The Break-Out Comic Book Experiment

DESTINY'S FATE!

2012-01-09T02:59:00.000-05:00

AWESOMENESS UPDATE!

Destiny's Fate got a re-work. I've dropped the Wards of Men from the back and am going forward with the comic from the beginning. I'm seriously excited about this because I've signed Mau, 122746, to pencil and formerly of the Marvel Bullpen, Taylor Esposito, to color and letter! It's going to be legend-wait for it because it's a story about time travel-dary! The script went out to Mau this morning, and we're hoping to have the book ready for C2E2, where I'll be manning the IC Geeks Publishing booth! W00t!

I'll have updates for the project as we forge ahead!

Dev

How Do You Know 033

2012-01-01T20:41:00.001-05:00

How do you know when you’ve read too many comics? (NEVER!)

When you see Bad Robot, you automatically think of Gates of Gotham.

"Lottery Drawing"-Two Years Later...

2012-01-01T20:30:00.001-05:00

Brian Michael Bendis likened breaking into comics to winning the lottery. He felt so strongly about this that he gave up trying (I read this on Wikipedia, so it must be true!). Of course, I’m writing about BMB, so I think it’s safe to say Bendis got all six numbers and the Mega Millions ball (after tons of hard work!).

At the time I read BMB’s story, I agreed and feared the worse. No, not how many people don’t win the lottery every day but the fact that I have a better chance of being struck by lightning than breaking into comics. Moreover, it was December in New Jersey, and we really don’t have thunderstorms this time of the year. This week, I wrote a press release for IC Geeks Publishing (I’m the PR rep!) since we printed Brian Buccellato’s creator project Foster for the Amazing Arizona Comic Con. It was then I realized:

Experiment Status: COMPLETE.

Just looking at that is a little overwhelming.

In the last three months, so much has happened that sometimes I can’t grasp it all. Back in September when I lost The Seekers contest, I was crushed. I didn’t know what to do and contemplated quitting the experiment. Then I went to NYCC and felt welcomed back into the industry by amazing creators and fans. I took Saturday courses at the Kubert School, which were taught by the legendary Brian Buniak. I was hired by IC Geeks Publishing as a Public Relations rep, and come April, I’ll be manning a booth at C2E2.

Every day, I’m meeting awesome people who work/have worked in the industry, and the truth is reinforced over and over again. To some degree there is a lottery—yes—but there’s also timing and good, old-fashioned manners. Still, the key to success is work. It’s getting up at two-thirty in the morning to write that last page or putting on the finishing touches on those pencils after midnight (and for the majority of us, getting up early and going to a normal day job afterwards).

I’d like to think that what’s made this experiment a success. I’m not sitting around, waiting to be “found.” I’m out there, actively seeking a job, working, writing, talking, etc., and that’s what I will continue to do.

There will be changes to the experiment, however. For the foreseeable future, I will not be updating False Dawn. As much I enjoy discovering these characters and penning their travels, I’ve been told time and time again by my artist buddy Mau, by my boss Noel, and by my mom, the way to get into the industry is to publish a comic. That’s what I’m going to focus on—Destiny’s Fate, the Comic—so please continue to drop by and see how’s that coming! When it’s published, you’ll be the first to know! (I also will be continuing the “How Do You Know” column because that’s just fun.)

Of course, the experiment evolves. When I started this campaign, my goal was to be working for a comic book company in some capacity by my twenty-eighth birthday. CHECK! Where do I go from here? I’ve thought about changing the name of the blog, but I planned for three years. I think I’m going to keep it until I turn twenty-eight or publish DF. I guess I’m never satisfied, but then again, neither was/is Brian Michael Bendis. At least I’m in good company.

Devin Leigh Michaels
December 31, 2011

False Dawn: Life's Question

2011-12-31T14:42:00.001-05:00

Happy New Year's Eve! Hope everyone has awesome plans! (Mine involve MI:4, thank you very much!)

Since False Dawn is on the back burner for a while, I figured I'd end with this. It's my entry into an anthology. Only three stories were chosen, and mine came in sixth. I still take that as a win. I also received great feedback from a writer/artist in the industry who took the time to critique it and from one of the entrants whose story made the cut.

Hope you enjoy!

Summary: Despite living fifteen lifetimes, Lance only has one question: Why is he still here?

“Life’s Question”

NOTES: Narrations are all Lance’s. I have references researched for all aspects of costumes and characters as needed.

PAGE ONE
1—An elderly, mocha-skinned woman with a bloody bandage wrapped about her eyes and night-colored hair draped across her shoulders kneels in a rundown stable before Lance. Her bony hands are clasped upon Lance’s face, who is also kneeling, but his arms are tied behind his back. He’s wearing the garb of a Macedonian solider.
WOMAN: Take heed, Lance.
WOMAN: You have lost a piece of yourself. From this point forth—you shall know only two things: LOVE and LOSS.
LOCATION CAPS: ILLYRIA, 338 B.C.

2—Close-up on Lance’s horrified face as he looks straight at the camera. Behind his head and at the top of the panel, two stable boys bring forth a bucket of purple fire and a branding iron.
WOMAN (off): Forever shall you walk hand-in-hand with DEATH.

3—In silhouette against the stable wall, we see Lance jerk when the branding iron touches his shoulder. Before the wall (not in silhouette), the woman is silently crying, tears dripping from under her bandages.
WOMAN: In every life, you will lose the person you love most, and cursed, you shall rise again only to lose again.
WOMAN (linked): Take heed, Child.

4—Lance is wincing, tears seeping through his closed eyes with the branded mark of the lion now on his shoulder.
WOMAN (off): Take heed.

PAGE TWO
1—Extreme close-up—A broadsword blade slicing through a man’s stomach. For reference: The man’s wearing a black T-shirt, and he bleeds blue blood.
NARR: I feel the slickness of a Skadioan Warrior’s blood on my blade.
NARR: It looks no different than a blue slushie.
LOCATION CAPS: ST. AUGUSTINE, FLORIDA, PRESENT

2—Establishing shot—Lance and the warrior are fighting in a fast food joint called Burger Castle. Lance is pulling his sword out from a Skadoian Warrior’s stomach and is wearing his usual clothing. The warrior is a Caucasian male with paler than usual skin, black hair (any style), and black eyes. He’s wearing a tight T-shirt, cargo pants, and is holding a dagger and a blaster.
NARR: I was just drinking one in this FINE establishment, and man, that’s GROSS.

3—CASIA has her back to Lance. (Lance’s back is in the right hand corner of the panel, but Casia’s the focus). Her body is completely engulfed by flames (so we really just see her outline in the flames), and she’s throwing some fireballs at other Skadoian Warriors. She’s smiling like she’s loving this.
NARR: Casia’s flames THREATEN my back, like they always do.
CASIA: Hot buns! Watch it!
NARR: I hope she’s not talking about me—

4—RAL fights warriors with his sword, much like Lance was. He’s between two warriors, and blue blood slicks his blade and splashes onto his clothing.
NARR: —at least not in front of the KID.
RAL: Will you two get a room?
LANCE (possibly off): Mind your own business, Ral.

5—Now we see Lance, Casia, and Ral fighting the warriors.
NARR: The warriors came out of nowhere, probably trying to grab Ral. He’s a hybrid—half-shadow demon, half-light something or other—shaken, not stirred.
NARR: So the warriors want to see the effects of such a union.
NARR: And I just keep thinking—

PAGE THREE
1—With their backs to the reader, Lance and Addy sit at a bar in a medieval tavern, a pitcher of beer between them. Lance is dressed in a royal’s garb; Addy in a queen’s gown. Mud is splashed upon both of their clothes. If anyone else is in the bar, including the bartender, please draw them in peasant clothing.
NARR: Adeline Dawson. Ral’s mom.
NARR: My “mom.”
LANCE: Why am I here, Addy?
LOCATION CAPS: LONDON, 1402

2—Addy leans over and kisses him on top of his head.
ADDY: I don’t know, my love, but I am and always will be ETERNALLY GRATEFUL.

3—A servant stands by the royal chamber door.
SERVANT: Emperor Napoleon, it is time.
LOCATION CAPS: WATERLOO, 1815

4—Lance stands by the windows of a king’s chambers—elegant and opulent with golden bed posts, a seating area, and large windows which overlook a garden. He’s dressed in French royal clothing.
NARR: At that time, I didn’t care for much—except CONQUERING EVERYTHING—as if that would fill the sucking VOID in my LIFE.
LANCE: Why am I here—

5—Mid-shot of Connor, who is dressed in a dirty and tattered suit. He’s laughing.
LANCE: —Connor?
NARR: Connor Dawson. Ral’s uncle.
NARR: My “dad.”
CONNOR: To get your ASS kicked.

PAGE FOUR
1—Lance, Casia, and Ral sit at a table in Burger Castle before they’re attacked. Ral is eating a burger and fries. Lance is stealing Ral’s fries and has a blue shushie in front of him. Ral looks in between and past Lance and Casia, who share a side of a table.
NARR: Ral, my little fourteen-year-old hybrid brother, doesn’t get a normal life with sports, homework, and of course—
LOCATION CAPS: TEN MINUTES AGO, BURGER CASTLE

2—Lance looks over his shoulder at the cheerleader sitting in the booth. He smirks.
NARR: —GIRLS.
LANCE: You going to TALK to her or just GAWK like a nerdy high school stalker?

3—Ral ruffles his hair as Lance steals a fry, and Casia steals Lance’s slushie.
RAL: Nah…I…can’t.
CASIA: Why not?
RAL: Because…what would I say? ‘Hi, I’m a HYBRID. What’s your deal?’

4—Lance shrugs as the shadows of the room begin to rise and form warriors.
LANCE: The ‘hi’ was a good start. The rest, a little forward. I’d try the rest with, ‘Name’s Ral, and I’m going to rule the world one day.’

PAGE FIVE
1—The Skadoian Warriors lunge at the group’s table.

2—Lance runs toward Philip II of Macedonia as he’s stabbed by one of his generals. The setting: Outside of an ancient gladiatorial arena, so it can simply be by huge wooden doors or just outside the arena.
LANCE: NOOOO!
NARR: Why am I here?
LOCATION CAPS: AEGAE, 338 B.C.

3—Bergener, Lance’s knight brother, is beheaded. (This is in silhouette.) Lance is held back by French peasants. He’s about sixteen and shocked with tears in his eyes, fighting to stop his brother’s execution by the Black Prince. Setting: On a grassy and bloody battlefield.
LANCE: BERGENER!
NARR: WHY am I here?
LOCATION: CRECY, FRANCE, 1346

PAGE SIX
1—Cat, a farmer’s daughter, lays bleeding from a bullet wound. Lance holds her. Lance is about eighteen wearing a Union Army soldier’s uniform.
LANCE (weary): Come on, Cat. Please…Don’t leave me, too…
LOCATION CAPS: SHILOH, 1862

2—Lance grabs Ral by the torso and drags him out the blown out wall of Connor’s bar as Connor and Addy are consumed by a dark cloud. Connor’s dressed in jeans and T-shirt. Ral’s wearing the same. Lance has on a leather jacket that’s a little too big for him (It’s the one Ral now wears). Casia has on jeans and a peasant top with fire burning her hands. Addy is dressed with jeans and a tight sweater. The boys wear sneakers. The girls wear boots.
NARR: WHY!
LOCATION CAPS: HACKENSACK, EIGHTEEN MONTHS AGO

3—A warrior lunges for Ral, his sword pulled back and ready to slice the teen’s head off. We’re now back at Burger Castle.
NARR: WHY?
LOCATION CAPS: PRESENT

PAGE SEVEN
1—Top half of page—Lance slices off the warrior’s arm.

2—The Skadoian Warriors slink back toward the shadows. Casia’s embers die upon her skin and clothes. (Casia is now wearing a peasant top and jeans with boots). The injured warrior forms a black bandage about his arm (by manipulating the shadows under a table and weaving them about his bleeding bicep).
WARRIOR: Light does not burn shadows. Shadows CONSUME the light.

3—The final warrior slinks and disappears into a shadow.

4—Casia, Lance, and Ral assess the devastation inside Burger Castle. The owners and workers peek up from the registers and counter.

PAGE EIGHT
1—Lance clasps Ral on the shoulder.
LANCE: You okay?

2—Ral looks up at Lance, his eyes shining.
NARR: Kid’s in shock but getting used to the whole “living-in-war-between-dimensions” thing.
RAL: Thanks.

3—Lance smirks.
LANCE: You’re welcome.

4—Now Lance thumbs over his shoulder at the cheerleader who is huddling and shivering under a table.
LANCE: So are you going to talk to her or what?
TITLES

THE END

“Life’s Question” would be part of a series entitled False Dawn.

RAL DAWSON is a fourteen-year-old hybrid who is half shadow demon and half light bearer. He lived a relativity normal life in Wayne, New Jersey, with his doctor mother and bar-owner uncle who, unbeknownst to him, were immortals. That was, until Skadoian Warriors came and took his mother and uncle. Now he travels with his surrogate siblings/parents Casia, a were-phoenix and Lance, a cursed immortal, who are also looking for his mom and uncle. Together, they avoid federal agents, mercenaries, and other immortals while looking for their missing family members. He has short brown hair with bangs that fall into his jade eyes and boyish face. He wears jeans, a T-shirt, and Connor’s leather jacket, which is two sizes too big for him.

LANCE EVANS has lived fourteen lifetimes since the gladiatorial games when he was the illegitimate son of Phillip II of Macedonia (Alexander the Great’s father). As a cursed immortal, he lives, dies, and lives again. Addy and Connor Dawson took him in during the eighth lifetime and gave him a family when he wouldn’t have known one. Lance has been a squire during the Middle Ages, would-be conqueror of Europe, and a Union soldier in the American Civil War. He’s really good at killing, and he’s deadly with any weapon, including a TV remote. In his first lifetime, he “let luck and chance guide” him, which led to people dying. He then was cursed by a mage to feel the pain he caused, so he loses the person he loves most in each lifetime. Addy, Connor, and Casia are immune to his curse because they are immortals and an extended mortal, respectively. Lance fears Ral is the person of his curse in this lifetime. In his current lifetime, Lance’s nineteen years old. He has abysses for eyes, black hair with blonde tips, and wears a long-sleeved T-shirt to hide his numerous tattoos from his different lifetimes.

CASIA LaCROUX is a were-phoenix, a mystical creature who can form fire and becomes all “fire-bird” on the Solstices. She has other powers like clairvoyance and flight, though she doesn’t exactly know from where her powers come or how they work. Casia doesn’t even know much about her past. Her earliest memories are in Skadoia where the warriors held her captive and experimented on her to discover the source of her flames. Addy and Connor eventually saved her from a hunting pack of Skadoian Warriors and kept her safe until her strength returned. Though 230 years old, Casia looks sixteen. She has flame-red hair, a petite form, and sea-blue eyes. She wears a peasant top, jeans, and calf-high boots.

ADELINE (“ADDY”) and CONNOR DAWSON are Ral’s biological mother and uncle and Casia and Lance’s surrogate parents. They are immortal but in the traditional sense where they don’t age. They found Lance in every lifetime since his eighth and gave him a stability he wouldn’t have known with his curse, and they gave Casia a family when she wouldn’t have had one. Both are from Zenith’s Rise, a parallel, medieval-like dimension with no darkness. Connor was banished by the king to our dimension (Knightsdale) when he bought fast food to Zenith’s Rise. Adeline, the queen of Zenith’s Rise, left with her brother, who was forced to drink from the Fountain of Youth and become a “crossing guard,” a protector of the portals in and out of Zenith’s Rise. Kidnapped by warriors, Addy and Connor are currently missing, though it is believed that they are being tortured for the location of Connor’s portals. Fifteen years ago, Adeline had relations with a warrior, resulting in the birth of her son, Ral.

DONNELLIE JACKSON is a preppy girl with a slut’s wardrobe and a know-it-all’s mouth. She was the Oracle of Delphi and the person who cursed Lance to be an immortal. For that, she feels some guilt, though part of her believes Lance deserved it. She’s a longtime “ally” of Casia and Lance through the lifetimes, though in this lifetime, she’s currently twenty.

SKADOIAN WARRIORS are mercenaries from an all-darkness parallel dimension known as Skadoia. They seem to have two forms—a shadow one and a human-like one. They also can steal power from the shadows about them, which makes them impossibly strong at night. They can also eat fire and suck someone into their own shadow forms, holding them hostage. The warriors stole Addy and Connor Dawson from Connor’s bar, “Forever’s Run.” Ral, Casia, and Lance escaped the incident, but they are the warrior’s prey. It is believed the warriors are trying to conquer Zenith’s Rise because the River of Life (Fountain of Youth) flows from Zenith’s Rise, into Knightsdale, before reaching Skadoia polluted.

Though not named specifically in the script, the warrior who attacked Ral at the end was AMARIS, one of the generals of the Skadoian Warriors and unbeknownst to Ral, his father.

Though not in the short story, the SKADOIAN LORD is the ruler of Skadoia who orchestrated the kidnapping of Connor and Addy. He currently is after Ral to discover what powers he has being half shadow/half light. He also seeks Addy’s hand in marriage, which he hopes will help him conquer Zenith’s Rise. Also not in this story, LASANDRA is the executive assistant of the Skadoian Lord. She is one of the two main warriors who clash with Ral and company. She also has feelings for Connor, which he reciprocates, even though they are enemies.

DF: Wards of Man Update!

2011-12-20T08:29:00.001-05:00

Mau's still hard at work at the sketches/first pages, so here's the latest he sent me.

Sawyer Ryder is Kainoa's uncle and the Resident Gatekeeper, a head of the Defenders. He's only the third person to run the Gatekeepers who isn't Destiny, and he takes that responsibility seriously. He's tough but compassionate, and he has a soft spot for kids who were assassins, like his nephew Kainoa and his daughter, Mattie. This picture is subject to change simply because I'm not a fan of the crew cut. However, it actually fits Sawyer, so I'll probably leave it.

Here we have Mattie, Kainoa's cousin and Sawyer's daughter. She's slightly older than Kainoa and deadlier with her katana (hence why her name was Ravage). She grew up in medieval Japan like Kainoa, but she's adapted well to modern New Jersey. She's found a love of soccer, Chez Doodles, and family, though she still misses her former partner-in-crime, Edge, who was like her twin brother.

122476 is working on the first six pages, so I'll upload those when they come through. His birthday's this week, so send him a message at @122476 or on his blogspot account, http://122476.blogspot.com/, or just give him money by buying a commission! Do me a favor. Whatever you do, call him, "Grandpa."

Thanks!

Dev

False Dawn #24: Reminiscence

2011-12-17T10:57:00.004-05:00

In every darkness, there's a sliver of light.

False Dawn #24: Reminiscenc
Plot for 20 Pages
Comic Book Script
Devin Leigh Michaels

Note to Letterer: All narrations are Connor’s.

PAGE ONE
1—Extreme close-up on a Caucasian male hand holding the back of a “white”—a pale-skinned woman’s naked back.
NARR: There are times I remember NOTHING, like the last two millennia have been nothing but a college student’s drunken haze.

2—Close up on their naked feet, entwined in one another’s under a blanket.
NARR: Then, there are times I remember EVERYTHING, like one of those people who can remember the exact date he/she first ate a bubble gum jelly bean.

3—Mid-shot, bird’s eye view of the bed with Lasantra’s head upon Connor’s chest. Connor’s looking directly up at the camera, his eyes and expression troubled. Both are naked but tastefully so. Teens might read this. (Also, Connor is wearing a necklace— a sun with dragon claws for sunrays.) Setting: Connor’s apartment. It’s pretty plan with dark wood boards, a shabby bed with frayed beddings to match, a table, a black diamond hearth with a blue fire burning, and a few lanterns lighting the room burning with blue fire as well. Connor’s and Lasantra’s clothes are thrown about the room—Connor’s jeans, T-shirt, and an Indiana Jones jacket; Lasantra’s black cargo pants, skin-tight black shirt, and black boots.
NARR: Then there are times like these when I WANT to remember everything.

PAGE TWO
1—Close-up on Lasantra as her lithe fingers draw circles on Connor’s chest.
LASANTRA: I hate you.
NARR: It’s times like this when I wonder…what the hell did I do WRONG in my life?

2—Extreme close-up on Connor’s eyes as he looks up at the ceiling.
CONNOR: Of course you do.

3—Back down to Lasantra, who’s face is scrunched in fury. Her hand is now a fist.
LASANTRA: You’re like a battery.
CONNOR (off): You’re like an ice cube.

4—Now Lasantra is up, her faces inches from Connor’s. She’s smiling seductively.
LASANTRA: You’ve melted this ice cube.

5—They kiss passionately, eyes closed, romantic-style.

PAGE THREE
1—She pulls away, heading toward the edge of the bed.
LASANTRA: Even after this…I won’t help you.

2—Connor grabs his shirt off the night-stand.
CONNOR: I know.

3—They sit with their backs to each other on the bed, Connor pulling up his pants, Lasantra pulling on her shirt. Camera positioned to the left side of the Connor, so we see Lasantra’s back but Connor’s front.
LASANTRA: So don’t ask.
CONNOR: I’m not.
LASANTRA (linked): Good.

4—Now dressed in her warrior gear, Lasantra’s standing in the doorframe. She has her back to the camera, her head dipped in resignation.
LASANTRA: Connor…he will KILL you…if you go see him.

5—Connor has his back to her as well, pulling on a dark, leather bomber jacket.
CONNOR: I have to do this. Bergener has my sister, is after my nephew, my son and daughter. What do you expect me to do? HUNT them down and HAND them over to the Skadoian Lord? I’m not like you.

PAGE FOUR
1—Connor glares at her as he tugs off his necklace—a sun with dragon claws for sunrays. His eyes are narrowed.
CONNOR: I’m not a pawn.

2—Lasantra smiles saucily again.
LASANTRA: You’re MY pawn.

3—In Connor’s hand grows his sword (from his necklace).
CONNOR: You REALLY want to get on my BAD side, don’t you?

4—Leaning against the doorway, Lasantra averts her eyes, her arms crossed in defiance. Her face is uneasy.
LASANTRA: He spends most of his day down in the LAB with Kalidas. If you’re going to find him in the castle, it’s going to be there.

5—Lasantra’s turns to leave again. Camera’s positioned in front of her. Over her shoulder, Connor reaches for her.
CONNOR: Lasantra.

PAGE FIVE
1—Similar panel. Connor is no longer reaching her, his hands (and sword) to his sides, his face troubled as he looks away.
CONNOR: Thank you.

2—Lasantra walks out the door.
LASANTRA: Connor...if you get him to listen, tell him this. Lance—he’s MINE.

3—Bottom tier, establishing shot, bird’s eye view—Camera’s positioned over the city. It’s night (always is in Skadoia). The medieval city appears to be in the left hand side of the panel. Houses and stores are still made of hay, mud, and wood siding, and they hunch together before the looming castle with its ashlar curtain wall and keep. The city is illuminated by only lamplight with blue fire. (See below for references.)
NARR: I don’t tell Lasantra the TRUTH.
NARR: Lance was never HERS, despite her connection to him.
NARR: But she gave me what I needed to know.

PAGE SIX
1—Close-up on sneakers as they run down a cobblestone street.
NARR: Of course, she could have been lying.

2—Full tier shot of a Skadoian street with medieval houses and store fronts. It’s empty this time of the night, but Connor’s in the right side of the panel as he ducks into an alley. He’s dressed in sneakers, jeans, and an Indiana Jones jacket.
NARR: She does that every now and then, but this time she brought up Lance. For her to even say his name…

3—Connor stays in the shadows, his back pressed against the building’s edge. Even in the darkness, his blonde hair and blue eyes glow.
NARR: …yeah, she’s crazy, and I’m out of place.
OFF: Ready?

4—Connor is in the foreground, and we follow his gaze toward Skadoians—woman, men, boys, and girls. Pale skin tones. Ice colored eyes. The teens have brown hair. The adults all have black tinted with ice blue. They are dressed in different outfits—some in jeans, T-shirt—casual wear from our dimension; others in tunics, pants, and boots. Some are armed with swords and knives, others with guns.
NARR: Not all Skadoians want this war—
NARR: —but they won’t run, not like DURANT.
NARR: They chose ME to be their LEADER.

5—Close-up on Connor as he smiles easily. He’s a little nervous, but he HAS to do this.
NARR: An outsider. The enemy.
CONNOR: Totally NOT ready, but if we’re going to do it…
OFF: Good luck, then.

PAGE SEVEN
1—Connor runs down the alley. Camera positioned in front of him. He’s determined, his face tense. In his hand is his sword.
NARR: I can’t help but think I won’t see some of those warriors alive again, and what makes them less important than my children?

2—Now we’re looking at Connor from behind, and we see the outer curtain wall surrounding the palace rise into the sky at the end of the alley.
NARR: I know the answer, but still…

3—In a vertical panel, Connor jumps up on the wall of the alley on the right hand side, then jumps onto the wall of the left, before propelling himself over the curtain wall.

4—Connor lands in the middle of the bustling yard, the curtain wall behind him, the keep in front of him. Small huts line the curtain wall—the kitchen, the blacksmith, the stables. The warriors are hard at work here, some carrying food, others helping horses. Lance has shocked them all, and they’re all looking at him as he crouches upon the ground, holding his sword.

PAGE EIGHT
1—Small cell, left hand top of page. A girl with long red braid points at Connor, shocked and scared.
GIRL (yells): INTRUDER! A BEARER!

2—An explosion of blue and white fire hits the curtain wall behind the crouching Connor.

3—As the warriors head toward the crumbling wall, Connor dashes toward the keep’s entrance, which has the stereotypical gate ready to drop at any moment. Just beyond the gate is the ashlar hallway in, which has a few steps, then a long hallway.

4—Connor stops just inside, glaring at someone we can’t see.
CONNOR: You?! What—

PAGE NINE
1—Lasantra stands on the top of the stairs, her eyes narrowed.
LASANTRA: Now? You’re going to do it TODAY?

2—Connor smirks.
CONNOR: When will you have me to it? After he’s DEAD?

3—Lasantra rolls her eyes, obviously annoyed.
LASANTRA: Come on. You’re most likely get LOST.
NARR: I probably would.

4—They come to the grand staircase (from FD#13) of the keep. It’s marble and turns upward and downward. Candleholders, a blaze with blue-lit torches, light the hallway. Greeting Connor and Lasantra is a pack of ashlings, all with blonde hair and ice eyes.
ASHLING: MISTRESS?

5—Shot of Connor, as if we’re the ashlings seeing him. He’s calm but wary.

6—The ashlings pull their swords and guns, ready to fight.

PAGE TEN
1—Lasantra lunges for them, her sword already swiping. Connor’s uneasy.
LASANTRA: GO! I’ll hold them off!

2—Connor runs down the staircase toward the basement, determined once more.
NARR: I briefly wonder why she does but decide not to peruse the thought.
NARR: It doesn’t matter why she’s SIDING with ME, just that she is.

3—The dungeon-like door opens a crack.
NARR: With the warning horns still shaking the foundation, I’m not surprised he’s coming to help.

4—Aramis’s flying back through the doorway after Connor hits him with a flying kick.
NARR: ARAMIS is the Skadoia’s second-in-command.

PAGE ELEVEN
1—Aramis tumbles down the stairs into the cavern-lab from FD#13.

2—Growling on all fours, Aramis looks up as a sword edge taps his chin.

3—Connor smiles from behind the blade. Camera positioned like we’re Aramis looking up at Connor.
CONNOR: Hello, Aramis. I would have made an appointment, but your secretary wouldn’t give me one.

4—A staff knocks away Connor’s blade, sending him stumbling a few feet back.

5—Connor smirks, his sword up to parry.
CONNOR: Ah, well, if it isn’t the GREASE MONKEY who thinks he’s a DOCTOR.

PAGE TWELVE
1—Kalidas’s eyes narrow. He, too, is holding up his staff to fight. Behind him, we get a glimpse at his lab. It’s mad scientist-like with blue lightning flickering over machines, some mainframes, even a med table.
KALIDAS: What do you want, DAWSON?

2—Aramis stands now, pulling his blaster to bear.
CONNOR (off): What I want? Your third-in-command, Aramis, but I’ll settle for my sister back. And you can make that happen, can’t you?
ARAMIS: Settle? No one should ever SETTLE for Addy.

3—Connor ducks his head slightly, his eyes intense, his grin evil, as he slashes with his sword.
NARR: Exactly.
CONNOR: Yet you’ll let her?

4—Aramis now has his side to Connor, as if having evaded an attack but is kneeling the passing Connor in the stomach.
ARAMIS: She deserves what she has.

5—Connor coughs, holding his stomach. He’s about ready to collapse on the ground.
CONNOR: She deserves to be a slave to YOUR lord?

PAGE THIRTEEN
1—A tentacle grabs Connor’s wrist. He’s shocked and a little disturbed.

2—He’s pulled within inches of Aramis, their faces almost touching. Aramis is calm but annoyed, speaking fact. Connor is pissed.
ARAMIS: She deserves a KING.
CONNOR: She deserves to be HAPPY.

3— A zap of blue lightning sizzles across Connor’s chest; he flinches in pain.
CONNOR: Ugh!

4—Kalidas stands just beyond his smoking staff, glaring at the camera.
KALIDAS: No one could make her happy…except Durant.

5—Close-up on Connor’s face. He’s tense from pain, eyes wide and mouth slightly open.

PAGE FOURTEEN
1—Aramis extracts his tentacle-lance from Connor’s torso as Aramis’s hand holds Connor throat to keep him up.
ARAMIS: You have no conception of what you demand.

2—Aramis dumps Connor to the floor.

3—Connor, wheezing and cough, presses down on his bleeding side.
CONNOR: Durant…let her go. You…you were first…in a millennium…to make her love again…

4—Aramis has his back to Connor, whose hands now glow with white fire. Aramis doesn’t look at Connor. His own hands form fists.
ARAMIS: It matters little.

5—The white fire continues to burn on Connor’s hands as he pressed them to his bleeding wound. He cringes, in obvious agony.

6—Then, he sighs, sweat dribbling from his face. He’s still cringing but he can now talk.
CONNOR (weak): Today…do you know what it is…?

PAGE FIFTEEN
1—Aramis doesn’t turn from the lab but stops.

2—Sweat beads on Connor’s face as he growls, his eyes narrowed. His wound now has stopped bleeding, though it still looks painful and red.
NARR: Don’t pass out from the pain. Don’t pass out from the pain.
CONNOR: Today’s your SON’S birthday, Aramis. He turns fifteen today.
CONNOR (linked): WITHOUT his father. WITHOUT his mother.
CONNOR (linked): WITHOUT the crazed lab tech whose idea it was to set up a Riser with a Warrior.

3—Connor gathers his legs underneath him in an attempt to get up. He’s cringing. This is not easy.
NARR: Do NOT pass out from the pain.
CONNOR: I know you, Aramis.
CONNOR (painful): Agh!
CONNOR: I know you don’t want this.

4—Aramis begins to walk away again. All we see his back.
ARAMIS: You know NOTHING.

PAGE SIXTEEN
1—Connor is now on his feet, albeit unsteadily.
CONNOR: I know this. At night, my sister talks in her sleep. She used not to call for Durant. She used to call for YOU.

2—Connor’s now has his back to the Aramis as well. Kalidas is between them, staring at Connor to make sure he’s leaving.
CONNOR: I also know Ral’s half light and half dark. Funny that doesn’t know his light powers when he raised by his mother. Could it be his FATHER spent more time with him than we thought?

3—Connor now half-turns, like he’s had an afterthought.
CONNOR: Oh, and Aramis? Tell Bergener—Lance is Lasantra’s.

4—Back in the small apartment where Connor lives, Connor’s laying on the bed (we only see from his mid-chest up). He’s face up, staring at someone off panel.
LOCATION CAPS: LATER
LASANTRA (off): You did NOTHING.
CONNOR: I tried something.

PAGE SEVENTEEN
1—Lasantra’s straddling Connor, both fully clothed, though she begins to unbutton his bloody and torn shirt. Connor’s looking at her like a lovesick puppy. Lasantra’s looking at him with a mixture of exasperation and love.
LASANTRA: He won’t help you.
CONNOR: HIS help I don’t need.

2—Extreme close-up on Lasantra’s hands as she touches Connor’s wound.

LASANTRA: I don’t need you. I USE you.

3—Connor, now holding Lasantra’s wrist, tugs her forward.

4—He’s now on her top of her, a loving smile creeping onto his face.
CONNOR: Good to know.
LASANTRA: …you’re ruining it.
CONNOR (linked): I know.
LASANTRA: Why?

PAGE EIGHTEEN
1—Connor’s face is buried in her hair.
NARR: The smell of burn wood and Antifreeze floods me.
CONNOR: Because I love you.

2—Close-up on Connor’s wound as Lasantra, under him, punches upward, hitting the wound.
CONNOR: Urk!

3—Camera positioned as if it’s from the POV of someone walking into the queen’s chambers. An elegant bed with a blue and silver canopy/curtains takes up most of the room, while carved dressers and a black hearth ablaze with blue fire sit on the left hand side of the room. On the bed sits Addy in a simple but royal nightgown. She’s staring into space with her eyes tinted blue.
NARR: I had hoped that Aramis entered the queen’s chambers to see my sister’s current condition.

PAGE NINETEEN
1—From the side of Addy, we see Aramis as he kneels before her, a sad, almost painful expression on his face. This is the woman he loved.
NARR: I hoped sadness reigned in his eyes when she didn’t see him.

2—Extreme close-up on Aramis’s hand as he cradles her cheek like a lover.
NARR: She didn’t know him.

3—Aramis leans in.

NARR: What I do know is that he took my advice.

4—Aramis kisses Addy passionately, though she doesn’t return it, her eyes open with a sparkle of blue still. (Aramis’s eyes are closed.)

PAGE TWENTY
1—Close-up on Addy’s eyes, now wide and shocked. They’re still blue.

2—Same as panel one but her eyes are now green.

3—Addy kisses back passionately as well, his hand and claiming his face for herself.

PAGE TWENTY
1—Addy pulls away, smiling down at Aramis.
ADDY: Hello, Aramis.
ADDY: Hello…my queen.
NARR: Because that’s what Addy told me.
TITLES

The End

References:
http://www.the-orb.net/encyclop/culture/towns/townint7.html

http://www.federicovasco.com/en/en-us/tourism/barcelonasurroundings/medievaltowns.aspx

http://www.procedural.com/cityengine/examples/medieval-town.html

Kickstarting Journeymen!

2011-12-15T12:00:00.002-05:00

Since becoming IC Geeks' PR rep, I've also been taking over duties of the Tumblr site and Twitter feeds, and I'll soon be taking over the Facebook account. Check it out and see the awesome new talent that will "breaking in" next year.

Also, help others' dreams come true. IC Geeks is kickstarting Journeymen, a Masterwork. It's a quarterly anthology dedicated to helping good talent become published. Click on the link, and see what you can do to help!

http://icgeeks-publishing.tumblr.com/post/14260451981/the-journey-continues-ic-geeks-publishing-is

Devin Leigh Michaels

P.S. Also, don't forget to follow me for up-to-the-second...okay, probably hour...information about IC Geeks Publishing as well as my own writing.

@Icgeekspublishingpr and @DevinLMichaels

Update!

2011-12-09T07:56:00.002-05:00

Thank you to all who went to my Tumblr account and became followers. I am the new PR rep for IC Geeks Publishing. I cannot thank you enough for helping to make a dream come true! To follow my updates for the company, feel free to follow the company’s tumblr and tweets at http://icgeeks-publishing.tumblr.com and @icgeekspublishingpr. I run both.

\Because of this new position, there will probably be fewer posts HERE, but I ensure you the Experiment isn’t over yet. (I have to keep my “day” job.) False Dawn #24 (end second year!) will be up next week, and I also have some pretty pictures Mau drew for DF: Wards of Man to post this weekend.

Time to make good on promises - The MMPR comic will be given to one random follower, but I have to dig it out of storage first (i.e. my bins in my bedroom), so I will send that later this month. Also, I've already worked on SOD, which will now be finished, as well as some TC work for a few followers. Those will be up as time allows. I'm hoping for the first TC story and chapter seven of SOD up by the end of the year.

Thanks for reading, and I hope you stick around. It’s finally getting interesting.

Dev

Seven More!

2011-11-29T20:59:00.001-05:00

Hey guys!

I just need seven more followers! Please help me to achieve my dream of becoming a member of the comic book community!

I'll become PR rep of IC Geeks Publishing if I can have forty followers on Tumblr by 11:59 tonight.

We have three hours! We can do it!

Devin Leigh Michaels

http://break-outcbe.tumblr.com

BREAKIN' IN!

2011-11-29T07:55:00.001-05:00

Dreams Can Come True—and yes, it’s up to you!

It’s been a long two years for the Experiment and my attempt to break into the comic industry. It comes down this. I have a chance to become the public relations representative for IC Geek Publishing. It’s a new comic publishing/distribution company that has one focus—helping creators break in. Its retailer initiative is revolutionary and the people dedicated to its success extraordinary. (Check out http://www.icgeeks.com for more info!)

I want to be a part of this company.

All I need is forty followers by 11:59 midnight TONIGHT!

Currently, I have nineteen!

FOLLOW ME, and together, we can make dreams come true—yours and mine!

http://break-outcbe.tumblr.com

More Character Studies for DF: Wards of Man

2011-11-23T07:50:00.002-05:00

Edge by 122476

It's almost American Thanksgiving, and since the Christmas carols are already on Lite FM, Mau figured he'd just add to the season with these presents. Dude rocks like that. Meet Edge, THE bad boy of the Destiny's Fate series. Determination versus Destiny? Free will versus Fate? I cannot wait to see the fights Mau's going to draw with Edge and Kainoa.

Rena Ryder by 122476

And here we have Kainoa's coffee-addict mom, Rena. She cannot just cook a mean banana pancake and teach a wild lessons in history at NYU; she can also kill you where you stand if you threaten her family. Yeah, just try her.

I’ve also seen the preliminary sketches of the first five pages of the issue one. Damn. Mau leaves me speechless every time I look at his work. I’m seriously proud of how this is coming together.

More to come!

Dev

How Do You Know 032

2011-11-22T12:00:00.000-05:00

How do you know when you've read too many comics? (NEVER!)

When you wonder why Robin, Aqualad, and Kid Flash are above suspicion.

There’s a traitor in the midst of the Team on Young Justice, causing for much speculation among the fandom. Many have believed, as do I, that Artemis is too obvious. I’ve heard M’gann or Superboy could be the traitor subconsciously, but I say it’s Robin.

*insert your laughter here*

Done yet? I’ll wait…okay.

In “Bereft,” the Bialyan military was ordered to shoot to kill the other members of the Team while Robin was to be taken alive.

In “Alpha Man,” Robin’s only defense for not being the mole was that he and KF have “known each other forever.” Uh, so…?

It is also Robin in that episode who needs to know why Kaldur kept the mole a secret—perhaps to make sure Kaldur doesn’t know he’s the mole?

Most recently in “Secrets,” Robin has an awkward expression on his face after Aqualad says there can’t be a mole, and next month in Young Justice #11, Robin will take the spotlight-right before the final episodes this season.

Of course, the biggest detractor from this is: everyone in the cave has a secret. Artemis’s dad and sister are the Team’s enemies. Miss Martian is a white Martian. Superboy was created by the enemy (whether he knows it or not). Robin keeps his real identity a secret. KF keeps his affection toward Artemis a secret. What’s Kaldur hiding?

In any case, the traitor will be known soon, and even if it's Robin, I doubt it's he's actually evil. The more pertinent question this week is: is Tygra?

Dev

False Dawn #23: Domestic Dispute

2011-11-16T20:00:00.001-05:00

Lance and Krisk by 122476

False Dawn #23: "Life or Something Called It"
Part Four of Four: Domestic Dispute
Comic Book Script—Plot for 20 Pages
Devin Leigh Michaels

The False Dawn/Destiny's Fate crossover finale, and it's the cursed immortal versus the former assassin!

Note to Letterer: All narrations are Ral’s.

PAGE ONE
1—Close-up on Krisk, who’s struggling against the muscular arm wrapped about his neck.
NARR: I am sooo out of the loop here.

2—Mid-shot—Lance pointing a gun at the camera.
LANCE: Ral, get over here.

PAGE TWO
1—Ral blinks as he stand just out of the barrel’s range. The barrel is pointed to his right (our left) at Kainoa, who has his hands up slightly in a surrender position, but he’s surprised. Behind him are Rena and Artemis, who are not happy with a gun trained on their son.
RAL: Dude, what are you doing? These people helped SAVE me from those government WHACKOS.
LANCE: You know WHY they saved you?
RAL: Does it matter?

2—Close-up on Lance, who’s pissed.
LANCE: Because they want to EXPERIMENT on you, Ral! Your parents are IMMORTAL. You don’t think Defenders of freakin’ TIME wouldn’t want to know what makes Addy and Connor and maybe even you TICK?

3—Ral looks back at Rena and Artemis as Rena steps forward. He’s not quite sure what to do here. The Ryders have been good to them, so he’s not sure if to believe Lance or not. Rena simply wants no one hurt, especially her babies.
RENA: Josh, honey, I know Lysander—

4—Lance cuts her off and squeezes Krisk just a little harder.
LANCE: Lysander? Try your SON, Mrs. Ryder.
LANCE (linked): Your own kid TORTURED me to find out why I’m immortal, so don’t stand there and tell me you don’t want to do the SAME THING to Ral.

5—Ral looks at Kainoa, now almost desperate. How could he trust these people?
RAL: Lysander? Torture? What…What is going on here? How do you guys even KNOW each other?

PAGE THREE
1—Casia comes forward, her hand out to Ral.
CASIA: Now’s not the time, Ral. Let’s get out of here why we can.
OFF: Sorry, that’s not possible.

2—Behind Lance and Krisk now stands Sawyer, blocking the exit doorway. He’s not formidable. He’s more sad than angry.
SAWYER: Hello, Joshua. It’s been a couple of years.
LANCE: GATEKEEPER. Move or the kid—
SAWYER: Y’know, your parents used to ask me what they could do to REACH you. Just how could they
get their son back on the straight and narrow. Y’know what I used to tell them?
LANCE: Let him watch Showgirls?

3—Close-up on Sawyer’s concerned face. He really thinks he can change this troubled kid into a good soldier.
SAWYER: I told them to let me TRAIN you, let you become a DEFENDER. It would give you an out—

4—Kainoa disappears in a flash of blue light.

5—Lance smirks and jerks Krisk toward Ral again. Krisk is struggling, but it’s no use.
LANCE: Well, looks like the assassin RAN AWAY. I’m only going to this once. Move or I will start shooting, KID FIRST.
KRISK: Nhgh!

6—Rena comes closer, standing in front of Ral.
RENA: Josh, PLEASE. Stop this. Whatever happened to you, we can help.
LANCE: Help?
NARR: The air’s…different. I can’t explain it, but it shifts and energizes.
LANCE: You can’t even help your son. He was gone how MANY years? How dare you think you can ‘help’ me?

7—In a flash of blue, Kainoa appears behind Lance, kicking him down.

PAGE FIVE
1—Kainoa grabs Krisk, a hand upon the boy’s head. He’s glaring at Lance, who is off-panel.
KAINOA: Go to Mom.

2—Lance then fires at Kainoa, who lunges at him.

3—Casia burns a line of fire behind Kainoa, blocking his parents and Krisk from helping.

4—Donnellie fires one shot, knocking a blaster from Sawyer’s.
DONNELLIE: Don’t worry. This will be all over soon.
SAWYER: Yeah, before or after your PSYCHOTIC friend kills my nephew?
DONNELLIE: And to think, at one time, it was the other way around.

PAGE SIX
1—Lance blocks Kainoa’s kick, though he has to drop the gun to do so.
NARR: This is NOT good.

2—Lance then falls to the floor to kick out Kainoa’s legs.
NARR: A former ASSASSIN fighting a cursed IMMORTAL.

3—Kainoa jumps over the attack.
NARR: That has to be a first.

4—Lance lunges elbow-out, hitting Kainoa across the cheek.
NARR: I wonder if that’s something Guinness deals with, or do I just call the National Guard?

PAGE SEVEN
1—Kainoa wipes the blood from his chin.
KAINOA: You’re…better than I thought—or remember.

2—Close-up on Lance’s malicious smirk.
LANCE: If there was one thing Darwin got right, it was SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST.

3—Donnielle and Casia stand next to each, watching the fight, almost amused.
DONNELLIE: I’m not one to say, ‘I told you so’—
CASIA: Yes, you are.
DONNELLIE: Then I told him so.

4—Rena returns with a fire extinguisher to stop Casia’s flames and instead blows it at the two. Artemis deals with the fire by smothering it with a blanket.
RENA: Joshua, sweetie. Please! I don’t know why you came back, but fighting Kainoa isn’t going to get you what you want.

PAGE EIGHT
1—Lance stops fighting to look over his shoulder at Rena, though his fists are still raised.
LANCE: And YOU know what I WANT?

2—Ral picks up Kainoa’s fallen blaster off the ground.
LANCE: (off) Please. You can’t even COMPREHEND what I AM, let alone what I want out of life. If you VALUE your own, I suggest you keep out of this.

3—His face embittered like a mad man, Lance turns and strikes, but we can’t see who he hits—

4—until Ral thumps to the ground.

PAGE NINE
1—Ral looks up, cradling his bloody and now enlarged cheek.
NARR: Lance…hit me?

2—Lance takes a step forward, remorse in his eyes and on his face.
LANCE: Ral, I—

3—With angry tears in his eyes, Ral lifts Kainoa’s blaster and fires a single shot at Lance.

4—Lance is thrown back past Donnellie, Casia, and Sawyer.

5—Lance crashes into the base of the stairs in the hallway.

6—Ral stands, still holding his cheek.
RAL: What…What are you doing! Kaiona and his family just SAVED me from these government WACKOS, and you come in here, guns and fire blazing? What’s WRONG with you?

PAGE TEN
1— Lance sits at the bottom of the stairs for a moment, his elbows on his knees, his eyes blazing directly into Ral’s.

2—Extreme close-up on Ral’s eyes. He glares back.

3—Behind Ral, Rena and Artemis clamor to save their living room from the devouring flames.

4—A hand drops down in front of Lance’s face, offering to help him up.

PAGE ELEVEN
1—From Lance’s POV, we’re looking up at Sawyer.
SAWYER: We…We didn’t understand back then. We still don’t completely, but we’re TRYING.

2—Lance looks away, a little pissed and dejected.

3—Lance looks back and takes the hand.

4—Lance crosses the room to take Ral’s chin and cheek in his own hands.
LANCE: Hey…let me see.

PAGE TWELVE
1—Lance looks past Ral at Artemis.
LANCE: Hey, Mr. Ryder? You got some ice?
ARTEMIS: Sure.

PAGE THIRTEEN
1—Ral tries hard not to cry—because, hey, crying is not cool at fourteen—so, Lance ruffles his hair.
LANCE: Hey. No need to be BIG and BAD, okay? Did I ever tell you I lived at the beach?
LANCE (linked): I used to get up earlier in the morning and boogie board. Once, this hurricane wasn’t far off shore, and my mortal parents told me not to go out. I didn’t listen, and I held my board pretty well until the last possible moment. An effing wave torn it apart, and my face broke my fall—and my fall broke my face.
LANCE (after thought): I cried for, like, a week.
RAL: You….you never cry…

2—Lance shrugs with a tiny grin.
LANCE: When you live FOURTEEN lifetimes, you tend to remember the bad pretty well, so whatever you come across in the present—paper cuts, gunshot wounds, heck Gigli—it just doesn’t seem worth the tears.
LANCE: At the time, though, I knew nothing other my parents grounding me because they thought I was getting tattoos behind their back.

3—Ral hugs Lance, who’s a little put off.
RAL: I missed you.

4—Lance finally hugs back.
LANCE: I missed you, too, kid, though really, just because Casia doesn’t eat anything meat, which means we stop at tofu places. EW.

5—Ral hugs Casia, his head snuggling under her chin.
CASIA: Hey, Ral. Have you grown?
NARR: Casia’s warm, like an iPhone when it’s working.

6—A dark-skinned, feminine hand grabs one of Ral’s.

PAGE THIRTEEN
1—Ral is still wrapped about Casia as Donnellie runs her lithe fingers across the crooks of his palm.
DONNELLIE: Let’s see what you’re—

2—Lance lunges as Casia snatches Ral’s hand away.
LANCE and CASIA: NO!
SAWYER (off): So…Josh.

3— Lance stares at Rena, Artemis, and Sawyer. Artemis is pressing an icepack against Ral’s cheek, while Rena’s hands cover her mouth. Sawyer crosses his arms, listening intently. Lance stuffs his hands in his pockets, shifting nervously.
LANCE: Call me ‘Lance.’ It’s the name I’ve used since my FIRST lifetime.
RENA: Then…Then it’s true? You’re really…

4—Lance shrugs; Donnellie smirks.
LANCE: A CURSED IMMORTAL who lives, dies, and lives again—oh, and loses the person he loves most in every lifetime. That’s my life…
LANCE (linked, small balloon): …or something called it.
DONNELLIE: Not really.
LANCE (linked): No one asked you.
DONNELLIE (linked): I make it my business not to be asked.
LANCE (linked): Of course you do.
DONNELLIE (linked): Hey, YOU keep calling.

5—Lance glares at her before walking up to Kainoa and puts out a hand. Kainoa blinks at it.
LANCE: Did you really save my little brother? Then I owe you.

PAGE FOURTEEN
1—Kainoa accepts the hand.
KAINOA: I think it was a mutual saving, so let’s call us even?

2—Lance turns toward Sawyer, who has his arms crossed.
LANCE: Please…don’t tell my parents. They…They think I’m this THUG, and it’s better that way. It doesn’t let them have GUILT over….not getting it. I was never THEIRS, not really, so it’s better I’m gone.

3—Sawyer uncrosses his arms. This is not how it was supposed to go.
SAWYER: Why don’t you STAY? Maybe we can find why this happens. I’m not saying EXPERIMENT. I just—

4—Lance meets gazes with Donnellie.

5—Lance’s eyes droop; Donnellie looks away.
LANCE: I know why this happens, and maybe I even deserve it, but there’s no reason why I should ENDANGER you and yours, Mr. Ryder.

PAGE FIFTEEN
1—Artemis stands by Kainoa; Rena has a hand upon Krisk’s head. Lance is just shrugging again.
ARTEMIS: Where will you go?
LANCE: Ral’s parents are TRAPPED in another DIMENSION. We have to find them.
RENA: We’ll help you.
LANCE: You’ve done enough.

2— Donnellie kneels before Krisk, urging his hand from his pocket and opening his palm. Lance and Casia lunge, covering Krisk’s hand.
LANCE: Thank…NO!

3—Bright white light explodes from Donnellie’s eyes.

PAGE SIXTEEN
1—Donnellie hovers about a foot off the ground, her eyes white with strains of white energy floating about her. Ral, Lance, and Casia are on one side, the Ryder family on the other.
DONNELLIE (trance-like): The world you know will come to end. The paths you took will somehow bend.
CASIA: Does she normally rhyme?
LANCE: Not…that I know of...
DONNELLIE: Five powers must unite; a demon from your past you all must fight.
RAL: This, from a PALM READING?
CASIA: You should see what she does with CRYSTAL BALLS.
DONNELLIE: Despite what you think, it comes down to this. All that you love, you will come to miss. The only way to win, is to lose, but with Hope by your side, that’s just a ruse.

PAGE SEVENTEEN
1—Donnellie collapses into Lance’s arms, unconscious. Ral’s over Lance’s shoulder.
RAL: That’s…weird.

2—Lance whirls toward the Defenders.
LANCE: Yes but accurate when she’s like that.
LANCE (linked): Take heed. Whatever she said, she got from Krisk’s hand. What she says will come to pass.

3—Sawyer nods.
SAWYER: We’ll be ready.

4—Lance, Ral, and Casia gather about the table of a fast food joint. Ral’s munching on a cheeseburger with fries. Lance has a slushie.
LOCATION CAPS: LATER
RAL: So Donnellie doesn’t eat meat, either?

PAGE EIGHTEEN
1—Casia shrugs and steals Lance’s shake as Lance eats fries from Ral’s wrapper.
CASIA: Oh, she eats meat. She just refuses to call this ‘meat.’

2—Ral looks down at his burger.
NARR: Agh, I’m really going to have to bite the bullet here. He’s going to make me, isn’t he?
RAL: I’m…I’m sorry I shot you, Lance.

3—Lance blinks, looking genuinely confused.
LANCE: What?
RAL: I…I shot you. With the taser. I’m…I’m sorry.

4—Lance swipes with his hand.
LANCE: Please. It was a taser. That doesn’t count. I’ve been shot a lot worse, and I hit YOU. It’s fine.
RAL: But—

5—Lance’s face is serious now, his eyes distant.
LANCE: Look, I get…CRAZY…sometimes, thinking about my parents from this lifetime. Other than your mom and uncle, they were the best parents I’ve had, and I let them down. Not all of it was my fault, but in their eyes, it was.
LANCE (linked): And that HURT.
LANCE (linked): But what happened back there wasn’t your fault, and I can’t really blame much on Kainoa because a lot wasn’t his, either. And what he did to me, I’ve done to more than one person.

6—Ral focuses on something between Lance and Casia.
NARR: Wow.

PAGE NINETEEN
1—Lance glances over his shoulder at the cheerleader in the booth behind him and smirks.
LANCE: You going to talk to her or just gawk like a nerdy high school stalker?

2—In the middle of the Ryder living room, Brandon and Mary Sterling wear old, tattered peasant garb while strapping on Anchrons. Sawyer stands behind them.
LOCATION CAPS: LATER, LATER
SAWYER: Are you sure about this?
MARY: We have no choice, Sawyer. I don’t care what Josh—or—LANCE—says, he’s still OUR son. I’m going to find a CURE to this CURSE and bring him HOME.

3—The three turn toward the new voice.
KAINOA (off): He’ll be back.

4—Kainoa leans against the door, an icepack against his face.
KAINOA: I know you believe you can change the past, but it won’t work. And he’ll be back.

5—Close up on Brandon.
BRANDON: How do you know?

PAGE TWENTY
1—Kainoa heads back into the kitchen.
KAINOA: He’s an immortal who lives and dies, and he doesn’t want to defeat TIME? It’s his GREATEST enemy. Trust me.

2—Kainoa looks down at his suddenly glowing blue hands.
LANCE: He’ll be back to save us…or destroy us.
TITLES

THE END

A/N: This story leads into the one that I submitted to Journeymen. I’ll let you know if it gets published. This also takes place right before Destiny’s Fate: Wards of Man miniseries. First look at the series is up!

False Dawn #23: Short Story Edition

2011-11-16T19:59:00.000-05:00

False Dawn #23: "Life or Something Like It"
Part Four of Four: Domestic Dispute
Short Story Format
Devin Leigh Michaels

I am sooo out of the loop here. I’m also not in the suffocating headlock that Lance entraps Kaiona’s little brother, Krisk, so I should take that as a good sign.

“Ral, get over here,” Lance demands, even as Krisk struggles.

I blink at the gun trained upon Kainoa. “Dude, what are you doing? These people saved me from those government WHACKOS.”

“You know WHY they saved you?”

“Does it matter?”

“Because they want to EXPERIMENT on you, Ral! Your parents are immortal. You don’t think Defenders of freakin’ TIME wouldn’t want to know what makes Addy and Connor and maybe even you tick?”

I look back at Rena and Artemis. “Josh, honey,” Rena pleads. “I know Lysander—”

“Lysander?” He motions toward Kainoa. “Try your son, Mrs. Ryder. Your own kid tortured me to find out why I’m immortal, so don’t stand there and tell me you don’t want to do the same thing to Ral.”

“Lysander? Torture?” I glance back at Kainoa, who averts his shameful eyes. “What…What is going on here? How do you guys even KNOW each other?”

Casia comes forward, her hand out to me. “Now’s not the time, Ral. Let’s get out of here while we can.”

“Sorry, that’s not possible.” Behind Lance and Krisk now stands Sawyer, blocking our exit. “Hello, Joshua. It’s been a couple of years.”

“Gatekeeper,” Lance clips. “Move or the kid—”

“Y’know, your parents used to ask me what they could do to reach you.” He crosses his arms like an authority figure. I hate when adults do that. “Just how could they get their son back on the straight and narrow? Y’know what I used to tell them?”

“Let him watch Showgirls?”

“I told them to let me train you, let you become a Defender. It would give you an out—”

I see it a second before it happens, like seriously a second. Kainoa reaches for his aura, his eyes burning a malicious blue.

“LANCE!”

Kainoa disappears. I thought he was going to reappear, but he doesn’t. And Lance smirks.

“Well, looks like the assassin RAN AWAY.” He pivots, keeping his eyes and gun on Sawyer. “I’m only going to this once. Move or I will start shooting, kid first.”

“Nhgh!” Krisk struggles, but it doesn’t do him any good. Lance has a death grip, and trust me, I know there’s no getting out of one.

“Josh, please,” Rena begs. “Stop this. Whatever happened to you, we can help.”

“Help?”

The air’s…different. I can’t explain it, but it shifts and energizes.

“You can’t even help your son. He was gone how many years? How dare you think you can ‘help’ me?”

In a burst of blue, Kainoa appears right behind Lance, snatching Krisk and kicking Lance in the back. To my brother’s credit, he rolls with the hit, lands on his knees, and fires three shots with his blaster. Kainoa ducks two, but the third hits him in the shoulder, knocking him against the bookcase and sending knickknacks and his own blaster to the floor.

He growls and lowers Krisk. “Go by Mom.”

Then, he lunges.

Artemis takes a step forward, but Casia burns a line of flames across the floor, separating Kainoa and Lance from the Defenders. When Sawyer pulls his gun, Donnellie shoots one laser blaser, knocking it from his hands.

“Don’t worry. This will be all over soon,” she says.

“Yeah, before or after your psychotic friend kills my nephew?”

“And to think, at one time, it was the other way around.”

Lance blocks Kainoa’s kick, then falls to the floor to kick out Kainoa’s legs. The blue-haired teen jumps over the attack and lunges elbow-out, which Lance grabs and uses to fling over Kainoa’s shoulder.

“You’re…better than I thought,” Kainoa huffs in between punches.

Lance blocks, snorting. “If there was one thing Darwin got right, it was SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST.”

Donnielle shakes her head. “I’m not one to say, ‘I told you so’—”

Casia glares. “Uh, yes, you are.”

“Then I told him so.”

Rena returns with a fire extinguisher to stop Casia’s flames and instead blows it at the two.“Joshua, sweetie. Please. I don’t know why you came back, but fighting Kainoa isn’t going to get you what you want.”

“And you know what I want?” he laughs. “Please. You can’t even comprehend what I am, let alone what I want out of life. If you value your own, I suggest you keep out of this.”

Whirling, Lance strikes.

“Stop!”

I don’t remember the hit. I remember the look in Lance’s eyes as he struck—the hatred, the anger, the fear. Then my face and ass hurt. On the ground, I cradle my jaw, hoping all my teeth are still there, and I look up at a blurry Lance through my tears.

He hit me.

Lance leans back on his heel, taking a deep breath. “Ral, I—”

I lift Kainoa’s blaster, firing a single shot. Lance is thrown back, flying past Donnellie, Casia, and Sawyer and into the base of the stairs.

I tasered my brother who can kill me with a flick—not kidding. “What…What are you doing! Kaiona and his family saved me, and you come in here, guns and fire blazing? What’s up with that?”

Lance sits at the bottom of the stairs for a moment, his elbows on his knees, his eyes blazing directly into mine. Behind me, Rena and Artemis clamor to save their living room from the devouring flames, which, admittedly, are starting to burn my eyes.

After what seems like an eternity, Sawyer walks up to Lance and puts out a hand. “We…We didn’t understand back then. We still don’t completely, but we’re TRYING.”

Lance eyes the hand warily before taking it and allowing himself to be pulled to his feet. He comes forward, taking my chin and cheek in his gentle hands. “Hey…let me see.” He hisses at the blood and swelling, then looks up at someone behind me. “Hey, Mr. Ryder? You got some ice?”

“Sure.”

Boots click away, but Lance steals my attention with a hand through my hair. I try to hold back the tears, but it just makes cough as my cheek gets bigger and bigger under my hand.

“Hey,” he calls. “No need to be big and bad, okay? Did I ever tell you I lived at the beach?”

I think I shake my head. Right now, I’m not quite sure of anything.

“I used to get up earlier in the morning and boogie board. Once, this hurricane wasn’t far off shore, and my mortal parents told me not to go out. I didn’t listen, and I held my board pretty well until the last possible moment. An effing wave tore it apart. My face broke my fall, and my fall broke my face. I cried for, like, a week.”

I glance up. “You…” Ow. “….you never cry…”

He smiles and shrugs. “When you live fourteen lifetimes, you tend to remember the bad pretty well, so then whatever you come across in the present—paper cuts, gunshot wounds, heck Gigli—it just doesn’t seem worth the tears. At the time, though, I knew nothing other my parents grounding me because they thought I was getting tattoos behind their back.”

I snort, then whine at the subsequent throbbing. God, he hits hard.

I press my good cheek against his chest and wrap my arms around his torso. “I missed you.”

It takes a few seconds, but he returns it. “I missed you, too, kid, though really, just because Casia doesn’t eat anything meat, which means we stop at tofu places. Ew.”

When Casia comes forward, I can’t help but lunge into her arms. She’s warm, like an iPhone when it’s working, and I snuggle under her chin.

“Hey, Ral. Have you grown?”

A hand grabs mine and pries from Casia’s torso, and Donnellie runs her lithe fingers across the crooks of my palm.

“Let’s see what you’re—”

Casia tugs my hand away as she and Lance yell, “NO!”

“So…Josh,” I hear.

When I turn, Lance stares at Rena, Artemis, and Sawyer. He stuffs his hands in his pockets, shifting nervously. “Call me ‘Lance.’ It’s the name I’ve used since my first lifetime.”

Rena’s hands cover her mouth. “Then…Then it’s true? You’re really…”

“A cursed immortal who lives, dies, and lives again—oh, and loses the person he loves most in every lifetime. That’s my life…or something called it.”

“Not really,” Donnellie interjects.

Lance narrows his eyes. “No one asked you.”

“I make it my business to not be asked.”

“Of course you do.”

“Hey, you keep calling.”

Lance glares at her before walking up to Kainoa. I feel the adults tense, but Lance just puts out a hand. “Did you really save my little brother? I owe you.”

Kainoa shrugs and accepts it. “I think it was a mutual saving, so let’s call us even?”

He sighs, then looks directly at Sawyer. “Please…don’t tell my parents. They…They think I’m this heartless thug, and it’s better that way. It doesn’t let them have guilt over….not getting it. I was never theirs, not really, so it’s better I’m gone.”

Sawyer uncrosses his arms. “Why don’t you stay? Maybe we can find why this happens. I’m not saying EXPERIMENT. I just—”

Lance meets gazes with Donnellie for just a second before she looks away. “I know why this happens, and maybe I even deserve it, but there’s no reason why I should endanger you and yours, Mr. Ryder.”

“Where will you go?” Artemis asks.

“Ral’s parents are still trapped in another dimension. We have to find them.”

Rena puts a hand on Lance’s forearm. “We’ll help you.”

He smiles. “You’ve done enough. Thank…”

Donnellie kneels before Krisk, urging his hand from his pocket and opening his palm. Lance and Casia lunge, covering Krisk’s hand. Still bright white light explodes from Donnellie’s eyes, and she hovers about a foot off the ground.

“The world you know will come to end. The paths you took will somehow bend.”

Casia narrows her eyes at Lance. “Does she normally rhyme?”

“Not…that I know of...”

“Five powers must unite; a demon from your past you all must fight.”

“This, from a palm reading?” I ask.

Casia smirks. “You should see what she does with crystal balls.”

“Despite what you think, it comes down to this. All that you love, you will come to miss. The only way to win, is to lose, but with hope by your side, that’s just a ruse.”

She collapsed into Lance’s arms, unconscious.

“That’s…weird,” I mutter.

“Yes, but accurate when she’s like that.” Lance whirls to the Defenders, his eyes hard. “Take heed. Whatever she said, she got from Krisk’s hand. What she says will come to pass.”

Sawyer nods. “We’ll be ready.”

LATER

“So Donnellie doesn’t eat meat, either?” I ask, munching down on a cheeseburger in Burger Castle.

Casia shrugs. “Oh, she eats meat. She just refuses to call this ‘meat.’”

Lance steals a French fry off of my plate.

Agh, I’m really going to have to bite the bullet here. He’s going to make me, isn’t he? “I’m…I’m sorry I shot you, Lance.”

He blinks, looking genuinely confused. “What?”

“I…I shot you. With the taser. I’m…I’m sorry.”

Lance shrugs. “Please. It was a taser. That doesn’t count. I’ve been shot a lot worse, and I hit you. It’s fine.”

“But—”

“Look,” and now he’s all serious. “I get…CRAZY…sometimes, thinking about my parents from this lifetime. Other than your mom and uncle, they were the best parents I’ve had, and I let them down. Not all of it was my fault, but in their eyes, it was. And that HURT. But what happened back there wasn’t your fault, and I can’t really blame much on Kainoa because a lot wasn’t his, either. And what he did to me, I’ve done to more than one person.”

Wow. What’s…Something past Lance and Casia catches my attention, but I quickly look away when Lance glances over his shoulder at the cheerleader in the booth behind him. I can hear the smile in his voice.

“You going to talk to her or just gawk like a nerdy high school stalker?”

LATER, LATER

“Are you sure about this?” Sawyer asks.

Standing in the middle of the living room in old, tattered, peasant garb, Mary and Brandon Sterling strap on their Anchrons.

“We have no choice, Sawyer. I don’t care what Josh—or—LANCE—says, he’s still OUR son,” Mary replies. “I’m going to find a cure to this curse and bring him home.”

“He’ll be back,” a new voice calls from the kitchen doorway.

The three turn to see Kainoa, leaning heavily on the wall, an icepack to his face.

“I know you believe you can change the past, but it won’t work. And he’ll be back.”

“How do you know?” Brandon demands.

Kainoa shrugs. “He’s an immortal who lives and dies, and he doesn’t want to defeat time? It’s his greatest enemy. Trust me.”

Kainoa looks down at his suddenly glowing blue hands. “He’ll be back…to save or destroy us all.”

The End

FIRST LOOK AT WARDS OF MAN!

2011-11-16T07:54:00.002-05:00

Kainoa Ryder by 122476

Anyone else think it feels like Christmas when his/her artist buddy sends sketches? Seriously!

This is a character study of the protagionist of Destiny's Fate: Wards of Man, Kainoa Ryder! 122476 rocked this! He even added the cut-off gloves to the Defenders' wear, which is just soooo badass Kainoa.

And in case you didn't notice, 122476 is a Bills' fan, and he wants you to billieve. Just you. If I do it, apparently the team loses. Go figure.

More to come!

D to the L to the M

P.S. The fantasy novel, Destiny's Fate, still for sale on Kindle!

Dare to Dream

2011-11-11T20:56:00.004-05:00

Every day I set a goal for myself. Yesterday, it was to balance on a deserted street's curb and walk like a gymnast on a balance beam for a block.

GOAL ACHIEVED!

Two days ago, it was to complete the four new contracts placed on the escalation list in a single work day.

GOAL ACHIEVED!

Today, it was to submit a resume to DC Comics for a position in editorial.

GOAL ACHIEVED!

I'll keep you posted.

Dev

How Do You Know and Updates!

2011-11-11T04:42:00.002-05:00

From Young Avengers #3 by Heinberg and Cheung

How do you know when you’ve read too many comics?

When you hear the U.S. Senate panel passes repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act, and you can only think—yay, Wiccan and Hulkling!

Apparently, I post How-Do-You-Knows and updates recently.

What’s up, down the pike!

I’ve put in an eight-page story (“Life’s Question”) to an anthology, so I should here back on that before the new year. If it’s accepted, it’ll be drawn and published in Journeymen by ICG Publishing. If not, then I’ll probably get 122476 to draw it next year. He was supposed to draw this one, but I didn’t find out the contest until the last moment. He was kind enough to switch projects for me. Oh, and what’s his new project? Thanks for asking!

122476 is working on The Wards of Man, the sequel to my novel Destiny’s Fate (Told ya I’d get a better title). The Council of Order doesn’t approve of Kainoa’s decision to bring back Draven, the previous Destiny, and now they want to choose a new bearer of the time-altering power—Edge. Will Kainoa concede to his maniac older brother, or will he fight to death to keep that power that has been the Starbucks’s since time immortal?

122476 has currently agreed on the first six/nine pages of the first issue, so if nothing else, those will be uploaded here once they’re done. If there’s another enough interest, the entire five-book miniseries might reach fruition. We’ll see!

False Dawn #23 will be posted within in the next week, with the cover by—you guessed it! 122476! I do have Addy and Connor’s profile with art by Emily L’Orange to be posted soon, and Wolfram has also offered to do another piece for me. Both of those should be up sometime this month.

Thanks for reading!

Devin Leigh Michaels

Comic!

2011-10-28T04:13:00.004-04:00

If you click on it, it will enlargen.

Shannon of Breakaway totally rocked this! The prompt was a one-page comic with a death being shown or insinuated in the last panel. I thought it came out well.

On a side but related note, 122476 and I spoke, and he's going to draw "Life's Question." Sweet. Cannot wait to see how that comes out.

Thanks!

Dev

How Do You Know 31 and Mini-Update

2011-10-21T08:12:00.001-04:00

RH&O3 cover by superstar Kenneth Rocafort

How do you know when you’ve read too many comics? (NEVER!)

When you believe Red Hood and the Outlaws should consist of Red Hood, Red Arrow (not Arsenal), Red Robin, Red Star, the (but only if he goes by Scarlet Speedster), Scarlet Spider, Scarlet Witch, and Speed (because I like the character!).

Mini-Update!
I’m currently in talks with 122476 to do a short comic—six pages—featuring the cast of False Dawn entitled “Life’s Question.” If it doesn’t pan out, I’ll be posting the story along with a cover, probably drawn by 122476. If it does (yay!), I'll update you as the story progresses.

Also on the front burner is the sequel to my novel Destiny’s Fate. (FIND IT ON AMAZON!) I’m working on a five-book outline to do this sequel in comic form, not as a novel, which will not take longer in writing but definitely will take longer to produce. If all goes well, I’m looking to have it out late next year in comic book stores and potentially available online. I’ll keep you updated on the progress. Working title?

Sparklure Legacy: The Gathering

Yeah…I’ll get something less clichéd as the story develops.

Thanks!

Devin Leigh Michaels

NYCC ROCKED!-Just sayin'.

2011-10-18T18:00:00.004-04:00

Shot of the Javis Center Lobby from the top of the stairs by Me

My first comic convention was NYCC 2008. My sister nudged me in the side the whole Bat Panel, whispering, “Ask a question. Ask a question!”

I was nervous just sitting in a crowded room with Tony Daniel, Mike Marts, Ian Sattler, Peter Tomasi, Dustin Nguyen, and Greg Rucka. These were superstars, my Matt Damons and George Cooneys. I ended up leaving a little disappointed. I didn’t speak to one of them. I didn’t know what to say other than, “Oh my God! You’re—”

Flash forward three years and eight months later, my sister is out of the room, getting a Vitamin Water, and I’m one of the few fans left in the panel after questions start. My question is number two.

In the months prior to NYCC, I gained and lost some confidence. While I had lost The Seekers contest, I had been tweeting Kyle Higgins, J.T. Krul, Mike McKeon, Rich Ginter, Jeff Suter, Mikel Janin, Scott Tuft, Rickey Purdin, Patrick Zircher, Ryan Parrott, Owen Wiseman, and Mark Doyle and tons more. On top of that, I’ve even been FOLLOWED by some of the aforementioned. This time, when I went to NYCC, I felt confident (but still nervous) introducing myself because even though these creators didn’t know me, they knew my name. And that, my friends, was KEWL (NJ accent cool).

I spoke with Fabian Nicieza, Mikel Janin, Mike McKeon, J.T. Krul, Jim Cheung, Ivan Brandon (again!), Kyle Higgins, and Bobbie Chase. Many were kind enough to discuss their careers, even my own, and give insight into the industry. Each one was professional and kind. I cannot express how grateful I am for their generosity.

For the last however many years, I’ve been trying my best to break-in to the industry, and normally when I leave these conventions, I feel depressed, even demoralized, because I’m no closer to my dream. This time, I was jumping up and down like a fangirl. I couldn’t believe what I’d learned, how my idols had encouraged me not to give up and to continue working and improving and striving. On the train ride home, I was already mapping out a Destiny’s Fate’s miniseries in my notebook while Red Hood and the Outlaws was up on my iPad.

Where I thought The Seekers might be an end to my career, where I thought just perhaps the comic book industry was kicking me out, NYCC invited me back in.

Thanks.

Devin Leigh Michaels
October 17, 2011

How Do You Know 030

2011-10-18T12:00:00.000-04:00

Jason Todd by Jason Haun (in Red Hood: LD, written by Judd Winick)

How do you know when you’ve read too many comics? (Never!)

When you realize Jason Todd actually has a superpower - the ability to never have hat hair after taking off his helmet.

NEW YORK, HERE I COME!

2011-10-14T04:17:00.000-04:00

It comes around once a year (and when it switched from February to October, once every nineteen months!).

It's NYCC, baby!

And of course, you know I HAD to buy the four-day pass. Joining me - like at all cons - is my non-geek sister, Marie, and I hope you'll join us as we struggle against the villainy of lines, the destruction of crowds, and the depression of cancellations - as well as enjoy the awesome company of the industry's finest.

For up-to-second updates of my infiltration of the industry, check out my Twitter account - @DevinLMichaels - or my Tumblr account - http://break-outcbe.tumblr.com/.

I'll have a full recap back here early next week.

Hope to see you there!

Devin Leigh Michaels

False Dawn #22: Comic Book Script

2011-10-14T03:57:00.003-04:00

Kainoa Ryder by Emily L'Orange

False Dawn #22: “Life or Something Called It”
Part Three of Four: Normalcy or Lack of It
Comic Book Script—Plot for 20 Pages
Devin Leigh Michaels

As the Ryders try to help Ral find his family, they find a piece of lost history as well—and it doesn’t bode well for Ral and Co.

PAGE ONE
1—Extreme lose-up on Ral’s face. His nose is red from the coldness of the air.
NARR: The chill of my runny nose awakes me, and I wish I’d slept with a ski mask on.
NARR: Why would Kainoa’s family ever put down the A/C so low?
LOCATION CAPS: SKADIOA

2—Ral now sits up with an afghan over his shoulders on a fluffy but worn couch in the middle of an apartment. Camera’s positioned over his shoulders, so we see his back but are focused on the room. A blue fire devours the blackened wood in the hearth. Over the flames is a kettle, like how people used to cook in the olden days. To the left is a kitchen area, not modern but elaborate with knives, pans, pots, a small bar, and black diamond countertops. Just behind the kitchen is a thick, wooden dungeon door, and to the immediate left is another, more inviting door with a stained glass window of a dragon breathing fire. For future reference—there’s a window directly behind Ral and the couch. Note: Ral’s a slightly too big for his T-shirt and snap-away pants.
NARR: Ooookay…I am not in New Jersey anymore.

3—Ral brings his jeaned legs up to his chest, wrapping the afghan about his bent knees. Please show he’s wearing socks, no shoes.
NARR: So…where am I? Looks like Skadoia, but—
SFX: WAAAANNNN—

PAGE TWO
1—Half-page—In front the open dungeon door smiles Kalidas. He’s smirking at the camera like that older brother who liked to pick on you but still loved you. He wears his mechanic suit minus the doctor’s jacket with a bookbag thrown over his shoulders.
KADIAS: Well, if it isn’t the HYBRID. What brings you to our little BLACK HOLE?
TITLES

2—Ral averts his eyes, ashamed and obviously uncomfortable.
RAL: I…uh…I don’t know.

3—KALIDAS enters the living room with two cups, and Ral holds his legs closer to his chest.
KADIAS: Of course you don’t.

4— Kalidas offers a cup, and Ral refuses to take it.

PAGE THREE
1— Kalidas takes a long sip.
KALIDAS: Oh, for crying out loud…

2—He then hands Ral the cup, who takes it hesitantly.
NARR: Ew. Kalidas spit.
KALIDAS: So you missed me.

3—He plops back in a chair, one leg hitched over an arm.
KALIDAS: I don’t know if I should feel FLATTERED or VIOLATED. You didn’t call first.
KALIDAS(linked): So…What’s been up with you? Using your powers to SNEAK into GOVERNMENT facilities? SCARE teenage girls? Perhaps make a MOVIE CAREER?

4—Ral rubs the back of his head.
RAL: I, uh…

5—A blast of blue flames puffs outside the window behind Ral, like a dragon’s spitting fire into the sky.

PAGE FOUR
1—Kalidas curses as he stands as Ral turns toward the window.
KALIDAS (soft): Shit.
KALIDAS: You better go, kid. Apparently, my to-do just list got LONGER.
NARR: If I didn’t know any better, I’d say that came from an exhale of a dragon or something

2— Kalidas turns back as Ral calls him.
RAL: … Kalidas?
NARR: Why’d I do that?
KALIDAS: Yeah, Hybrid?

3—Ral twiddles with the edge of his cup.
RAL: Why…Why did I come to you? You—You—
NARR: —used to torture me. MAIM. MARK.

4— Kalidas puts a hand on Ral’s shoulder.
KALIDAS: Because I’ll do this.
RAL (puzzled): Do—

5—The door flies open, and Amaris—the Skadoian Lord’s second-in-command (from FD#13)—rushes in.
AMARIS: Kalidas, our lord says he will force you to watch Jersey Shore if you keep him wait—

PAGE FIVE
1—Amaris’s widened and shocked eyes meet Ral’s eyes, which are widened and shocked as well.
RAL: Kalidas —

2— Kalidas backhands the camera.

3—Ral awakens drenched in sweat with twisted blankets choking him. He’s in a living room on a relatively new couch, but this room is more traditional with a love seat and an area rug on hardwood floors. Behind him is a bookcase overflowing with books, pictures, and papers. If possible, there is also a fireplace with a mantle and pictures. The sunlight breaks through the curtains just enough to shine on Ral.
RAL: AH!
LOCATION CAPS: RIDGEWOOD, NEW JERSEY

4—Ral stands and rakes a hand through his hair.
NARR: I really miss Lance and Casia.
OFF: What do you mean BUCKY wasn’t BLOWN UP!

5—Ral opens the the kitchen door.
NARR: The world smells of bananas. It’s been a while since I’ve had one, but you never really forget the smell, kinda like BURNT PIZZA or LANCE’S SNEAKERS.

PAGE SIX and SEVEN
1—Half-page spread across both pages—The whole family gathers about the kitchen table—Kainoa, his little brother KRISK on his lap, his cousin Mattie, his parents—Rena and Artemis—and his uncle, Sawyer. (see FD#19 and FD#21 for description of everyone but Krisk) Krisk is ten with short blonde hair and green eyes, who looks very similarly to Rena. He’s currently wearing a T-shirt and jeans and sits on his brother lap, so there’s an empty seat next to Kainoa.
NARR: Everyone seems to go about their daily routine like yesterday never happened.
BALLOON1: —don’t get me started on cheeseburgers and waffles—
BALLOON2: I like the GAP!
BALLOON 3: CHECK PLEASE!
BALLOON 4: NBA lock-out? Ah, who cares? Thank God the NFL—
BALLOON 6: You want some more syrup, kiddo?

BALLOON 5: —sass me back. You know you’re not supposed to be out that—

Across the bottom of the two pages
2—Ral steps inside.
RAL: Who says ‘sass’ anymore?

3—Entire table glares at him.
NARR: No…not at all intimidating.

4—Rena walks up to Ral and guides him toward the table.
RENA: You like banana pancakes? Oh, what am I saying? Everyone loves banana pancakes.
NARR: Rena’s Kainoa’s mother.
NARR: My mom used to make apple. Rena reminds me a lot of her.

5—Ral takes the empty seat next to Kainoa and digs in. Mattie laughs from across the seat.
MATTIE: HA!

6—Ral wipes his full mouth on his sleeve.
RAL: What?

PAGE EIGHT
1—Mattie smiles.
MATTIE: You in an eating contest or something?

2—Sawyer elbows her; Artemis’s on Mattie’s left, Ral’s right, waving a fork.
SAWYER: Don’t listen to Mattie. Put humus in front of her and watch out! You might LOSE a HAND.
MATTE: DAD!
ARTEMIS: Oh, please. Mattie’s not half as bad as Kainoa and sushi.

3—Kainoa rolls his eyes as Krisk tugs on Ral’s sleeves.
KAINOA: How’d this become about ME?
KRISK: Who’s Kalidas?

4—Ral blinks; Krisk eats some of Kainoa’s pancakes.
RAL: …uh, what? How do you—
KRISK: You talk in your sleep.

PAGE NINE
1—Ral shrugs; Mattie and Artemis are also in the panel.
RAL: Just some guy I knew from when I was a kid.
ARTEMIS: You’re still a kid.
RAL (linked): Well, from when I was a kid-kid.
MATTIE: Is that a baby goat?

2—Mattie looks back at her father’s glare. Rena wipes her mouth with a napkin.
MATTIE: What?
RENA: So tell us, Ral. Where are you from?

3—Ral stops eating in mid-bite.
RAL: Wayne…uh, New Jersey.
NARR: Why does this seem like an interrogation?

4—Kainoa slaps him on the shoulder.
KAINOA: Dude, we’re in Ridgewood.
RAL: No shit?

5—Another table glare.

PAGE TEN
1—Ral smiles sheepishly. Kainoa leans over to whisper, a hand up to cover his mouth from Rena.
RAL: Uh…sorry? You don’t swear…I take it.
KAINOA: Not in front of the KID in front of my MOM.

2—Rena slaps him on the back of the head and takes his empty plate.
RENA: And now you would be getting two weeks not helping at the headquarters—
KAINOA: Oh, shoot. Just my luck.
RENA:—but since you were held captive, I’ll commute it to time-served.

3—Kainoa mouths toward Ral.
NARR: Kainoa mouths, “Damn.”

4—Rena still smacks him again.
RENA: So, Ral, where are your parents? Are they home? Where can we drop you off?

5—Ral shrugs.
RAL: Um…I, uh, I don’t know.
ARTEMIS: You don’t know?

PAGE ELEVEN
1—Ral plays with his fork in the syrup.
RAL: I DREAMWALK, kinda like Jayden did, and…

2—Kainoa looks at Mattie uneasily as the rest of the family looks uncomfortable as well.
NARR: At the mention of Jayden, my mouth dries. Jayden’s DEAD.
NARR: I mean, even if he and Rio weren’t among those collected by the Defenders, Sierra ran him through with my sword.
NARR: There’s no way he could’ve survived that…right?

3—Sawyer hands his plate to Rena; Kainoa shrugs; Kainoa hands Krisk to Artemis.
SAWYER: So you can find your parents that way?
RAL: Maybe…but it’s no worries. If you wouldn’t mind just dropping me at a transit station, I can—
RENA: We’re NOT doing that. Kainoa, maybe you can follow his parents’ WORLDLINES and see where they are?
KAINOA: And maybe while I’m at it, I can end HUNGER and grant WORLD PEACE.

4—Rena slaps him across the back of the head again.

5— Ral edges toward the door.
RAL: Nah, it’s cool. Really. My parents find me, or I find them. It’s not a—

PAGE TWELVE
1—Ral turns into the living room, where Kainoa stands, blue hair and all. It’s like he just appeared there.
RAL: —problem?
KAINOA: Abusive childhood, huh? Those are NEVER fun.

2—Ral shoves Kainoa’s shoulder as he storms for the door.
RAL: Leave me alone.

3—Extreme close-up on Kainoa’s face, head tilted down, eyes not showing. His hair’s black again.
KAINOA: I was TORTURED and made into an ASSASSIN by my grandfather.

PAGE THIRTEEN
1—Close-up on Ral’s face. He’s not really sure what to do here, shocked, horrified, and demoralized all at once.
KAINOA (off): Rena and Artemis are my ADOPTIVE parents. My biological dad was KILLED by my grandfather, and Leilani, my birth mom, was afraid my grandfather would KIDNAP me and USE me for his own purposes, so she gave me to Rena and Artemis.
KAINOA (linked, off): Eventually, my grandfather did get me, and I’ve only been back with my mom and dad two years now.
RAL: For his own purposes…?
RAL (linked): Your powers.

2—Kainoa’s shoved his hands in his pockets, leaning against the couch, still not looking at Ral.
KAINOA: I’m literally DESTINY, and the mantle’s passed down through my biological family. When a kid gets all the POWER, the parent LOSES it. My grandfather doesn’t have any left, so…it’s just me.

3—Kainoa now looks directly at Ral, determined and hardened.
KAINOA: Look, I’m not saying I’ll understand everything that’s happened in your life, but I can try. And my parents have dealt with weird stuff since I was born. Trust me. Whatever happened or is happening to you, they can handle it.

4—Now Ral looks away, rubbing a hand up his forearm nervously.
NARR: Y’know, when you fight to the death with someone, you tend to trust ‘im, for better or worse.
RAL: My mom is an IMMORTAL queen who was kidnapped and forced to marry this shadow lord who rules a dimension of darkness. My uncle’s trying to save her in the dimension, while my older brother and sister—a CURSED IMMORTAL and WERE-PHOENIX—try to figure out how to do that from here.

5—Kainoa just stares at Ral, not judging.

6—Same shot, Kainoa yelling.
KAINOA: MOM!

PAGE FOURTEEN
1—Close-up red flames laced with blue. (It’s a burning carcass.)
LOCATION CAPS: ZENITH’S RISE

2—Now a man kneels over a burning carcass, his face rising from the body like he just finished eating. He has sharp claws for hands, steel, sharp features, and long, shaggy black hair. His mouth and teeth are bloody. He’s wearing a trench coat and medieval attire. For reference, he and the carcass are on a plateau in the middle of a snowy mountain range.

3—The man wipes the blood from his chin on his trench coat sleeve.
MAN: Tastes just like chicken.

4—He leaps from the plateau, leaving the burning body for the vultures.

PAGE FIFTEEN
1—Rena, Artemis, Kainoa, and Ral stand in Kainoa’s living room. Kainoa’s wearing a dark black T-shirt and cargo pants with military boots. Ral is dressed similarly but with an overtop that tucks into his cargo pants. Rena wears a sweater, cargo pants, and girl-ier boots, while Artemis wears exactly what Ral’s wearing. On each of their left breasts is the insignia of the Defenders. Kainoa and his parents wear a blaster strapped to their legs (left leg for Kainoa, right for parents). Kainoa also has a knife strapped to his right shoulder. The parents have a silver manacle on their left wrists with a black screen on it.
KAINOA (excited): You ready?
RAL: Sure.
NARR: NOT.
LOCATION CAPS: RIDGEWOOD, NEW JERSEY

2—Kainoa crosses his arms. He’s trying to act like an authority figure.
KAINOA: Okay, so I’m going to follow YOUR worldline back in time just enough to find your brother and sister, then follow THEIR worldlines to the future to find out where they are now. Sound cool?
RAL (off): Sure.
NARR: NOT.

3—Rena clasps both of us on the shoulder.
RENA: We’ll be right behind you, boys.
RAL: If I had a nickel for every weird thing that’s happened to me in the last year or so—

Next two panels are side-by-side.
4—Close-up on Kainoa’s face—black hair, green eyes.
KAINOA: Please.

5—Same picture, blue hair, blue eyes.
KAINOA: Like anyone is really NORMAL.

PAGE SIXTEEN
1—Kainoa grabs Ral’s shoulder; the background is now a bright yellow.
NARR: Kainoa tugs, but I feel nothing, not really, but I see EVERYTHING.

2—Now about Kainoa and Ral is a faded background of their fight in Project: Avatar, where Jayden is stabbed with Ral’s sword. Ral bows his head.
NARR: My life literarily flashes before my eyes—backwards. Project: Avatar. Rio. Jayden.
KAINOA: It’s not your fault.
RAL: How can you say that? It was my—
KAINOA (linked): Take responsibility for what you can control. Jayden was KILLED by a PSYCHO. You can’t control a PSYCHO.

3—Ral raises his head to study Kainoa’s face. The background is now the atrium at Project: Avatar.
RAL: Sounds like you speak from experience.

4—Kainoa’s not meeting Ral’s eyes again.
KAINOA: Like I said, I WAS the psycho. Once. Not so long ago, either, but I’m not now, and…

PAGE SEVENTEEN
1—The background is no longer faded as the two now stand in a hospital room. Before them lays Ral, unconscious in a bed with tubes in his mouth and nose.
KAINOA: You don’t look so good.

2—Kainoa pushes Ral down on the side of the bed as a defibrillator flies over head.
KAINOA: DOWN!

3—Before the bed stands Casia, completely engulfed in fire with Lance who holds his sword. Skylar presses her back against the hallway wall, with just the side of her in view, while Towne uses his telekinetic powers to throw a bedpan at Casia.
TOWNE: Throwing a temper tantrum isn’t helping your situation. Give us the boy.

4—Casia ducks the bedpan and throws a flare.
CASIA: Sorry. He’s not your TYPE!

PAGE EIGHTEEN
1—Kainoa grabs Ral’s wrist and thumbs toward Lance and Casia.
KAINOA: Is that—Is that your brother and sister?
RAL: Yeah, Casia and Lance.
KAINOA: Seriously. THAT’s your brother?

2—Close-up on Kainoa’s distraught face. He doesn’t want this to be Ral’s brother.
RAL (off): Kainoa—?
KAINOA: Tell me that’s NOT your brother!

3—Ral ducks a machine.
RAL: I can’t!

4—Towne lifts a few tanks with his telekinetic powers—one must be labeled oxygen. Lance touches Casia on her flaming shoulder with his blade.
LANCE: That’s OXYGEN! You know—you, fire, it—BOOM!
SFX: THUMP! THUMP! THUMP!

5—Bright, search lights blind Kainoa and Ral from the window behind them.

PAGE NINETEEN
1—From outside the window with the searchlights, we see Kainoa and Ral crouching by the bed, Ral with a hand up to shield his eyes, Kainoa just squinting.
KAINOA: Time to go?

2—Kainoa reaches for Ral.
RAL: YOU tell ME!

3—The two fall to the hard wood floors of Kainoa’s living room.
Ral: AGH!
KAINOA: UH!

4—From Ral’s POV, we look up at Rena and Artemis, who’re looking down at us.
ARTEMIS: What happened?

5—Kainoa stands, pleading.
KAINOA: Ral’s brother—He’s—
LANCE (off): Hello, Defenders.

PAGE TWENTY
1—Lance stands just in the opening of the living room, holding a blaster toward the camera. In his left hand he holds Krisk whose squirming in the headlock. Behind him stands Casia with red fire crackling upon her scepter, and Donnielle, who holds a Defender’s blaster.
KAINOA (off): Joshua Sterling.
LANCE: I think you have something I want.

TO BE CONTINUED…

False Dawn #22: Short Story Edition

2011-10-14T03:12:00.007-04:00

False Dawn #22: “Life or Something Called It”
Part Three of Four: Normalcy or Lack of It
Short Story Format
Devin Leigh Michaels

SKADOIA
The chill of my runny nose slaps me awake, and I wish I’d slept with a ski mask on. Why would Kainoa’s family ever put down the A/C so low?

That’s when the fireplace crackles and pops.

My eyes snap wide, and the blue fire ravenously devours the blackened wood in the hearth. Over the flames is a kettle, like how people used to cook in the olden days. To the left is a kitchen area, not modern but elaborate with knives, pans, pots, a small bar, and what appear to be black diamond countertops. Just behind the kitchen is a thick, wooden dungeon door, and to the immediate left is another, more inviting opening with a stained glass window of a dragon breathing fire.

I push up on the plush but worn couch I’m on. It’s comfy, cradling my bottom and ensconcing me in its warmth. I wrap the afghan—someone must have laid it across me at some point—about my shivering shoulders and bent knees and wait.

So…where am I? Looks like Skadoia, but—

The dungeon door opens, and my heart sinks. Definitely Skadoia because there’s Kalidas, hungrily grinning at me.

“Well, if it isn’t the hybrid.” He drops a knapsack onto the kitchen counter. “What brings you to our little black hole?”

“I…uh…I don’t know.”

“Of course you don’t.” He enters the living room, holding two cups. As he nears, I hold my legs just a little tighter, even as he offers me one of the glasses.

I don’t take it.

“Oh, for crying out loud…” He takes a sip of both, swallows, and then offers me the cup again.

Ew, Kalidas’s spit…but at least it’s drink.

“So you missed me.” He flops down in one of the recliners, a leg over an arm. “I don’t know if I should feel flattered or violated. You didn’t call first.”

I shrug.

“So, what’s been up with you? Using your powers to sneak into government facilities? Scare teenage girls? Perhaps make a movie career?”

“I, uh…”

A blast of blue flames puffs outside the window behind me, and I turn to see the last flare dissipate. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say that came from a dragon’s exhale or something.

Kalidas curses—loudly. “You better go, kid. Apparently, my to-do just list got longer.”

As he stands and guzzles down the last sip, I call him back. God, I don’t know why.

“Yeah, Hybrid?”

“Why…Why did I come to you? You—You—” used to torture me. Maim. Mark.

“Because I’ll do this.”

“Do—”

“Kalidas —” The door flies open, and Amaris—the Skadoian Lord’s second-in-command—rushes in—“—our lord says he will force you to watch Jersey Shore if you keep him wait—”—and stops. His widened eyes meet mine, and thank God it’s not like those romantic comedies.

And Kalidas backhands me across the face.

I awaken to sweat and twisted blankets. The sun cracks the horizon line, and in the darkened living room, I curl up under the blankets.

I really miss Lance and Casia.

*^*^*

RIDGEWOOD, NEW JERSEY

It takes me forever to fall back to sleep, but when I awaken for the day, the world smells of bananas. It’s been a while since I’ve had one, but you never really forget the smell, kinda like burnt pizza or Lance’s sneakers.

I fight against the attacking sunlight but eventually surrender, dragging myself out of bed. The clatter of forks and plates perk my interest before I even enter the kitchen, and when I do, I have to blink against the normalcy that is breakfast. The whole family gathers about the table—Kainoa, his little brother Krisk, his cousin Mattie, his parents—Rena and Artemis—and his uncle, Sawyer.

“You want some more syrup, kiddo?” Kainoa asks of the ten year old on his lap.

Hey, Kainoa’s hair is black? I thought it was blue. And his eyes are green. When did THAT happen, and no one notices? The family seems to go about their daily routine like yesterday never happened.

“Wait. What do you mean Bucky wasn’t blown up?”

“NBA lock-out? Ah, who cares? Thank God the NFL—”

“—don’t get me started on cheeseburgers and waffles—”

“I like the GAP!”

“—sass me back. You know you’re not supposed to be out that—”

“Who says ‘sass’ anymore?” I quip, and the entire table glares at me. Really intimidating.

“Well, look who decided to greet the day,” Rena—Kainoa’s mother—puts an arm about my shoulders. She ushers me toward the table and the only empty seat. “You like banana pancakes? Oh, what am I saying? Everyone loves banana pancakes.”

My mom used to make apple, but I keep it to myself. Rena reminds me a lot of her.

A plate clanks to the table in front of me, heaping with pancakes, and I dig in. Across from me, the African American girl smiles. “You in an eating contest or something?”

I wipe my mouth on my sleeve, and Kainoa cringes. Yeah, it’s not my shirt. “Uh…sorry. Been a while since—”

“Don’t listen to Mattie,” Sawyer replies. “Put humus in front of her and watch out! You might lose a hand.”

“Dad!”

“Oh, please,” Artemis injects. “Mattie’s not half as bad as Kainoa and sushi.”

Kainoa waves his fork. “How’d this become about me?”

“Who’s Kalidas?” Krisk’s little hand tugs on my sleeve.

…uh, what? “How do you—”

“You talk in your sleep.”

I swallow hard and manage an awkward shrug. “Just some guy I knew from when I was a kid.”

“You’re still a kid,” Artemis replies.

“Well, from when I was a kid-kid.”

“Is that like a baby goat?” Mattie laughs, then rolls her eye at the glare from her father. “What?”

“So…” Rena wipes her mouth with a napkin. “Tell us, Ral. Where are you from?”

“Wayne…uh, New Jersey.” Why does this seem like an interrogation?

“Seriously?” Kainoa hits my shoulder. “Dude, we’re in Ridgewood.”

“No shit?” There’s silence at the table, and I cringe. “Uh…sorry? You don’t swear…AT ALL?”

Kainoa leans over and mumbles. “Not in front of the kid in front of my mom.”

Rena slaps him on the back of the head and takes his empty plate. “And now you would be getting two weeks not helping at the headquarters—”

“Oh, shoot. Just my luck,” Kainoa bemoans with a smirk.

“—but since you were held captive, I’ll commute it to time-served.”

He mouths my way, so his mother can’t see, “Damn.”

Rena still smacks him again. “So, Ral. Where are your parents? Are they home? Where can we drop you off?”

“Um…” I cringe again and shrug. “I, uh, I don’t know.”

Artemis cocks his head to the side. “You don’t know?”

I answer with my particular motion of choice—The Shrug. “I dreamwalk, kinda like Jayden did, and…”

At the mention of Jayden, my mouth dries. Jayden’s dead. I mean, even if he and Rio weren’t among those collected by the Defenders, Sierra ran him through with my sword. There’s no way he could’ve survived that…right?

“So you can find your parents that way by dreamwalking?” Sawyer asks, his plate abandoned and looking at me like I have three heads.

I shrug. “Maybe…but it’s no worries. If you wouldn’t mind just dropping me at a transit station, I can—”

“We’re not doing that.” Rena drops more pancakes in front of me. I haven’t even finished the first stack! “Kainoa, maybe you can follow his parents’ worldlines and see where they are?”

Kainoa shrugs. “And maybe while I’m at it, I can end hunger and grant world peace.”

Another slap.

I know where this is going. “Nah, it’s cool. Really. My parents find me or I find them. It’s not a prob.” I’m already half way to the living room door. “I’ll just grab my things.”

And possibly steal a clean pair of jeans from Kainoa.

But when I turn into the living room, Kainoa’s there, blue hair and all. Then, in a flash, his hair’s black again, his eyes green. “Abusive childhood, huh? Those are never fun.”

“Leave me alone.” I push past him relatively easily and grab…well, nothing. Other than the clothes I received from the project, I don’t have anything else with me.

I start toward the front door when a muted scream stops me.

“I was tortured and made into an assassin by my grandfather.”

I cannot have heard that right.

Kainoa’s not looking at me, but instead, with hands shoved in pockets, he winces and shrugs. “Rena and Artemis are my adoptive parents. My biological dad was killed by my grandfather, and Leilani, my birth mom, was afraid my grandfather would kidnap me and use me for his own purposes, so she gave me to Rena and Artemis. Eventually, my grandfather did get me, and I’ve only been back with my mom and dad two years now.”

“For his own purposes…?” Smack me, please. “Your powers.”

“I’m literally Destiny, and the mantle’s passed down through my biological family. When a kid gets all the power, the parent loses it. My grandfather doesn’t have any left, so…it’s just me.” He shrugs again and leans against the spine of the couch. “Look, I’m not saying I’ll understand everything that’s happened in your life, but I can try. And my parents have dealt with weird stuff since I was born. Trust me. Whatever happened or is happening to you, they can handle it.”

Y’know, when you fight to the death with someone, you tend to trust ‘im, for better or worse. “My mom is an immortal queen who was kidnapped and forced to marry this shadow lord who rules a dimension of darkness. My uncle’s trying to save her in said dimension, while my older brother and sister—a cursed immortal and a were-phoenix—try to figure out how to do that from here.”

Kainoa nods thoughtfully for a moment before yelling, “MOM!”

*^*^*

ZENITH’S RISE

Upon a plateau at dawn, a man with sharp claws, shaggy hair, and bloody teeth rises from the burning carcass of what appears to be a person with fiery wings.

A were-phoenix.

The man wipes his chin on his trench coat sleeve and snarls, “Tastes just like chicken.”

He jumps off the edge and disappears into the snowy mountains.

*^*^*

RIDGEWOOD, NEW JERSEY

So…yeah. I’m standing in the middle of Kainoa’s living room, wearing black cargo pants, an over shirt, and a black undershirt. On all of them is a blue phoenix wrapped about the number four. Kainoa’s dressed similarly but has a blaster strapped to his left leg and a dagger holster strapped to his rights shoulder.

His parents stand opposite us but no worries. This isn’t intimidating. Not at all.

Okay, maybe a little.

“You ready?” Kainoa asks.

I shrug. “Sure.”

NOT.

“Okay, I’m going to follow your worldline back in time just enough to find your brother and sister, then follow their worldlines to the present to find out where they are. Sound cool?”

“Sure.”

NOT.

Rena clasps both of us on the shoulder. “We’ll be right behind you, boys.”

“You know, if I had a nickel for every weird thing that’s happened to me in the last year or so—“

“Please.” Kainoa snorts and his hair and eyes do that blue thing again. “Like anyone is really NORMAL.”

He reaches for something just at my shoulder and seemingly tugs. I feel nothing but EVERYTHING. My life literarily flashes before my eyes—backwards. Project: Avatar. Rio. Jayden. I avert my eyes as I see his death, but it doesn’t help the sudden stabbing pain I have in my own chest. He was killed with MY sword. It’s my fault.

“It’s not your fault,” Kainoa grunts.

“How can you say that? It was my—”

“Take responsibility for what you can control. Jayden was killed by a psycho. You can’t control a psycho.”

“Sounds like you speak from experience.”

“Like I said, I WAS the psycho. Once. Not so long ago, either, but I’m not now, and…”

And now we’re in the hospital.

“…you don’t look so good.”

Younger Me’s in a bed, breathing through a tube, with Casia and Lance fighting—Agents Towne and Skylar? Casia throws a few fireballs while Lance jumps over my bed and protects me, his sword out to slice.

“Give us the boy!” Towne screams, using his telekinetic powers to throw a bedpan at Casia. Skylar presses her back against the hallway wall, just out of sight.

“He’s not your TYPE!” Casia ducks the attack and throws another flare.

A hand grabs Future Me—or is it Current Me’s—wrist tugging me beside the bed. “Is that—Is that your brother and sister?”

“Yeah,” I thumb. “Casia and Lance. They tried to stop Towne and Skylar from taking me.”

“That’s your brother?” he demands.

Perspiration beads on Kainoa’s forehead. His blue eyes jump back and forth.

“Kainoa—?”

“Tell me that’s not your brother!”

“I can’t!”

Towne uses his powers to lift the massive equipment by my bed and chuck it through the window. Casia burns a protective flare, but Lance hits her with his blade. “You can’t do that! The oxygen!”

The thumping of a helicopter, followed by the gale winds, pounds Kainoa and me from behind, and he snatches my shoulder again. In a blink, we land in his living room again, his parents over us.

“What happened?” Artemis demands. “Why aren’t you following Ral’s worldline?”

Kainoa rubs the back of his head. “Ral’s brother—He’s—”

The front door’s kicked open, and in rush Lance, Casia, and Donnellie. In one hand Lance holds Krisk who’s squirming in the headlock. In the other, he points a blaster.

“Hello again, Defenders.”

Kainoa gulps. “Joshua Sterling.”

TO BE CONTINUED

Ral's Blog 003-Lance Evans

2011-10-12T04:04:00.000-04:00

Entry 003

Lance Evans by Drake Tsui

If you’re immortal or extended mortal, you’ve probably heard of Lance Evans.

Lance Evans
Known Aliases: Joshua Sterling; Napoleon; various
Birthplace: various; current lifetime: Boston, Massachusetts
Age: Fifteen lifetimes; 19 in the current
Immortal Classification: Reincarnated Cursed
Creature Classification: Human
Known Relatives: None
Height: 5’10”
Weight: 185 lbs.
Hair: Black with blonde tips
Eyes: Dark Brown/Black

If you’re immortal or extended mortal, you’ve probably heard of Lance Evans. He’s been around since the gladiatorial games, which makes him, like, ancient, even though he only looks nineteen now. As a Reincarnated Immortal, he lives, dies, and lives again. My mom and uncle took him in, in his eighth lifetime and kinda gave him a family when he wouldn’t have known one. I know he’s been a squire during the Middle Ages, a Union soldier in the American Civil War, and a stripper. I don’t ask, and if you run into Lance, you probably shouldn’t either if you like living. Yeah, he’s really good at killing, and he’s deadly with practically any weapon, including TV remotes (really, I’ve seen it).
In his first lifetime, he “let luck and chance guide” him, which led to people dying. He then was cursed by a mage to feel the pain he caused, so he loses the people he loves most in each lifetime. I just hope I won’t be one of them.

For read more of Lance's origin, check out False Dawn Annual #1: Thicker than Blood.

How Do You Know 029

2011-10-11T03:33:00.000-04:00

How do you know when you've read too many comics? (NEVER!)

When you think the movie The Thing should be about Ben Grimm, not some really scary person in a robe.

"Return Stroke" Version 2-Comic Book Script

2011-10-10T02:27:00.003-04:00

Jai West by Drake Tsui

Not too long ago, I read Writing for Comics and Graphic Novels with Peter David. In it, David explains how one should be prepared with three ideas to pitch when speaking to an editor. Heaving tweaked this to twenty pages and cleaned it with some awesome advice, I had hopes that "Return Stroke" would be one of those ideas. However, with the New 52 - Jai and Irey, as far as I can tell - do not exist and aren't going to exist for sometime.

So, without further adieu, here's the revised, comic book script version of "Return Stroke." The next post is the short story version.

“Return Stroke”

Narrations are Barry Allen unless otherwise designated. In one section, they will be Jai West’s.

PAGE ONE
1—The Flash—Barry—races past a Father’s Day sign on a diner in Central City.
NARR: I’m not a father.
NARR: Not really.

2—Barry races over the bridge from Central to Keystone. A picture of Keystone’s welcome sign greets us.
NARR: I’d like to think that I had some parental responsibility for Wally.

3—Flash zips into Wally’s home.
NARR: I never raised my children, the “Tornado Twins.” Yet I’m a grandfather and a great-uncle.
NARR: Does THAT make me feel old.

4—Barry’s now dressed in his civvies—sweatshirt, jeans, sneakers—as he comes to a stop before Wally in the living room. Wally’s sitting at his couch, worried.
WALLY: I just don’t know what to do with him. Even Linda’s doing a show with a child psychologist hoping to learn something.

PAGE TWO
1—From behind Barry, we look inside the Wests’ family room, where Jai sits in front of the TV, playing a video game.
WALLY (off): Jai—He sits in front of the Xbox all day or plays his PSP. When I was his age, I was always outside, always running.
BARRY: You can’t relate.

2—Wally looks up, barely holding it together.
NARR: Wally reminds me of the tearful teenager who used to crash on my couch when his parents set up for Normandy.
WALLY: He wasn’t like this before Zoom attacked. I wonder sometimes, Barry.

3—Bottom half of the page—Barry and Jai walking along a busy Keystone street at a normal pace.
WALLY (off, no pointer): When Jai lost his powers, did I lose my son, too?
NARR: It took some coaxing, a growling whine, and a little bribery for Jai to join me for a walk downtown.
BARRY: Your mom and dad are worried about you.
Titles/Credits

PAGE THREE
1—Jai stuffs his hands into his jean pockets.
JAI: Yeah.

2—Barry looks down at him. Jai’s not looking up at him.
BARRY: Losing your powers, must have been hard.
JAI: Yeah.

3—Barry’s expression flashes to surprise.
BARRY: You know any other words other than—oh, no.

4—Barry plucks the PSP from Jai’s hands.
JAI: HEY!
BARRY: I thought we had a deal, kiddo. I take you to GameSpot, and you and I talk the whole way there and back.

5—Jai crosses his arms and pouts.
JAI: We WERE talking.
BARRY: No, I was talking. You were muttering.

6—Barry looks down at the boy, his pout close-up.
NARR: I suddenly feel ancient, like one of those elderly people who shake their canes at the neighborhood kids.
JAI: Why don’t you just RUN us? We’d be there already.

PAGE FOUR
1—Barry pats the boy’s shoulder.
BARRY: Sometimes you have to slow down. Enjoy life and the people within it. Trust me. It’s worth it.
JAI: Is that what you thought when you ran yourself to death?

2—Barry narrows his eyes. He’s getting pissed but holding his cool.
NARR: Captain Cold has nothing on me at this moment.
BARRY: I was thinking of your aunt.
JAI (off): GREAT aunt.

3—Barry’s a little angrier.
NARR: Strike two.
BARRY: Yes, I was thinking of your great aunt and how I’d miss her, but I’d have saved her and your father, and the people I cared about.

4—Jai looks up at Barry finally, his own face contorted with anger.
JAI: Is that what you thought when you didn’t go back in time and save your mom and dad?

5—Barry’s taken off guard.
BARRY: Wha—?
SCREAM (off): AHHHHHHHHHHH!

PAGE FIVE
1—People dash from the park, screaming in panic. Children are dressed in soccer uniforms and cleats.
SFX: AHHHH!

2—In a Flash second, Barry gets into his Flash suit, grabs Jai, and heads toward the park.
FLASH: Come on!

3—Flash places Jai behind bleachers at a soccer field and rubs the boy’s head.
FLASH: Stay put.

4—Jai doesn’t look at Barry, his head ducked.
NARR: I can’t help but feel for him.
NARR: This could have been our first run together.
JAI: Whatever.

5—Close-up on Flash’s hand upon Jai’s head, where tiny purple lightning bolts zap his fingers.
NARR: Hesitation is not a trait of Flashes, definitely not one of Wally’s, but a darkness, a coldness, brushes my fingers.
NARR: I wonder if it’s just my kinetic energy touching his non-powered skin, but I’ve never felt it against Iris.
FLASH (off): I’ll be back.

PAGE SIX
1—Flash zooms to meet Double Down on the field, and between them, three people—including one boy dressed in a soccer gear—are dead. They’ve been cut by Double Down’s cards.
FLASH: MANIAC!

2—Close-up on the dead soccer player.
NARR: He’s no older than Jai.
NARR: Double Down killed a CHILD.

3—Double Down smirks, an ace of spades between his fore and middle finger.
DOUBLE DOWN: It was my day with the prince of hearts. Even the dealer said I could see him.

4—Flash’s hands fist at his thighs.
FLASH: So you KILLED him?
DOUBLE DOWN (off): It was time for the burn.

PAGE SEVEN
1—Flash slams his fist across Double Down’s face.
NARR: I’m moving even before I realize it.
DOUBLE DOWN: Ugh!
NARR: I should hit him harder. It should have sent his head back onto the soccer field and used it for the ball.
FLASH: Just what kind of sick monster are you?

2—Double Down huddles in the fetal position. Flash’s looking down at him.
FLASH: You killed a child—your own?

3—Double Down smirks over his shoulder.
DOUBLE DOWN: I never said he was mine.

4—Bottom tier—Double Down chucks his cards, and they come at the camera.
DOUBLE DOWN: You’re drawing dead, Flash!

PAGE EIGHT
1—Flash zooms about the field, ducking and catching cards before they hit bystanders.
NARR: I only have a few seconds to catch them when I realize they’re not aimed at me.

2—Flash catches one just before a frightened woman’s face.
NARR: They’re aimed at the people who didn’t flee.
NARR: Five seconds, six max, to save them all.

3—From behind Flash, we see Jai peeking through the bleachers with purple lightning clashing about his body. A card heads toward him.
NARR: Sometimes I wonder who’s crazier, the villains who menace or the innocents who watch?

For this scene, narrations are Jai’s.
4—Extreme close-up on Jai’s eyes, from where the purple lightning flickers.
NARR: It happens ALL the time, the purple lightning.
PAGE NINE
1—Pull out—Jai has his knees to his legs, the purple lightning clashing about his body like a net. Perhaps his head is lifted upward. He’s in pain.
NARR: I’m Jai West, B-T-W.
NARR: I used to be the fastest kid on the planet (I WAS faster than you, Bart!), but when Irey tore the speed from my body, she didn’t take the pain.

2—Behind Jai, we see Barry zipping for the cards, missing the one aimed at the back of Jai’s head.
NARR: Which is KEWL. I wouldn’t want her to have this.

3—Barry catches another card.
NARR: As Great Uncle Barry races toward Double Down, the lightning strikes grow stronger.
NARR: It’ll go away.

4—Barry saves a girl and her dog.
NARR: It always does when my family’s done using their powers, especially my sister, but usually it’s not this bad.

5—Focus on Jai’s clenched teeth, which trap his bottom lip in his mouth.
NARR: It hurts.
NARR: It REALLY hurts.

PAGE TEN
1— Jai is in the middle of the page with a purple lightning bolt splitting the panel age vertically. The left side background is soccer field; the right side is a cozy living room. Blood is splattered on the walls.
NARR: Barry’s angry, and the speed force knows it.

2—Now we’re looking down at the woman face-down in the living room.
NARR: And then I’m no longer in Keystone but in Central, standing before a woman I’ve never met but I know her.
NARR: I’ve seen in my uncle’s pictures.

3—Jai’s looking down at her, scared and shocked and clearly not able to take his eyes off her. In the right hand side of the cell, we see a yellow-cladded silhouette. Surrounding the house (perhaps we can see it through a window) is the purple lightning.
NARR: It’s Barry’s mom—dead.
ZOOM: Hello, boy.

PAGE ELEVEN
1—Full Page—Now we’re looking at Zoom, and he’s looking down at us—and he has a creepy, Joker smile. He’s holding his lightning bolt cane. Jai’s now the silhouette.
NARR: This guy—Zoom—he attacked Irey.
ZOOM: Are you prepared to join her?
JAI: Huh…huh…

PAGE TWELEVE
1—Zoom lunges at Jai, his cane poised to slash the boy’s head off.

2—Jai’s eyes open, and he’s back at the park.

3—Across from Jai huddles a boy by a tree. He’s Jai’s age with sunlight for hair and a nasty, aged scar down his left cheek. He’s wearing a soccer jersey and cleats.
JAI: What are you still doing here?
JAI: Go! RUN!
NARR: I wish I could.
SFX: Sizzzz….

4—Jai whirls to see the card coming at him. It’s an ace of spades.
NARR: I’m not fast enough.

5—Jai sticks out his hand, and the card tears through his palm.
NARR: I never will be again.

PAGE FOURTEEN
1—The card diverts and sinks into the tree trunk, inches from the boy’s face.
Narrations are Barry’s again.
NARR: I want to do more.

2— The purple lightning pumps the blood down Jai’s wrist, and through the bleachers, he watches as the Flash throws Double Down’s cards at him. One of the cards has to knock him out.

3—Flash stands over the fallen Double Down, who’s pinned to the field by his own cards. He’s out cold.
NARR: I want to do more. He DESERVES more, but I won’t give myself the satisfaction.
Jai (off): U—Uncle Barry?

PAGE FIFTEEN
Page split in half vertically; Jai and Wally share a balloon.
1—On the left side—We see a twelve-year-old Wally, standing before a police officer, bloody and dead, looking up at Barry, crying. He’s wearing his original mini-Flash suit.
NARR: When I turn, I imagine Wally there again, standing before the first homicide victim he ever saw, tears welled up in his eyes but he was too shocked to cry.
WALLY (scared): …Uncle Barry?

2—On the right side—Back to Jai. He’s now looking up at Flash in the exact same position that his father was as a child. Jai’s hand is bleeding from the card.
NARR: He truly is Wally’s son.
JAI (scared): …Uncle Barry?

PAGE SIXTEEN
1—Extreme close-up on Jai’s body hand.
FLASH (off): JAI!

2—Flash changes from Flash to Barry again, holding Jai close to him as he’s on a cell phone. They’re away from the bodies.
NARR: I call the police, shortening the “Welcome back” talk from the dispatcher, and I take Jai aside, shielding him from the bloody bodies.

3—Now, Jai and Barry sit on the back of an ambulance, Jai’s hand thickly bandaged. Barry pats Jai on the knee.
NARR: The paramedics stich him up. He’ll be all right…I hope.
BARRY: You did a good thing today, saving Double Down’s son from his father.
BARRY (linked): I’m proud of you.

4— Jai focuses down at his bandaged hand.
JAI: I’m…sorry…about your mom.

PAGE SEVENTEEN
1—Barry blows out a sigh and ruffles Jai’s hair.
BARRY: Time isn’t a force to be changed without consequences. I know my mother wouldn’t want me to put all her loved once in jeopardy.
BARRY (linked): Like YOU.

2—Tears finally course Jai’s cheeks.
JAI: Sometimes I can see things…from the past or the future. It happens when Irey runs…most of the time. I saw Zoom and your mom. I—I—

3—Barry pats the boy’s shoulder.
NARR: He’s going to have nightmares.
BARRY: And that’s why you play so many video games. So you don’t think about them.
JAI: Or my powers.

4—Jai puts his good palm to his face to rub away the tears. Barry ruffles Jai’s hair.
JAI: I don’t want them back, Uncle Barry. Irey—Irey needs to be fast enough, and if I had mine, she wouldn’t be.
BARRY: But that doesn’t mean you don’t miss them.

PAGE EIGHTEEN
1—Jai holds his hurt hand.
JAI: I was born with them, Uncle Barry. They were MY powers, too.
JAI (linked): My dad’s a hero. My mom’s the most awesome TV reporter ever, and my sister’s gonna run faster than anyone one day
JAI (linked): …What am I gonna do?

2—Barry lifts Jai off the truck by the armpits.
BARRY: I don’t know, Jai, but you’re going to be great at it.
BARRY: I know I have a deal to keep, kiddo, but give me just three minutes. I have to fill out a report for the detectives.

3—Barry looks over his shoulder.
JAI (off): Uncle Barry?
BARRY: Yeah, kiddo?

4—Jai shuffles his feet.
JAI: Dad tried to explain it to me, but what does a fors-in-sac scientist do?

5—Barry offers his hand, smiling graciously. Kid’s talking. All is right with the world.
BARR: Come on. I’ll show you.

PAGE NINETEEN
1—First three-fourths—Barry kneeling over a dead body, pointing to the dead body with a pencil. He’s holding Jai’s hand, so as not to scare him too much. Jai’s looking interested, if not slightly wary.
NARR: I don’t need time traveling abilities to know this kid going to be a hero, perhaps not just the way he thought.

2—Completely black panel splitting the scene with one no pointer comment.
NO POINTER: When you get older, one of your children is going to destroy your life.

3—Darkened office of Barry Allen’s forensic team. A single computer monitor is on, lighting the panel, and from behind him, we see someone hunched over it with a fast food cup and bag. The person has on a white doctor’s coat and has black, spiky hair.
LOCATION CAPS: FIFTEEN YEAR LATER.
WALLY (electronic): Did you run the test?

PAGE TWENTY
1—Close-up on Jai West, hunched over the computer, clicking the mouse. He’s leaning on his elbow, his chin on his fist. Under his white coat is a T-shirt and jeans.
JAI: Yeah, Dad. I already ran it, and I’m just cross-referencing any DNA matches with the JLA database. Chill.
WALLY (electronic): Did you just tell your old man to CHILL?
SFX: BEEP!

2—From Jai’s POV, we see on the computer screen a pop-up that says, “ONE MATCH FOUND.” In the corner of the screen, we see Wally’s face. He’s older—late forties—and he’s smiling.
JAI: Yes, I know how futile that was, asking the Flash to actually wait for something. Oh, look. The DNA match on your murderer came in. Is there anything else Central City Police’s best forensic scientist can do for you today?
WALLY (electronic): How about a little less attitude and the name, wise guy.

3, 4—Small panels side by side.
3—Jai’s smiling at his dad.
JAI: Sorry, I hear attitude is heredity in our family.
WALLY(electronic, no pointer): Must be from your mother’s—
SFX: CLICK.

4—Same position—Jai’s face blanches; a look of horror sweeps through his gaze.
JAI (weak): …Dad…
WALLY (electronic, no pointer): Jai! JAI! Are you okay? What is it?

5—Close-up on the screen—it’s a picture of his sister, Irey, about twenty-five, smiling at the camera in her Impulse uniform. The words “IREY WEST, 100% MATCH” are underneath it.
WALLY (electronic, no pointer): Who’s the murderer?!

THE END

"Return Stroke" Version 2

2011-10-10T02:08:00.003-04:00

I’m not a father. Not really. I’d like to think that I had some parental responsibility for Wally, but I haven’t raised my children, the “Tornado Twins.” Yet I’m a grandfather and a great-uncle.

Does that make me feel old.

“I just don’t know what to do with him. Even Linda’s doing a show with a child psychologist hoping to learn something.” Wally rubs his tired face, collapsing to his couch. “Jai—He sits in front of the Xbox all day or plays his PSP. When I was his age, I was always outside, always running.”

“You can’t relate,” I supply.

Wally looks up, and he reminds me of the tearful teenager who used to crash on my couch when his parents set up for Normandy. “He wasn’t like this before Zoom attacked. I wonder, Barry. When Jai lost his powers, did I lose my son, too?”

I pat his shoulder and look in the “family room.” The irony is not lost on me as Jai sits alone in front of the TV, playing Call of Duty.

It took some coaxing, a growling whine, and a little bribery for Jai to join me for a walk downtown. “Your mom and dad are worried about you.”

The boy stuffs his hands in his jean pockets. “Yeah.”

“Losing your powers, must have been hard.”

A shrug. “Yeah.”

“You know any other words other than—oh, no.”

I pluck the PSP he somehow smuggled and shake it at him. “I thought we had a deal, kiddo. I take you to GameSpot, and you and I talk the whole way there and back.”

“We WERE talking.”

“No, I was talking. You were muttering.”

The boy rolls his eyes and crosses his arms, and I suddenly feel ancient, like one of those elderly people who shake their canes at the neighborhood kids.

“Why don’t you just RUN us?” he demands. “We’d be there already.”

“Sometimes you have to slow down,” I resume our walk, a hand upon the boy’s shoulder. “Enjoy life and the people within it. Trust me. It’s worth it.”

“Is that what you thought when you ran yourself to death?”

Captain Cold has nothing on me at this moment. “I was thinking of your aunt—”

“GREAT aunt.”

Strike two.

“Yes, I was thinking of your great aunt and how I’d miss her, but I’d have saved her and your father and the people I cared about.”

“Is that what you thought when you didn’t go back in time and save your mom and dad?”

“Wha—?”

A bloodcurdling scream whips my head toward the park, where people flee the soccer area. By the time Jai blinks, I have him ducking behind the bleachers lining the field.

“Stay here,” I order, a hand upon his head.

“Whatever,” he mutters.

He doesn’t look at me, and I can’t blame him really. This could have been our first run together.

Hesitation is not a trait of Flashes, definitely not one of Wally’s, but I jerk, keeping a hand upon his head. A darkness, a coldness brushes my fingers, and I wonder if it’s just my kinetic energy touching his non-powered skin, but I’ve never felt it against Iris’s.

“I’ll be back.” I shake it off and zip about the bleachers, my second skin on. I stand face-to-face with Double Down.

Already, at least three bodies bleed pools upon the ground, one no older than Jai.

He killed a child.

“MANIAC!”

Double Down shrugs, a carefree, wild smile cracking his face. “It was my day with the prince of hearts. The dealer said I could see him.”

“So you KILLED him?”

“It was time for the burn.”

I’m moving even before I realize it, slamming my fist across his face. I should hit him harder. It should have sent his head back onto the soccer field and used it for the ball.

“Just what kind of sick monster are you?”

He whimpers like the coward he is, huddling in the fetal position.

“You killed a child—your own?”

He’s not whimpering. He’s chortling. “I never said he was mine.”

At the last moment, I duck the cards he threw.

“You’re drawing dead, Flash!”

I only have a few seconds to catch them as I realize they’re not aimed at me. They’re aimed at the people who didn’t flee. Five seconds, six max, to save them all.

Sometimes I wonder who’s crazier, the villains who menace or the innocents who watch?

*^*^*

It happens ALL the time, the purple lightning shocking my body.

I’m Jai West, B-T-W. I used to be the fastest kid on the planet (I WAS faster than you, Bart!), but when Irey tore the speed from my body, she didn’t take the pain.

Which is KEWL. I wouldn’t want her to feel this.

The pain clenches my teeth and scrunches my face, and as Great Uncle Barry races toward Double Down, the lightning strikes grow stronger, crackling from my eyes and breaking upon my skin. I pull my knees to my chest and close my eyes. It’ll go away. It always does when my family’s done using their powers, especially my sister, but it’s not usually this bad.

It hurts.

It REALLY hurts.

Barry’s angry, and the speed force knows it, and then I’m no longer in Keystone but in Central, standing before a woman I’ve never met but I know her.

I’ve seen her in my uncle’s pictures. It’s Barry’s mom—dead, with a yellow-cladded Flash over her body. The purple lightning acts like a net over the house.

This guy—Zoom—he attacked Irey.

The yellow Flash looks at me, and the craziness in his eyes is just creepy. “Hello, boy. Are you prepared to join her?”

“Huh…huh…”

My eyes snap open, and I’m back in the park. Now crouching across from me is one of the soccer players. He’s my age with sunlight for hair and a nasty, aged scar down his left cheek. That must have hurt.

“What are you still doing here?” I yell at him. Doesn’t he know this is dangerous? “Go! Run!”

I wish I could.

The cards slice through the air, and I turn, my purple eyes catching sight of the spinning killers.

Uncle Barry zooms to catch them and will—except one, thrown after the rest. An ace of spades.

I’m not fast enough to catch it. I never will be again, but I still stick out his hand. When the card tears my palm, it flies toward the tree, sinking into the trunk inches from the kid’s face.

The purple lightning pumps the blood down my wrist, and through the bleachers, I watch as the Flash sends Double Down a taste of his own medicine—his cards.

*^*^*

The cards pin Double Down to the field, and a second later, he’s out cold. I want to do more, but I won’t give myself the satisfaction.

“U—Uncle Barry?”

When I turn, I imagine Wally there, standing before the first homicide victim he ever saw, tears welled up in his eyes but he was too shocked to cry.

Jai has the same expression. He truly is Wally’s son.

And blood flows from his hand.

“JAI!”

I call the police, shortening the “Welcome back” from the dispatcher, and I take Jai aside, shielding him from the bloody bodies. Eventually, a paramedic stiches him up, and he sits upon the back of the EMT truck, nursing his hand.

Patting Jai’s leg, I force a smile. “You did a good thing today, saving Double Down’s son from his father. I’m proud of you.”

Jai focuses down at his bandaged hand, then back at the black bags on the gurneys. “I’m…sorry…about your mom.”

I blow out a sigh. “Time isn’t a force to be changed without consequences. I know my mother wouldn’t want me to put all those she loved and would love in jeopardy.” I ruffle the boy’s hair. “Like you.”

“I know.” The tears finally trickle down his eyes. “Sometimes I can see things…from the past or the future. It happens when Irey runs most of the time. I saw Zoom and your mom. I—I—”

He’s going to have nightmares.

“And that’s why you play so many video games,” I supply. “So you don’t think about them.”

“Or my powers.” He looks away, his good hand’s palm wiping the stubborn tears from his eyes. “I don’t want them back, Uncle Barry. Irey—Irey needs to be fast enough, and if I had mine, she wouldn’t be.”

“But that doesn’t mean you don’t miss them.”

“I was born with them.” He looks up at me, and I can’t help but just hurt for him. “They were my powers, too. My dad’s a hero. My mom’s the most awesome TV reporter ever, and my sister’s gonna run faster than anyone one day. …What am I gonna do?”

“I don’t know, Jai, but you’re going to be great at it.” I lift him off the truck by the armpits and put him down. “I know I have a deal to keep, kiddo, but give me just three minutes. I have to fill out a report for the detectives.”

“Uncle Barry?”

I stop. “Yeah, kiddo?”

“Dad tried to explain it to me, but what does a fors-in-sac scientist do?”

I can’t help but smile as I take his good hand, and I don’t need time traveling abilities to know this kid is going to be a hero, perhaps just not the way he thought.

“Come on. I’ll show you.”

*^*^*

When you get older, one of your children is going to destroy your life.

*^*^*

FIFTEEN YEARS LATER

“Did you run the test?”

Hunched over my computer in my darkened office, I glare down at the person skyping on the bottom of my computer screen. BTW, name’s Jai West. I used to be a superhero before my sister became Impulse. No matter what, I’m still the son of the fastest man alive, a guy who has no patience whatsoever.

“Yeah, Dad. I already ran it. I’m just cross-referencing any DNA matches with the JLA database. Chill.”

“Did you just tell your old man to CHILL?”

BEEP!

“Yes, I know how futile that was, asking the Flash to actually wait for something. Oh, look. Your DNA match on your murderer came in. Is there anything else Central City Police’s best forensic scientist can do for you today?”

Dad smiles on my screen. “How about a little less attitude and the name, wise guy.”

My soda gargles on the bottom of my cup as I click on the match found. “Sorry, I hear attitude is heredity in our family.”

“Must be from your mother’s—”

My blood runs cold. “Dad…”

“Jai! JAI! Are you okay? What is it?”

My sister…The DNA is a perfect match.

“Jai! Who’s the murderer?”

THE END

Ral's Log 002 - Casia LaCroux

2011-10-07T04:21:00.002-04:00

Entry 002

Casia LaCroux by Drake Tsui

Real Name: Casia LaCroux
Known Aliases: Dame, Hottie
Birthplace: Unknown
Age: 230
Immortal Classification: Extended Mortal (lifespan is more than seven hundred years)
Creature Classification: Were-Phoenix
Known Relatives: None
Height: 5’9”
Weight: 130 lbs.
Hair: Crimson
Eyes: Sea-blue
Skin: A multitude of colors; mostly gold and platinum

You ever run into a were-phoenix before? No? Don’t feel bad. Not many people have. They’re these mystical creatures (Don’t tell Casia I called her that) who can form fire and become all “fire-bird” during the Solstices. They have other powers like a clairvoyance and flight, but we don’t exactly know where the creatures come from and how their powers work. Casia doesn’t even know much about her past. Her earliest memories are of being held captive in Skadoia by the warriors and experimented on to discover the source of her flames. She only escaped there thanks to Reger, another were-phoenix and fellow captive. My mom and uncle eventually saved her from a hunting pack of Ashlings and kept her safe. They are the only family she has ever known.

Correction. We—Mom, Connor, Lance and me—are the only family she has ever known.

REPOST: RAL'S LOG Entry 001

2011-09-28T12:00:00.002-04:00

Ral’s new to the realm of immortals and otherworldly creatures, so he’s taking notes. Take a peek, and meet the characters of False Dawn through Ral’s own words.

Entry 001

Ral Dawson by Drake Tsui

Real Name: Raleigh Dawson
Alias(es): Ral; Page
Birthplace: Pequannock, New Jersey
Age: 14
Immortal Classification: Perishable
Creature Classification: Human
Known Relatives: Adeline Dawson (mother); Connor Dawson (uncle)
Height: 5’7”
Weight: 120 lbs.
Hair: Brown
Eyes: Green

Great. This is the embarrassing part where I have to tell you my first name is “Raleigh.” Yeah, my mom apparently wanted a dork. To avoid that, I go by “Ral.” Anyway, I had a great life in New Jersey (Wayne to be exact). I played soccer. My mom was a doctor, and my uncle owned a bar in Hackensack (“Forever’s Run”). I worked at it, cleaning dishes, serving some brew, injecting vodka into the peaches. Yeah, I know you’re supposed to be eighteen to serve liquor and whatnot, but my uncle gave some off-duty cops some free beer, and they looked the other way. That was until these guys called “Skadoian Warriors” came and took Connor and Mom. I’m now hanging with Casia, a were-phoenix, and Lance, a reincarnated cursed immortal, who are also looking for my mom and uncle. We pretty much try to avoid the warriors, federal agents, mercenaries, and other immortals as much as possible while looking for where the Skadoian Warriors stashed my family. Oh, and did I mention the company we do keep? Oracles, sages, unicorns, shape-shifting dragons, and the like.

Please. Like your teenage years were normal.

The Seekers' Entry

2011-09-28T03:12:00.001-04:00

Since it has been requested, here's what I wrote:

Excerpt from Issue One—“The Awakening”

PAGE ONE
1—Establishing shot of Death Valley’s desert wilderness. Rocky sand, scattered brush, and rising mountains make a barren pressure cooker for Arthur and Jennifer to meet. See http://www.nps.gov/deva/parkmgmt/upload/GMP_001.pdf for great pictures.
JENNIFER (no pointer): Doctor—
LOCATION CAPS: DEATH VALLEY NATIONAL PARK

The next four panels are flashback. Note to colorist: Gray scale, please.
2—Inside a collapsing cavern, rock and debris rain from the ceiling, and through the horror, a young man, in his mid-twenties, reaches out to the camera. He has brown, spiky hair and sun-darkened skin with a short-sleeved shirt and khaki pants. He’s terrified.
YOUNG MAN: DAD!

3—In a similar shot, an older African American man (in his mid-forties) is caught in the falling rock as well. He’s dressed similarly to the young man and is built like a former football wide receiver. He, too, is scared but is holding it together as the world collapses about him. He yells to someone off-panel.
OLDER MAN: ARTHUR!

4—Close-up of ARTHUR NORDEN’s face. He’s in his mid-forties with dirt brown hair, soft hazel eyes, and a fatherly face. Scars from his rock climbing days litter his muscular cheeks, and his eyes are wide with fear as he watches the two people he loves most crushed to death.
JENNIFER (no pointer): Doctor Norden—

5—From a hole in the floor, a rather muscular man (think WWE wrestler) rises. (He is the GATHERER!) He has tanned skin, rich, raven hair that falls to his shoulders, and striking green eyes underneath his long bangs. He’s nude save the golden wrist hugger on his left wrist. (Please use discretion. Tweens might read this!) For reference: The formation of the hole caused the earthquake that collapses the ceiling.
JENNIFER (no pointer): I know you said, “GO TO HELL”—

PAGE TWO
1—We’re back in the present. Worm’s eye view of JENNIFER HART. Camera’s positioned in a hole in the cavern floor, looking up at Jennifer as she sits on a ledge with her feet dangling into the very same hole from where the Gatherer rose. She’s dressed in hiker’s shorts, a tank-top with an over shirt, and hiking boots. In her mid-thirties, she’s beautiful but doesn’t try too hard to show it with her blonde hair pulled back in a ponytail and a reporter’s sarcasm. She’s holding a bottle of water and sweating noticeably. Above the hole is a spring-loaded camming device attached to a rope that descends into the darkness.
JENNIFER: —but since we’re already there, you might as well answer my question.
ARTHUR (off-panel, down the hole): I hate repeating myself, Ms. Hart.

2—Mid-shot: More detail on Jennifer now as she holds a digital voice recorder to her mouth. Strands of hair frame her flushed face, and she rolls her sky blue eyes. She’s been here before with her interviewees.
JENNIFER: You LOST two members of your expedition crew—one a GRADUATE STUDENT from UCLA and the other your RESEARCH PARTNER of more than FIFTEEN years.
JENNIFER: Like a lunatic, you come out here all by yourself to prove some MYSTERY MAN from the CENTER of the EARTH exists and that HE caused the cave-in.

3—A silhouette of a muscular man in the right hand corner of the panel emerges from the hole, while Jennifer holds out her recorder.
JENNIFER: The world wants to know. Has the great archeologist ARTHUR NORDEN gone CRAZY in his old age?

4—Arthur wears a harness and an archeologist’s hat (the one with the light on the front) as he dangles over the hole. His eyes are dark. There’s no humor to his features. He’s dressed in khaki pants and a sweaty, dirty tank top that shows off his muscles. Workman’s gloves cover his hands, and he holds the rope in one hand, while grabbing the recorder in the other. He needs to say this.
ARTHUR: I’m NOT crazy.

PAGE THREE
1—Arthur unhooks the carabiner from the rope, standing on the side of the hole. Jennifer comes up behind him.
ARTHUR: I KNOW what I saw.
JENNIFER: And so does a CRAZY PERSON. Give me something CONCRETE, Doctor.
\ARTHUR (linked): Glad you asked, MARY.

2—Camera positioned over Arthur’s shoulder as he holds out a harness for Jennifer to take. Jennifer’s eyes narrow.
JENNIFER: My first name’s JENNIFER, not MARY.
ARTHUR: Well, you have to excuse me. I thought I was getting a JOURNALIST from the WORLD NEWS NETWORK, not the reason hard news is DYING.

3—Jennifer scowls as she grabs the harness.
JENNIFER: I AM a serious journalist, DOCTOR Norden, and it will serve you well to remember that.

4—She steps into the harness.
JENNIFER: Otherwise, I might ask my producer to STICK your story right after the six-thirty-two SENIOR BIRTHDAYS.

5—She clips her carabiner onto the SLCD’s rope, while Arthur lunges forward.
ARTHUR: What do you think you’re doing!
JENNIFER: And here I thought you were supposed to be bright. I’m heading down to see the FIGMENT of IMAGINATION you call HARD EVIDENCE.

PAGE FOUR
1—She grabs his hat as she jumps down into the hole.
JENNIFER: RACE you to the bottom.
ARTHUR: Jennifer—JENNIFER!

2—Jennifer falls through the darkness. She’s smiling slightly, not afraid of what she’ll find but not suicidal either.
ARTHUR (off, shouting): You don’t know what’s down there!

3—Jennifer lands.
JENNIFER: Ooaf!

4—Jennifer dusts herself off.
JENNIFER: Please, what could POSSIBLY be so—

5—Jennifer’s eyes widen; now she’s shocked, unsure of what to make of the sight but now ready to entertain Arthur’s story.
JENNIFER (shocked): …whoa.

PAGE FIVE AND SIX
1—Two-Page Spread—Jennifer stands with her back to us in the opening to a massive cavern. (Think Batcave not modernized.) It’s dark with Jennifer’s helmet the only light. She stands on a landing before a huge chasm in what appears to be a circular “doorway” into the cavern. The opening looks like it’s been blown out to allow entrance. On the left hand side of the page is a rushing waterfall that hits several landings before plunging into the darkness; on the right is a rising rock formations, all covered with ancient -looking alien carving. They glow an ice blue. In the back of the cavern shimmers a large, ice blue crystal. It’s shaped like a tomb and cracked in half vertically.
References for caverns: http://howecaverns.localplacement.net/history
http://www.environmentalgraffiti.com/featured/waterfall-caves-caverns/13402
http://photography.nationalgeographic.com/photography/photos/cave-exploration/
JENNIFER: There better not be huge BUGS in that crystal ready to FEAST on my BRAIN.

PAGE SEVEN
1—Arthur walks up behind her.
ARTHUR: As far as I know—no. And if anything, they’ll feast on YOUR ASS. I don’t think YOUR BRAIN is JUICY enough for them.

2—Jennifer glares back at him.
JENNIFER: Well, good, then I’ll SERVE them you first.

3—Jennifer walks over to the markings on the wall, studying their glowing; behind her, Arthur walks toward the glowing broken crystal.
JENNIFER: So, you think this is where your MYSTERY MAN came from? A cracked glowing egg in the middle of the BATCAVE on ACID?
ARTHUR: I think this proves that I’m NOT CRAZY.

4—Jennifer runs her fingers along the alien markings. Ice blue fire follows her fingers.
JENNIFER (whispering): I wouldn’t be too sure about—WHAT THE—

5—Arthur lunges for her.
ARTHUR: DON’T TOUCH—

6—Ice fire consumes Jennifer. Arthur’s fingers are close to her body.
ARTHUR (off): —THAT!

PAGE EIGHT
1—FLASHBACK—Extreme close-up on Jennifer’s wide and frightened eyes.

2—Jennifer now sits up on rock, like she’s still in Death Valley but now on a high hill. Behind her and off the cliff, she hears voices.
RAN (off): I don’t like this, Brick. Seems like OVERKILL to me.
BRICK (off): We don’t QUESTION, Ran. This is the RITE OF THE SEEKERS.

3—Like we’re looking up at Jennifer, she’s laying stomach-down on the cliff, trying to observe without being caught.
RAN (off): I still think this is WRONG.

4—Camera positioned like we’re Jennifer, looking down at two aliens. Brick and Ran are not much different from us. They’re built like linebackers with skin-tight black jumpsuits. On the space suits is a blue insignia of a bird’s long tail in a circle, surrounding the head of a screeching phoenix. Ran is younger—early twenties—and is the darker of the two with tanned skin and large, glowing purple eyes. His long brown hair is pulled back in a ponytail. His eyes and face are pointy and narrow. Brick is lighter with a purple tint to his skin, has short, spiky black hair, and a round face. He’s in his early forties. They stand on a cliff overlooking a river basin. Next to them is a spaceship—a long narrow fighter. Its nose acts as a wedge, lowering a glowing ice blue and purple crystal into the basin.
References: http://www.flickr.com/photos/grand_canyon_nps/collections/
BRICK: You can think what you want, Brother, but this is the only way to stop it.
RAN: But does PROGRESS need to be STOPPED?
BRICK: When it leads to WAR—YES.
PAGE NINE
1—Mid-shot of Ran as he throws up his hands.
RAN: There must be a BETTER way. DESTROYING war-torn WORLDS is not the ANSWER.
2—Brick keeps his arms crossed.
BRICK: Then what is the ANSWER, Ran? You’d rather this world turn into a BLIGHT to INFECT the rest? We’re SAVING the universe here.
3—Ran glares at Brick, who rolls his eyes.
RAN: SAVING, Brick, or PLAYING GOD?
BRICK: You forget that they have a CHOICE. They can save their own planet, if they wish. The Seekers are here to help them—or stop them. All the INHABITANTS have to do is choose.
RAN: And what of the GATHERER?

4—Like page eight, panel three, we’re below Brick, looking up at him as he affirms:
BRICK: When the time comes, he will be AWAKENED, a GATHERER to find the SEEKERS, the SEEKERS to find the DEVICE, the DEVICE to SAVE or DESTROY the WORLD, the WORLD to find PEACE or DEATH.

PAGE TEN
1—PRESENT—The ice fire burns off Jennifer as she falls to the floor of the cavern, gasping.
BRICK (no pointer): It is THEIR choice.

2—Arthur’s at Jennifer’s side in a moment, grabbing her shoulders.
ARTHUR (panicked): JENNIFER! Jennifer, are you all right?

3—Jennifer glares up at him, her face grim, her eyes frightened.
Jennifer: We’re DOOMED.

TREATMENT
I split the 110- page graphic novel into five, twenty-two-page issues of MTV Comics and Stan Lee’s The Seekers.

ISSUE ONE—“THE AWAKENING”
An alien space craft crash lands on Earth 200,000 years ago. Two humanoid figures emerge to see cavemen sharpening tools. They discuss how to ensure Earth does not “go too far.” One assures the other there are ways to prevent such actions from occurring.

In the present, a Seeker—ASTRA—awakens underneath Planet Hollywood Las Vegas and steals a shirt with the help of her golden, jeweled bracelet. It is paid for by an aggressive young man who wants her attention. After breaking his wrist, Astra is shocked by how much time has elapsed since she was last awake. She leaves to find the Gatherer.

JENNIFER HART, a reporter for World News Network, finally wears down ARTHUR NORDEN, the famed archeologist, for an interview, and they meet in the same cavern in Death Valley where Arthur’s excursion crew members were killed in a cave-in. (In flashbacks, the two members are shown to be Arthur’s best friend and research partner of fifteen years; and his son, a graduate student.) Arthur explains that a being rose from the earth and caused the collapse. Jennifer follows Arthur into a cavern with glowing, ice blue ancient markers on the wall and a large, cracked crystal tomb. The markers are written in an alien language, and when Jennifer touches one, she is transported back to the original landing of the Seekers/Gatherer. She sees a bomb-looking device being lowered into the planet and realizes the world is in jeopardy.

Not too far from the site, the GATHERER crouches by a concealing clump of bushes by the side of a deserted highway. He whispers into his gauntlet, “I will find and gather them. The time has come.”

ISSUE TWO—“IT’S THE END OF THE WORLD…”
The Gatherer stands in Yosemite National Park as another Seeker, JAXON, rises from the earth. The Gatherer asks Jaxon if he is remorseful for his crimes, but Jaxon attacks the Gatherer, who kills him. The Gatherer then looks at his bracelet. His next target is in the Grand Canyon.

Jennifer and Arthur search for clues and take pictures when Jennifer finds a Seeker’s bracelet. When she places it in her pocket, the ancient markers suddenly glow red. Arthur and Jennifer race out of the cavern as it collapses. They split ways—Jennifer to get a camera crew; Arthur to get a recovery crew.

Jennifer’s boss denies her the camera crew because she neglected her assigned story, a dog fashion show. BOBBY, her nephew, is dropped off at work by the manny, JAMES, who recognizes the markings from the Luxor Hotel in Las Vegas. Jennifer calls Arthur.

Meanwhile, Arthur’s denied more funding by the university. Still determined, Arthur takes a call from Jennifer, and they decide to meet. While Jennifer is on the phone, Bobby looks through her purse for gum but instead finds the bracelet.

In the Grand Canyon, a landside/earthquake occurs as a naked man rises from the depths of the earth. The Seeker—VEGA—kills a hiking family by lighting them on fire with his bracelet. He smirks and leaves to do the same to all Seekers.

ISSUE THREE—“VEGA, BABY!”
The Gatherer kneels by the remains of the Grand Canyon attack before talking to someone via his bracelet. “Vega has awakened. We might already be too late.”

Vega walks down Las Vegas Boulevard, stripping a pimp of his clothes and lighting the man on fire. Vega heads toward the Luxor, laughing, “I’m going to paint the town red.”

Jennifer and Arthur meet up at the Luxor, where Bobby hero-worships all over Arthur. Arthur scolds Jennifer for bringing the boy along, but Jennifer holds firm. When they reach the T&T Restaurant, Bobby can read the ceiling, and Jennifer realizes the Skeleton Roof lights are actually written in the same alien markings as the cave. The group is attacked by Vega, who wants the bracelet, but Jennifer can’t find it in her purse. Just as Vega finds Bobby hidden under a table, the Gatherer steps in his way, creating a shield to protect Bobby. The Gatherer and Vega face-off.

ISSUE FOUR—“De-NILE”
As the Gatherer fights Vega; Arthur, Bobby, and Jennifer escape, and Bobby tells them to head for the Sphinx. After finding a secret passage, they enter a modernized cavern with glowing alien markings on the walls as well. On the floor on the bottom level is a glowing crystal the size of a tomb. Presumably with help from the bracelet, Bobby reads the walls, which explains that the Gatherer must collect the Seekers and find the device to either deactivate or destroy the planet depending upon the inhabitants’ aggression. Many Seekers are banished criminals; this is their punishment.

The crystal cracks, and another Seeker—HESPER—awakens, shaking the earth above them. Arthur decides the Seekers and Gatherer are too dangerous to live. He reveals to Jennifer that his son was one of the two killed in his excursion, and he won’t allow anyone else to die. He goes to kill Hesper, only to find she is a child, aged twelve. The Gatherer crashes through the ceiling, ready to kill Arthur.

ISSUE FIVE—“SEEK AND DESTROY”
As Arthur fights the Gatherer, Vega, bloodied and beaten, comes to kill Bobby, stating that all Seekers must die. Jennifer tries to give him the bracelet, believing it makes Bobby appear to be a Seeker, but it doesn’t deter Vega. Astra flies through the open ceiling to help stop Vega.

Meanwhile, the Gatherer beats Arthur and explains they must work together to save the planet. This is Arthur’s chance to save other children—like Bobby and Hesper—where he could not save his son.

Astra explains to Jennifer she wishes to find the device first to save the world, not destroy the world like other Seekers would—like Vega. Vega defeats Astra and tries to kill the Gatherer, but Jennifer sets Vega on fire using the bracelet. Arthur intercepts a blow meant for the Gatherer. The Gatherer puts Vega into the crystal tomb, freezing him for the time being. He then cares for Hesper, a rare child Seeker, and thanks Arthur for his assistance. Jennifer gives the Gatherer the bracelet and leaves with Arthur and Bobby. Later, Jennifer and Arthur decide to find the device before the Seekers do.

Two people in dark suits and sunglasses—AGENTS JONES and RAMIERZ—stand before the opening of the cavern in Death Valley, ready to investigate for Section P.

The next week, as Bobby leaves school, the Gatherer greets him, “When the time comes, Child, I will gather you.” He hands Bobby back the bracelet and leaves.

THE END

"Cursed"

2011-09-27T18:00:00.001-04:00

There are some things you’ll never get over, my mom told me back in April 2009. I had an interview with DC Comics in the production department, and it couldn’t have gone better. “If I could make my decision today…” and “you’ll definitely hear from us” were just key indicators. Three weeks later, I received a very nice letter from H.R. telling me I didn’t receive the job, but they’d keep me in mind for other positions.

I was devastated, so devastated I went to see the Hannah Montana movie. Apparently, I felt the need to be masochistic.

After a few weeks and a million boxes of tissues later, my mom said, “There are some things you’ll never get over.” But that didn’t mean I couldn’t move on. If I wanted to work in comic books, I needed to keep moving forward, continue to write, continue to improve, and I’ve done that. The Break-Out Comic Book Experiment was born later that year, and in its thesis, I gave myself three years to break-in comics in any way—as a sales coordinator, as an elevator button pusher, as a writer on Batman. It’s been twenty-two months.

I don’t know where to go from here.

Stan Lee and MTV Comics’s sweepstakes with The Seekers was a prime opportunity to showcase my talent on a large scale and hopefully break into the comic industry. I awoke every morning at two A.M. to work on this script, to foster it, to make sure it was damn near perfect, and I submitted it a good two days early. I missed one key element, though, one that a teacher in grade school drills into her students’ heads every day.

READ THE DIRECTIONS.

Despite implied nudity in the supplied treatment, there was to be no nudity. Well, I added it with a line, “Please use discretion. Tweens might read this!” I also added links to desert and cave references for the artist. Apparently, that was another no-no. It’s my fault. I should have read the complete contract. I just assumed that it would read, “Any likeness to your script is coincidental…etc.”

So what happens when you are your own worst enemy? What can you do?

Phil Hester tweeted not too long ago that if you work hard enough, a job is there in the comic book industry, but you MUST work hard enough. I wake up every day at three the latest to write before going to my seven A.M. to five P.M. job. I’m taking Saturday art courses at the Kubert School to get some artistic background for an editorial gig. I’m on Twitter trying to learn from the great creators of our time.

What if your “hard enough” isn’t “good enough?”

For the brief time Tony Daniel had a Tumblr account, I asked him if he always knew he was going to make it when he as a child. Was his career, in fact, destiny? He said he had always been a pretty confident kid, so he knew if he worked hard enough, he’d make it. (Spoiler: He did!)

I always thought that. I always thought if I gave it my all, I’d make it. I’d be the first female regular writer on Batman. I’d be an assistant editor, toiling under the great Axel Alonso or Bob Harras. Heck, I’d be the 1700 Broadway official elevator button pusher. (There isn’t one, guys.)

But now…after this…I really thought I had a great treatment and script for The Seekers. I really thought this was it.

And it’s not.

And it’s my fault.

“There are some things you’ll never get over,” my mom had said.

I can move on, though.

I feel like Ted on How I Met Your Mother when Lily tells him, “Maybe this is the architecture world kicking your ass out.” (Okay, that wasn’t the EXACT quote.)

Maybe this is the comic book industry kicking me out, telling me I’m not good enough and I never will be.

But then…I really don’t know what to do. This has been my dream since I bought my first comic book in Sam Goody’s when I was ten. I tell people my first comic was ‘Tec #698, but I lie. It was actually The Adventures of Batman and Robin #1. ‘Tec #698 was second, followed by Nightwing #1.

If I don’t do this, I don’t know what to do—or what to do with the notebook on my desk at work where I jot down bits of dialogue and plot, or the money that goes to comic books, or the Comic-Con tickets that just arrived on Friday. This has been my life for so long.

And just the thought of letting that go feeds the hungry in the pit of my stomach that knows what’s going to happen to Lance in False Dawn #22 and to Donnellie and Casia on that journey in Zenith’s Rise or to Bucky when he finally realizes his father is Ares. (Huh…that might not be possible now, anyway…)

The hungry eats away at me, and just like that, I’m reminded being a writer isn’t a gift. It’s a curse, and damnit. I have another year on the Experiment.

And letting go of this dream—I don’t think I could ever get over that.

Devin Leigh Michaels

How Do You Know 028

2011-09-24T08:36:00.000-04:00

How do you know when you've read too many comics? (NEVER)

When you believe Captain America should drive a Dodge Avenger, not a motorcycle.

MTV Comics, Stan Lee, and The Seekers

2011-09-22T07:21:00.001-04:00

As some of you may know, the last three weeks have been crazy. With NYCC coming up, I wanted to get this blog in order with formatting and proofreading done to all issues, begin positing with covers, and even procure profiles/sketches my characters.

Oh, and y'know, get Stan Lee and MTV Comics's project done.

Yeah, 'bout that...Stan Lee and MTV Comics are launching a new comic called The Seekers, and they're hiring newbie creators for the project. I submitted my entry just last night, and you'll know if I make the first cut Monday.

Okay, you'll know if I don't, but...*crosses fingers* I'm actually more nervous now than I was before I submitted. This is the only contest of this magnitude I know. I enter contests for short stories, novels, and one-act plays monthly, but to a write a comic book - that just doesn't happen. AND TO WORK WITH STAN LEE and MTV COMICS!

Whoa.

This is an incredible opportunity. Hey, if Mark Bagley can win a Marvel contest and go on to draw every major character from both Marvel and DC in the last three decades, why can't I go on to write them?

Devin Leigh Michaels

P.S. ...yes, I know I'm not Mark Bagley. Heck, no one is Mark Bagley except Mark Bagley. That’s not what I meant, and you know it.

How Do You Know 027

2011-09-22T07:04:00.002-04:00

How do you know when you've read too many comics?

When you really wish Catagion was based on a Batman story.

False Dawn #21: Comic Book Script

2011-09-15T02:58:00.001-04:00

False Dawn #21: “Life or Something Called It”
Part Two of Four: Tolls
Comic Book Script—Plot for 20 Pages
Devin Leigh Michaels

Donnellie Jackson by Wolfram003

As Lance, Casia, and Donnellie dig deeper into who took Ral, Lance endures a trip down Memory Lane and boy, are there potholes.

Note to Letterer: All narrations in this issue are Lance’s except where noted.
PAGE ONE

1—Establishing shot—the outside of a rundown hotel at night. The parking lot is rather deserted save two car—a Camaro and beat-up pick-up.
NARR: I pretend this is a dream.
LOCATION CAPS: REVERE, MASSACHESETTES, SIX DAYS PRIOR

2—Surrounded by a flash of blue light, black-cladded figures appear in the middle of the parking lot, dressed in cargo pants with over-shirts tucked into their belts. They hold futuristic guns. They are the DEFENDERS OF THE FOURTH DIMENSION.
NARR: I pretend the burnt aroma of smores isn’t the best thing I’ve ever smelled.

3—Close-up on a door to a particular room. On the door, we see the Defenders’ shadows, but we don’t actually see them.
NARR: I pretend the soft Twizzlers against my five o’clock shadow don’t tickle my chin.

4—Inside the hotel room, there isn’t much—a bed, a chair, a table, and a door to the bathroom. It’s old, dingy, and messy. Casia and Ral’s clothes from FD#20 are thrown all over the floor and table. There are a few scorch marks about the room, like Casia threw flares. There is a lump on the bed, like someone is sleeping in it, but at the moment, we can’t see who.
NARR: I pretend the warm body against me can’t burst into flames at any moment and kill me—for the fifteenth time.

5—Close up on Lance’s face. It’s engulfed by full and loose strands of flame hair.
NARR: Instead, I pretend that the woman I ensconce is the love of my life, and no matter what, I’m going to smell smores and feel Twizzlers for the rest of my poor, pathetic existence.
NARR: I pretend that if I asked, she’d take me.

PAGE TWO
1—Half a page—We pull out just enough to see Lance spooning Casia, a soft grin upon his face. They’re covered by the hotel blanket but insinuated to be naked underneath. Lance has his arms wrapped about Casia’s shoulders, holding her closely, and this is the best night of his life.
NARR: Because believing anything else at this moment will make me eat a bullet.
TITLES

2—Close-up on Lance’s face, his eyes now open, staring at the back of Casia’s head. His face is tense, like he’s just realized what a mistake this was.
NARR: I know HAPPILY EVER AFTERS aren’t for me. I know it’s not fair to love her. I know she deserves so much more, and yet…

3—He plays with the runaway strands of Casia’s hair.
NARR: I want to smell smores for the rest of my life.
KAINOA (off): FATE is CRUEL, Ral. I’m not a FAN.

PAGE THREE
1—Ral stands just before the bed, his back to it, glancing over his shoulder. In front of Ral stands Kainoa with his blue eyes and hair.
NARR: Ral, my RESPONSIBILITY, fights everyone and everything. I’m so PROUD of him.
RAL: THIS, coming from DESTINY?
KAINOA: It’s… complicated. Every event is connected to another and another, and the past is just as important as the present or future. I won’t DAMN today for yesterday, Ral.

2—Casia groans and pushes back against Lance, her hand upon his chin.
KAINOA (off): Will you?
NARR: I wish this moment could last forever.

3—Lance’s hands reaches under the pillow.
RAL (off): What can I do?
KAINOA: Get me free. Then I will end this. WE will end this.
RAL (linked, off): Yeah? Really? If you’re sooo powerful, then how did they get you the first time?

4—Lance straddles Casia on the bed, sitting up with a Defenders’ blaster pointed at Kainoa. He has on boxers.
LANCE: Maybe because he couldn’t shut up.

5—Lance still holds the blaster.
LANCE: How’d you find us? Where’d you get the kid?
RAL: What’re you—

6—Lance shakes the weapon.
LANCE: It doesn’t matter. I WON’T go back, and I won’t let you take the kid again. Ral, get behind me.

PAGE FOUR
1—Ral steps in front of Kainoa. Kainoa’s eyes are narrowed dangerously. He’s ready to kill Lance if need be.
RAL: Lance, what’re you on? Kainoa didn’t take me. It was—
NARR: Kainoa?

2—The door’s door kicked open.

3—Lights shine upon Ral and the crew from the doorway. Camera positioned like we’re standing in the door looking in.
INTRUDERS (off): YOU THERE! HALT!

4—Casia unhitches Lance and throws a flare toward the door.
CASIA: RAL! DUCK!

PAGE FIVE
1—Ral’s gone, and the dark intruders—we can’t see anything but their silhouettes retreating into the night. Lance grabs Casia’s wrist.
CASIA: Flame on!

2—Casia glares at him.
CASIA: You did NOT just say that.

3—Lance shrugs as fire engulfs them.
LANCE: Well, you did start the fire, Billy Joel.

4—A fourteen-year-old Lance emerges from the ocean on a sunny day, walking toward the camera. He’s dressed in a swim suit and carrying a board. He’s grinning like he just rode a gnarly wave.
NARR: I lived in the ocean. Our family owned this great little beach house, and I loved every moment of living there—
LOCATION CAPS: CAPE COD, MASSACHUSETTS, FIVE YEARS AGO

5—small cell—A feminine dark-skinned hand grabs Lance’s wrist. She has on a silver bracelet with a crane lavaliere.
NARR: —until that day.

PAGE SIX
1—Donnellie stands before Lance with an enticing pink bikini and cherry lips.
NARR: Donnellie was definitely WAAAY too old for me at the time, though it didn’t stop me from ADMIRING the VIEW.
LANCE: You like what you see, babe?

2—Donnellie flips down her sunglasses, so her purple eyes glitter at Lance’s hand now on her arm.
LANCE: Time for a REAL man in your life?

3—Donnellie flips Lance over her shoulder; he loses his grip on his board.

4—As if we’re Lance on the ground, we look up at Donnellie, who smirks.

LANCE: No man is ever good enough for me, Lance.

PAGE SEVEN
1—Lance gets up, wincing and rubbing his lower back. Donnellie’s looking at him sadly.
LANCE: Lance? You have the wrong person. Name’s JOSHUA. Joshua Sterling.

2—Donnellie kisses Lance on the cheek.

DONNELLIE: Oh, I wish that were true. You have no idea how much.

3—Donnellie heads off to blend into other beach-goers.
DONNELLIE: And in four years, two days, seven hours, and eighteen minutes, you’ll NEED me, and I’ll be there.
DONNELLIE (linked): Damnit, I’ll always be there.

4—Lance has a troubled look upon his face.
NARR: Yeah…that wasn’t weird.

5—Lance now comes out of his cape cod house onto the patio where his father is currently barbequing. He’s pulling down his long-sleeved T-shirt over a pair of swimming trunks. Brandon is older now with graying hair and aging lines, and he, too, is wearing swimming trunks but over an open-collared dress shirt.
LANCE: Whoo. Waves are kicking my ass today, Pop. Whatcha got?
BRANDON: Hot dogs and don’t swear.

PAGE EIGHT
1—Brandon wraps an arm about Lance’s shoulders and ruffles his spiky hair.
BRANDON: A long shirt in ninety-degree heat? What’re you hiding, kiddo? A hickey?
LANCE: GRK!

2—Lance frees himself, laughing.
LANCE: Yeah, cuz hickeys’re usually on arms. Mustard and sauerkraut, por favor.

3—As Lance plops down in a beach chair, Brandon retreats to the smoking grill.
BRANDON: Learning Spanish in school now, are we?
LANCE: Not really. I’m in French. Guess I just picked it up somewhere.

4—Brandon turns toward Lance.
BRANDON: As long as you’re not picking up girls and piercings yet, I guess I should be—JOSHUA!

PAGE NINE
1—Lance jerks in his seat, holding a water bottle. He’s indignant.
LANCE: What?

2—Brandon comes forward and snatches Lance’s wrist.

3—He pulls up the sleeve to reveal a tattoo of a serpent’s tongue licking the veins of Lance’s wrist.

4—Lance smiles sheepishly.
LANCE: Would you believe it isn’t mine?

5—Extreme close-up on the Defender’s ear as Lance flicks it.
LANCE (off): Hey, there, Lackey. Ready for our first date?
LOCATION CAPS: NOW

PAGE TEN
1—The Defender looks up and past the camera, fear in his eyes. His arms and legs are tied to the chair’s. There’s nothing else in the room but darkness surrounding a chair and a single overhead light illuminating the scene.
LANCE (off): I know our meet cute didn’t go as well as either of us would have liked, but like any romantic comedy, that doesn’t mean this relationship can’t work.

2—Lance looks down at the camera as he pull on his cetsus, a dagger in one hand. He looks damn scary and deadly.
LANCE: Tell me what I want to know, and I won’t hand you a bouquet of your fingers.

3—Lance thrusts the knife into the arm of the chair, missing the man’s arm fingers but a millimeter.
SFX: SLITCK!

4—Lance follows the knife, placing both his hands onto the chair’s arms, his face inches from the Defender’s.
DEFENDER: Wha—Wha—
LANCE: What? Or why? Come on, man. Don’t stutter. It’s not attractive.
DEFENDER: Wh—Why?
LANCE: I’m sure you’ve heard of Lysander Starbuck, haven’t you?

5—Extreme close-up on the Defender’s eyes. They quiver just a little more.
NARR: Huh. He’s more afraid of Lysander than me? Let’s change that.

PAGE ELEVEN
1—Lance backhands the guy across the cheek with his cestus.
NARR: Imagine a brick wall hitting you. Now add a Mack truck, and you’ve got the force of my punch with the cetsus.

2—Blood dribbles down the man’s chin.
LANCE: Let’s try this again, shall we? I’m looking for Lysander’s grandson. Kid goes by Nile. Mind telling me where I can find him?

3—The Defender mumbles; Lance has his dagger until the man’s chin.
LANCE: What did I say about stuttering?

4—Lance hangs in the middle of a dark room, his hands above his head, a single light casting shadows down upon him. He’s about sixteen, and his arms are showing due to his short sleeves. He has miscellaneous tattoos on his arms—the snake’s head on his wrist; paw prints on his forearms.
NARR: I don’t remember how I got there.
LOCATION CAPS: IN THE THROES OF TIME, THREE YEARS AGO

PAGE TWELVE
1—Close-up on Lance’s forearm, where a new tattoo of a dragon’s tail is.
NARR: One moment I was scratching my forearm in the locker room, wondering how I was going to cover up yet another tattoo—this one a dragon’s tail—when cable cord cut into my wrists.

2—From over Lance’s shoulder, we see the room where he is being held, though it is mostly covered in shadows. Long curtains are tied to the frames of the doors, which open to the outside gardens. For reference, he’s in medieval Japan, circa 1400s. It’s pretty empty save the wooden pillars holding up the room, some wooden furniture, and tapestries hanging on the wall.
NARR: Ah, the Kamakura Dynasty in Japan. Trust me. I know. I’ve been here before.
LYSANDER (off): You are an ANACHRONISM yourself, aren’t you, Mr. Sterling?

3—From the right of Lance emerges a man in his mid-fifties with his long gray hair tied back in a loose ponytail wearing a white komo and an evil smile. He’s built like a WWC wrestler.
LYSANDER: Or do you prefer MR. EVANS?

PAGE THIRTEEN
1—Lance perks a smirk of bravado.
LANCE: Hello, Lysander. Heard you went INSANE. How’s that treating you?

2— Lysander saunters forward, leading with a glittering cestus in the low light.
NARR: Hey, that’s MY cestus.
LYSANDER: Tell me, Mr. Evans. How is it that you can DEFY the rules of the Fourth Dimension?

3—Lance shrugs as best he can.
NARR: Yeah, sanity fled him awhile ago.
LANCE: What can I tell you? Rules are made to be DEFIED.
OFF: What about LAWS?

PAGE FOURTEEN
1—Splash Page—Off to the left of the cell is Lance, and we see little of him from the back as we peer toward Kainoa. He’s a sadistic bastard at this time in his life with glowing blue eyes and hair. He’s wearing a black jumpsuit with calf-high books and elbow-high gloves. Here are no markings or insignias on his suit, and he’s armed to the teeth with a blaster holster on his left leg, a knife holster on his right shoulder. He’s walking toward Lance. Lysander is in the middle, gesturing between the two.
NARR: Okay…who’s the Asian kid with the blue hair and eyes? He’s freakier than that girl from NCIS.
LYSANDER: Ah, Nile, this is Lance Evans. Mr. Evans, allow me to present my grandson, Nile. He likes to get more HANDS ON, if you will, when it comes to uncovering ANOMALIES.

PAGE FIFTEEN
1—Lance looks toward the ceiling, hopeless/helpless.
NARR: Of course he does.

2—Blood splatters across the panel.

3—Lance is stopped at a New Jersey Turnpike toll booth. Perhaps a sign can be hanging from the booth. Lance is freaking out at the toll booth operator.
LANCE: It costs HOW MUCH now?!
LOCATION CAPS: PRESENT

4—Lance sits on the stairs of this home wearing a hoodie and jeans with spiky black hair with blonde highlights. He has a worn expression upon his face, tired and sad. He’s listening to his parents fight.
BRANDON (off): Another tattoo, Mary. ANOTHER ONE! I swear that boy is rebelling, doesn’t want to go to William Paterson.
MARY (off): Well, can you blame him?
LOCATION CAPS: TWO YEARS AGO

PAGE SIXTEEN
1—Lance rolls his eyes.
BRANDON (off): Mary—
MARY (off): I—I don’t know, Brandon. I just don’t know. We bathed him, clothed him, fed him, gave him anything he wants except the movie Showgirls and no curfew.

2—Lance drops his chin to his hand, which is propped up on his knee.
BRANDON (off): We need to PUNISH him when he does this, not PACIFY—MARY (off): I’ll call Sawyer, see if he can—
BRANDON (linked, off): Can WHAT, Mary? TALK to him? Give him ELECTROSHOCK THERAPY?!

3—Casia leans on Lance’s shoulders as he drives pass the Meadowlands Stadium.
CASIA: What exit were you?
LANCE: Ten. I used to go up Route 287.
LOCATION CAPS: PRESENT

4—Donnellie leans out the window to see the stadium closer. Lance grumbles from the driver’s seat.
DONNELLIE: Who plays there? The Cyclops and the Planes?
LANCE: Jets and Giants. Saw the Giants beat the Bills once. My parents took me…

PAGE SEVENTEEN
1—Lance pulls his hood over his head.
NARR: The Sterlings…they wanted to send me to college.
NARR: They wanted me to become a doctor.
NARR: They simply wanted their little boy, but I was never theirs. Not really. I belonged to someone else, some THING else, and as much as I tried, I never belonged there.
BRANDON (off): What’s next, Mary? Drugs? Guns?
LOCATION CAPS: TWO YEARS AGO

2—The windshield frames a sign for Route 17: Ringwood.
LOCATION CAPS: PRESENT

3—Lance now passes his bed, grabbing an already-packed duffle.
BRANDON (off): What will it take for you to see the TRUTH?
NARR: Four years, two days, seven hours, and eighteen minutes later—
LOCATION CAPS: TWO YEAR EARLIER

PAGE EIGHTEEN
1—Lance jumps down from his open window toward a Mercedes sport car parked underneath.
BRANDON (off): That’s not our LITTLE BOY up there, Mary! It’s our GROWN-UP THUG!

2—Donnellie looks up at Lance with purple tears glimmering from her eyes.
NARR: —she’s here for me.

3—Lance’s Camero is parked around the corner from a blue Cape Cod house on a suburban street.
NARR: The house looks so unassuming, so pedestrian, I don’t know how it can be so wicked.
LOCATION CAPS: PRESENT

PAGE NINETEEN
1—Lance gets out of the car, a blaster in his hand.
LANCE: Ready?

2—Casia smirks as her scepter’s blue lightning zaps in the crystal ball on top.
CASIA: You have to ask?

3—Donnellie looks worried and raises her blaster.
DONNELLIE: This…This is not going to go as planned.

PAGE TWENTY
1—Lance, Casia, and Donnellie stride toward the reader, weapons ready to go.
LANCE: Not much does with us, but we don’t let it stop us.

To Be Continued…

Cover Artist this month: Wolfram003! Check out her stuff! http://wolfram003.deviantart.com/

Picture of the Turnpike sign: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Jersey_Turnpike
Meadowlands Stadium: http://www.metlifestadium.com/
Pictures of medieval Japan: http://www.vhinkle.com/japan/pictures.html , http://medievalcastles.stormthecastle.com/medieval-castles-of-japan.htm

False Dawn #21: Short Story Edition

2011-09-15T02:42:00.002-04:00

False Dawn #21: “Life or Something Called It”
Part Two of Four: Tolls
Short Story Format
Devin Leigh Michaels

REVERE, MASSACHESETTES, SIX DAYS PRIOR
I pretend this is a dream. I pretend the sweet aroma of burnt smores isn’t the best thing I’ve ever smelled. I pretend the soft Twizzlers against my five o’clock shadow don’t tickle my chin. I pretend the warm body against me can’t burst into flames at any moment and kill me—for the fifteenth time.

Instead, I pretend that the woman I ensconce is the love of my life, and no matter what, I’m going to smell smores and feel Twizzlers for the rest of my poor, pathetic existence. I pretend that if I asked, she’d take me.

Because believing anything else at this moment will make me eat a bullet.

I know Happily Ever Afters aren’t for me. I know it’s not fair to love her. I know she deserves so much more, and yet…

I want to smell smores for the rest of my life.

“Fate is cruel, Ral,” a quasi-familiar voice echoes through my thoughts. “I’m not a fan.”

Ral, my responsibility, fights everyone and everything. I’m so proud of him.

“This, coming from Destiny?”

I take a deep breath, stealing another whiff and settling my chin in the crook of Casia’s neck.

“It’s… complicated. Every event is connected to another and another, and the past is just as important as the present or future. I won’t damn today for yesterday, Ral. Will you?”

“What can I do?”

Casia shifts to get more comfortable, her hands upon my cheek.

“Get me free. Then I will end this. WE will end this.”

I wish this moment could last forever, but I know it can’t, especially when I feel the cool trigger of the blaster against my finger.

“Yeah? Really? If you’re sooo powerful, then how did they get you the first time?”

“Maybe because he couldn’t shut up.”

By the time Ral and Nile whirl toward me, I’m already kneeling over Casia, my blaster pointed directly at Nile’s chest.

I’m not going to let this sonvabitch hurt Addy’s kid. “How’d you find us? Where’d you get the kid?”

Kainoa’s eyes narrow, and a dangerous, almost deadly look envelopes his face. Like I care. “What’re you—”

“It doesn’t matter. I won’t go back, and I won’t let you take the kid again. Ral, get behind me.”

Ral steps in front of Nile. Is he mad? “Lance, what’re you on? Kainoa didn’t take me. It was—”

Kainoa?

The door’s kicked open; lights blind us.

Casia shifts underneath me, her hands out. “RAL! DUCK!”

Fire burns toward the affronting party, and I add my own blaster fire. Whoever they are—and I pray they aren’t who I think they are—retreat through the door, and Ral—damn, he was shadow-walking again. Darn kid.

I grab Casia’s wrist. “Flame on!”

She glares at me. “You did NOT just say that.”

I grin. “Well, you did start the fire, Billy Joel.”

She teleports us.

FIVE YEARS AGO

I lived in the ocean. Our family owned this great little beach house, and I loved every moment of living there—until that day.

As I forged the sand toward his family’s deck, a chocolate hand grabbed my wrist. The owner was a bathing beauty with a pink bikini and cherry lips. She was WAAAY too old for a fourteen year old, though it didn’t stop me from admiring the view.

“You like what you see, babe?” I placed a hand on her arm. “Time for a real man in your life?”

She flipped down her sunglasses, so her purple eyes glittered into me. The shen flipped me over her shoulder. “No man is ever good enough for me, Lance.”

“Lance?” I gasped and winced, rubbing my sore lower back. “You have the wrong person. Name’s Joshua. Joshua Sterling.”

“Oh, I wish that were true. You have no idea how much.” She kissed me on the cheek and patted my wrist once I stood. “In four years, two days, seven hours, and eighteen minutes, you’ll NEED me, and I’ll be there. Damnit, I’ll always be there.”

Then she faded into the beach-goers on the sand.

Yeah…that wasn’t weird.

Shaking his head, I ignored the dread in my stomach and tugged down his wetsuit in exchange for a long-sleeved T-shirt. When my old man with graying hair and swimmer’s trunks raised his eyes from the grill, I couldn’t help but smile.

“Whoo. Waves are kicking my ass today, Pop. Whatcha got?”

“Hot dogs and don’t swear.” Brandon Sterling wrapped an arm about my neck and ruffled my spiky hair. “A long shirt in ninety-degree heat? What’re you hiding, kiddo? A hickey?”

“Yes, because hickeys are usually on arms.” I flopped down into a beach chair and grabbed a coke from the cooler. “Mustard and sauerkraut, por favor.”

“Learning Spanish in school now, are we?”

“Uh…” I shrugged. “Not really. I’m in French. Guess I picked it up somewhere.”

“As long as you’re not picking up girls and piercings yet, I guess I should be—JOSHUA!”

I jerked at the bellow and shrugged. “What?”

His father glared pointedly down my wrist, where a serpent’s tongue licked the veins.

A tattoo.

I barely breathed. “Would you believe it isn’t mine?”

NOW

I flicked the Defender in the ear, waking him from a probably not-so-sound sleep. “Hey, there, Lackey. Ready for our first date?”

The man looks at me with frightened, wide eyes, and I’m sure the dagger in one hand and a cestus covering the other don’t help his nerves. Ah, well. I’m not here to give him a mani-pedi.

Thrusting down the knife, missing the Defender’s arm by mere millimeters, I lean over the man’s chair and get right into his face. “I know our meet cute didn’t go as well as either of us would have liked, but like any romantic comedy, that doesn’t mean this relationship can’t work. Tell me what I want to know, and I won’t hand you a bouquet of your fingers.”

“Wha—Wha—”

“What? Or why? Come on, man. Don’t stutter. It’s not attractive.”

“Wh—Why?”

My face hardens as much I try to keep it neutral. Damn thing just doesn’t listen sometimes.

“I’m sure you’ve heard of Lysander Starbuck, haven’t you?”

The man’s eyes quiver just a little more. Huh. He’s more afraid of Lysander than me? Let’s change that.

I backhand the guy across the cheek with my cestus. Imagine a brick wall hitting you. Now add a Mack truck, and you’ve got an idea of what my punch feels like.

“Let’s try this again, shall we? I’m looking for Lysander’s grandson. Kid goes by Nile. Mind telling me where I can find him?”

Bloody, the guy mumbles something, and I lift his chin with my sword. “What did I say about stuttering?”

IN THE THROES OF TIME, THREE YEARS AGO

I didn’t remember how I got there. Not really. One moment I was scratching my forearm in the locker room, wondering how I was going to cover up yet another tattoo—this one a dragon’s tail—when cable cord cut into my wrists, my hands held above my head. I hung helplessly—sorta—in the middle of an open room. Tied to the window frames, the curtains revealed the magnificent garden, slanted roofs, and golden tapestries of the Kamakura Dynasty in Japan. Trust me. I know. I was there once.

“You are an anachronism yourself, aren’t you, Mr. Sterling?”

My dark eyes ricocheted to the elder man emerging from the shadows before me.

He leered. “Or do you prefer Mr. Evans?”

“Hello, Lysander. Heard you went insane. How’s that treating you?”

Lysander, with his monolithic figure and horrible smirk, sauntered forward, playing with a glittering cestus in the low candlelight.

My cestus.

“Tell me, Mr. Evans. How is it that you can defy the rules of the Fourth Dimension?”

Yeah, sanity fled him awhile ago. “What can I tell you? Rules are made to be defied.”

“What about laws?”

Okay…who was the Asian kid with the blue hair and eyes? He was freakier than that girl from NCIS.

“Ah, Nile, this is Lance Evans. Mr. Evans, allow me to present my grandson, Nile. He likes to get more…hands on, if you will, when it comes to uncovering anomalies.”

Of course he is.

I beseeched the ceiling when my entrails ran crimson.

PRESENT

The New Jersey Turnpike is a bittersweet memory, especially as I stop at the toll booth. “It costs HOW MUCH now?”

TWO YEARS AGO

“Another tattoo, Mary. ANOTHER ONE! I swear that boy is rebelling, doesn’t want to go to William Paterson.”

“Well, can you blame him?”

“Mary—”

“I—I don’t know, Brandon. I just don’t know. We bathed him, clothed him, fed him, gave him anything he wants except the movie Showgirls and no curfew.”

“We need to punish him when he does this, not pacify—”

“I’ll call Sawyer, see if he can—”

“Can what, Mary? Talk to him? Give him electroshock therapy!”

PRESENT

Casia leans over my shoulders. “What exit were you?”

We pass the new Meadowlands Stadium. “Ten. I used to go up Route 287.”

Donnellie looks out the window. “So who plays there? The Cyclops and the Planes?”

“Jets and Giants,” I mumble. “Saw the Giants beat the Bills once. My parents took me…”

We spoke very little after that.

TWO YEARS AGO

I winced at the words, though I should have known they’d be coming. Sitting on the top stair, I listened to every word screamed, felt every dig as it tore through my chest, ignored every tear that dribbled down my cheek.

The Sterlings…they wanted to send me to college. They wanted me to become a doctor. They simply wanted their little boy, but I was never theirs. Not really. I belonged to someone else, some THING else, and as much as I tried, I never belonged there.

They knew that now, and this was easier. This was for the best, I told myself, as a car horn cut through the angered blares.

Mary growled, “I will not let you or anyone hurt him.”

PRESENT

We pulled off of Route 17, heading toward Ridgewood.

TWO YEAR EARLIER

I grabbed the pre-packed duffle on my bed.

“What’s next, Mary? Drugs? Guns? What will it take for you to see the truth?”

Four years, two days, seven hours, and eighteen minutes later, I looked out my window to see Donnellie in a Mercedes sport car, tears glimmering in her eyes.

“That’s not our little boy up there, Mary!” Brandon shouted as I launched out the window. “It’s our grown-up thug!”

PRESENT

Darkness cools the air as I cock my blaster and hold my sword. The Cape Cod house looks so unassuming, so pedestrian, I don’t know how it can be so wicked.

But I’d seen the evil the people inside were capable of, and I cock my weapon. I won’t let them inflect their terror upon Ral.

“Ready?”

Behind me, Casia smirks, her eyes glowing in the darkness. “You have to ask?”

Donnellie holds her own gun. “This…This is not going to go as planned.”

“Not much does with us, but we don’t let it stop us.”

To Be Continued…

"Loud Mouth"

2011-09-09T04:16:00.005-04:00

This is just a fun little piece I wrote for my profolio class, Senior Writing 401, back when I was in college. I was writing Destiny's Fate at the time, and Allurin Blood, my first novel, kept popping into my head.

Anyway, Martie was a name I stuck in. I hated writing "I" at the time, and now I love writing in first person POV. Seems like internal narration has grown on me.

"LOUD MOUTH"

The precipitation in Martie’s room fell at a rate of a paper ball every ten seconds. Though she tried to scribble down ideas and finally get her groove going, the page remained silent, lost to her in a way it never had been before. When she tried to write again, her frustration grew until she crumbled up the paper and tossed it effortlessly upon the other hundred or so covering the carpet, the bed, even the hallway ground.

Another ball. Scribble scribble. Another ball, this time at Olympic speed and strength.

“Ow!” her best friend objected, rubbing his forehead. “Mind aiming that way from now on?”

Martie sighed. “Sorry, Cale, but Kainoa’s driving me crazy again.”

The knight, dressed in a cloak and tunic, sat down on the bed, making sure to accommodate his sword and not tear her mattress. “Again? What’s it this time?”

“He just won’t talk to me,” she exasperated. “He remains stoic and silent, creeping from one scene to the next. He hasn’t exactly gripped the whole concept of ‘writing himself.’”

“Want me to get Zeal? I’m sure he can—”

“Your brother can’t control his power until book three, Cale, so stop trying to make me write him differently.”

Defeated, the knight exhaled and leaned back on his elbows. “So why won’t Kainoa talk? What’s his problem?”

Martie waved her hand. “You know Kainoa’s an assassin, right? Well, those kind of guys just don’t talk up your ear.”

“Not like bastard princes, huh?”

“Exactly. Bastard princes come with baggage, but the baggage is engaging. Kainoa, well…I like some of his package, but it just doesn’t flow as easily as yours.”

“Explain,” he commanded with a gesture of a royal. She almost thought about giving the prince her own gesture with one specific finger but decided against it.

“Well, he was kidnapped by his grandfather at the age of eight, and he kinda holds a grudge against his mother and father for never finding him.”

“He’s one of your characters, right?” Cale asked. “So, where’s the quirk?”

“Just one?” she scoffed. “He can read middle age Japanese since he grew up in the fifteenth century, and he has this long braid—”

“—which Zeal has asked me to plead with you not to give him.”

“It would be completely redundant, but I’ll make a note of it anyway.” Martie squinted and flipped through her notebook. “Where was I—oh, yeah. Kainoa’s pretty much emotional-deprived because his grandfather told him to push away his feelings, so when he finds out he has a little brother, he really doesn’t know how to handle the annoyance.”

“What’s there to handle—”

“Please, Cale. Coming from someone who is raising his sibling, you can’t tell me Zeal’s not a handful.”

“Depends,” the prince objected with a soft smile. “What are you making him do in book two?”

Martie snapped shut her book. “Oh, no. You are not looking at my notes until later. There is no way you can convince me to stop that venture to Sheirsha.”

“Damn.” Cale ruffled his long locks and looked up at the ceiling, where a poster of Nickelback hung. “You still have yet to tell me his quirk.”

It was this way Martie came to hate her characters. “Fine. He’s Destiny, okay? He’s the physical manifestation of it.”

The prince nodded thoughtfully. “Huh. You really like the difficult ones, don’t you?”

“It’s what I live to write, my friend, as you should know. By the way, in book two, you meet your father.”

Shooting forward, Cale spurted, “What! But—But—”

“Yeah, I think it’ll work. Oh, and Quin—not really who you think he is. Should really be wary of him.”

“But he’s my uncle!”

“Yeah, that’s what he wants you to think.”

“That’s what you want me to think,” he corrected.

“True, true, but at least you know what’s going on—for the most part. Kainoa—not so much. He’s been lied to since he was born by the very people who love him. He really has no idea who he is, and his only biological relatives either use him or ignore him. You, at least, aren’t ignored.”

“No, you’re right. You just had my father leave me in the mortal realm and stick me right in the middle of a war between angels and demons. No, you’re right; my life is so much easier.” He snorted. “Wuss.”

Martie never even blinked as the dagger whirled through the air and snagged Cale in the chest. With a grunt and a grimace, the bastard prince fell back on the bed—dead.

Now, Martie did blink and whirled in her seat to the boy with long raven hair and emerald green eyes. He hid in the corner where the sun’s rays failed to touch and unlike Cale, wore the contemporary garb of a teenage boy.

Martie smiled. “You’re right. He was too loud. Sorry about that.”

Kainoa bowed, and Martie went back to writing. For the first time in more than a year, she heard the soft voice of her assassin.

THE END

How Do You Know 027

2011-09-08T04:18:00.002-04:00

How do you know when you’ve read too many comics? (NEVER!)

When Spider-Man cures you of arachnophobia.

(Okay, he honestly didn’t, but I can at least look at a spider for two seconds now without screaming like a little girl. Progress, people!)

How Do You Know 026

2011-09-07T12:00:00.003-04:00

How do you know when you've read too many comics? (NEVER!)

When you've read the majority of these graphic novels/TPBs as single books but you still want the collected editions anyway.

My 2011 Birthday List (in no particular order)
Brightest Day Vol. 3

Fantastic Four: Volumes 1, 3, 4 by Jonathan Hickman
Chaos War: Avengers
Civil War: Hardcover-Ultimate Edition
Firebreather Volume 2
Final Crisis Aftermath: Escape
Avengers Academy: Volumes One and Two
Thor/Loki: Blood Brothers
Legion of Superheroes Vol. 2: Consequences
Young Avengers: Ultimate Collection
Avengers: Hawkeye
The New Avengers: Vol. 1& 2
Spider-Man: The Fantastic Spider-Man
Spider-Man/Fantastic Four
Red Hood: The Lost Days
Hawkeye: Blind Spot
Invisible Iron Man
Hawkeye/Mockingbird/and Black Widow: Widowmaker
Runaways-ALL OF THEM!
Titans: Family Reunion (not out until 9/20)
New Teen Titans Omnibus One
Viking by Ivan Brandon
Fantastic Four: World’s Greatest
S.H.I.E.L.D.: Architects of Forever
Avengers: Vol. 2
FF: Vol. 1 (with Spider-Man)
Spiderman: Am I an Avenger?
New Avengers: Vol. 12: Powerloss
JLA/Avengers
Daredevil: Cruel and Unusual
Daredevil: Return of the King
Wonder Woman: Who Is Wonder Woman?
Wonder Woman: Love and Murder
Young Allies
Hawkeye and Mockingbird
Teen Titans: Child’s Play
Teen Titans: Changing of the Guard
Teen Titans: Ravager-Fresh Hell
Spider-Man: The Complete Ben Reilly Epic Book Vol. 1
Civil War: Young Avengers and Runaways
Dark Reign: Young Avengers
X-Force: Under the Gun
X-Force and Cable: The Legend Returns
X-Force: A Force to Be Reckoned With
X-Force: Cable and the New Mutants
Fullmetal Alchemist: Volumes 25, 26
Civil War: The Amazing Spider-Man
Civil War: The Fantastic Four
Civil War: The Road to Civil War
Civil War: Peter Parker, Spider-Man
Civil War: Spider-Man
Ultimates 3: Who Killed the Scarlet Witch?

Yeah...this took me about three days to compile this list, and now I'm going to have to cut it to about six books.

*facepalm*

How Do You Know 025

2011-08-31T12:00:00.002-04:00

Deathstroke #1 cover by Simon Bisley

How do you know when you’ve read too many comics? (NEVER!)

When you think this on line at Starbucks while you’re waiting for your morning green tea frap.

Kyle Higgins tweeted that Deathstroke will be like Michael Jordan “trying to return to basketball but no one thinks he can.”

If Deathstroke ends up not being the mercenary he was, then I say his second profession should be Starbucks barista. Seriously. He can whip that foam, beat that frap, even give two, perhaps THREE, shots of espresso, and all with the same smile as a barista.

Perhaps the sword might be a little out of place, but he could use that in place of the big spoon.

Just an idea.

2011-08-29T04:07:00.001-04:00

False Dawn #20 by 122476

Good morning, ALL!

Ah HA! I know you were waiting! Now, without further adieu, I give you the cover of False Dawn #20: Tragedies with none other than Lance Evans himself. Special thanks to 122476 for all his hard work. Dude rocks!

Now, go read it! XD!

False Dawn #20: Comic Book Script

False Dawn #20: Short Story Edition

How Do You Know 024

2011-08-25T12:00:00.004-04:00

How do you know when you've read too many comics? (NEVER!)

When this is on your mind at three A.M.

Dudes, I so want(ed) to go to FanExpo! Of course, my bank account was all like, "No can doozville, Baby Doll. You went to Baltimore Comic Con and will be at NYCC!”

I was like, "But dude! Marcus To and Drake Tsui and Jonathan Hickman and Tony Daniel and David Finch and James Robinson and Francis Manapul and Dan Slott and Eddie Berganza and Agent M and ArtForStrangers and Jeanine Schaefer and Dale Eaglesham and Cameron Stewart are gonna be there! FanExpo might be better than NYCC!”

And Account was all like, "Dude, eating or FanExpo?"

Now, I was all set for FanExpo when this massive hurricane decided to butt its nose into Account and my conversation.

Irene howled, "Thou shall flood your granny’s basement!"

Now, what was I to say to that?

Account cheered, happy to be afloat and win the fight.

So I went to my LCS and bought anything and everything I wanted. And you know what I said? "In your face, Account!"

Have a great FanExpo, everyone, and see you in New York in October!

How Do You Know 023

2011-08-24T12:00:00.000-04:00

How do you know when you've read too many comics? (NEVER!)

When you believe the model on the new Gillette commerical is actually Ghost Rider.

Things To Do Before October 13, 2011

2011-08-22T04:49:00.002-04:00

My new to-do list to complete before NYCC2011. It’s quite a bit smaller than the one for BCC2011 but more time-consuming. I’m working with three artists now - the incredible 122476; the amazing Emily L’Orange; and the awesome Wolfram003. 122476 is taking care of my covers, while Emily and Wolfram take care of my profile pictures. By the time NYCC comes around, my Web site should be up-to-date and all-so-pretty.

Now all I have to do is write; get some nerve to speak to an editor; and get some bizcards.

Crap! Bizcards aren’t on the list! I knew this thing was too short.

Dev

BCC2011 Recap and Experiment Update!

2011-08-21T07:15:00.001-04:00

BCC2011 was amazing, and it totally isn't a comic convention without Darth Vader! I spoke with Mr. Mark Waid, Mr. Ivan Brandon, and Mr. Jamal Igle, and all were just really amazing gentlemen. I even brought Mr. Brandon's Nemesis: The Imposters, and he signed them! Considering the last three cons I only spoke to one person (Mr. Shane Davis), I take this to be a success.

Next up is NYCC! Cannot wait!

And gotta love getting up in the morning with a new avatar. Special thanks to Wolfram003 for her hard work on this - AND during the first week of college classes. You rock, girl!

Check out her work on her Deviantart site! Wolfram003's Awesome Art

Look, it's me - peeking over either contracts or my writing!

Dev

How Do You Know 022

2011-08-19T20:27:00.002-04:00

How do you know when you’ve read too many comic books? (NEVER!)

When attending comic cons becomes a need, not a want.

I’ll be at Baltimore Comic Con tomorrow, guys! Hope to see you there!

Devin Leigh Michaels

P.S. Keep up with my infiltration of the industry at @Breakoutcbe on Twitter!

How Do You Know 021

2011-08-18T04:18:00.001-04:00

How do you know when you're read too many comics? (NEVER!)

When you hear the name "Eisner," you immediately think of Will, not Michael.

How Do You Know 020

2011-08-17T12:00:00.000-04:00

How do you know when you've read too many comics? (NEVER!)

When every time you hear/think/dream about tacos, you think of Agent M!

Boo-YAH!

2011-08-17T06:12:00.000-04:00

Being published rocks! I'm in this! Check out America's Got Stories Vol. One, now available in print and Kindle formats on Amazon!

How Do You Know 018

2011-08-15T18:00:00.002-04:00

Lois Lane by Ed Benes

How do you know when you've read too many comics? (NEVER!)

When you know that Lois Lane had her own ongoing comic entitled Superman's Girlfriend, Lois Lane.

New DC Offices (West Coast)

2011-08-15T17:18:00.001-04:00

SVP Digital for DC Entertainment (you all know him as) Hank Kanalz has been giving Twitter followers a tour of the new offices in California. Take a look. They're freakin' amazing!

Now this is an office!

@Kanalz

2011-08-15T04:12:00.002-04:00

Hey guys!

I’m now updating regularly on Twitter. I’ll put up-to-minute updates on FD and just general information as I attempt to infiltrate the comic book industry!

Update: I’ve put in for two really cool jobs at DC - Vertigo Assistant Editor and DC Digital Assistant Editor.

*crossing fingers*

Check it out! @Breakoutcbe

Dev

False Dawn 20: Life or Something Called It

2011-08-15T03:50:00.004-04:00

False Dawn #20: Life or Something Called It
Part One of Four: Tragedies
Comic Book Script-Plot for 20 Pages
Devin Leigh Michaels

I’m trying to show my ability as a comic book writer on this blog, so from now on, the comic book script will be the lead article with the cover, not the short story edition. I’ll still publish the short story edition, but as we go along, I’m noticing that I like the comic book script more and more. What I write is meant to be seen, and I can do so much more with script than the short story edition.

FD #20: Casia, Donnellie, and Lance attempt to find Ral and Jayden but discover their battle isn’t with Project: Avatar. It’s with Lance’s past.

Note to Letter: All narrations in his issue are Lance’s.
Note to Illustrator: Reference URLs are at bottom of script.
PAGE ONE
1—Close-up on Sawyer Ryder’s face. He’s in his early forties with a five o’clock shadow, graying black hair, and a sweaty face. He’s tan, like he’s been out in the sun too long, and he’s holding a musket close to his eye to aim. His face is eerily calm.
LOCATION CAPS: SAVANNAH, 1864
NARR: I will never forget my executor’s face.
NARR: Devoid of emotion, life, and sanity.
NARR: His name was Sawyer Ryder, and he was a captain in the Union Army.

2—General Sherman sits upon his horse, the Union Army soldiers tired and dirty about him. He points toward Casia and Lance.
NARR: He worked directly under General Sherman.
NARR: He brought us some food, later cleaned my wounds, but when General Sherman gave the order—
GENERAL SHERMAN: Do not fret, boy. You’ll be together—in death.
GENERAL SHERMAN (linked): KILL THEM BOTH!

3—Extreme close-up on Sawyer’s eyes—they’re calm.
NARR: —he was to become my killer.

4—Lance propped up on the ground on the side of a barn, bloody and beaten. He’s dressed like a farmer in the 1800s, and one arm is holding his ribs. The other he reaches up toward Casia. Casia’s dressed in a housewife’s dress.
NARR: Dying, even if it is only once, is not pleasant, and Casia knew nothing of what it would feel like.
CASIA: Lance...
LANCE: It’s okay. It’s going to be okay.

5—Lance glares at the soldier.
NARR: I made a promise that day.

PAGE TWO
1—Half Page—Casia and Lance jerk, shot.
NARR: I’ll remember you.
SFX: BANG! BANG!

2, 3—Smaller cells, side by side.

2—A multicolored hand (accented by silvers and golds) lays upon Lance’s cheek. His eyes are cracked half-open, like he just woke up.
LOCATION CAPS: REVERE, MASSACHUSETTS, NOW
NARR: Most people don’t get a view like this every day.
LANCE (sleepy): Hit the snooze.

3—Casia’s smiling down at us. For reference, the two are in a rundown hotel room. There’s only one bed.
CASIA: Can’t. Donnellie called. She has NEWS.
NARR: Don calling. Well, that’s never good.

PAGE THREE
1—Lance sits up in bed as Casia heads toward the bathroom. Lance is wearing a long-sleeved T-shirt with a blanket covering his mid-section.
LANCE: You really know how to kill a mood, don’tcha?

2—We have a view of Casia from behind. She’s looking back at us over her shoulder as she holds the bathroom door hinge. Her butt is definitely the vocal point of the panel.
CASIA: Depends upon the mood.

3—Lance glares down the blanket where his crotch is.
NARR: Sometimes, I don’t know if she’s serious or kidding.
LANCE: Now don’t you start.

4—Casia and Lance step into the planetarium, coming through the doorway. About them is darkness.
LOCATION CAPS: MUSUEM OF SCIENCE, BOSTON
NARR: The planetarium is darker than usual…

PAGE FOUR
1—Establishing shot—Under the rotating planets and stars in the center of the room sits Donnellie, cross-legged with an Astrophysics book open, her crane-swan necklace upon it, and her hands forming dogs in the shadows.
NARR: … person inside gloomier.

2—Casia and Lance play odds and evens, first shaking their fists.
CASIA and LANCE: One, two, three—

3—Lances throws out one finger; Casia throws out two.
CASIA and LANCE: SHOOT!
4—Lance tips his hand back against his shoulders.
LANCE: Damn.
NARR: Of course she knows me by now. It’s only been a hundred something years.
CASIA: Ha, ha. You lose, sucker!

5—Lance crouches from Donnellie, who is swinging her necklace back and forth over the book. In this panel, the bird necklace is a swan.
LANCE: Hey, Don…Donnellie…Who-hoo?
LANCE: You here or should I come back?

6—Donnellie turns toward Lance and opens her eyes, showing the white fire burning within them. In this panel, her necklace is a crane.
DONNELLIE: Knock. Knock.
NARR: Okay…she’s lost it.
LANCE (offish): …who’s there?

PAGE FIVE
1—Donnellie’s eyes now have purple, glowing pupils, and she scowls.
DONNELLiE: A huge ASS who seriously needs to get a hair cut or someone will do it for you. They won’t get just your hair.

2—Lance runs a hand through his longer-than-usual hair as it dusts against the back of my neck.
LANCE: Casia put you up to that, didn’t she?

3—Donnellie hands out maps of the Freedom Trail as Casia and Lance sit across from her, cross-legged.
DONNELLIE: Maybe, but that’s doesn’t mean I’m not wrong.
DONNELLIE: NOW! I tried to follow the pattern by the fountain water, but since the little idiot drank so little, there’s not really much of a trail.

4—Lance arches his shoulders.
LANCE: Why’s Ral an idiot but I’m an ass?

5—Casia punches him in the shoulder as Lance grimaces.
CASIA: Do you REALLY need to ask?

6—Donnellie takes out a worn pack of Pokemon cards.
DONNELLIE: Apparently or else he wouldn’t have.
DONNELLIE (linked): I did some more digging into another kidnapping case.

7—Casia glares at Donnielle; Lance thumbs at her.
CASIA: I thought we were paying you exclusively.
LANCE: We’re PAYING her?

8—Close-up on Donnellie as she shuffles the cards. Her long bangs cast shadows on her bent face, so we don’t see her eyes.
DONNELLIE: It’s personal. My brother, Jayden, was taken about three years ago by the very people you described.

9—Close-up on Donnellie’s hand as she puts down her first card on the Astrophysics book. It’s Jigglypuff.
LANCE (off): Don…
DONNELLIE (off): I couldn’t find him. ME.

PAGE SIX
1—Casia growls at Donnellie, who puts down another card.
CASIA: Because if you couldn’t, then none of us—
DONNELLIE: I’m an oracle. If I couldn’t find him, then neither could Barbara Gordon and most definitely not you.
DONNELLIE (linked): But with your little pet’s trail plus my brother’s, I had enough to find some breadcrumbs.

2—Close up on third card being put down. The second card is next to it—Volbeat. The third card is Hoothoot.
CASIA (off): Enough to make bread pudding?

3—Fourth card. Mew
DONNELLIE: Enough to make meatloaf.

4—Donnellie gasps and drops the entire deck.

5—Casia grabs Donnellie’s shoulder, worried. Lance picks up a single card from the deck.

CASIA: What! What is it? What did you see?

6—Close-up on Lance, looking at the card. He’s shocked and scared.

7—We see the card now—it’s Mewtwo.

PAGE SEVEN
1—Lance gets up. Casia reaches for him, her eyes shaking.
CASIA: Lance…

2—He doesn’t turn toward her as he walks toward the door.

3—A tiny, five-year-old Lance is under his blankets on his bed with a short-sleeved shirt on. There are no tattoos on his arms. We’re in his bedroom, so we see baseball bats and some stuffed animals. A cool breeze comes in through the window, teasing his hair. (He lives in a beach house.) Next to his bed sits a relatively young woman (early thirties)—MARY— with amber hair, glasses, and a kind smile. She’s wearing jeans and a collared shirt, smiling. She’s closing a book.
LOCATION CAPS: CAPE COD, MASSACHUSETTS, FOURTEEN YEARS AGO
MARY: —End. Now it’s time to go to sleep, Joshua.

4—Mary kisses Joshua on the forehead, brushing back some of his bangs.
NARR: I was five, going by my fifteenth name.
LANCE: But do they, Mama? Do they really live happily ever after?
MARY: Of course, sweetie. That’s how love works.

5—Lance rubs his upper bicep, as if scratching it.
LANCE: Will we live happily ever after?
BRANDON (off): Well…

PAGE EIGHT
1—In the doorway stands Papa—BRANDON—seemingly having always been there. Brandon wears a black overshirt tucked into his cargo pants which bunched just above his commando boots. On all his clothing, save his boots, an azul four with a screeching phoenix sparkles in the low light. He’s grinning.
BRANDON: …your mother and I did.
BRANDON (linked): We had you, Josh.
2—Mary sits on the bed, gathering Lance in her arms, while Brandon sits on the other side, sandwiching the boy.
MARY: And one day, hopefully you’ll find that special someone for a Happily Ever After, too.

3—Close-up on Lance as his eyes start to droop.
NARR: For some reason, I couldn’t believe her, but with the warmth of both my parents securing me, I drifted to sleep.
NARR: Damn, was I naïve.

4—Establishing shot—Inside the food court sit down area of Fanieul Hall. In the middle of the crowd of high schoolers and business people and tourists, Casia, Donnellie, and Lance crouch over a table with drinks, French fries, and salads about them.
LOCATION CAPS: FANIEUL HALL, BOSTON, NOW
CASIA: Did we have to come during lunch?

PAGE NINE
1—A high schooler slams into Lance’s back.
LANCE: You were hungry. We got you food. What more do you want?

2—Casia hunches over the table and a map of the Freedom Trail and grumbles.
CASIA: Breathing space.

3—Lance twirls the point of his plastic knife about the Brewer Fountain in Boston Common on the map. Donnellie bits a French fry.
LANCE: This is the least guarded of the four entrances.
DONNELLIE: But the King’s Chapel Burying Ground is closer to the bunks.
LANCE (linked): Maybe, but the fountain’s currently under construction, so it has two less fortified levels. Should be easier to get into.
DONNELLIE (linked): But it should be a harder path once inside.

4—Lance snaps the knife in half and doesn’t even glance up at her.
LANCE: If you know something, Donnellie, just say it. If you don’t, sit down and shut up. I know what I’m doing.

5—Donnellie crosses her arms. She scowls. Casia’s eyes go wide as she stares past Lance.
DONNELLIE: Really? Since when? Because as I remember it, you still needed me to save your suburban-bred ass from—
CASIA (shocked): Your parents.

6—Donnellie’s sidetracked, looking at Casia.
DONNELLIE: Well, yes, from your parent—

7—Casia snatches Lance’s wrist.
CASIA: NO. Your parents.

PAGE TEN
1—Lance turns in his seat. Over his shoulder we see two people—Mary and Brandon, among the throngs of tourists. They’re older now, with Mary’s hair being pulled back in a loose ponytail and Brandon’s once dark hair now graying at the temples. He’s wearing a polo shirt, jeans, and a jacket, while Mary’s sporting a nice blouse and jeans as well. Both look at Lance, hopeful.
MARY (hopeful): …Josh…?

2—Lance’s unhinged, and he’s never unhinged. He doesn’t know what to do.
NARR: I thought for a long time I’d gotten past…well, my past.
NARR: It held no more failures for me, just tragedies.

3—Brandon takes a step forward, like he’s hesitant and at the same time, wants to rush to Lance.
BRANDON: Josh, is that you?
NARR: I was lying to myself.

PAGE ELEVEN
1—Lance takes a step back, jarring the table. Behind him, Donnellie and Casia don’t know what to do.
BRANDON (off): Son! Please…

2—Lance looks down, ashamed and bitter.
LANCE: I’m not your son. I’m just a THUG.

3—He steps into a crowd of high schoolers as they pass.

4—Wide shot—Brandon and Mary glance around, but the table that the three occupied is empty.
LYSANDER (no pointer): Hello, little one.

PAGE TWELVE
1—An older man (in his fifties) with short, gray hair wearing a Defenders’ uniform kneels in front of a nine-year-old Lance. He has a strong, built face, with a tense chin. He has his hand out for us to take.
LOCATION CAPS: OUTSIDE OF THE TIME, TEN YEARS AGO
LYSANDER: Hello, little one.
NARR: The first time I met Lysander, I was nine.

2—Now, from the side, Lysander is kneeling to be at Lance’s height. Lance is young, nine, wearing a long-sleeved T-shirt and jeans with a tiny ski cap. Behind him is a man in his twenties with blue hair that looks very similar to Lysander. Next to him are two brothers. Both have raven black hair and are in their twenties as well. One is thicker than the other with his hair tied back in a ponytail and his hands stuffed in his pockets. He has a jovial face. The older one is slightly thinner with his arms crossed, his hair short, and his face tense. Beyond them is a silver phoenix perched to screech upward. Just above its open mouth is a glowing white ball. Mary and Brandon, behind Lance, are holding his shoulders comfortingly.

For reference, the group is in the Defenders’ congress chambers. It has three levels with red garland that is actually made of flames. It has blue seats and a stained glass roof that is like a blue sea. The group is standing in the middle. The seats wrap around them in a circle.
LYSANDER: I’m Lysander Starbuck, the resident gatekeeper of the Defenders of the Fourth Dimension.
NARR: Inside the Defenders’ stronghold, he looked like a god.

3—He motions toward the three men behind him.
LYSANDER: This is my son, Draven, and his best friends, Artemis and Sawyer Ryder.
NARR: Lysander led the Defenders, was once revered as their greatest.
NARR: Jackass.

4—Mid-shot of Sawyer. He’s not quite smiling, but he’s not frowning, either.
NARR: Sawyer…I’d seen the man and hated him.
NARR: But how did I know him?

5—Lysander ruffles Lance’s hair.
NARR: At the time, I had no idea, but I think Lysander knew.
LYSANDER: You’re special, aren’t you? And one day, you’ll be among the greatest of us.

PAGE THIRTEEN
1—Lance sits on a double bed inside of the hotel, his head hanging, his bangs hiding his eyes.
LYSANDER (no pointer): I have no doubt.
CASIA (off): Do you want to talk about it?
LANCE (forceful): No.
LOCATION CAPS: REVERE, MASSACHUSETTS, NOW

2—Casia sits down next to him.
CASIA: What you did—
LANCE: —was necessary.
CASIA : You really believe that, don’t you?

3—Lance shrugs. He’s restless.
LANCE: You saw what I did. Don pulled a Mewtwo card. It means someone we love is going to DIE, but hell, EVERYONE I love dies anyway.

4—Casia looks away, disgusted. She clearly doesn’t want this conversation.
CASIA: Not everyone. Not Addy or Connor or me—
LANCE (off): Yes, you.

5—Casia, shocked, blinks at him.
CASIA: Excuse me?

PAGE FOURTEEN
1—Lance ducks his head again.
LANCE: You’re an extended mortal, not IMMORTAL. So, yes, one day, you will not be here, so there won’t be a Happily Ever After for me.
LANCE: There is no ‘fade to black.’
LANCE: All I’ll get is to think of you. How you smell of ash and marshmallows. How your skin feels like cream cheese, not butter. How your real skin color is like the first rays of morning light and how when I wake up next to you, I think how damned lucky I am that I just get to wake up next to you.
LANCE: And one day, you and Ral and probably even Connor and Addy will be gone.

2—He leans his elbows on his thighs. If any of his face is shown, tears trick down his cheeks.
LANCE: Just like my mom and dad.

3—A multicolored hand cups Lance’s wet cheek.

PAGE FIFTEEN
1—Full Page—Lance and Casia, both crying, kiss passionately.

PAGE SIXTEEN
1—With Casia on his lap, Lance falls back to the bed.

2—Lance grabs her shoulders, holding her away from his lips.
LANCE: I’m not good enough for you.

3—Casia smiles seductively.
CASIA: Oh, I know.

4—They kiss again, Casia upon Lance.

5—Donnellie, Casia, and Lance have their backs pressed against the back of a concrete wall (the opening of a subway station). They are dressed in black hoodies, gloves, boots and blue jeans. Lance has a holster for a blaster and a sheath for a sword. In his hand is a remote. It looks like a car door opener. Donnellie has seemingly no weapons (though her crane silver necklace is upon her chest) while Casia holds her scepter.
LOCATION CAPS: A WEEK LATER, BOSTON COMMON
LANCE: Ready?

PAGE SEVENTEEN
1—Donnellie tucks her now swan necklace under her hoodie. Casia glares at her.
DONNELLIE: I’m always ready.
CASIA: Of course you are.
2—Lance clicks a button on the remote.
3—Over the concrete wall, the Brewer Fountain explodes.

PAGE EIGHTEEN
1—The three jump over the edge of the wall. Casia takes off into the air with fire wings on her back. Lance and Donnellie run.

2—Casia floats through the fiery opening, seeing the atrium from Project: Avatar blown apart from explosions. Some of the ten-story levels are crumbled. Debris is everywhere like a battle was fought there.

3—Casia lands on the ground, shocked and worried.

4—Lance lands next to her, descending slowly from a rope.

5—Lance crouches with his sword and gun, looking about the place when Donnellie lands behind him and Casia.

PAGE NINETEEN
1—Donnellie puts her hands to her mouth, her purple eyes wide. Casia shakes his head.
DONNELLiE: The walls—They’re like Swiss cheese.
CASIA: I didn’t do this.

2—Lance sheathes his sword.
LANCE: Yeah, I know. But who—
OFF: You! Hold it!

3—Lance turns, blasting off two shots.

4—Each shot hits a guard in the chest, knocking them back.
NARR: Instinct is my best friend.

5—The three stand over the guards, but the camera is positioned like a guard, so we’re looking up at them. Lance is looking down at us. Casia is looking at Lance. Donnellie is waving her necklace over us.
LANCE: Well, that answered my—damn.
CASIA: What? You know who these guys are?

PAGE TWENTY
1—Top quarter of the page—We look at the unconscious guards black overshirts and cargo pants with an insignia of a blue four and a screeching phoenix on their left breasts.
LANCE (no pointer): Yeah. I do.
NARR: Maldita sea.

2—Bottom three-fourths of the page—Extreme close-up on the glimmering insignia on the men’s chests.
LANCE (no pointer): They’re Defenders of the Fourth Dimension.
LANCE (no pointer): Just like my parents.

To Be Continued…

On-line Resources:
*For Casia’s clothing in the 1860s - http://www.lavendersgreen.com/Mid19th.htm
* For Lance’s clothing in the 1860s - http://www.uvm.edu/landscape/dating/farmers_clothing/index.php
* General Sherman – http://militaryhistory.about.com/od/civilwar/p/marchtosea.htm
* Faneuil Hall - http://www.faneuilhallmarketplace.com/?q=center
* Union Army Uniforms - http://www.memorialhall.mass.edu/activities/dressup/civil_war_soldier.html
* Houses in Savannah - https://www.oldsavannahtours.com/attractions.html

False Dawn #20: Short Story Edition

2011-08-15T03:45:00.003-04:00

False Dawn #20: Life or Something Called It
Part One of Four: Tragedies
Short Story Edition
Devin Leigh Michaels

SAVANNAH, 1864

I will never forget my executor’s face—devoid of emotion, life, and sanity. His name was Sawyer Ryder, and he was a captain in the Union Army. He worked directly under General Sherman, and during Casia’s and my time captured, I had the most contact with him. He brought us some food, later cleaned my wounds, but when General Sherman gave the order, he was to become my killer.

“Do not fret, boy,” General Sherman spat, a model of mock-justice high upon his steed. “You’ll be together—in death. KILL THEM BOTH!”

Bloody, hurt, and broken in more places than I knew or could count, I still managed to grab Casia’s hand. Dying, even if it is only once, is not pleasant, and Casia knew nothing of what it would feel like.

“Lance...” she pleaded, and I smiled as best I could through the crunching cheekbone.

“It’s okay,” I lied. “It’s going to be okay.”

The soldier stepped before us and lifted his rifle, and I broke from Casia’s frightened gaze to meet his eyes. I made a promise that day.

I’ll remember you.

Then, I looked back at her, and even in a homemaker’s dress, Casia was beautiful.

BANG!

*^*^*

REVERE, MASSACHUSETTS, NOW

I awaken to a warm hand upon my cheek and look up to see Casia’s fiery hair and multicolored skin. It’s been a while since she’s shown her true colors, and in the early morning light casting through the dirty curtains, I’m grateful. Most people don’t get a view like this every day.

I, of course, grumble and turn over. “Hit the snooze.”

“Can’t.” She pokes me in the back with her scepter. “Donnielle called. She has news.”

Don calling. Well, that’s never good. Grumbling again, I sit up in bed, a long-sleeved T-shirt covering my arms. I glare at her unkindly. “You really know how to kill a mood, don’tcha?”

She turns and saunters to the bathroom, moving her assets just right. “Depends upon the mood.”

Sometimes, I don’t know if she’s serious or kidding, and neither does down below. I glare at a certain area of my body and hiss, “Now don’t you start.”

*^*^*

MUSUEM OF SCIENCE, BOSTON

The planetarium is darker than usual, the person inside gloomier. Under the rotating planets and stars in the center of the room sits Donnielle, cross-legged with an Astrophysics text book, her crane-swan necklace, and her hands forming dogs in the shadows.

Casia and I exchange unsure looks before I throw out one finger and Casia throws out two.

Damn. Of course she knows me by now. It’s only been a hundred something years.

Groaning, I tip my head back against my shoulders before sighing and heading toward the center of the room. I ignore Casia’s stuck-out tongue and her “trash talk.”

“Hey, Don…Donnielle…Who-hoo?” I whisper. Damn, if she isn’t creepy. “You here or should I come back?”

Donnielle turns toward me and opens her eyes, showing the ice fire burning within them. “Knock. Knock.”

Okay…she’s lost it. “…who’s there?”

Her eyes go full-pupil—purple pupil—and she berates, “A huge ass who seriously needs to get a hair cut or someone will do it for you. They won’t get just your hair.”

I run a hand through my longer-than-usual hair as it dusts against the back of my neck. “Casia put you up to that, didn’t she?”

“Maybe, but that’s doesn’t mean I’m not wrong.” She motions for Casia and me to sit, then hands us each a map of the Freedom Trail. “So…you got my message.”

“Yes, you texted.”

“Sure I did.” She winks but doesn’t quite smile. “I tried to follow the pattern by the fountain water, but since the little idiot drank so little, there’s not really much of a trail.”

“Why’s Ral an idiot but I’m an ass?”

Casia punches my shoulder. Ow… “Do you REALLY need to ask?”

“Apparently or else he wouldn’t have. SO! I did some more digging into another kidnapping case.”

“I thought we were paying you exclusively,” Casia demands.

I blink and thumb. “We’re paying her?”

“It’s personal.” Donnielle’s purple eyes darken as she takes out a worn pack of Pokemon cards and shuffles them quickly. “My brother, Jayden, was taken about three years ago by the very people you described.”

“Don…”

She flips over the first card—Jigglypuff—in front of her crossed legs. “I couldn’t find him. ME.”

Casia growls, “Because if you couldn’t, then none of us—”

“I’m an oracle. If I couldn’t find him, then neither could Barbara Gordon and most definitely not you.” Volbeat and Hoothoot. “But with your little pet’s trail plus my brother’s, I had enough to find some breadcrumbs.”

Casia eyes the cards warily. “Enough to make bread pudding?”

“Enough to make meatloaf.” Mew.

“So what’s next?”

Donnielle flips over the last card and gasps, losing the entire deck.

“What! What is it?” Casia grabs Donnielle’s shoulders. “What did you see?”

I pick up the last card, somehow having kept my eyes upon it, and flip it over.

Mewtwo.

Casia’s eyes shake, and her mouth drops open. “Lance…”

There’s nothing to say, nothing to feel. I leave.

*^*^*

CAPE COD, MASSACHUSETTS, FOURTEEN YEARS AGO

The cool breeze of the ocean tumbled through the curtains and teased my hair. The crashing waves drooped my eyelids, but I managed to stay awake to the very—

“—End.” Mary brushed the amber locks from her jade eyes and bent down, kissing my tiny nose. “Now it’s time for you to go to sleep, Josh.”

I was five, going by my fifteen name, and my bicep stung. At the time, I thought I’d been stung by a bee. “But do they, Mama? Do they really live happily ever after?”

“Of course, sweetie.” She pulled the blankets tightly and brushed a cool path across my forehead. “That’s how love works.”

“Will we live happily ever after?”

“Well, your mother and I did.”

I smiled as my father now stood in the doorway, seemingly having always been there, even though I knew that to be a lie. While my mother wore a simple jeans and a collared shirt, my father wore a black overshirt tucked into his black pants which bunched just above his commando boots. On all his clothing, save his boots, an azul four with a screeching phoenix sparkled in the low light.

Mary snuggled into bed and gathered me against her body, while Brandon sat down on the other side. “We had you, Josh,” my mother replied, “and one day, hopefully you’ll find that special someone for a Happily Ever After, too.”

For some reason, I couldn’t believe her, but with the warmth of both my parents securing me, I drifted to sleep.

Damn, was I naïve.

*^*^*

FANIEUL HALL, BOSTON, NOW

“Did we have to come during lunch?” Casia scowls, popping a French fry in her mouth.

I shrug as yet another high school tourist smacks into my back. “You were hungry; we got you food. What more do you want?”

She hunches over the table. “Breathing space.”

“Picky.” I twirl the point of his plastic knife about the Brewer Fountain in Boston Common on a Freedom Trail map. “This is the least guarded of the four entrances.”

“But the King’s Chapel Burying Ground is closer to the bunks,” Donnielle interjects.

“Maybe, but the fountain’s currently under construction, so it has two less fortified levels. Should be easier to get into.”

“But it should be a harder path once inside.”

My plastic knife snaps in half as I don’t even glance up at her. “If you know something, Donnielle, just say it. If you don’t, sit down and shut up. I know what I’m doing.”

“Really? Since when? Because as I remember it, you still needed me to save your suburban-bred ass from—”

“Your parents,” Casia breathes.

“Yes, from your parent—”

“No.” Casia snatches my wrist. “Your parents.”

“…Josh…?”

My body tenses like I’m going to take on a Skadoian Warrior, but I don’t reach for my sword. When I turn, my heart drops. I thought for a long time I’d gotten past…well, my past. It held no more failures for me, just tragedies, but as I see the couple gaping at me from the center of the food court, I know I was lying to myself.

Mary and Brandon Sterling are older than I remember, with more worry lines, a little more snow than pavement for hair, but their eyes—they’re warm, inviting, and so hopeful.

“Josh, is that you, son?”

Brandon takes a hesitant step closer, and I can’t help but take a step back, unhinging the table. Brandon stops, and there’s only one thing I can think to say.

“I’m not your son. I’m just a THUG.”

And with that, I step behind a crowd of high schoolers and disappear amongst them.

*^*^*

OUTSIDE OF TIME, TEN YEARS AGO

The first time I met Lysander, I was nine. He was old, even back then, with short, paprika and salt hair, and a grandpa’s smile. Inside the Defenders’ stronghold, he looked like a god, standing in front of the glimmering silver phoenix and under the stained glass window that shimmered like the sun with blue fire. The whole place was unfathomable, a congress chambers more grand than the Senate’s.

My parents held my shoulders as Lysander became human and bent down to me, putting out a hand.

“Hello, little one.” He shook mine. “I’m Lysander Starbuck, the resident gatekeeper of the Defenders of the Fourth Dimension.”

He led them, was once revered as their greatest. Jackass.

“This is my son, Draven—” He motioned to a man slightly shorter and stockier with blue hair. “—and his best friends, Artemis and Sawyer Ryder.”

Sawyer…I’d seen the man and hated him, even if he was only twenty-something with pitch black hair and an uncle’s smile. But how did I know him? At the time, I had no idea, but I think Lysander knew.

He ruffled my raven hair. “You’re special, aren’t you? And one day, you’ll be among the greatest of us. I have no doubt.”

*^*^*

NOW

“Do you want to talk about it?”

Facing the black TV, I shrug from the hotel bed. “No.”

“What you did—”

“—was necessary.”

The bed rocks when Casia falls next to me, her hands between her legs. “You really believe that, don’t you?”

“You saw what I did. Don pulled the Mewtwo card. It means someone we love is going to die, but hell, everyone I love dies anyway.”

“Not everyone. Not Addy or Connor or me—”

“Yes, you.”

Casia furls an eyebrow. “Excuse me?”

“You’re an extended mortal, not IMMORTAL. So yes…” My despondent voice drops to a whisper; my bangs cast shadows over my eyes. “…one day, you will not be here, so there won’t be a Happily Ever After for me. There is no ‘fade to black.’ All I’ll get is to think of you. How you smell of ash and marshmallows. How your skin feels like cream cheese, not butter. How your real skin color is like the first rays of morning light and how when I wake up next to you, I think how damned lucky I am that I get to wake up next to you. And one day, you and Ral and probably even Connor and Addy will be gone.

“Just like my mom and dad.”

I don’t see her face, refuse to look up as the tears dribble from my chin, so I don’t see the warm hand until it’s on my cheek.

Don’t see her strawberry lips until they’re on mine.

Don’t see the tears mingling with mine, but I feel them.

She climbs onto my legs and pushes me down, and at the very last second, I grab her shoulders and free my lips.

“I’m not good enough for you.”

Casia smiles. “Oh, I know.”

But she kisses me again.

*^*^*

BOSTON COMMON, A WEEK LATER

“Ready?”

Donnielle tucks her glittering necklace under her shirt. “I’m always ready.”

Casia scoffs, “Of course you are.”

Setting the charges at the base of the fountain, I run about the subway entrance and duck under the stairs. An explosion rocks Boston Common, and as soon as the concrete statues sink into the ground, Casia takes off, adding to the burning embers. Flying through the hole I created, she pushes her hands out as she lowers herself the ten stories to the floor of an atrium. Racing down a rope, I land behind her, crouching with a sword in one hand, a blaster in the other. Donnielle lands last, blinking at the empty and destroyed foyer.

“The walls—They’re like Swiss cheese,” she says.

Casia shakes her head. “I didn’t do this.”

“Yeah, I know.” I sheathe my sword and pivot. “But who—”

“You! Hold it!”

Instinct is my best friend. I half turn with my blaster and fire two shots, hitting the guards in the chest. “Well, that answers my—damn.”

“What?” Casia comes to his side and looks down at the two men in black shirts and pants with an insignia of a blue four and a screeching phoenix on their left breasts. “You know who these guys are?”

“Yeah. I do.” Maldita sea. “They’re Defenders of the Fourth Dimension, just like my parents.”

To Be Continued…

How Do You Know 017

2011-08-12T18:00:00.003-04:00

How do you know you were meant to work in comics?

When you find the process just as exciting is the finished product.

The Process Behind The Unwritten #28

WHOO-HOO!

2011-08-11T18:00:00.001-04:00

More than a thousand hits in one month and ninety-seven hits in one day! You people rock!

How Do You Know 016

2011-08-11T17:30:00.000-04:00

How do you know when you’ve read too many comics? (NEVER!)

When you have “Anyway You Want It” by Journey stuck in your head, you haven’t listened to it in ages, and you’re pretty sure your superpowers are manifesting as the universe is now talking to you through songs that were released before your birth.

Huh. Never thought I’d be clairvoyant.

How Do You Know 015

2011-08-09T18:00:00.002-04:00

How do you know when you’ve read too many comics? (NEVER!)

When you see Golden Girls on the TV Guide Channel and immediately think of Deadpool and Bea Arthur.

*shivers*

Addicted to Green Tea Fraps

2011-08-08T18:00:00.000-04:00

Discovered today I'm addicted to green tea fraps. I really *like* them in the morning...and in the afternoon...and as an evening snack.

So there two ways to go with this.

A) I stop cold turkey. That's it. No more green tea fraps, even though there is a SLIGHT chance they help with my metabolism, because I'm sure even without the whip cream, they're not that good for me.

B) I decide to use this addiction as a quirk of one of my characters, giving him/her depth in not being able to control his/her green tea frap addiction. THEN! I can continue drinking GTFs, rationalizing my addiction as research for False Dawn.

I choose B.

EXPERIMENT UPDATE!

2011-08-07T20:13:00.006-04:00

Nightwing - Damian Wayne - by 122476

I put in a résumé for an assistant editor job at Vertigo (under my real name). Freakin’ amazing. We’re talking about the imprint that puts out American Vampire, Hellblazer, and Fables as well as how many other ground-breaking titles (Swamp Thing, DMZ, Northlanders, Y: The Last Man, Damn—SANDMAN, people! Freakin’ SANDMAN!) And to work with the legendary Ms. Karen Berger, Ms. Shelly Bond, Mr. Will Dennis, and Mr. Mark Doyle would be the ultimate dream job. I’m crossing fingers. I’ve got all the qualifications, and I’m even signed up for Saturday classes at the Kubert School to top off my mad art skillz.

I'll keep you posted!

In other news:

* Sent in a one-page entry into the One and Done Anthology by InvestComics. Written by me with art by the awesome Shannon Fowler (check her out at http://emilylorange.blogspot.com!), “Forever’s Prison” chronicles the life of an immortal nomad and answers the question, “Who the hell doesn’t want to live forever?” If chosen, I’ll put it up here after publication. If not, I’ll put it up when I know.

* Getting ready for NYCC. By then, the Experiment should be on the cusp of its second year with covers for FD and hopefully the five-page story “And Many More” with art by 122476.

* Sent in my order for DCnU. Excited to see the changes, though sad that to lose RR, Booster Gold, and the Teen Titans as we know them.

* Commissioned last cover of “Scions of Darkness” from the always incredible 122476. Look for it sometime this week. (Check him out at http://122476.blogspot.com!)

* Finished writing False Dawn #20: Life, or Something Called It in comic book script. Working on short story edition. Casia, Donnielle, and Lance attempt to find Ral and Jayden but discover their battle isn’t with Project: Avatar. It’s with Lance’s past.

* I’m reading Deadpool and Cable: Ultimate Collection Volume 2. Mr. Nicieza is a comic genius, but the suspense is killing me. Will the late, great Bea Arthur make a cameo!?

* Also on the reading list—Drake Tsui’s Sin. If you’re not reading this, you’re missing out.

D to the L to the M

THE EXPERIMENT REACHES 5,000 HITS!

2011-08-03T18:00:00.005-04:00

Since Blogspot started counting hits back in May 2010, the Experiment has popped up on more 5,000 screens, and just this month alone, it's visited more than 900! (I'm going to hope on purpose, but I'll take what I can get!)

Thanks for your continued support mi familia (FIREWORKS to Ma, Sis), my editor Erin (HIGH FIVE), my cover artist 122476 (ELBOW BUMP), and you, the readers, for dropping by (WINK)!

Devin Leigh Michaels

From the Desks of Mr. DiDio and Mr. Lee:

2011-08-03T03:43:00.001-04:00

"We Hears You."

Good.

Dreams

2011-07-29T17:57:00.000-04:00

http://www.comicsalliance.com/2011/07/28/dc-dan-didio-female-creators/#ixzz1TS62ufYi

I read my first comic when I was ten. I’ve written novels, short stories, and even interned at DC in hopes of one day writing comics.

I won’t let this deter me.

Devin Grayson was the first regular female writer on any Batman series. There has never been a regular female writer on Batman (the comic).

One day I will be first.

Unless Gail Simone beats me to it.

Devin Leigh Michaels

How Do You Know 014

2011-07-29T07:12:00.001-04:00

How do you known when you’ve read too many comics? (NEVER!)

When the Eisner Award holds all your “nerd dreams,” too.

Congrats to Mr. Synder and the crew of American Vampire and Vertigo.

(Less than a month to Baltimore!)

When Do You Know 013

2011-07-28T20:04:00.002-04:00

When do you know when you've read too many comics? (NEVER!)

When this is a dragon.

How Do You Know 012

2011-07-25T20:13:00.000-04:00

How do you know when you've read too many comics? (NEVER!)

SPOILERS to Cap movie!

When you feel cheated that Bucky Barnes fell off a train and wasn't blown up.

How Do You Know 009

2011-07-20T08:17:00.002-04:00

How do you know when you've read too many comics? (NEVER!)

When you drop everything in your normal life, jump on a plane, fly two thousand miles, get off, drive another thousand and then stand on a four-hour line just to be inside SDCC for an hour. Just to buy a shirt. Just to get the buttons and posters. Just to be in the same room as Judd Winick, Marcus To, Francis Manapul, Eddie Berganza, Ian Sattler, Gail Simone, Tony Daniel, Dan Jurgens, Mike Marts, Grant Morrison, Fabian Nicieza, J.T. Krul, Ed Brubaker, Jonathan Hickman, Mike Perkins, Barry Kitson, Steve Epting, Peter Tomasi, Geoff Johns, Cup o' Joe, and so many others.

Just to be there.

And then you do it all again the following year.

Get them while they're hot!

2011-07-19T04:06:00.002-04:00

http://122476.blogspot.com/

If you haven't seen 122476's work and you're a DC fan, then you've been cheated. I've been teaming up with him the last month, and dude just rocks. See the photo above? Told ya he rocks.
Comissions are open. Get 'em while they're hot! Check out 122476's Web page and/or Deviantart for more details.

Dev

False Dawn #19: Dog Fight

2011-07-16T03:57:00.003-04:00

False Dawn #19: Out of the Pan
Part Five of Five: Dog Fight
Short Story Format
Devin Leigh Michaels

PROJECT: AVATAR
NOW

“Mr. Dawson?”

Who thought it was a good idea to go a few rounds with a freakin’ Amazon? Seriously.

“Mr. Dawson, can you hear me?”

EARLIER

I ready myself for Agent Towne as he lunges, Maidan’s Glory in my hand, but I don’t plan for the invisible force that slams into Kainoa and my backs. It sends us stumbling toward Towne, who with a single hand, pushes us back. We’re caught between two pieces of an invisible bread, and all I keep thinking is this is how PB and J must feel when Towne drops to the floor suddenly, Jayden behind him.

He narrows his eyes at Sierra, but the shock gives me just enough leeway to throw a shadow tentacle at her. Like Bergener did to me, the tentacle slashes through her shoulder, but I kick her to the ground.

“When are you going to realize, Sierra?” I demand. “Telekinetics are the wimpy kids in class. Telepaths rock.”

She kicks out my legs, but she leaps for the one person on the field who can stop her and the blue hoodies.

Rio.

He’s kneeling next to injured students, taking their pain into his own body, so they can fight again. In her hand is my sword.

“NO!” I scream as she buries it—not in Rio, though, but the person who jumped in front of him.

Jayden.

“JAY!” Rio screams.

As the blade sinks into his body, Rio’s eyes glow an ice blue, and his body’s engulfed in ice flames. He leaps forward, only for a blue flash of power to ignite the room. I feel myself falling, and when I hit the ground, the lights fades to reveal the Blender—Kainoa, Sierra, and me.

Kainoa’s eyes glow a dangerous, royal blue, but the tint—uncontrollable anger—scares me.

Just what is this guy capable of?

“Give me one reason why I shouldn’t kill you.” His voice challenges like sandpaper on rocks.

“Because telekinetics are untouchable,” she parries. “All we wanted to foster your powers, your talent, your gift, and how do you repay us?”

“You wanted to make us slaves,” I reply, “and if we didn’t comply, you stole from us.”

“You believe your friends to have lost? Sight, voice—they’re sad but not tragic. Try being my sister. Try losing your entire body. Then you will know the true meaning of loyalty.”

Holly.

“Then why don’t you side with us? Why do you fight FOR the project?”

“She is alive. Your friend cannot say the same.”

I look at Kainoa, who nods once. “At least now he is free,” he says.

Sierra dashes forward, my sword in her hand. “And so will you be.”

She slices a thin line along my side, and when Kainoa ducks her swipe, she knees him in the groin, elbows me in the cheek, then forces her hand out directly in front of my face.

Then all I see is the golden glow of her eyes and hair before the pain masks everything.

“Mr. Dawson?”

Seriously. Deciding to fight the Australian Wonder Woman here is not the best idea I’ve had this century.

“Mr. Dawson, can you hear me?”

Of course, I still have a good eighty or so years to make worse decisions.

“Mr. Dawson, it is time you awakened.”

I don’t know if that’s a good thing or a bad thing.

“RALEIGH!”

My heavy eyes crack, and even through my blurred vision, the pounding in my skull, and darkness surrounding us, I mumble, “…don…cal…mah… ‘at…”

A larger man, grandfatherly with the hardness of the Emperor in his eyes, glares down at me. “Mr. T called. He thinks you don’t deserve his pity.”

I snort. My body doesn’t hurt, per se, other than my head, but it’s numb, like pins and needles all over. I try not to freak when my arms and legs don’t listen, and the only thing I can think is this is how a pop-tart must feel right before the toast clicks on.

“You believe you and your peers have triumphed today but know this.” He bent to whisper, and his breath reeks of cigarettes and peaches. “You are nothing but a child whom I let win. When I play, I win, and I will play, Mr. Dawson.”

A cold shadow casts over me.

A dragon.

But it’s not just any dragon. It’s Torch’s kid, the one I know she lost, but where’d it come from?

“And I always have a royal flush.”

Ice flames flush my skin cold, and I shoot up, breathing like I’ve broken the surface. My chest heaves, and Sierra stands over me, my sword above her head.

“Last words are overrated.”

My blade comes down, and I form a shadow shield. The blade clashes against the shield, but without blue flames or dark power, she has no chance of breaking through.

I smirk. “Please. There’s no way I’m dying until Brittany Spears is once more number one on Twitter.”

I drop the shield and shoot her with one ball of white power. A second later, Kainoa’s kicking out her legs, and I’m reclaiming my sword.

An invisible force slams into my face, knocking Kainoa and me back, and Sierra affronts, her hands flexing and tightening. “You believe yourself so powerful. You are not fighting people, children. You are fighting an organization.”

“Yeah, well.” Kainoa crosses his arms. “So are you.”

Guns cock. Boots clap the wooden floor, and I gasp when men and women dressed in black jackets and cargo pants with army boots surround us. Each has a laser gun pointed directly at Sierra who’s not quite sure what to make of them. Neither do I until Kainoa smirks.

“Sierra, meet the Defenders of the Fourth Dimension. My posse.”

FINALLY.

As they force Sierra to her knees, Kainoa helps me to a bench on the edge of the scene, pressing down on my wound. It starts to sting, the adrenaline-high fading, and the world comes crashing down.

Jayden…

“So…what do you think?” Kainoa asks, breathless.

I shrug awkwardly. “Y’know, for defenders of time, they took their time getting here.”

“Seems like that, doesn’t—”

“KAINOA!”

A blonde-haired woman, probably in her early forties, dives forward, entrenching Kainoa in a tight hug. Her weight drags them both to the ground, where she continues to hold him. She’s not Asian. She doesn’t have blue hair or a callous glare, but I know who she is. She’s his mother.

“Cuz, you totally need one of those digital locators they put in dogs,” an African American girl snorts. She looks a little older than Kainoa but not by much.

Two men, tanned with dark, graying hair, come forward. One bends to hug Kainoa, the other places a hand on his head.

I miss Mom and Connor and Lance and Casia.

*^*^*

STONEHENGE

Along the dusk horizon, a small dragon with black scales with a blue tint and yellow inseam soars through the darkening skies, a lifeless Jayden in his jaws. Eventually, he comes to the English shoreline where stone blocks create doorways. Laying Jayden down in the middle of the structure, he lets out a screeching cry into the dying day.

Using his ice blue fire, he blows tiny embers across the dead body until the stones brighten in a golden shimmer. Jayden’s body bursts into red fire, then disintegrates upon the ground with a tiny peeping. The tiny dragon moans, and slowly, black, leather scales soften and brighten to tanned skin. Rio, hunched over and panting, dusts off the ashes from the newly reborn fire bird and cuddles the hatchling in his arms.

THE END

False Dawn #19: Comic Book Script

2011-07-16T03:48:00.008-04:00

False Dawn #19: Out of the Pan
Part Five of Five: Dog Fight
Comic Book Script - Plot for 20 Pages
Devin Leigh Michaels

Twenty or twenty-two pages? Fabian Nicieza was right. It's really not that hard of a transition. It's just a matter of working the plot. (Maybe it have it vacuum for me...that'd be nice. Have the plot do something for ME for a change, not the other way around...)

As the Ral and his new misfit crew take on the Blue Hoodies, one Founding Father gives his life for the cause.

PAGE ONE
1—Full Page—Ral’s lying on a metallic ground, surrounded by debris. His shirt is ripped; he’s bleeding from a gash upon his head. He appears unconscious.
LOCATION CAPS: PROJECT: AVATAR, NOW
DIRECTOR (off): Mr. Dawson?
NARR: Who thought it was a good idea to go a few rounds with a freakin’ Amazon?
DIRECTOR (off): Mr. Dawson, can you hear me?
NARR: Seriously.

PAGE TWO
1—We’re back in the hallway where we left FD#18, where Agent Towne is lunging at Ral and Kainoa.
LOCATION: EARLIER

2—Kainoa and Ral jerk forward suddenly, toward him.
RAL and KAINOA: Ugh!

3—Sierra and Towne have the same pose. Both have hands up, palms flat, creating two invisible walls that sandwich Ral and Kainoa. (Perhaps to show the “invisible forces,” there can be an outline of blue?) Sierra is behind Kainoa and Ral; Towne is in front. Ral and Kainoa squirm as the forces press together.
NARR: Now I know how PB and J must feel.

4—Towne’s eyes roll up in his head.

PAGE THREE
1—Jayden stands over Towne, who is now unconscious on the floor. Jay salutes Ral and Kainoa with two fingers.

2—Ral and Kainoa are now on the floor, crouching. Kainoa returns the salute while Ral throws a shadow tentacle at Sierra.
RAL: When are you going to realize, Sierra.
RAL: Telekinetics are the wimpy kids in class. Telepaths ROCK.

3—The tentacle slices through her shoulder. She screams in pain.
SIERRA: AHH!

PAGE FOUR
1—Sierra kicks out Ral’s legs, stealing his sword

2—Sierra backhands Kainoa.

3—She slices the shadow tentacle off with Maiden’s Glory.

4—Then we see her target over Ral’s head—Rio, not too far away, his hands on someone’s arm, ice-blue fire about his hands.
NARR: She’s not after us.
NARR: She’s after the one person on the field who can stop her.
5—Close-up on Rio from the back, who’s on his knees, ice blue fire surrounding his hands as he presses down on the bloody arm injury of a red hoodie.
NARR: Rio.

PAGE FIVE
1—Sierra lunges forward, Ral’s sword in her hand.
SIERRA: HEE-

2—Ral puts out a hand while still on the floor. Kainoa’s behind him, barely with it.
RAL: NO!

3—She buries the sword in Jayden’s chest.

PAGE SIX
1—Rio turns, tears screaming from his eyes.
RIO: JAY!

2—Kainoa’s eyes glow blue.
NARR: Kainoa’s eyes glow a dangerous, royal blue, but the tint—uncontrollable anger—scares me.

3—Ral and Sierra crash to the ground in the Blender. Kainoa falls to his feet effortlessly.
NARR: Ugh!

4—Ral stands to be next to Kainoa, who’s glaring at Sierra. His eyes practically glow. Ral’s looking at him, a little worried.
KAINOA: Give me one reason why I shouldn’t kill you.
NARR: Just what is this guy capable of?

5—Sierra raises my sword.
SIERRA: Because telekinetics are untouchable.
SIERRA (linked): All we wanted to foster your powers, your talent, your gift, and how do you repay us?

PAGE SEVEN
1—Ral falls to kick out her legs.
RAL: You wanted to make us slaves, and if we didn’t comply, you stole from us.

2—Sierra knocks him with the bunt of his own sword right in the cheek.
SIERRA: You believe your friends to have lost? Sight, voice—they’re sad but not tragic. Try being my sister. Try losing your entire BODY. Then you will know the true meaning of LOYALTY.
NARR: Holly.

3—Kainoa accepts a kick from her on his crossed wrists.
KAINOA: Then why don’t you side with us? Why do you fight FOR the project?
SIERRA: She is ALIVE. Your friend cannot say the same.

4—Kainoa and Ral, bleeding and huffing, look at each other with twin expressions of sympathy.
KAINOA: At least now he is free.

5—Sierra lunges forward.
SIERRA: And so will you be.

PAGE EIGHT
1—Sierra slices a thin line along Ral’s side as Kainoa ducks.
2—Sierra knees Kainoa in the groin while elbowing Ral in the cheek.

3—She forces her hand out directly in front of Ral’s face, her eyes glowing gold.

4—Same picture, but now being drowned out by whiteness.

5—Completely black panel.
DIRECTOR (no pointer): Mr. Dawson?

PAGE NINE
1—Same picture as page one, but from a different angle. Perhaps close up on Ral’s face, eyes closed.
DIRECTOR (off): Mr. Dawson, it is time you awakened.
RAL (weak): …nuh-uh…

2—We’re looking up at the shadowed figure. He’s a little tubby, older, like a grandfather’s build. We can’t see much of him now.
DIRECTOR: RALEIGH!

3—Ral’s tired eyes crack open. He really can’t do much more than that.
RAL: …don…cal…mah… ‘at…

PAGE TEN
1—The man now crouches down, and we see him—a bald, older man with a leathery face and hard eyes. He’s wearing a black suit with a blue tie.
DIRECTOR: Mr. T called. He thinks you don’t deserve his pity.

2—Close up on Ral, who tries to lift his head. He moves slightly upon the ground, lengthening his neck a bit, but that’s all he can do.
NARR: I try not to freak when my arms and legs don’t listen, but the only thing I can think is this is how a pop-tart must feel right before the toast clicks on.
DIRECTOR (off): You believe you and your peers have triumphed today but know this.

3—The Director bends down close to Ral to whisper.
DIRECTOR: You are nothing but a child whom I let win.
NARR: His breath reeks of cigarettes and peaches.

4—A shadow casts over Ral, and he looks back over his head.
DIRECTOR: When I play, I win, and I WILL play, Mr. Dawson.

PAGE ELEVEN
1—A baby dragon stares down. He has black scales racing down his back and tiny blue horns poke down his spine. The crest of his head flies back with an accent of orange. His stomach glitters blue. His wings blue inside with a golden seam and black on the outside. The Director stands next to the dragon.
DIRECTOR: And I always have a royal flush.

2—Ice flames roll over Ral’s body.

PAGE TWELVE
1—Ral shoots up, his chest heaving.

2—Extreme close-up on his eyes. They’re wide, frightened, and directed upward.

3—Sierra stands over Ral, his sword above her head and glimmering.
SIERRA: Sorry, but last words are overrated.

PAGE THIRTEEN
1—The blades clashes with a shadow shield Ral formed. Ral smirks at her intense face.
RAL: Please. There’s no way I’m dying until Brittany Spears is once more number one on Twitter.

2—Ral drops the shield and throws a white ball of power at Sierra.

3—As she bends back, Kainoa kicks out her legs.

4—Ral reclaims the sword.

5—Sierra’s hand flies up into the panel, and Kainoa and Ral fly backwards.

PAGE FOURTEEN
1—They skid to a stop along the floor.
SIERRA: You believe yourself so powerful.

2—We’re behind Kainoa and Ral, looking between them, as Sierra stands before them, her hands flexing and tightening.
SIERRA: You are not fighting people, children. You are fighting an organization.

3—Ral smirks while Kainoa wipes the blood from the corner of his mouth.
KAINOA: Yeah, well. So are you.

4—Ral looks over his shoulder.
RAL: Daaamn….

PAGE FIFTEEN
1—FULL PAGE—Surrounding Sierra, Ral, and Kainoa are at least forty men and women with laser guns pointed in the middle. All wear black over shirts and cargo pants with army boots. On them is a blue fire 4 with a phoenix perched on the horizontal line. One has to be a blonde woman with a bun; a young, teenage African American girl her hair pulled back into a ponytail; an older man with salt and pepper hair who is built like a wrestling; and the last one looks like the older man but younger, with completely black hair.
KAINOA: Sierra, meet the DEFENDERS OF THE FOURTH DIMENSION.
KAINOA (linked): MY posse.

PAGE SIXTEEN
1— As the Defenders force Sierra to her knees, Kainoa helps Ral toward a bench on the edge of the scene, a hand pressing down on Ral’s bleeding stomach lash.
KAINOA: Well, what do you think?
RAL: Y’know, for defenders of time, they took their time getting here.

2—Ral sits down on the bench, holding both hands over his wound; Kainoa remains standing.
KAINOA (laughing): Seems like that, doesn’t—

3—Kainoa’s head turns at the scream.
OFF: KAINOA!

4—A blonde-haired woman in her early forties dives forward, entrenching Kainoa in a tight hug.
NARR: They look nothing alike.

5—Her weight drags them both to the ground, where she continues to hold him.
NARR: She’s not Asian. She doesn’t have blue hair or a callous glare, but I know who she is.
NARR: She’s his mother.

PAGE SEVENTEEN
1— Two men, tanned with dark, graying hair, come forward. One bends to hug Kainoa, the other places a hand on his head.

2—An African American girl, a little older than Kainoa, slaps him on the shoulder.
GIRL: Cuz, you totally need one of those digital locators they put in dogs.

3—Close up on Ral as he looks away.
NARR: I miss Mom and Connor and Lance and Casia.

4—Silhouette of a baby dragon flying across the dusky sky holding a lifeless body in the mouth. The boy’s Jayden.
LOCATION CAPS: ELSEWHERE

PAGE EIGHTEEN
1—A small dragon with black scales with a blue tint and yellow inseam lands in the middle of Stonehenge.

2—Dragon drops Jayden to the ground.

3—Dragon blows ice blue fire across Jayden’s body, engulfing it.

4—The stones shimmer golden as Jayden’s body bursts into red fire.

5—The tiny dragon howls, and ice fire burns its tail.

PAGE NINETEEN
1—Black, leather scales soften and brighten as ice fire consumes the dragon’s body.

2—At its feet is the ash of Jayden’s body, the red embers sparkling but mostly out.

3—Close up on tan hands as they dusts off the ashes.

4—Close-up—In his hands is the newly reborn phoenix with red feathers and tiny beak.
SFX: Chirp! Chirp!

PAGE TWENTY
7—Rio cuddles the hatchling in his arms as night closes in on them.

THE END

How Do You Know 007

2011-07-13T12:00:00.001-04:00

How do you know when you’ve read too many comic books? (NEVER!)

When you are chosen by your company to represent your department at a global gathering in Paris and you hope to catch a glimpse of Nightrunner, the Batman of France.

True story, guys! I'll be in France later this week! W00t! I only hope Aquaman doesn't decide to sink Europe while I'm there.

I'll be back later next week with Scions of Darkness #3, more cover art from 122476 (awesome dude! Check out his stuff!), and my "How Do You Know" Column, currently only on my Tumblr account!

See ya!

Dev

Tough Love from Gail Simone

2011-06-26T17:17:00.000-04:00

Tim a la Marcus To...again

“Tough Love,” J.T. Krul called it.

I lost my pencils. Wait—nope, not in the utensil draw.

I was surfing Mr. Krul’s Tweets when I came across one aimed at Gail Simone called “tough love,” but sound advice. So I clicked on the link, and it led me to Ms. Simone’s Tumblr post about breaking into comics. One of the most important factors, she explained, was getting rid of fanfiction. It’s like playing for the pros with a wiffle ball bat (the gist of her analogy).

Not in the frig (That happened once).

Ms. Simone explained that it’s easier to break into comics for artists than writers, but the reality is many people don’t make it. The other side of the coin is that people do—every day, and if you’re persistent enough, if you want it bad enough, it WILL happen.

Huh. Not in the car.

Despite the fact I receive more than four thousand hits on ff.net a month, fanfiction has to go. I’m not fourteen anymore writing about a defunct cartoon show. I’m not in college anymore, trying to sharpen my skills. I’m a twenty-six-year-old pricer who isn’t getting any younger, who has summited more résumés to DC Comics than the Riddler has riddles, and it’s not happening.

Is that a pencil mark on my wall? Maybe under my bed…AH! Huge bug! Huge bug!

The point is, as Ms. Simone pointed out: I need a plan. I’ve actually had one since I was in college. Write a novel. Get published. Write comics. That was my idea since Brad Meltzer started writing G.A. a few years back, but that hasn’t worked. I dropped cards at NYCC last year. Not one more follower. Not one more comment. I published Destiny’s Fate everywhere you can publish online. Still nothing. I spoke to Bob Wayne via email about experience in the sales department (via my real name). I’ve gone on LinkedIn and made connections. Nada.

It’s attacking me! It’s lunging with—fangs! We have fangs, people!

What can I bring to DC Comics, Marvel, Image, heck—you, now, is dedication and persistence. In my current job, I give at least fifty hours a week—every week. When my department has more contracts than a nine-to-five schedule allows us to load, I’m in the office at seven, and I leave when the contracts are in the system. I’m currently number two in my department for most contracts loaded. I work on my middle school yearbook at two A.M. because it won’t design itself. And these are for jobs I have, not love. When I want to write, I don’t sleep and passion for stories keep me awake. (I know that sounds corny, but it’s true. It’s four A.M. on a Sunday as I write this.)

What IS this THING!

What I can bring most to the industry is this: professionalism. I take criticism well. I learn from my mistakes, and I’ve been learning for sixteen years (how long I’ve been writing and collecting comics). I’m polite and flexible and WANT this. So…new course of action. I’m not a writer. I’m not an illustrator. I’m a storyteller, and like one, I have stories inside that need to be told. What do I need to do this: write, draw, and talk to someone. I’m going to Baltimore this year and grabbing an editor’s ear. I might be rejected, but I’m going to succeed. Maybe not in Baltimore. Maybe not in New York in October. But one day I will break in.

SMOOSH!

I’m not finishing "Scions of Darkness." I’ve finished issue six, the end of the second arc, and I’ll post it during Scion Saturdays later this summer. But if I’m going to succeed, I need move forward NOW.

Since we last spoke in December, I’ve evolved professionally. In April, I published my first book, Destiny’s Fate. Last week I received word that my short story “The Viewer” is being published in the anthology America’s Got Stories. I’m speaking with an artist I know from my college days, and I’m hoping to get some pictures of FD on this site as well as an entry into InvestComics’ Deadly Tales.

The Experiment has evolved as well. The site has had more than 2,500 hits in the last six months, doubling last year’s numbers all together with a peak of eighty people visiting the Experiment in a single day. False Dawn is currently in its second year with a crossover with Destiny’s Fate, and my drawings are improving. I’ve decided to work on head shots to the point where they look “good,” and I’ll be taking Saturday classes at the Kubert School in September.

What can you do? If you like my superhero stuff, leave a comment. Become a follower. Write the DC editorial page or email Marvel or any comic book company and tell the editors you want me writing their stuff. Buy my $2.99 book and spread the word. And btw—one single DC Comic costs that, and a Marvel book is a whole dollar more.

In the meantime, I’m going to continue writing and posting False Dawn, and I’ve joined Tumblr (http://break-outcbe.tumblr.com), where I add snippets and ideas daily. I’ve put in for the Aeon Award again and hopefully will be shortlisted this year (I’m starting to know the submissions editor). I’ll post little tidbits here and there about the comic world (like, have you ever noticed Grant Morrison is the body double of Damian from Batman #666? Crazy, right?), and I’m looking at attaining a MFA in creative writing through Full Sail. As aforementioned, I will be acquiring mad skills at the Kubert School in Saturday classes.

Back on the search—not in my mom’s or sister’s work bags.

And maybe I’ll get that sales coordinator job I put in for at DC. Adam Schlagman had the Ads and Promotions internship three years before I attained it at DC, and he was promoted to that sales position before reaching editorial. Now he’s writing a mini for Flashpoint.

There are more ways than one to break in, and hey! Found my pencils. They were in my computer case. Always in the last place you look.

Devin Leigh Michaels
June 19, 2011

Lamenting Red Robin

2011-06-13T18:00:00.058-04:00

This started originally as a celebration piece about the entire DCoU, but then when four out of ten of my points were about RR, this list happened.

A casualty of DC’s Relaunch, Red Robin was my favorite book in my sixteen years of collecting comics. In fact, it was so awesome, Mr. Nicieza, Mr. To, and Mr. McCarthy converted me from a die-hard Dick Grayson fan to a staunch Tim Drake one.

So what does one do when one’s favorite book is cancelled—Mr. N having an outline up to issue 50 and knowing where to go up to issue 100 and with jaw-dropping panels from second-to-not-even-Kyle Rayner artist Mr. To? Lament the top ten aspects that one will miss/never saw/will never see from RR.

10. “The Nest”—Red Robin’s base of operations in Crime Alley just outside where Bruce’s parents were murdered. This base has been in the works since issue 17 (well, technically issue 14 where Tim kicks Damian’s ass), and readers see it for the first time next issue—before the book ends two months from now. Tim, my advice? Don’t unpack.

9. Mia Dearden—A while back, rjpeters70 put a thread up on the DC Boards about Mia appearing in Tim’s book. He even asked Mr. N if Mia would pop up. After all, Mia is HIV-positive, and Tim’s not active (though that might not true after next issue). They’d make great roommates now that Mia’s not with G.A. anymore (or so it seems). Mr. N said he’d put Mia on his list of people to show up. Too bad she wasn’t crossed-off before issue 26.

8. Tim’s education—Does an adopted son of Bruce Wayne need to get a bachelor’s degree in badassery? Nah, but Tim’s the cerebral one of the Back Alley Boys. I would have loved to see him finish his high school days and go to college, maybe even graduate. Is it necessary? No, but Mr. N said that Tim wouldn’t have to make the decision to apply to college for a few months/years (reality-wise), and education means something different to everyone. To a teenager who saves the planet, learning high school algebra just isn’t a priority.

7. Danny Temple, the Heir of Kobra—Sorry, had to have at least one Robin reference in here. You might remember Danny as one of Tim’s eccentric classmates at Brentwood with a barcode on his foot and Kobra breathing down his neck. Danny and Tim parted ways, knowing each other’s identity, and though I love Conner as Tim’s best friend, Danny could have been an awesome addition to Tim’s supporting cast like Piper was to Wally—a friend who knows the truth and with whom a hero can share the battlefield. Too bad Danny disappeared into Tim’s history.

6. The Teen Titans—Best friends should show up in each other’s comics. Simon Valentine was Conner’s best friend in the initial relaunch of the Superboy book, not Tim, and Wally West showed up in Dick’s Nightwing only three times in 153 issues. But Mr. N and Mr. T thankfully kept Tim’s friends, y’know, Tim’s friends. They didn’t create a newbie to hang out with Tim—He had Ives and Tam, which is awesome, and I loved seeing TT like in Mr. Yost’s first run and Mr. N’s “Hit List.” Just the group hanging out in Tim’s brand-spanking new HQ would have been awesome.

5. The Pentagon of Potential Partners—For a guy who’s getting nothing, he sure has a lot of girls around him. We have Tam (“the good girl”); Lynx, Promise, and MHL (“the bad girls”); and Steph (“the grey girl”). Which girl would Tim eventually take for dinner and a movie? (If you’re into Internet screamers, then this might be a Hexagon of Hotties—adding Conner to that list) My vote—I really liked Tim and Lynx. Issue 23 was just…um…what word have I been using? Oh, yeah. AWESOME!

4. This picture by Marcus To—‘nuff said.

2. (We have a tie!) Tim and Jason—Red Robin and the Red Hood. Mr. N wrote in a line in Search for a Hero where Jason more or less asks Tim if he needs any help, and Tim tells him, “Thanks, but no thanks.” Actually, there wasn’t even a thanks. Jason could have turned his life around with Tim at his side—Tim being the light to Jason’s darkness. Like Dick and Damian are/were oil and water that works more like jelly and peanut butter, Tim could have helped Jason become a better person and Jason could have helped Tim become more of a bad ass. Mr. To drawing that crazy dude—man, I would have pinned that up on my wall.

2. Marcus To and a Family Bat Portrait—I absolutely *loved* Graham Nolan’s picture in Detective Comics #600 with Batman, Nightwing, and Robin, and I wanted, so wanted to see Mr. T (um…okay, we’ll keep the references as ‘Mr. To’) do a picture like that with the Bat Family. Or maybe like in Aquaman #75 where Dan Jurgens did a family portrait. I’m crossing fingers that RR #26 will have something like that!

And the number one thing I will miss/never saw/never will see from RR—

1. Tim Drake’s eighteenth birthday—Mr. N said we’d see Tim become eighteen before issue 50, but we’ll never get to issue 50. Last time Tim celebrated a birthday, he was sixteen, living with his dad and Dana, celebrating it with Steph and Ives. His seventeenth birthday was off-panel as he, Bruce, and Dick traveled the world, and I would have loved to see how Tim reflects/deals/celebrates what has happened during his teenage life as Robin and now Red Robin. I can only imagine what kind of fun Mr. N and Mr. To would have told/drawn for us, but sadly, it is not to be.

Honorable Mention: Prom for Tim—probably too pedestrian, but still—would have been nice to see Tim in a tux again with one of his beauties; Dana, his stepmother who presumably was killed in the Bludhaven blast—Mr. N said he wasn’t going to address it. I agree with his choice since Bludhaven was bombed as a punishment for Nightwing, but I couldn’t NOT add her to the list; and Stephanie Brown’s baby—just where is she now?

Thanks for the awesome books, Mr. N, Mr. To, and Mr. McCarthy. Gonna miss this one.

Devin Leigh Michaels
June 11, 2011

Sources: DCComics.com, Marcus To's Tumblr site, and the DC Message Boards