This is the second story in my A Girl and a Gun series.
PAGE 1
Panel 1
Establishing. Long thin strip across the top of the page showing a long line of refugees fleeing the remains of a war torn city. We can see some kind of checkpoint with weary soldiers sat around watching the citizens leave.
TEXT BOX:
Binary: adjective – relating to, composed of, or involving two things.
NO DIALOGUE
Panel 2
Close up of OUR HERO from behind. She’s wearing combat fatigues, slightly baggy, large pockets, side arm, holstered. This is to the left of the panel. Sat on a crate is an INFANTRY GRUNT. He’s aware of the young woman standing over him, but he’s concentrating on the cigarette he’s rolling. He’s a generic soldier, kinda plain.
GIRL: What’s the problem?
GRUNT: Road’s closed ’til tomorrow. Sapper went rogue. Waiting on air support to take it out.
Next 3 panels are stacked atop each other on the left of the page, leaving a final tall panel for the page end hero shot.
Panel 3
Tight close-up of The Girl’s mouth.
GIRL: Can’t wait that long. Where’s the Sapper?
Panel 4
Tight close up of the Grunt’s eyes, still not looking at her.
GRUNT: Ha, thinking of taking it out on your lonesome?
Panel 5
Just the Grunt’s head as he finally looking up in surprise, eyes WIDE, mouth OPEN.
NO DIALOGUE
PAGE 2
Panel 1
The Girl and THE GUN.
She’s young. No helmet. Small backpack. The military jacket has a red collar. Red piping comes down the edge of the jacket on both sides where it would fasten and then continues along the bottom edge of the jacket all the way around to the back. Thick of it like the Han Solo’s signature stripe. Over one breast pocket where a name tag would usually be displayed is one word THIRTEEN.
In her arms she carries The Gun. It’s a RIFLE. I’m thinking something like this:
But with matching RED details. Maybe the hollows in the barrel are all red? Some piping on the edges? Red and black, kick-ass and uniquely easily identifiable are what we’re looking for.
One last touch. Something KITT like that we can have the next speech bubble coming from? Can we have The Gun’s speech bubble also have a red line running the inside of its edge? That way we can distinguish who’s speaking on the next page.
GUN: She’s not alone.
PAGE 3
Panel 1
The SAPPER is a military variation on something like the Constructicons. He’s larger than a human, but not gigantic. Lots of straight edges. One fist is a pile-driver. JCB yellow and combat green? The unit they send in to blow/build bridges take down dangerous buildings – non combat. The paint work on his fist and pile-driver is long gone revealing the shiny, scarred chrome below. You see glints of this where he’s been shot by small arms fire.
We meet him pummelling a school building.
SAPPER: 01001011 01010100 01001011 01010100 01001011 01010100
GUN: Standard non combat unit. Dumb as dirt processor. Probable glitch in the organics.
Panel 2
The Girl and her Gun are atop a nearby building looking down on the mayhem below.
GIRL: Organics?
SAPPER: 01001011 01010100 01001011 01010100
GUN: Why waste high functioning positron networks when you can wetwire a cadaver?
Panel 3
Over the Girl’s shoulder looking down.
GIRL: Ick. How do I stop it?
SAPPER: 01001011 01010100
GUN: I can punch through the armour if you get me in close.
Panel 4
The Girl stands and fires the rifle. The round PINGS off the Sapper’s head.
SAPPER: 01001011 01010100?
GIRL: Got its attention.
PAGE 4
Panel 1
The Sapper is bringing the building down. The Girl is riding the rubble down towards her target.
NO DIALOGUE
Panel 2
A close-up of the girl pushing the rifle into the Sapper’s face plate and blowing the back of its head out. We see most of a destroyed brain exit. Blood and oil.
Panel 3
The Girl and the Gun walking away in silhouette. We see the ‘dead’ Sapper in the remains of the school building. One wall is covered in children’s scrawl-like pictures. Family scenes. The binary numbers shrink too nothing as the Sapper ‘dies’.
GIRL: What was it saying?
GUN: Nonsense. Same two letters over and over in binary…
Sapper: 01001011 01010100
Panel 4
A close up of the Sapper’s ‘dead’ hand. And one family drawing above showing a cartoon girl and her mom holding hands while a third figure hovers above them with wings. It says Mommy, Daddy and Me next to each character. It’s signed at the bottom: Katie Anderson aged 7
GUN: …K T
Panel 5
The drawing is being carried away by the wind as The Girl and The Gun follow the sun out of the city.
NO DIALOGUE
fin