Thursday, February 27, 2014
Donkey Kong - Behind the Scenes - J.D. Coughlan
Panel 1: On the "set" of the first Donkey Kong game in 1981. Kong and Mario sit in those fold-up chairs you always see on film sets. Mario has a mug of coffee, Kong reads a newspaper. Various crew go about their business. Mario is bragging but Kong just keeps reading his paper.
MARIO: Yeah, I've been looking to break into this video game thing for a while now. Makes a change from the plumbing, y'know?
KONG: Mm.
Panel 2: Close-up of Mario. He is super-smug.
MARIO: Keep it under your hat, but I'm already in talks with Nintendo for more of these. Heh. My brother keeps pestering me to get him in on the action too. Life of a celeb, huh?
Panel 3: Close-up of Donkey Kong. His face mostly hidden from Mario with the paper, he rolls his eyes.
MARIO (O.P.): Hey though, don't worry, I'll see if I can squeeze you in somewhere too. We always need good villains.
SFX: BEEP BEEP BEEP
Panel 4: Kong answers his phone. It is a big 80s style mobile phone.
KONG: You're on with Donkey Kong.
KONG: Mm-hmm.
KONG: Mm-hmm.
KONG: Thanks for letting me know. Ciao!
Panel 5: Kong puts away the phone, a little grin on his face. Mario looks on in sympathy.
KONG: That was my agent.
MARIO: Oh dear. Bad news?
KONG: You could say that.
MARIO: Never mind, eh? Something will come up. Now, pardon me, I need to get into character...
Panel 6: Close-up of Kong. He puts his paper back up in front of his face, covering his bigger grin.
KONG: (small) Bad news for someone anyway.
MARIO (O.P.): IT'SA-- Hrmm! IT'SA ME-- Hrmm! IT'SA ME, MARIO!
END OF PAGE
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Page made me smile. Reminded me of that old AlkaSeltzer commercial, the actor doing take after take of"Thats'a spicy meat'a ball!" It's the little touches, like the brick-phone call with the agent, the nuances in their mannerisms, that would give an artist a fertile playground to work in. Great fun...
ReplyDelete"You're on with Donkey Kong" is a fantastic line.
ReplyDeleteReally fun, light hearted page. I really like the behind the scenes idea, treating the game as a film with actors, and you pull it off swimmingly.
A superb idea. It's a bold scene to play with twisting our preconceptions of what we think we know. A mighty fine bit of writing with fun playful dialogue.
ReplyDelete4/5