1. A young boy walks through his school. He is of a small build, holding his lunch box in one hand. This is Chris King. His head is looking to the left, a smile on his face as he talks to his imaginary friend.
CHRIS
I dunno Eric. He’s a lot bigger than--
2. We are now looking from behind Chris. He is looking up at three larger boys of typical bully appearance. Kid 3 is in the middle of the three, cracking his knuckles. Kid 1 is to the left of Kid 3, and Kid 2 to the right. Kid 2 is looking at Kid 1, laughing as he speaks.
CHRIS
--me.
KID 1
Talking to yourself again?
KID 2
Nah, his imaginary friend.
KID 3
Gimme your lunch King. We’re hungry.
3. Looking down at Chris, the shadows of the three bullies eclipse him. Chris looks scared as he clutches at his lunchbox handle with two hands, shoulders shrugged up as Kid 3’s hand reaches for his lunch box. A speech bubble appears to be coming from his shoulder. Chris’ imaginary friend, Eric is talking.
ERIC
Looks like you've had enough, lard arse.
4. Same as Panel 2, however all three bullies are confused, as the voice they just heard was not that of Chris King.
KID 3
Huh?
5 - 7. A succession of three quick panels, all contained within the one. The first showing Kid 1 reacting as if he was punched in the stomach. The second shows Kid 2 reacting as if he was punched in the cheek. The third shows Kid 3 reacting to being punched in the groin.
8. The three bullies lay one on top of the other. In the background Chris King is walking away, lunch box in hand. His head is once again turned to the left, smiling as he speaks to his ‘imaginary’ friend.
CHRIS
Wow, for a small guy you’re really strong. Thanks Eric!
ERIC
Anything for you, son. I mean, kid.
No way O'Grady would have some loser kid who gets picked on...actually...yeah, he probably would. Ha.
ReplyDeleteI think O'Grady would set aside one day a week to pal with Chris and help him out of scrapes.
I really like the three panels in one fight sequence. The cluttered/tight page also works well for the spirit of the original title.
This is one of those pages that reading as a kid you would love to happen in your life. You really grabbed some of the spirit and fun energy from the original. Plus that three in one panel fight sequence as Ryan already said is just brilliant. 4/5 for me.
ReplyDeleteBrilliant. It's like Eric is the badass / Samuel L. Jackson version of Jiminy Cricket.
ReplyDeleteI love that last line. Great stuff!
ReplyDeleteThere's a lot of panels here but I think you pull it off. I love the concept of Eric as this Angel/Devil (mostly the latter) figure on a kids shoulder.