Beast - Home - Grant McLaughlin

I imagine panels 1 and 8 kind of bordering the page, spanning the width while being a bit shorter than a normal panel.  As well, you could link panels 5 through 7 as being the same overall image just divided by gutters, but it's by no means necessary not necessarily feasible.  All that said, if you can imagine a better layout, go for that.

1 - Beast stands at the entrance to the X-School (his back to the reader).  Before him, the grounds, buildings, and the like are all visible in the distance ahead.  The "Jean Grey School for Higher Learning" sign is next to him (on the gate / wall / freestanding / whatever).  Beast wears a suit and tie, like the classy guy he is.

CAPTION (BEAST): "Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters."

2 - Move to a shot inside one of the classrooms.  We can see students and their desks about, but the focus is on the window, looking out to the grounds where we can see Beast walking towards the building.

CAPTION (BEAST): I was educated in its classrooms.

3 - Walking up the entrance steps, Beast and Wolverine pass.  Wolverine claps a hand on Beast's shoulders; Beast looks towards Wolverine happily.  A moment of camaraderie.

CAPTION (BEAST): Made lifelong friends in its halls.

WOLVERINE: Morning, Hank.

BEAST: Good to see you, Logan.

4 - Inside, Beast is looking at a display case that has something of a pictorial history of the school.  The focus of the panel is a photo of the original X-Men - Beast, Cyclops, Jean Grey, Iceman, and Angel - in their old-school uniforms (Beast still in mostly human form, Iceman still snowy, Angel with angel wings, etc).  It looks like they were trying to take a serious picture, but their youth and friendship got the best of them and they came out looking casual and a little silly.  There are also other pictures from the era partially visible around this main focus (fights with villains, dances, plays, etc).

CAPTION (BEAST): And it's where I learned some of life's most valuable lessons

5 - Continuing along the pictorial display, we see a photo of the current faculty and staff, with present-day furry Beast prominently visible.  Again, we can have other photos on the periphery, likely depicting different events from Wolverine and the X-Men, but the current-day Beast is the big part.

CAPTION (BEAST) (1): I've changed a great deal since that time.

CAPTION (BEAST) (2): So has the school.

6 - Focus on Beast's reflection in the glass as he looks at himself (perhaps adjusting his tie).  He looks pleased.  Proud.

CAPTION (BEAST): But it is very much where I became the man I am today.

7 - Beast is in his own classroom, setting out materials and the like for himself.  He wears a similar expression as the last panel.  Some students might be walking in.

CAPTION (BEAST): It's something I can never repay.  Nor truly recreate.

8 - Beast stands in class, looking towards his students (his back to the reader).  Feel free to pick whichever students from the Wolverine and the X-Men series you'd like.  Like the original X-Men before them, their personalities and expressions run the gamut from serious and engaged to irreverent and distracted and everything in between.  This should be laid out to echo panel 1.

CAPTION (BEAST): But that doesn't mean I won't try.

BEAST: If you'll open your textbooks, we'll begin.