane
PANEL 2
Joan takes tangled in a tree as she lands.
PANEL 3
Joan cut herself free.
PANEL 4
Joan lands on the ground unharmed.
PANEL 5
We see a silhouette of a huge animal like thing. Joan is unaware.
PANEL 6
The monster attacks, trying to get his jaws on Joan’s neck. It is a werewolf, like the Wolf Man, not a large wolf.
PANEL 7
Joan manages to throw the werewolf to the ground, on its back.
PANEL 8
The werewolf had gotten up and lunges for Joan again.
PAGE NINE DARK FORCES ISSUE ONE - ORIGINS
PANEL 1
Joan uses her knife to wound the werewolf in its stomach, as the werewolf howls in agony.
PANEL 2
Joan is standing, exhausted while the werewolf is on the ground, unmoving.
PANEL 3
Joan staggers to a nearby tree.
PANEL 4
It is dawn. Joan rests under the tree. In the foreground, the werewolf is starting to change form.
PANEL 5
Werewolf continues to change.
PANEL 6
Werewolf now has human form. He is naked.
PANEL 7
Wounds begin to heal on the naked man.
PANEL 8
All his wounds have been healed.
PAGE TEN DARK FORCES ISSUE ONE - ORIGINS
PANEL 1
LUCIAN: Where am I?
PANEL 2
Joan is beside him, with knife.
JOAN: You almost killed me. Give me a reason not to kill you now.
PANEL 3
LUCIAN: My name is Lucian. I shouldn’t be out here. On the nights we turn into werewolves, we put ourselves in cells in the castle, so not to hurt anyone.
PANEL 4
JOAN: So why were you out, if what you say is true?
PANEL 5
LUCIAN: I don’t know. I remember last evening entering my cell. Something must have happened at the Castle. We have got to go there now.
PANEL 6
JOAN: Why should I go with you?
LUCIAN: Because I know why you are here. I am part of the Resistance. Come with me.
PANEL 6
Both are running.
JOAN: How can you run so fast?
PANEL 7
LUCIAN: I was going to ask you the same question. Being a werewolf has a few advantages. In my human form, I am far stronger and faster than an ordinary man. My senses are sharper and I heal rapidly, as you saw. The Castle is not much further.
PAGE ELEVEN DARK FORCES ISSUE ONE - ORIGINS
PANEL 1
This is a full page shot of the castle is ruins. Only one wall of the castle remains. There is still smoke and fire from the bombing.
PAGE TWELVE DARK FORCES ISSUE ONE - ORIGINS
PANEL 1
Joan and Lucian are at the edge of what once was the Castle.
LUCIAN: We have to see if there are any survivors.
PANEL 2
Joan follows Lucian as he enters the ruins.
PANEL 3
They are searching the ruins.
LUCIAN: Is anybody trapped?
PANEL 4
They continue to search.
COUNTESS: Help.
PANEL 5
They find a dark haired woman apparently in her thirties, buried under hundred of pounds of stones.
LUCIAN: We will get you out, Countess.
PANEL 6
They start tossing the stones away from the area where the Countess is trapped.
PANEL 7
They finally pull the woman out of the ruins. She is dressed in a long black gown.
PAGE THIRTEEN DARK FORCES ISSUE ONE - ORIGINS
PANEL 1
COUNTESS: You may call me Countess Marya Zaleska. Thank you for your help. You were the American sent to help the Resistance, yes. We two are all that are left.
PANEL 2
LUCIAN: My family?
COUNTESS: All your family has gone to a better place. All my friends and servants are dead as well. When night comes and I am at my full strength, we will have revenge, I promise.
PANEL 3
JOAN: Shouldn’t we plan? Recruit some more members of the Resistance?
COUNTESS: You underestimate our abilities and yours. I saw how strong you are when you were getting me out.
PANEL 4
COUNTESS: Besides it will be unexpected, since they think we are all dead. We will attack their fortress headquarters and jail. Who knows, among their prisoners, we might find some good recruits. Besides, with you accompanying me and going in first, I can freely entry the location. Now, excuse me but I need to rest until sundown.
PANEL 5
CAPTION: SUNDOWN
COUNTESS: I am sorry that we have no transportation for you. We have to get there by foot.
PANEL 6
All three are running toward the fortress. Lucian has clothes on now.
JOAN: I see you are keeping up the pace.
COUNTESS: A German wrote a poem about my kind. My favorite line in it is that ‘the dead travel fast’.
PANEL 7
JOAN: Your kind?
COUNTESS: I am a vampire.
JOAN: Okay, I didn’t expect that.
COUNTESS: You should get out more or at least see some movies. Most people get it when I say I have to rest until sundown.
PAGE FOURTEEN DARK FORCES ISSUE ONE - ORIGINS
PANEL 1
They see the fortress from a nearby mountain. It is a large structure, with large stone walls and a big courtyard in the middle. There are several buildings in the complex.
PANEL 2
COUNTESS: Lucian, look around to see if there guards nearby.
PANEL 3
Lucian comes back. He is carrying a struggling, smallish, teenage gypsy. The gypsy has a slight mustache. He is a thief type character. Think of him as our Aladdin, Robin Hood, Robin and Douglas Fairbanks Senior figure.
PALI: Put me down.
PANEL 4
Pali is standing.
PALI: Call me Pali. This morning, the Germans arrested everybody in our camp. I alone got away. My people will be sent to concentration camps in the morning. Please help me. I can get you in there easily because I have escaped from their jail many times.
PANEL 5
COUNTESS: Your people have been under my protection for hundreds of years. The minute the Germans think I have been destroyed, they take them prisoners. This I will not allow. Show us the way in.
PAGE FIFTEEN DARK FORCES ISSUE ONE - ORIGINS
PANEL 1
They follow Pali.
PANEL 2
They are on an isolated side of the fortress.
PALI: Lucian, remove that stone.
PANEL 3
Pali enters the tunnel first, followed by Lucian.
PANEL 4
Joan is in the tunnel.
JOAN: Countess, Please enter this place as my guest.
PANEL 5
All four are in the tunnel.
PANEL 6
Pali leaves tunnel and enters a deserted corner of the fortress.
PAGE SIXTEEN DARK FORCES ISSUE ONE - ORIGINS
PANEL 1
All four travel cautiously through the fortress.
PANEL 2
Lucian and Pali kill the two jailors silently, with their knives.
PANEL 3
Pali finds the keys.
PANEL 4
Pali releases the gypsies.
PANEL 5
Three teenage gypsy girls embrace Pali.
PALI: Don’t worry, Lala, Nadya, Nuri, There is plenty of me to go around.
PANEL 6
COUNTESS: Stay here. We three have some killing to do.
PANEL 7
Lucian takes the pistols from the bodies of the two jailors.
PAGE SEVENTEEN DARK FORCES ISSUE ONE - ORIGINS
PANEL 1
COUNTESS: Let us separate. Make sure no one escapes.
PANEL 2
Joan kills a guard on duty with a knife to the neck, just as she practiced.
PANEL 3
Close up on Joan’s face. There are tears in her eyes. This is the first time she has killed any living being.
PANEL 4
We see Joan silently approach another guard. Her knife is in her hand.
PANEL 5
The Countess enters the officer’s area.
PANEL 6
The Countess cuts the throat of a sleeping officer.
PANEL 7
The Countess starts to feed.
PANEL 8
The Countess wipes the blood from her face.
PANEL 9
The Countess enters another room.
PAGE EIGHTEEN DARK FORCES ISSUE ONE - ORIGINS
PANEL 1
Lucian enters the soldier’s barracks.
PANEL 2
Lucian slits the throat of a sleeping soldier.
PANEL 3
Lucian walks to the next bed.
PANEL 4
This soldier manages to scream before he is killed.
PANEL 5
Chaos starts as the soldiers awake.
PANEL 6
Lucian pulls out the pistols he had gotten from the jailors and starts shooting with both hands.
PANEL 7
The German soldiers try desperately to get their weapons.
PAGE NINETEEN DARK FORCES ISSUE ONE - ORIGINS
PANEL 1
The Countess runs to where she hears shots being fired.
PANEL 2
Joan runs there as well.
PANEL 3
This panel takes up most of the page.
Some soldiers have weapons now. Joan, Lucian and the Countess are attacking the remaining soldiers with their bare hands.
PAGE TWENTY DARK FORCES ISSUE ONE - ORIGINS
PANEL 1
The gypsies heard the gunfire.
PANEL 2
Pali looks at his father.
PANEL 3
FATHER: Let’s go
The males go up the stairs to enter the fight.
PANEL 4
A group of young female gypsies follow the men.
PANEL 5
The gypsies pick up the weapons of the dead soldiers.
PANEL 6
They enter the room where the fighting is occurring.
PAGE TWENTY-ONE DARK FORCES ISSUE ONE - ORIGINS
PANEL 1
Most of the gypsies are celebrating their victory.
PANEL 2
Some women are assembling an outside tent.
PANEL 3
The bodies of three gypsy males are placed in the tent. One of them is Pali’s father.
PANEL 4
COUNTESS (TO GYPSY): I want to talk to your leader.
GYPSY: Our bandolier is dead. He was killed in the fight. Mother Maleva, his wife, is our leader now.
PANEL 5
The Countess and Maleva meet.
MALEVA: We are in your debt. What do you wish of us?
COUNTESS: My two companions and I need refuge for a few days, until I can start to reorganize the Resistance.
PANEL 6
MALEVA: Certainly. You will be our quests. We gypsies have been persecuted for centuries. We know how to hide. As for the Resistance, I offer you my son Pali as the first new member. He needs to avenge his father’s death.
PANEL 7
COUNTESS: I am honored to have him.
PAGE TWENTY-TWO DARK FORCES ISSUE ONE - ORIGINS
This page is a series of panels showing the gypsies wagons going deeper and deeper into the forest.
END
Thanks for sharing this, Turok.
Do you remember what kind of feedback you got?
Denny gave us a sample script to the five of us. It was one of his Superman stories.
He explained that the script occurred after he wrote several short story ideas to pitch to editor Julie Schwartz.
Julie accepted this short plot and discussed what him further details .
Then he wrote the script
We all submitted three ideas. Denny said all of my three were acceptable.
It was the last class when we submitted our scripts.
Denny said he was would give us an analysis of our script by email.
He never responded.
Denny was in his seventies at the time and he never emailed us before, nor did he give us his email.
I don’t know why he didn’t respond.
Thanks for sharing this
NYU probably gave him an email for the duration of the class and cut it off too soon. I have heard of this happening with guest lecturers. Can we assume that O’Neil DID NOT teach the use of a lot movie camera angles?
I wish I could meet Denny. I have one special book for him to sign.
@TurokSonofStone1950 That was great! I posted a script thread and art thread for a comic I am making. If you have the time could you check out the script thread?
@MisfitH
You are probably right about the email lapsing. Denny was teaching us to be professional. He woud not be unprofessional himself.
Re movie camera angles.
Denny suggested many books on film in the second class, but they were very high level, on three act structure etc.
Denny summarized each class in Bleeding Cool. The end of my Learn to write Fan Fiction Class contains links to each class.
I will bump up that thread for easier availabilty.
The list of books did NOT include
Shot by Shot by Steven Katz
Setting up your Shot by Jeremy
Vineyard
Cinemactic Storytelling by Jennifer Van Sull
Most detailed screen writing books describe camera angle as the territory of Director or Cinematograper, not the screen writer. At best they are annoying. At worst, they will cause the script to be thrown out.
I think Denny would say that is the concern of the artist. He only lists some of the terms in a few lines in his book, The DC Comics to Writing Comics. He calls Shot ‘more an aesthetic/ storyteling term’ and that’s it.
Another idea that Denny stressed, which is also in his book, is Suprise vs Suspense, using Hitchcock, the example being a book under the table. If the reader knows, that is suspense. In thrillers the reader knows more than the heroes. In detective stories, they know less than the detective, until the end.
He stressed working on plot ideas before doing a script, in collaboration with the editor. He had us submit three possible plot ideas. One of the books he recomends, Saving the Cat by Blake Synder describes how to do that on your own. Otherwise, you may waste weeks on something that wont sell.
Both he, and Devin Grayson in a separate class list the obvious beginnners’ mistake of asking the the artist to draw two or more actions in a single panel.
@MisfitH
Bomb under the table, not book.
@Turok Yes. Here is the link: https://www.dcuniverse.com/community/boards/fancontributions/portal-man-original-charac
@Turok Sorry for the late reply. I saw you gave me some direction on my art thread. Thank you. I replied back. The above link is my script thread.
@Turok Thank you for your help. That book you mentioned is basically my life right now. Poor social skills and I can’t remember a majority of my past. Minus the whole ending!
I had the therapy situation because I knew I would do flashbacks. I along with my character experienced ECT and Insomnia so I thought it would make sense. Thanks again.
@Turok Is it possible get an IT job without a degree?
I used to have a CCNA and Network+ when I was 20.
Does it matter if you only attended one semester of college, but got all A’s? I withdrew to pursue the CCNA and Network+, but I then experienced mental problems.
I was in NHS and the top twelve percent in my graduating class of 600 in High School.
I have only had one job for a little over a year as a cashier at a military installation where I was nominated and won some awards (Employee of the Year).
I understand if I am crossing a boundary.
I just need a good paying job with great health benefits before I turn 26.
Here is some screenshots of an app I made in Android Studio. It’s for reframing cognitive distortions.
Thank you.
@Turok you can disregard that. Thank you for answering!
The problem will be how you can handle long hours and great stress.
There are schools that generate front and back end programming, like Flatiron, in New York. For those with no Computer Science knowledge. There is a lot of prework
Most of what you learn in college has no relevance in real job. You may need a great deal of Data Structure and Algorithms knowledge for interviewing.
It is your portfolio and web site, softare you know well and interviewing prowess that will get you the job.
Keeping it is how you react to stress and ambiguity, as there is no holding hands eriod. It is sink or swim.
Your medical history may cause red flags for the first job.
@Turok Thank you. I am in the process of dealing with stress better. My previous job (Government) had a thorough background report. That job was very mentally (Veterans who cursed and physically harassed employees ) and physically stressful (8-9 hour work days of physical labor followed by 4-6 hour commute). Resigned due to back pain. I was always good in Math and Science in High School where I won awards for my academic performance in Physics, Algebra I/II, Biology and Chemistry. I made several websites in High School from scratch (HTML/CSS). Last time I sank. I was not prepared when I was 20. I am more prepared now. I’m learning communication skills from audio books and taking online courses. Thank you very much!
@Turok I could make up some excuse right now about the art thread I made in Random. I apologize if this negatively affected you in any way. I understand you not wanting to ever communicate with me again. Have a good rest of the time on the forums. I mean that sincerely.