Panel 1
Wide panel. An establishing shot looking out across Kandhaq. We’re focused on an area that looks like Tahrir Square. There are thousands of people protesting. Above them, speaking on a small makeshift stage, is the female UNKNOWN SOLDIER (from here). Her head is swathed in bandages, and she’s dressed in the clothes we last saw her in. She punches a fist to the heavens.
Letterer’s Note: The Voice captions are black background with white text.
1 CAPTION/The Voice: You were stupid. You demanded revolution.
2 CAPTION/The Soldier: It was needed.
Panel 2
Wide panel. The crowd is being dispersed and broken up by SOLDIERS brandishing riot shields and batons. This isn’t a simple sweep and clear. This is skulls being smashed, blood being spilt -- absolute carnage. Somewhere in the chaos the UNKNOWN SOLDIER is dragged away by CIVILIANS as she tries to pull herself free, wanting to join the fight.
3 CAPTION/The Voice: They have too much to lose, a single voice holds no sway.
4 CAPTION/The Soldier: Nothing changed.
5 CAPTION/The Soldier: I failed.
Panel 3
A thin, wide, horizontal panel. Nothing but black. Text in white.
6 TEXT/The Voice: This isn’t about you. It never was.
Panel 4
Wide panel. Tight on the UNKNOWN SOLDIER as she looks out of the panel towards us, a dark background behind her. Her eyes stare at us from beneath the bandages, her teeth gritted in the midst of an angry sermon we’re not privy to.
7 CAPTION/The Voice: Cast out revolution.
8 CAPTION/The Voice: Bury your ego.
Panel 5
Wide panel. We ZOOM OUT to see she’s flanked by others, all dressed in civilian clothes, their heads swathed in the iconic bandages of The Unknown Soldier. Some brandish ASSAULT RIFLES. All of them face us. A strip of text runs across the bottom of the image, telling us we’re watching a news broadcast.
The text reads: “Unknown Soldiers release manifesto online - group calls for end too --”
8 CAPTION/The Voice: And carve change into the flesh of history.
Visceral words, man. Would really work on the page.
ReplyDeleteSo very beautiful and so very pertinent. Your Unknown Soldier always felt like what the character was meant to do, and this feels like its natural progression for our world.
ReplyDeleteReminds me of the Ennis comic books
ReplyDeleteVintage Dan Hill - political, war, thriller. You slay this kind of thing man. Just take a bow dude.
ReplyDeleteI was hoping, nay, PRAYING that you'd trot your version of the Soldier, and you do not disappoint. No one does war zones like you, and your Soldier is the perfect foil for today. Even the reveal in the final panel just seems like a natural next stage, next chapter.
ReplyDeleteAlways loved your work, man. It's like a glass of ice water followed by a taser chaser. Don't be a stranger, Dan....