Thread "Last minute comic book challange Artist needed" in forum "Networking & Community Projects*"

Posted at 7:05PM, May. 30, 2007

Okay, so truly last minute this. I need a completed and illustrated comic page for a Comic Book Challenge ( http://comicbookchallenge.com ) submission and while I'm no stranger to comickry or drawing ( http://www.netsoc.tcd.ie/~sofox ), I don't feel my art's strong enough. If anyone can form a team with me, we can make a joint entry and if we do well and it leads to good stuff, keep working together. I know it's short notice, but even for fun it's a good challenge and a great chance to give something like this a shot, we can all benefit from this.
The submission requires a one page description and a full completed page to show what it will be like.

Below is my on page description and the script for the first few pages. Feel free to take any creative liberties or interpretations after all this is a group effort and I'm lose with a lot of details (suggestions for improvement are always welcome).

Description page:

The action takes place in a pseudo-futuristic, pseudo-post-pseudo-apocalyptic world (yeah, don't worry, you'll get it) where AsmoGant, a powerful multinational corporation dealing in hardware, technology and weaponry is fiercely fighting with its aggressive competitors and deal with a rapidly changing global environment and marketplace. Through it's tumultuous siftings as disorganised, chaotic bureaucratic mess organisation, a "Mobile Action Strike Division" somehow gets formed. It is a "mobile, flexible, multi skilled unit" with the goal of "1) Securing AsmoGant's best interest through a flexible, mobile and versatile division that can quickly be deployed anywhere 2) Test and best utilise AsmoGant technology and weaponry, giving valuable feedback and vital on-the-ground experience 3) Prove AsmoGant technology is useful and vital in today's challenging era of urban warfare." As you can see, this is complete corporate BS with a huge PR spin and by the start of the comic the division barely consists of two people (of course the manager doesn't count).
Sarah is a disciplined, focused, high achieving, goal orientated person who was destined (in emulation by her father) for a career in military forces. However, through fate and such she ended up working for AsmoGant "just to gain experience." She goes for focus and being in control with the unfortunate attribute of allowing things to getting on her nerves which is fatal given her partner.
David has somehow become her companion and co-worker. How a guy like this got working on a pseudo (there's that word again) squad is seriously open to question. On the surface he seems childish and immature, distracted in his on thoughts and doesn't seem to quite seem to grasp the situation he's in. But is smart enough to be intelligent when he wants to be. Excepts for Sarah, his childish charms and emotionally perception allow him to get on everyone's good side. However, left to his own devices he goes hyperactive, is completely unrestrained and and even careless and acts on whatever whim takes his fancy. This is highly unorthodox for a member of a squad that goes on life or death missions and isn't the best for Sarah.

After a successful, but high real estate damage, mission, the duo head back to find that through indecipherable corporate mechanisations, they have new team member, a large, bulky, highly armed, highly functional humanoid machine: "ELSS-697353104", codename Elliot, who David names Rob. Becoming something David obsesses over and Sarah just wants to ignore, the three are suddenly cast into a new mission where rivalry with corporate competitors evolves into a new age, because if one company has a "Mobile Action Strike Division", the competitors can't just leave it at that though can they.

The comic is an offbeat, humorous and character driven, with sly contrast between the characters and the pretty dark and crazy world they live in, and how they deal with it. Themes include working with someone you hate, the inaneness of huge, mismanaged bureaucratic organisations, keeping a tactical advantage in a military situation when your partner is chasing butterflies, courage under fire, "did this come with a manual?", human aspects in an inhuman world, childhood fascination with things many others overlook and corporate intrigues that really aren't that intriguing.

Sample pages:

Scene is a vaguely European plaza, wide fountain in the middle, shops and open cafÃƒÆ’Ã¯Â¿Â½Ãƒâ€šÃ‚Â©s circle around it. The scene is in bits, having clearly been shot up very recently. Various chairs and tables are overturned, bullet holes, window's shattered, and part of the fountain are chipped including one large explosion mark. A few bodies lie here and there holding high power automatic weapons.

Panel 1 - SARAH (Female, late 20s-mid 30s) strides across plaza, angry yet determined composure and a clear objective and gaze set in her eyes. She's wearing a somewhat militaristic uniform but one that could almost pass for casual clothing. She's also soaking wet and a bleeding shallow cut on her arm and a mark on her head.

Panel 2 - DAVID is in front of an almost decimated cafe as Sarah comes up to him. He is wearing similar clothing yet has a bright, optimistic composure and is looking at Sarah with a cheerful expression on his face.
David: Well, all things together I think…

Panel 3 - Sarah swings a powerful punch right into David's ribs. Through an opening in David's partially unzipped outer jacket, a weird light brownish and crumbly material seems to come up.

Panel 4 - Sarah looks at David in puzzlement at the substance while David looks at a piece of it plaintively in his hand.
Sarah: What is…?
David: My cheesecake!

Panel 5
Sarah: Your cheesecake?
David: Yeah, I was saving it for later and now you've gone and squished it all over the place.
Sarah: Where did you…? Wait, you were taking cover behind a cake counter and at that moment you decided to take some cheesecake?

Panel 6
David: Well I didn't just take it, I asked for it. There was a waitress crouched beside me and I asked if I could take some cheesecake and she said "Yeah, yeah, take whatever you want" so I took it.
Sarah: It was a firefight David, you can't be going taking cake slices out of cafÃƒÂ©s during gunfights.
David: Well not if you're going to squish it afterwards.

Panel 7
Sarah: Look, shut up about the cheesecake, clear you mind. Right now, we've attracted way to much attention, so leave your hangups aside and focus on what's important.
David: You're right Sarah! I'm going back in for some more cheesecake.

Panel 8
Sarah is left exasperated as David ducks into the remains of the cafÃƒÆ’Ã‚Â©.

Page 2
A corporate, big granite thing looking headquarters with various arty architectural twists here and there. AsmoGant HQ.

Panel 1 -Let's make this panel an establishing external shot of the above.

Panel 2 - A relatively small underground office, very corporate, very regular, you just know the manager is frustrated that he doesn't have any windows.
DERRICK is a manager in a brown suit, dark hair and a very agreeable face, he smiles a lot, though in a cheerfulness-and-good-PR-can-cover-any-insecurity kinda way. Sarah perceives it has hiding the malice the guy has for all the living world.
Derrick: Well, I've been looking over your reports and I have to say I think you did, very well.
Sarah(angry): It was a complete balls up!

Panel 3 -
Sarah: No support from the get go, half written instructions on what we were menat to be even doing, no word that our contact was with anyone, despite him having half the numbers of that squad on his phone's speed dial; we had no permits to prevent us from getting arrested for being involved in that gunfight, and even so, we still had to buy tickets and fly home on a commercial airline because no one could get us a decent extraction.

Panel 4 -
Derrick: Well, yes, there were some flaw, but in the overall scope of things…
Sarah: We got the guy killed! All we were meant to do was establish whether he was really with another company, until he called in that armed squad.
Derrick: Which proved that he was!

Panel 5 Sarah rages and glares in Derrick's direction while Derrick smiles and looks amenably satisfied.

Page 3 -
Panel 1 - Sarah turns to do
Sarah: Well if you're done screwing up our operations.
Derrick: Actually, there's another matter that needs to be brought to attention.

Sarah: What?

Panel 2 - Derrick places a large manual on the desk. It displays "Instructions for the ELSS-697353104 all terrain recon and assault droid." It bears the AsmoGant logo.
Derrick: Take a look at this

Panel 3 -
Sarah: Don't tell me one of these got stolen.
Derrick: Of course not, we're just looking for your opinion on it.

Panel 4 -
Sarah takes manual
Sarah: Well, standard full assault, tech powered dealie. Didn't know AsmoGant was this far into humanoid robot designs. Mobile. Looks suited for war zones, or in whatever place a commander feels a multi million piece of hardware is less valuable then the lives of his soldiers. Humanoid, good for using traditional forms of transport though it might be a bit of a squeeze. Fast reloading, good, you don't know how many times that gets screwed up. Advanced AI, hmmmm, a bit dangerous, always risky to give a machine too much responsiblity, but I'd have to see how it worked out. Strong, could be helpful for moving stuff if it doesn't work out on the battlefield.

Panel 5 -
Derrick: So what would you say it's best suited for.
Sarah: Well like the manual says: High conflict areas, warzones, places with huge risk to human life and a need for extremely powerful and dispassionate dispensing of firepower.
Derrick: And on a team like yours.
Sarah: Ha. Come on, even you know we're not that sort of a unit. Opening fire is a last option or very carefully planned out for us. Simply going around with an assault droid would be idiotic as it would attract way too much attention, put people on their guard and slow us down (not that David doesn't do all that already).

Panel 6-
Derrick stares at Sarah thoughtfully for a moment

Panel 5 -
Derrick: Well meet your new team member!
Sarah: What!?!

Page 4: A room with various tools, weaponry, and pieces of tech around the place. In the centre is the robot in question
Panel 1 -
David: That… is… so… cool!!!
David is standing in front of the robot. It is large, bulky, shiny and with much protrusions and looks like it packs a punch. It looks Awesome!
David: I mean seriously. Can you believe we get one of these things?
Sarah: Honestly: No.

Panel 2 -
David: I'm going to start it up right now. Robot: Turn on.
Sarah: Wait David, y…
Robot: Robot model ELSS-697353104 powering up. Serial number E24…
David: No don't bore us with the serial number, just tell us what you can do!
Robot: Feature list includes: knowledge of all approved forms of weaponry, laser targeting, concealed and in built weaponry, wireless connectivity, capable of carrying…
Sarah: We don't even know if we're keeping it!

Panel 3:
David: Aw, come on Sarah, you know they're not going to let us give it back unless we bring it with us at least once.
Sarah: They don't just want us to test this thing, they want it to become a team member.
David: WHAT??? BRILLIANT, hey you hear that robot, you get to stay with us.
Robot: Acknowledged.

Panel 4:
David: By the way, do you have a name.
Robot: My name is designated as "Elliot."
David: That's it? Didn't you have some cool model number code or something.
Robot: True. My model number is ELSS-697353104.
David: ELSS-697353104? We can't just keep calling you that, we'll call you Rob.
Robot: Acknowledged, name reassigned to Rob.

Panel 5:
Sarah: Well while you're playing around with your new toy.
Sarah leaves

Panel 6:
David: Now that she's out of the room, let's see your guns!