Monday, December 19, 2011

What If? - Harry Didn't Die - Ben Rosenthal



Back story – Harry never died. Yeah, I know that really happened. But in this tale, Harry wasn’t believed dead. Again taking on another familiar theme of his father, Harry slid in and out of the goblin persona as the drug which addled his system gave him a crude chemical amnesia. Probably a mistake....



1. Peter Parker is beaten. Badly. We are seeing him from behind, his head visible as he holds it up from the ground as he lay on his back. Hovering over him on his goblin glider is The Green Goblin – Harry Osborn. Goblin is crouched down, looking at Peter with cruel, mad eyes.

GOBLIN

Why? You want to know WHY?

Well Pete, it’s as simple as this.


2. Same as Panel 1. The Goblin is now standing tall on his glider as he talks to Peter.

GOBLIN

You took it from me.

My father was obsessed with you even before he found out you wore webs. Liz, Gwen, MJ – they all loved you. REALLY loved you.


3. The goblin has ripped off his mask. The madness in Harry’s eyes glistens as he leers as Peter.

GOBLIN/HARRY

You want to know why I hate you, Peter? I hate you because you already have too much love.





As an extra special bonus, I've decided to throw in the dialogue I was briefly working on before I wrote the above script. Was going for a slightly different angle, but the same idea.

HARRY

Peter, I envy you.

Powers, loved by friends and family. Loved, full stop.

I don’t think I’ve ever been loved by anyone Pete. Not my father. Not Liz or Lilly.

What’s it like Peter? How *cough*

How does it feel to have unconditional love?

6 comments:

  1. Ahhh spam! Kill it with fire!

    Nice script this week Ben with a good emotional conflict and hook.

    It'd be interesting if Harry as the Goblin got more play in the comics.

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  2. I like this, Ben, but the dialogue feels a little too expositional. Which I guess is exactly how someone with Goblin mania does talk a lot of the time... but I'd prefer a show rather than a tell.

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  3. Ben - I like Harry's last line.

    I also like the inclusion of the original dialogue. Shows us how much you truly workshop and change your script. Very cool process, m'man.

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  4. Agreed on digging that last line. The juxtaposition of love / hate really works for me. I'd say it's the perfect amount of exposition / development to get the point across in a single page. Good stuff!

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  5. Thanks guys.

    @Rol - That's what I love/hate about Harry's dialogue back in the 90's. It was ALL exposition. Hell, even Norman spoke that way during his first run on the glider. I'm actually pleased that you picked it up :)

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