When asked who his favourite Marvel character is, executive editor Tom Brevoort always answers Ben Grimm, the Thing. I have no problem understanding why. Like Peter Parker, Ben Grimm is an everyman, someone we can all relate to. But if Peter is the conscience of the Marvel Universe, Ben Grimm is the heart. He's also a tragic figure - while the rest of his family were given amazing super-powers and got to keep their devastating looks in the bargain, Ben ended up transformed into a rock encrusted monster. Is it any wonder he's prone to bouts of depression, anger and resentment?
In the end though, Ben always comes through. Because he's got a heart as big as all outdoors, he'll help anybody out in a pinch. Be honest, if you were facing down an army of rampaging Doombots - who better to have on your team than Aunt Petunia's favourite nephew?
It's clobbering time!
Nice choice. I've always thought The Thing was a pretty cool character :)
ReplyDeleteAs a fan of the superhuman wrestling circuit I have to wholeheartedly approve this choice!
ReplyDelete“FF NOIR”
ReplyDeletePANEL ONE
Ben Grimm--though not The Thing--stands before an old-style door, holding a large cardboard box. He is wearing a white singlet and slacks pulled up that little bit too high, as was the fashion in the 1920s.
BEN: Come on, Reed, this box ain’t light y’know.
PANEL TWO
Inside the entryway, Reed Richards, wearing a white lab-coat, is holding the door open as Ben enters.
REED: Sorry, Ben.
BEN: Yeah, yeah, just tell me where you wan’it.
PANEL THREE
From over Reed and Ben’s shoulders we see the large laboratory within the warehouse. There are no computers or other technology, just glass containers, tubing, and metal holding-apparatus. Johnny Storm can be seen at the back of the room working with a Bunsen Burner. Reed is gesturing to a nearby bench.
REED: Just over there will be fine.
PANEL FOUR
Ben is putting the box down on the bench with Reed watching on cautiously.
REED: Be careful with that.
BEN: Yeah, I know.
SUE (OP): Hey, Ben.
PANEL FIVE
Close up on Ben’s face, smiling.
BEN: Oh, hey, Suze, I didn’t see ya hidin' back there.
JOHNNY (OP): AAAARRRGGHH!
PANEL SIX
Wide shot of the room. Johnny is on fire, waving his arms around wildly. Sue has jumped from her desk and is running over to him, as is Reed. Ben hasn’t moved and is smiling.
SUE: Drop and roll, Johnny, drop and roll!
REED: Oh, no, what did you do?
BEN: I see you brought comedy relief.
PANEL SEVEN
Close on Johnny, lying on the ground, his lab-coat burned and smoking. He is pointing at Ben and scalding. Sue and Reed are standing over him with blankets.
JOHNNY: At least I’m not just a glorified courier!
PANEL EIGHT
From over Reed and Sue’s shoulders, we see Ben, still on the other side of the room. He is pointing back at Johnny.
BEN: Watch it, kid. You’re lucky I’ve got thick skin.
SUE: Thick?
PANEL NINE
Close on Ben, smiling.
BEN: Yeah, who am I kiddin’, it’s more like stone.
I'm sure some of the other guys will scream "woah - overcrowded page!" but I'm not allowed to do that for obvious reasons.
ReplyDeleteI like what you did here, Danial. It was a nice set up, fit in well with the Marvel Noir stuff I've read so far, captured the characters without their powers, and the voices all seemed right. I could easily have read on.
Yeah, I knew it was overcrowded, but I couldn't bring myself to cut any more out. As it was, I had to leave out the "stretch" bit I had planned for Reed :)
ReplyDelete[I haven't posted a secondary script in a while, but when this one came to me, I just had to write it :)]
ReplyDelete“IT’S ELEMENTARY…”
PANEL ONE
Completely black panel.
JOHNNY: Wake up, ya big lug.
PANEL TWO
From Thing’s POV, we see Johnny Storm looking over him.
JOHNNY: There we go.
JOHNNY: Welcome back to the land of the living.
PANEL THREE
The Thing is on the ground, sitting up. He has his hand to his head. Johnny is kneeling next to him. Both have obedience disks on their chests. They are in what appears to be an empty concrete bunker, save for an old war-time loud-speaker in the upper corner.
THING: Oh man, I haven’t had a hangover like this in… ever.
THING: Ugh.
THING: Where the hell are we?
PANEL FOUR
Closer on them both.
JOHNNY: I have no idea.
JOHNNY: We all just woke up here with these disks on our chests.
THING: I’ve seen ‘em before. The Hulk put ‘em on Richards and--
THING (OP): Hold up… “We”?
PANEL FIVE
From between Johnny and Thing, we see two others sitting on the far side of the room--Morris Bench and Ann Darnell, both with the same obedience disks. Johnny and Thing are looking at them, and Thing is pointing at Ann.
THING: Bench? What the--
MORRIS: Grimm.
THING: And this is?
JOHNNY: You remember those guys that tried to copy our… accident?
THING: Yeah, didn’t they call themselves the U-Foes or somethin’ stupid?
JOHNNY: Yeah, well, now you’ve met one of them.
PANEL SIX
Close on the other two, Ann looking unimpressed.
ANN: My name’s Ann Darnell. Most people call me Vapor.
PANEL SEVEN
Close on Johnny and Thing, who is smirking.
THING: Right. You must be the one that--
THING: Ah, real funny.
JOHNNY: What is?
THING: I know why we’re here, kid, and whoever set it up has a real sick sense o’ humor.
PANEL EIGHT
Wide shot of the whole room. Thing is pointing his thumb at himself.
THING: Hydro-Man.
THING: Vapour.
THING: Human Torch.
THING: Me.
THING: Obedience Disks…
PANEL NINE
Close on the loud-speaker.
SPEAKER: You’re smarter than I gave you credit for, Mr Grimm.
SPEAKER: Now let the fun begin, shall we.
“The Original Rock Man”
ReplyDelete(5 Panels)
Panel 1: Wide panel. Scene is a warehouse, night. A few lightbulbs overhead provide lighting. A large number of AIM Soldiers, armed with machine guns, have been raiding the warehouse. An AIM Soldier flies in backwards and upsides down from off-panel and impacts with a pile of crates, which the other soldiers react to.
FLYING AIM SOLDIER: YeeeeaAAH!
SFX: crAc-sh!
Panel 2: Wide Panel. The remaining AIM soldiers turn to look off-panel to where their fellow soldier flew in from and arm their weapons.
SFX: Click!
SFX: Chik!
SFX: Ca-chick!
AIM COMMANDER: Stop right there and surrender!
Panel 3: In the doorway stands THE THING, highlighted as a silhouette against the night darkness behind him, giving the effect that that AIM Soldiers don’t know who their attacker is. THING wears a trench coat and hat over his normal Fantastic Four outfit to further obscure his identity.
THING: Ya’ gotta’ be kidden me. You guys know those can’t hurt me, right?
Panel 4: Close-up of THING’s head from a low angel, pulling away the silhouette effect.
THING: Don't make me start clobberin' people.
Panel 5: Wide Panel. Scene faces towards the doorway from behind the AIM soldiers, who open fire on THING. THING responds by charging head-on towards the soldiers.
AIM COMMANDER: Open fire!
SFX: ratatatatatatatatatatat!!!
THING: (Thought bubble.) Why am I not surprised?
@Danial - I love your new idea. It's a funny set up, I just want to know what the faceless villain is going to do with it all. Nice work, mate.
ReplyDelete@Space Jawa - welcome aboard, mate. Nice little sctipt, but at the end you call it a thought bubble, isn't that a little insultingh to the site, ha. Otherwise, simple little idea. Love to see more from you each week.
Space Jawa again, but thought that if I was going to make more than a one-time thing, it might be good to go with something more than just a guest profile. That, and thought of an idea I just had to try.
ReplyDeleteSetup for scene is taking the classic idea of the F4 Family to it’s logical extreme, with Sue, Reed, Johnny, and Ben filling “Mom”, “Dad”, “Little Brother” and “Big Brother” roles respectively, and Johnny and Ben being actual kids, though everyone still having the same powers. Johnny has just enacted his latest prank on Ben.
“Sibling Rivalry”
(7 Panels)
Panel 1: THING runs into the doorway in hot pursuit of HUMAN TORCH. HUMAN TORCH stands in foreground, facing THING.
THING: Get back here, you little punk, so I can clobber ya!
Panel 2: THING launches himself at HUMAN TORCH to try to grab him.
THING: Raaah!
Panel 3: Wide panel. HUMAN TORCH lifts off the ground. He has minimal flames on his body as he does this. This causes THING to travel underneath TORCH and roll across the floor like a round rock till he runs into a stand holding a vase. The stand and vase begin to fall over as a result.
Panel 4: Double triangle panel. One half has a close-up of TORCH’s head, and the other has a close-up of THING’s head. Each is wide-eyes and gasping as the react to the vase falling to the floor.
Panel 5: A near-invisible force-field from INVISIBLE WOMAN (off-panel) in the shape of a hand safely catches the vase before it hits the ground.
SFX: tink
Panel 6: Full-panel of INVISIBLE WOMAN from a lowered perspective in order to make her look more intimidating. She is looking at TORCH and THING with a glare that clearly says they are very much in trouble.
Panel 7: THING and TORCH, not having moved from their previous positions, point at each other and speak at the same time.
THING & HUMAN TORCH: He did it!
@Ryan: My original thought-seed was something to do with a Rock, Paper, Scissors battle, but I couldn't think of how to work it, which lead me to Earth, Fire, Wind, and Water instead :P
ReplyDelete