Saturday, January 4, 2014

Skinner Sweet - Hallelujah - R.A. Wonsowski


Layout:
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234
567

Panel 1 - Establishing shot: A moonlit night, Wolf River Harbor near Memphis, Tennessee.

CAPTION:  Memphis. May 29, 1997.


Panel 2 - JEFF BUCKLEY, sitting barefoot on the shore, wearing a white t-shirt and jeans rolled up at the cuffs, looking out at the river, smiling closed-mouth at nothing in particular.

CAPTION:  Maybe there's a God above...


Panel 3 - Same as Panel 2, except we see the eyes, fanged grin, and claw-like nails of SKINNER SWEET gleaming in the dark, right behind JEFF, who is unaware of his presence.

CAPTION:  ...But all I ever learned of love...


Panel 4 - JEFF's eyes go wide with terror as SKINNER clamps his hand over JEFF's mouth, his other arm wrapped around JEFF's chest, securing his arms.

CAPTION:  ...Was how to shoot at someone who outdrew ya...


Panel 5 - SKINNER is laughing maniacally as he is dragging JEFF struggling into the river.  They are both waist deep, and JEFF is kicking, unable to scream due to the hand over his mouth.

CAPTION:  ...It's not a cry you hear at night...


Panel 6 - Same as Panel 5, but now the water is up to their necks.

CAPTION:  ...It's not somebody who's seen the light...


Panel 7 - Same POV as Panels 5 and 6, but the water is calm, reflecting the moon, except for a few straggling air bubbles where SKINNER and JEFF went under.

CAPTION:  ...It's a cold and it's a broken hallelujah.

CAPTION:  Jeff Buckley's body was found six days later.  His drowning, though ruled accidental, has never been explained...


Lyrics by Leonard Cohen
Jeff Buckley version on his album "Grace", which I consider one of the three most perfect albums of the 1990's
(the other two are Pearl Jam's "Ten" and Neutral Milk Hotel's "In the Aeroplane O'er the Sea")

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