Layout:
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Panel 1: Wide shot. Monument Valley, Arizona. Looking West. Between the monolithic rocks, we can see the Pacific Ocean beyond. Thanks to Godzilla's rampage fighting magma giants along the San Andreas fault, all of California and Baja California is gone. The sky is clear and blue.
CAPTION: ONE YEAR LATER...
CAPTION: You would think after something like this, we'd be a little smarter. A little wiser.
Panel 2: On a city street, Westboro Church protesters are holding picket signs, mouths open in some chant. Some picket signs read: "Godzilla Hates Fags", "You Can't Spell GODZILLA Without GOD", "'Zilla 1, L.A. 0".
CAPTION: Instead, we just crank up the stupid, blind to what history tries to teach us.
Panel 3: In a boardroom, Japanese businessmen are bowing and shaking hands over contracts with three American lawyers, who look a lot like Gene Hackman, Ned Beatty, and Valerie Perrine from Richard Donner's Superman movie. Everyone is smiling billion-dollar smiles.
CAPTION: We're blind, even if we're not looking in the right direction. And we never suspect who the one-eyed kings are.
Panel 4: On the new Arizona beach, Monument Valley in the distant background, mourners of all ages and races stand on red rocks, tossing roses, orchids, and lilies into the ocean in rememberance. The sky is orange from sunset.
CAPTION: And we choose to be blind. Blinded by grief, by confusion and anger. By remembered smoke and ash.
Panel 5: Starry night, long shot. A campfire reflects off a cliff-face wall. People are sitting and standing around it.
CAPTION: We never see the warning signs. Abused child becomes abusive parent. Tiger turns on the tamer.
Panel 6: Zoom in. We see the Hopi natives around the campfire, listening intently to their chief, who wears a wide-brimmed black hat, and holds his arms wide. Behind the chief, an old man paints figures on the cliff wall with a slender brush.
CAPTION: We create our own monsters, and we're surprised when they turn on us, hungry for our bones.
Panel 7: Zoom in. We see that the old man has crudely painted Godzilla stomping through fire and rubble on the cliff wall. He is just finishing the tail.
CAPTION: We have only ourselves to blame if we refuse to read the writing on the wall.
FIN
(tip of the hat to Bill Hicks (1961-1994), who inspired this piece...it's just a ride.)
A nice page here. My only criticism is simply that there is a lot going on for a single page, but otherwise good stuff.
ReplyDeleteGood concept that again plays into the notion of Godzilla being a force/metaphor for other forces.
ReplyDelete