Layout:
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Panel 1 - MARKHAM hides behind the tipped-over conference table, back up against it, kind of in a seated position, head down, eyes squeezed shut, a Smith&Wesson 457 in each hand:

Unseen gunmen are somewhere on the other side (we can't see them), their bullets blasting through and tearing up the table around MARKHAM. Glass is shattering in the background.
SFX: BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! BLAM!
SFX: KSHHH!!
SFX: BAM!BAM!BAM!
Panel 2 - Same as above, but no blasting or crashing. Quiet moment.
NO COPY
Panel 3 - Same P.O.V., but MARKHAM is now peeking around the table nervously.
NO COPY
Panel 4 - Same P.O.V. MARKHAM is sitting on the floor again, his back to the table again, and he's swearing at his shoes.
MARKHAM: (small lettering) #@$K!
Panel 5 - Same as above, but MARKHAM's eyes look heavenward. His face is like a chid who is admitting he broke the lamp because he was running in the house, sorry eyes, pouty lip...
MARKHAM: God? I know you're up there laughin'yer ass off...
MARKHAM: ...'specially with the "no-kill" thing...
Panel 6 - Same as Panel 3, peeking around the table again.
MARKHAM: ...but help me out here, I swear I'll put twenty in the plate next Sunday...
Panel 7 - Same as Panel 5, but with that "oh, yeah, almost forgot" expression.
MARKHAM: ...oh, uh...Amen.
Panel 8 - MARKHAM rises from his position and swings around, pistols almost leading his body to a firing stance behind the table.
NO COPY
Panel 9 - As seen from MARKHAM's eyes: foreground - MARKHAM's forearms and guns, muzzle-flash trailing in an arc, sweeping from right to left, shells ejecting from the chambers; background - from left to right: gunman shot in a kneecap and a calf, gunman shot in the foot and hip, gunman shot in the kneecap, gunman shot in the scrotum, gunman shot in the hand and elbow. Their faces are all distorted in agony.
SFX: BLAM! BLAM! BLAM!
MARKHAM: (to the one he shot in the groin) Sorry!
SFX: BLAM! BLAM! BLAM!
Action packed and really funny, all in one page thats damn impressive. Panels 7 and 9 really sell the character and your concept after a very tense and well paced build up. Mighty fine work.
ReplyDeleteClassic awkward praying here, Ray. I really appreciate the pacing you dole out in this page; it makes for some solid action and funny moments. Markham's uncertainty in how to address God is obviously the best part, but him apologizing for the groin-shot is a close second.
ReplyDeleteThere's some good layout choices here. You let the expressions and nuances tell the story with the tighter,smaller panels at the beginning before opening up for the action beat at the end.
ReplyDeleteGood payoff to a great page.