THROWBACK: Hey, I ain’t playin’ — I take this stuff seriously. This is research.
ANTHONY: That ain’t research. That’s self-abuse.
PAGE 15
PANEL ONE (SMALL): The MEN are getting out of an INDUSTRIAL ELEVATOR. THROWBACK (wearing a NEW) is looking REPROACHFULLY at ANTHONY.
THROWBACK: …But you didn’t have to do me like that in front of the ladies. That was cold.
PANEL TWO (BIG): They are in the midst of a HUGE INDUSTRIAL AREA with LOTS OF BRANCHES, CORRIDORS, WEIRD EQUIPMENT, ETC. This could be our chance to see a lot of OTHER “STUDENTS” like TOXIN, some TEACHERS, ETC.
THROWBACK (Cont.): Man, how are you supposed to find ANYTHING around here?
ANTHONY: They said the weapon shop was on level 5. We’re on level 5. Follow the blue line. I’m relying on you – I can’t even SEE color with these things on.
PAGE 16
PANEL ONE: THROWBACK is INTERESTED, in a fan-boy way.
THROWBACK: So, what’s your trip? I mean, like, your powers?
ANTHONY: I see into the infra-red and ultra-violet. And I can do some other stuff.
THROWBACK: Oh, kind of like Pipistrel, huh? That bat-chick? You a mutant, too?
PANEL TWO: THROWBACK sees TIME MASTER/MASTER TIME, who is pushing past COLDBLOODED – THROWBACK’S EYES WIDEN. He’s STOPPED LISTENING.
ANTHONY: No. I got my powers the old-fashioned way.
ANTHONY (Cont., quietly): Shot in the back by my best friend, then shoved into a vat of active nanobuilders…
TIME MASTER: No! Don’t go! They’re waiting for you – they know!
COLDBLOODED: Look out, you crazy mother…!
PANEL THREE: TIME MASTER STOPS right in front of ANTHONY, GRABS his LAPELS (or the equivalent.) ANTHONY is TAKEN ABACK.
TIME MASTER: Don’t you understand? They’re way ahead of you – HE’S way ahead of you.
ANTHONY: What the hell are you saying?
PANEL FOUR: TIME MASTER STUMBLES AWAY, leaving ANTHONY shaken.
TIME MASTER: Well…then you better take sun block. And plenty of it.
ANTHONY: What was THAT about?
THROWBACK: I don’t know, but, dude, that was Time Master! He fought everyone! He’s the guy that dropped that dinosaur into the Tonight Show! Ate like a hundred people before Regent showed up and knocked it out! A T-Rex!
SNAIL: S-s-special effects.
PANEL FIVE: THROWBACK pissed — SNAIL looking ASHAMED.
THROWBACK: No way! It was real! From, like, TIME.
SNAIL: Sorry. I can’t help it. I just…say things. They rhyme, sometimes.
COLDBLOODED: What, you trying to be a rapper?
PANEL SIX: ANTHONY has found a DOOR, MARKED “ARMORY”
SNAIL: No, it’s a s-syndrome. I’ve got a…a syndrome.
COLDBLOODED: So do I. It’s called “I’m sick of hearin’ your retarded ass.”
ANTHONY: I think I found the place.
PAGE 17
PANEL ONE: IN THE WEAPONS SHOP with FLAK, a middle-aged black man in a functional BATTLE-SUIT. He looks like he might have been a top-sergeant in the military – very short gray-flecked military cut, no facial hair. He has an unlit cigar in his mouth at almost all times. He’s addressing COLDBLOODED and THROWBACK.
FLAK: You two I got no use for.
THROWBACK: Why? What do you mean?
PANEL TWO: FLAK frowns at THROWBACK.
FLAK: ‘Cause you ain’t got no weapons, stupid.
THROWBACK: You could give us some.
PANEL THREE: FLAK STARES at THROWBACK.
PANEL FOUR: FLAK to THROWBACK.
FLAK: Boy, you have no idea of the countless ways in which I could permanently fuck you up. It’s only because you haven’t yet earned back a single penny for this facility that I’m gonna refrain from ripping off your nutsack right this moment. Go on. You boys get the hell out of here.
PANEL FIVE: FLAK TURNS to ANTHONY and SNAIL. Behind him, THROWBACK and COLDBLOODED are heading briskly for the exit.
FLAK: As for you two, I’m not sure what I’m supposed to do for you…
FLAK (Cont.): Special Forces Paladin-class defensive suit. Doesn’t need much but routine maintenance. Stolen?
ANTHONY: Not exactly. Put it this way — I was wearing it when I left. You’ve seen one of these before?
PANEL SIX: FLAK turns to SNAIL.
FLAK: Seen it? Pretty much designed it. And how about YOU, son? That’s an interesting suit you got there. Looks like it’s made of old car parts. Where’d you steal it?
SNAIL: I didn’t. I…I made it.
FLAK: Oh, really? All by your little old self? Where?
SNAIL (Cont.): In shop class.
PANEL SEVEN: FLAK raises an eyebrow.
FLAK: Well, boy, if that’s true, you and I may have a few things to talk about after all…
PAGE 18
PANEL ONE: IN THE COSTUME SHOP, with SAILOR AND OCHO. MINK and DOLLY are just leaving as HEATSEEKER and SNAIL come in. THROWBACK is having a fitting while COLDBLOODED struggles with HOMOPHOBIC PANIC.
SAILOR: Now, when you meet him, ladies, you remember what I told you! I know he’s DELICIOUS – but stay away. He’s got that name for a reason!
SAILOR (Cont.): Oh, look, more BOYS! What was it the Coast Goddess use to say? “Ten men waiting for me? Send one home – I’m tired tonight.”
PANEL TWO: TALKING and WORKING around the COSTUMING TABLE while THROWBACK stands on a LOW STOOL.
SAILOR: Come on in. I’m Sailor. I used to work her, you know – you’ve heard of her, right, Coast Goddess, she had the floating palace, always threatening to shoot Polaris missiles at public buildings? Was SHE Miss Stampy-Crampy most of the time – oh my GOD. That woman just had her bitch on TWENTY-FOUR SEVEN. But the food was pretty good.
SAILOR (Cont.): My handsome Ocho was muscle for Eightball ‘til he got taken down by Twilight Man and all the Eights got laid off. We met at one of the Sultan’s cattle calls. It was the Sultan, wasn’t it? Or was it one of the Crimson Conjuror’s?
Ocho: Yeah, Sultan. What’s this coat thing?
SAILOR: It’s coming off, don’t worry. I’ll say one thing for the Sultan, he was one of the good old TVs.
THROWBACK: A television?
PANEL THREE: SAILOR rolls his eyes.
SAILOR: No, silly boy, Traditional Villains. You might get hit in the jaw a lot, and do some jail time, but when you were working for him you got your check every Friday and you got bailed out in 24 hours or less. Not like Silas Winter. I don’t know why ANYONE works for that mess.
OCHO: Pays good. But he crazy.
SAILOR: Tell me about it. He electrocuted someone I knew to death for bringing him the wrong kind of breakfast! TO DEATH!
PANEL FOUR: THROWBACK has his ARMS PULLED BACK UNCOMFORTABLY because OCHO’S grabbed the back of his HOODIE between SHOULDERS.
THROWBACK: Hey!
OCHO: Look what happen when I grab you coat. Can’t move you arms.
SAILOR: He’s right, we need something less restrictive. And does it all REALLY have to be black?
PANEL FIVE: THROWBACK protesting – he LOVES his COSTUME.
THROWBACK: I wear all these different shirts. It’s my gimmick. And black goes with everything.
SAILOR: Oh my GOD. Yes, it goes with everything, but so do Levis. You don’t see Black Dog wearing 501s, do you? Colonel Breakskull in relaxed-fit Dockers? No, no — there’s such a thing as TOO casual.
PANEL SIX: SAILOR is looking CRITICALLY at THROWBACK. OCHO has THROWBACK’s arms pulled back even TIGHTER – THROWBACK looks like he’s STRANGLING.
SAILOR (Cont.): How about slate gray instead – that’s nice, but not quite so Weekend Goth? Or, well, you’d be surprised at how many things go with teal…
PAGE 19
PANEL ONE: THE DORM – LIGHTS OUT. ANTHONY is strapping on his GEAR by the dim NIGHTLIGHT, getting everything ready. His SUNGLASSES are STILL ON.
ANTHONY THOUGHT CAPTION #1: Locked and loaded. Going into
some shit you don’t know – the only certain thing is, you get unlucky, you’re dead, like that poor cop. Like me in the Forces…at Benne Yhaar. Why am I DOING this again?
PANEL TWO: The NIGHTLIGHT, seen from BELOW.
ANTHONY THOUGHT-CAPTION 2: Benne Yhaar – even the name’s still like poison. The place where everything changed.
PANEL THREE: FLASHBACK – the NIGHTLIGHT is now a MOON ABOVE HELICOPTER BLADES.
ANTHONY THOUGHT-CAPTION 3: We had just helped the Northern Alliance take Mazar-al-Sharif. About the time everybody else in Afghanistan was going south after Bin Laden, chasing him into Tora Bora, my squad was sent on a mission north, into the mountains where the borders get crazy — me and Jojo and the rest, accompanying three strangers with the hardest eyes I’d ever seen.
PANEL FOUR: FLASHBACK – THREE WHITE GUYS TALKING, being watched by ANTHONY and his friend JOJO
ANTHONY THOUGHT-CAPTION 3: I thought they were CIA, but I still don’t know for sure. Could have been Red River or one of the other private firms. They didn’t bother to tell us anything, so I don’t even know the lie.
PANEL FIVE: FLASHBACK — About a DOZEN MEN walking down a MOUNTAIN TRAIL at NIGHT, IN FULL GEAR.
ANTHONY THOUGHT-CAPTION 4: All we knew was that we were going in to secure some kind of site named Benne Yhaar. I dimly grasped that it had something to do with weapons, but like I said, those dudes were close-mouthed. At the time I didn’t even know why us Forces guys were going along, but I found out.
ANTHONY THOUGHT-CAPTION 5: Because they needed RAW MEAT…
PANEL SIX: The SILHOUETTED MEN become the SILHOUETTE of THROWBACK tossing in his BUNK.
THROWBACK: Mmrrnh.
ANTHONY THOUGHT-CAPTION 6: Shit. Focus, Hakim — FOCUS. You got a job here.
PAGE 20
PANEL ONE: ANTHONY is out the OPEN DOOR of their cell/dorm room. He’s still wearing his SUNGLASSES and he’s holding up a little OBJECT like a LIMPET MINE.
ANTHONY THOUGHT-CAPTION 1: Man, I bumped tougher locks than that when I was a freelance removal expert.
PANEL TWO: He sticks the OBJECT on the wall by the CELL.
ANTHONY THOUGHT-CAPTION 2: This is the dangerous part. Either this transponder preempts the digital security cameras and feeds them a loop of the last ninety seconds for as long as I’m out of my dorm room, or cell, or whatever you call it…
ANTHONY THOUGHT-CAPTION 3: …Or I’m going to get cooked like that poor cop this morning.
PANEL THREE: He takes his SUNGLASSES OFF, LOOKS AROUND. For the first time, we see his WEIRD EYES.
ANTHONY THOUGHT-CAPTION 4: I can’t afford more than a quick recon – too many ways to get into trouble…
PANEL FOUR: ANTHONY’S POV — sees HEAT-PATTERNS OF GUARDS coming around corner
PANEL FIVE: GUARD who hit ANTHONY JAWING with the other GUARD (from pages 2-4.) We don’t see ANTHONY.
GUARD #1: Oh, I’m gonna notch me some of these new punks, you damn bet…
PANEL SIX: NOW we see ANTHONY – WEDGED IN A CORNER of the CEILING, right above where the GUARDS just walked.
ANTHONY THOUGHT-CAPTION 5: Damn! I HATE that guy. Memo to self: if there’s ever a chance to push his face in without blowing my cover, I’m gonna take it.
PAGE 21
PANEL ONE: Still ANTHONY’S POV – his SPECIAL VISION. HE has CHANGED LEVELS. We see HEAT-TRACES on the floor (footprints) and the air (where bodies have passed) and from machinery, etc.
ANTHONY THOUGHT-CAPTION 1: This must be their main office. Even if they’ve wiped out all Jameel’s records, I might be able to find some evidence of what happened. The only question is, is someone on duty here 24/7?
PANEL TWO: An OFFICE WINDOW, in HEATSEEKER-VISION – it’s FARSIGHT.
ANTHONY THOUGHT-CAPTION 2: That Farsight guy. Well, that makes sense, I guess – I didn’t figure Byzantine for the kind of dude who sleeps in his store at night.
PANEL THREE: FARSIGHT turns toward him, as if he senses ANTHONY’S PRESENCE.
ANTHONY THOUGHT-CAPTION 3: Shit! Does he know I’m here? But this place damps TP, and I’ve got my suit shields on, too!
PANEL FOUR: ANTHONY going hurriedly down STAIRS.
ANTHONY THOUGHT-CAPTION 4: I got a bad feeling about that guy. I don’t want anything to do with him yet…
PANEL FIVE: A DARK SHAPE SWOOPS THROUGH THE AIR. ANTHONY IS KNOCKED SIDEWAYS by a FOOT IN THE BACK.
PANEL SIX: FOOT ON ANTHONY’S THROAT – He is GENUINELY CHOKING. We can’t see WHO’S DOING IT.
THROWBACK (OP): Oh, man, you are SO DEAD.
NEXT ISSUE: THE PLACE OF FLIES
PAGE 22
(This is going to be a page representing the PLUSDOTCOM website: It should LOOK like an ENTERTAINMENT SITE – LOTS OF PICTURES, POINTLESS GRAPHICS, Etc. It will have a tie-in to the story, and we’ll probably have one page each issue. Here’s the first article, just as an example.)
SPECIAL ALL-VILLAINS ISSUE!
THE SHADOW CIRCUIT – A GRAY MARKET FOR EVIL?
People think of supervillains stealing bullion from Fort Wayne or holding the world to ransom with giant laser weapons, but in an exclusive for PlusDotCom, investigative reporter K. Allen Lilly says that many professional bad guys and gals reap a sizeable income from the Shadow Circuit, lecturing and consulting with other criminal organizations, foreign governments, and a few “straight” businesses that don’t mind having a reputation as “sharks” in mainstream corporate waters. Disgraced former governor and international arms dealer Hart Huon is of course the biggest act in this shadowy world, but such criminal masterminds as General Disorder, Maxim Nachtigal, Professor Tyrus Trinch, and the frankly frightening Silas Winter also command big appearance fees and are reported to be booked months or even years in advance.
“It’s a wonder some of them even bother with regular crime anymore,” says reporter Lilly. “Trinch or Huon could live the rest of their lives on under-the-table appearance fees from straight corporations and legitimate governments. If they’re committing crimes or fighting superheroes, it’s ‘cause they WANT to.”
(READ ARTICLE)
HEROES BELIEVE A HIGHER POWER HELPING THE HORROR
The powerful lawbreaker known as the Horror is responding well to a dose of religious education, according to a spokesman for Regent and his fellow born-again Christian hero, the Flag.
“He’s not mindless,” the source told PlusDotCom, “and he didn’t want to be a villain. Ever since the original accident that made him what he is, he’s had moments of sanity and remorse. Regent believes he has a responsibility to use his unique position to minister to lost souls, not just imprison them, and Flag has agreed to throw his own popular name behind a campaign to rehabilitate human-plus prisoners through faith.”
Not all the members of United Powers agree with Regent and the Flag, however: other sources suggest that Twilight Man, who captured the Horror in a televised battle on top of the San Amaro Bay Bridge, has announced his disenchantment with the project, suggesting the superstrong criminal is only pretending to feel sorry about his numerous crimes to get more lenient treatment.
(READ ARTICLE)
BAD BOYS AND BAD GIRLS
Highlights of the Year in Villainy, including Butcher Baker’s spectacular airport robbery, Knave of Hearts pre-empting the Super Bowl, and unforgettable video of the pitched battle between the Chain Gang and Force Five that leveled Jefferson City Hall — as well as a look at our Young Villains on the Rise at work and play, and new and fascinating killer faces like Hooligan, Fog, Toxin, and Murder One
(READ ARTICLE)
If they’re mad, bad, and dangerous to know, PlusDotCom’s got ‘em – in the SPECIAL ALL-VILLAINS ISSUE!
The Thursday Men
“YOU KNOW ANYONE FAMOUS NAMED ‘MONDAY’?” Liz asked.
“You mean like Rick Monday? Used to play for the Dodgers back in the ‘70s?” That was from Ted the technician. I never cared much about baseball myself.
“Okay,” said Liz. “So that’s one for
Monday. And there’s Tuesday Weld, the actress.”
“I thought of another one — Ruby Tuesday, that Rolling Stones song,” said Ted, and began to hum it – or at least he hummed what he thought, in his tuneless way, it sounded like. He’s a decent enough kid and a pretty good technician, but if the BPRD ever fires him he’s not going to be making a living on the pro Karaoke circuit.
“I thought we were going to play cards,” I said. My cigar had gone out and I couldn’t find my lighter. “What is all this crap?”
Liz kindled her fingertip and re-lit my stogie. “I’ve just been thinking about the days of the week and people who have them as names,” she said. “Wednesday from the Addams Family. Robinson Crusoe’s Man Friday.”
“No!” shouted Ted. “Has to be Joe Friday! From Dragnet.”
“You weren’t even alive when that was on,” I growled.
Liz went on as if we weren’t talking. “And there’s Baron Saturday – he’s one of the voodoo gods, I guess you’d call them. You know about them, right, HB?”
I have had more than a few strange adventures in the New Orleans area over the years. “Yeah. But that doesn’t mean I want to talk about it. What’s your point?”
“And Billy Sunday was a famous evangelist or something – my grandmother used to talk about him.” She frowned. “But I still can’t come up with a Thursday. I don’t think there are any.”
“Ooh, I thought of one,” said Ted. “There’s a pretty famous spy book called ‘The Man Who Was Thursday’.”
“Yeah, but it was just his code name,” I pointed out.
Ted looked at me in surprise. “You read G. K. Chesterton?”
“Does that seem so unlikely?” I put my cigar in the corner of my mouth and did my best to look intellectual – not that easy to do when you’re seven feet tall, literally ugly as sin, and red as a fire truck from head to foot. “But I’ll give you a real one, if you promise to shut up and play some damn cards. Grayson Thursday. In fact, there were a whole bunch of Thursdays, when you get down to it.”
“It doesn’t count if nobody’s ever heard of them,” Liz said, pouting. She makes those grumpy-kid faces, you almost forget she could napalm a city block if the urge took her.