Blackwood

Author notes

Round One

NAPosey

on May 25, 2007

[Story Below]

I am still looking for an artist. I've had a little interest from a couple of publishing companies, but it's increadably difficult without an attached artist. This is roughly the first 10 pages of the first issue (10 of 267 already written). I've had discussions with artists, but have had a series of misfortunes, the attached picture was done by a talented artists named Ercan Ucer. If you're an artist looking to join a writer let me know, I'd be glad to share more of my vision (It does get a considerable amount darker, more twisted, and violent, but has a sense of heart at the core that I believe would keep mainstream readers interested).


Blackwood – Issue 1
(Round One)
WGAw Registered 2007

Blackwood/1

[1.]
THE STORY BEGINS WITH NEHEMIAH BLACKWOOD, A MAN WITH MEDIUM LENGTH DARK HAIR, AND A VERY WELL TONED BODY, STANDING IN THE RAIN LOOKING DOWN AND BLEEDING FROM HIS CHEST. THE BACKGROUND IS A PARK BENCH AND NOTHING ELSE BUT DARKNESS. NEHEMIAH STANDS UNDER A STREET LIGHT.

Caption [Date/Location]: September 1, 2006 Hyperion City

Caption [Blackwood]: I’ve lost everything.

Caption [Blackwood]: Life has become a burden. A painful memory that will
soon end.

Caption [Blackwood]: But first . . .

[2.]
SHOT OF NEHEMIAH’S HAND STROKING A KNIFE, HIS KNUCKLES ARE BLACK AND A LIGHT SMOKE IS COMING OFF OF THEM

Caption [Blackwood]: . . . I have some business to care for.

Blackwood/2

[1.]
OPENS AT A LARGE-SCALE BOXING MATCH. CROWD IS GOING WILD AS TWO YOUNG BOXERS IN THEIR PRIME GO TOE-TO-TOE MATCHING BLOW FOR BLOW.

Caption [Date/Location]: April 2004 Los Vegas, Nevada

Caption

: “All men are brothers, like the seas throughout the world; so
why do winds and waves clash so fiercely everywhere?”
- Emperor Hirohito

[2.]
THE RING SOUNDS AND A GIRL DANCES ACROSS THE CANVAS SPORTING THE NUMBER NINE.

Caption

: “It’s just a job. Grass grows, birds fly, waves pound the sand. I
beat people up.” – Muhammad Ali

[3.]
PICTURE OF AN ANNOUNCING BOOTH BESIDE THE BOXING RING WITH AN ANNOUNCER AND COLOR COMMENTATOR. FANS ARE YELLING IN THE BACKGROUND AND TRYING TO GET ON CAMERA.

Announcer: If there were any doubts that two would be able to bout
with each other it has been quickly dispersed.

Commentator: It’s no secret these two are close friends.

[4.]
FLASHBACK FIVE YEARS TO A SMALL DORM ROOM LIKE APARTMENT WITH A YOUNGER NEHEMIAH BLACKWOOD AT THE AGE OF NINETEEN DOING TI CHI IN THE MIDDLE OF THE ROOM WHEN KIRKLAND, NEHEMIAH’S ROOMMATE WHO IS SLIGHTLY TALLER THAN NEHEMIAH, WITH A SHAVED HEAD, IS BLACK, AND HAS A LITTLE LESS MUSCLE TONE, COMES RUSHING INTO THE ROOM FROM THE BATHROOM. KIRKLAND IS BUTTONING UP HIS COLLARED SHIRT AND LOOKING FOR HIS TIE.

Caption [Commentator]: They came up rooming together while making their way
through the amateur ranks.

Caption [Date/Location]: October 1999 Chicago, Illinois

Shane Kirkland: You seen my blue tie?

Blackwood: Nope. Why do you want to wear a tie anyways? Isn’t it a little
overkill?

[5.]
SHANE SEES THE TIE LAYING ON TOP OF A SPEED BAG IN THE CORNER OF THE ROOM AND GRABS IT.

Caption [Announcer]: Spending hours upon hours toning their bodies and training
their minds.

Shane Kirkland: You don’t get it man, this girl is it. I think she may be the one.

Blackwood: You haven’t even gone out with her yet.

Shane Kirkland: But I’ve got a feeling. You know when you’re about to get in the
ring and you already know that you’ve got the guy beat?

Blackwood: Yeah.

Shane Kirkland: Well I got that feeling about this one.

Blackwood: So you’re going to box her?

Shane Kirkland: Ha ha, very funny. You know you suck at telling jokes?

Blackwood/3

[1.]
NEHEMIAH CHANGES POSITIONS IN HIS MARTIAL ARTS TRAINING AND KIRKLAND STARTS TO PUT ON THE TIE WHEN THE DOOR BELL RINGS.

Caption [Commentator]: You’d have to imagine that these two young men let
nothing stand in the way of them and their goals.

Blackwood: Yeah, well at least I’m not the one in a suit to take a girl out for
pizza.

Shane Kirkland: It’s romantic you ass, and besides I can’t just go out with a girl in
a t-shirt and jeans, we’re not in high school anymore. We’re professional boxers for god’s sake.

Blackwood: Well semi-pro.

Shane Kirkland: Well she doesn’t have to know that.

Sound [Doorbell]: ding-dong

Shane Kirkland: That must be her.

Blackwood: Good luck buddy.

[2.]
KIRKLAND OPENS THE DOOR AND NEHEMIAH FALLS FROM HIS POSITION STUNNED BY THE BEAUTIFUL EBONY WOMAN IN THE ENTRANCE.

Elizabeth: Hi, I’m Elizabeth. Are you Shane?

Caption [Announcer]: And it’s all been leading up to this point. These are two
supreme professionals.

Sound [Bell]: Ding!

[3.]
ANOTHER SHOT OF THE ANNOUNCERS TABLE

Caption [Date/Location]: April 2004 Los Vegas, Nevada

Announcer: Here we go into round ten. It’s been a close one so far but Blackwood
looked like he was tiring in the last round.

Blackwood/4

[1.]
BACK TO A SHOT OF THE BOXING RING WHERE KIRKLAND AND BLACKWOOD COME OUT OF THEIR RESPECTIVE CORNERS.

[2.]
THE ANNOUNCER AND COMMENTATOR ARE IN A THIN PANEL AT THEIR DESK.

Announcer: This might be as good an opening as any for Kirkland to make his
move.

Commentator: And there it is!

[3.]
SHOT OF BLACKWOOD STUMBLING BACK AFTER A JAB FROM KIRKLAND

[4.]
BACK TO A THIN SHOT OF THE ANNOUNCER AND COMMENTATOR

Announcer: A hard jab and a right hook have got Blackwood stumbling! He’s on
the ropes!

[5.]
FLASHBACK FOUR YEARS AGO, BLACKWOOD IS POUNDING ON THE DORM ROOM DOOR.

Caption [Date/Location]: January 2000 Chicago, Illinois

Blackwood: Come on Shane, let me in! You know I didn’t mean for it to happen.
I wasn’t thinking.

Blackwood/5

[1.]
BLACKWOOD KICKS THE DOOR IN AND ENTERS THE ROOM WHERE SHANE IS PACKING HIS STUFF UP.

Blackwood: Shane I wasn’t thinking.

Shane Kirkland: That’s the problem. You never think! You just do what you
want, whatever makes you feel good, and damn the consequences.

[2.]
BLACKWOOD GOES TO PULL THE SUITCASE AWAY FROM SHANE BUT SHANE KNOCKS HIS HAND AWAY.

Blackwood: Come on, don’t do this.

Shane Kirkland: No man, you don’t get it. We were friends, best friends, and you
fucking hit me below the belt.

Blackwood: You know I didn’t mean—

Shane Kirkland: Three months. Now I know that may not seem like a long time,
but I thought sure as hell that it was at least long enough for my best friend to know she was off limits. Damn, I would think one week would be long enough!

[3.]
SHANE PICKS UP THE SUITCASE AND WALKS TOWARD THE DOOR.

Blackwood: Look if it will make things better I’ll break up with her. No big deal.

Shane Kirkland: See that’s where we differ, I’m not in it to screw you over.

[4.]
SHANE WALKS OUT THE DOOR. THERE IS A SMALL ROCK TO THE SIDE OF THE DOORWAY OUTSIDE THEIR APARTMENT.

Shane Kirkland: You’re a hazard Blackwood, you act on emotion. If you’d ever
stop to think first you might’ve remembered we have a spare key in the fake rock.

[5.]
BLACKWOOD, LEFT IN THE SMALL APARTMENT ALONE, TURNS AND PUNCHES A DRESSER SHATTERING THE WOOD.

Blackwood: Damn it!

Blackwood/6

[1.]
SHOT OF BLACKWOOD BEING PUMMELED IN THE CORNER OF THE RING BY KIRKLAND

Caption [Date/Location]: April 2004 Los Vegas, Nevada

Caption [Announcer]: This is beginning to look ugly.

[2.]
SHOT OF THE ANNOUNCERS DESK WHERE THE ANNOUNCER IS GRIMACING AND SLIGHTLY LOOKING AWAY.

Commentator: Kirkland is ripping into Blackwood showing no mercy.

[3.]
KIRKLAND THROWS A BIG LEFT HOOK AND SEEMS TO STAND STILL IN SURPRISE WHEN BLACKWOOD BOBS AROUND THE BLOW

Sound [Blackwood’s gloves]: shw

[4.]
BACK TO A SHOT OF THE ANNOUNCER’S TABLE WHERE THE TWO MEN ARE STANDING AND SHOUTING.

Commentator: Kirkland’s down, Kirkland’s down!

Announcer: That may be the hardest hit we’ve ever seen in professional boxing!

[5.]
NEHEMIAH BLACKWOOD STANDS IN HORRIFIED AWE, HIS RIGHT ARM WEIGHING HEAVILY STRAIGHT DOWN AS IF DEAD, WHILE HE WATCHES PARAMEDICS RUSH IN TO AID HIS OPPONENT AND FRIEND WHO LIES LIFELESSLY ON THE CANVAS FLOOR.

Blackwood/7

[1.]
BLACK SQUARE WITH TEXT

Gruff Old Man: Hey. Hey! Get your damn head back over here or it’s going to get
ripped off!

[2.]
A GRUNGY OLD MAN STANDS IN FRONT OF A SITTING NEHEMIAH BLACKWOOD IN A POORLY LIT DILAPIDATED OLD BOXING RING. THE ANGLE IS TAKEN FROM BEHIND THE OLD MAN FACING THE CORNER OF THE RING.

Caption [Date/Location]: July 28, 2006 Hyperion City, Washington

Gruff Old Man: Quit head-achin’ over your past or you’re gunna have the living
crap knocked out of your future.

[3.]
SAME SHOT EXCEPT FROM BEHIND NEHEMIAH AND IN THE CORNER ADJACENT SITS ANOTHER BOXER IN GOOD SHAPE WITH HIS RING COACH TALKING WITH HIM.

Caption [Blackwood]: This is real-time, this is real life, and this is now. This is
where I am, what I am. A washed up boxer who’s got no right to whine, no right to live.

Gruff Old Man: Damn it kid I told you to get outta that head of yours!

[4.]
BLACKWOOD STANDS UP OFF THE STOOL IN THE CORNER OF THE CONCRETE RING, LOOKS DOWN AT THE MAN WHO’S BEEN EDGING HIM ON, AND SPITS IN THE BUCKET NEXT TO HIM

Gruff old man: Damn it kid I don’t care what kindda angry you are at me, this is
bare-knuckle boxing not damn patty-cakes!

Blackwood/8

[1.]
BLACKWOOD TURNS TOWARDS HIS OPPONENT AND TILTS HIS NECK TO CRACK IT AND WALKS TO MEET HIS OPPONENT IN THE CENTER OF THE RING.

Sound [Blackwood’s neck]: Crack, crack, crack.

Boxer [Julius King]: My wife and I loved your work on that Kirkland guy.

[2.]
JULIUS KING GESTURES TOWARDS A GORGEOUS WOMAN IN THE FRONT ROW OF THE NEARLY EMPTY STANDS.

Julius King: She’s sitting right over there, gunna watch me demolish a monster.
We didn’t know they let serial killers box. Gotta thank you though, I used some of your moves from that fight working over your sister last night!

[3.]
SHOT OF NEHEMIAH’S EYES AND NOSE FLARING AS HE CLENCHES HIS FIST TIGHT A LIGHT BLACK SMOKE COMES OFF FROM AROUND HIS KNUCKLES.

Sound [Blackwood’s fists]: shw

[4.]
BLACK SQUARE

Blackwood/9

[1.]
LONG THIN PANEL WITH A SHOT OF JULIUS KING’S BLOOD SATURATING THE CANVAS. JULIUS’ ARM AND MAYBE SOME OF HIS HEAD ARE IN THE SHOT.

[2.]
THE CROWD OF THIRTY OR SO PEOPLE ERUPTS INTO CHAOS WITH PEOPLE SCRAMBLING TO THE BOXER AND PEOPLE SCRAMBLING TO GET OUT OF THE GYM.

Crowd: Freaking killer!

Crowd: Did you see what that guy did?

Crowd: He’s gotta be crazy!

Crowd: Oh god, my wife’s going to be so pissed when she finds out I lost the
bonus.

Crowd: Who let an ex-pro in here to begin with?

Crowd: Didn’t he kill someone before?

[3.]
BLACKWOOD STANDS TOWARDS HIS CORNER OF THE RING WITH HIS HANDS AT HIS SIDES WITH THE GRUFF OLD MAN FACING HIM BETWEEN BLACKWOOD AND JULIUS KING’S BODY. THERE ARE TWO TRAINERS AND JULIUS’ COACH KNEELING BESIDE HIM ALONG WITH HIS WIFE. BLACKWOOD HAS A LOOK OF SORROW AND DISBELIEF OVER THE ACTION HE HAS JUST TAKEN.

Boxer’s Wife [Shauna King]: Somebody call the police!

Blackwood [Softly]: No.

[4.]
SAME SHOT BUT WITH THE WIFE NOW POINTING AT NEHEMIAH

Shauna King: Somebody call the police! MURDERER!

Gruff old man: Someone shut her up! Ya gotta get outta here kid.

[5.]
SAME SHOT AGAIN BUT WITH BLACKWOOD LOOKING MORE IN SHOCK THAN DISTRAUGHT AND THE WIFE NOW STANDING UP AND POINTING AT BLACKWOOD.

Shauna King: You’ll pay for it, do you know who his father was?!

Gruff old man: Go kid, go!

[6.]
BLACKWOOD RUNS OUT THE DOOR AND INTO THE ALLEY BEHIND THE GYM

[7.]
BLACKWOOD RUNS TOWARDS HIS FAMILY’S HOUSE.