Friday, September 26, 2014
The Phantom - Fairy Tales - Travis M. Holyfield
Panel 1: Interior. Night. MR. COOPER sits in his office chair, behind a magnificent desk - the desk of a powerful and influential man. His corner office has floor to ceiling windows, and he has a magnificent view of the city. Cooper sits facing one of the windows, only the right side of his face visible to us in profile.
COOPER: It's a sound plan, Lawrence. But what about opposition? Do you propose to stride into Bangalla and take this treasure with no resistance?
Panel 2: LARRY stands facing Cooper's desk. He is wearing a suit, but it is crumpled and fits badly. He is trying (and failing) to maintain an aura of confidence in front of Cooper.
LARRY: What resistance, Mr. Cooper? It's a bunch of primitives with loincloths and spears.
Panel 3: Cooper at his desk again, still not looking directly at Larry, still only giving us that profile view of his right side. He has tented his fingers in front of his chin, thoughtful.
COOPER: It is said there are other things to fear in the jungles of Bangalla than spears.
Panel 4: Larry shrugs, and tries on a casual smile.
LARRY: Seriously, sir? "The Ghost Who Walks?" It's a jungle boogeyman. A fairy tale!
Panel 5: Cooper's face has gone dark at Larry's last comment.
COOPER: Fairy tales, Lawrence?
COOPER: Like "Hansel and Gretyl"? Like "Little Red Riding Hood"?
COOPER: Do you know what a fairy tale is, Lawrence?
Panel 6: Cooper turns now to face Larry, and for the first time we see the left side of his face, a mass of scars circulating out from the clear mark of a skull imprinted on his left cheek.
COOPER: A WARNING.
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YES!
ReplyDeleteOne of the fascinating things about the Phantom is that through time and over generations he is unchanging, but reactions and consequences for crossing him are different. This plays an interesting parallel to Simon's piece; where his was a downward spiral, there's a lesson learned here that has hardened Cooper. The fairy tale lines at the end are keepers. Thumbs up, Travis....
Cheers, brother. Thanks.
DeleteVery nice, Travis. The fairy tale idea and reveal are really well done. Nice construction there. I think that the first three or four panels could potentially be tightened up and combined in some capacity to get to the fairy tale aspect sooner, but it's still a mighty fine piece.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Grant. If this was longer, I'd have done more with the fairy tale metaphor before hitting the stinger at the end. As it stands, I thought I needed the lead-in panels to establish scene (1) character (2) and conflict (3). Also with the left-column panels and bottom row, I was trying to replicate a capital "L", as a graphic design element. As always, your mileage may vary.
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