Panel 1- establishing shot, Saint Basil's Cathedral in Red Square, night. It's lit by klieg lights and police cars in one corner.
CAPTION: 1965.
CAPTION (Ursa Major): She is the third in the last year.
Panel 2- Zoom in, the entrance to the Cathedral, barricaded by police cars and military. Towering over them is the hulking form of the original Crimson Dynamo, standing guard.
CAPTION (Ursa Major): Nadia Toralova, 19 years of age. Her father herds sheep in the Ural Mountains.
Panel 3- inside the entrance to the Cathedral, lies the covered body of the young woman. The sheet is bloodied. RED GUARDIAN examines the scene on his haunches, while URSA MAJOR reads a report from his clipboard.
URSA MAJOR: Multiple stab wounds to the lower abdomen. Discovered naked from waist down, she still seems...intact.
RED GUARDIAN: Why?
Panel 4- POV from behind URSA MAJOR, over his shoulder, facing a furious RED GUARDIAN, the body visible behind him on the floor. We see URSA MAJOR passing him the clipboard in his paw.
RED GUARDIAN: Why would someone do this to a shepherd's daughter?
URSA MAJOR: My apologies, comrade. I had thought you were informed...
Panel 5- reverse POV, URSA MAJOR looking down at us as we see the top page of a classified document on the clipboard, red ink Cyrillic stating top secret KGB covert operational details within.
URSA MAJOR: She is the third Red Room operative to be murdered by an unknown person with knowledge of the programme.
URSA MAJOR: Someone is hunting Black Widows.
Sorry to leave on a cliffhanger, folks. I hope to be back someday and tie up all my loose ends...Spasibo.
It's a bloody nice cliffhanger. And a nice line. Safe travels, Ray.
ReplyDeleteWhat a cliffhanger to leave us dangling from! This page is a clinic in Soviet-themed Marvel characters, but what makes it worth reading is that you go beyond simple cameos to paint a clear yet complex tale in the limited real estate you have to work with. I know I'll be thinking about where this story could lead for a good while.
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