Clockwork Angels: Comic Script (15 page)

PAGE 1

The background of this opening page is a full bleed behind all the panels: an ugly, black cloud sky with slashing rain, and the image fades to white by the bottom third of the page. Owen is having a nightmare of the shipwreck and the storm at the beginning, and then he wakes up toward the bottom.

Top sequence is flashbacks/recaps of small images from previous issue. They are nightmarish, so the panel borders can be skewed. The flashback panels don’t have to be linear either, but like a whirlwind of images.

PANEL 1

Angry, crashing waves.

PANEL 2

Owen leans forward on bridge deck, shouting. (Issue 5, p 21, Panel 1)

OWEN

REEF!

PANEL 3

Centerpoint of the flashback images, a narrow horizontal close-up panel of Owen’s eyes wide with terror. This is in shadow, the night of the storm, gloomy.

PANEL 4

The steamer smashes into a line of reef rocks, massive shipwreck. (Like Issue 5, p 21, Panel 2, but I would prefer a different view, so we’re not just recycling art … that will be too apparent in the collected edition.)

PANEL 5

Wreckers swarming over the deck. A sailor yells. A vicious-looking Wrecker lurches toward Owen who cringes on the deck, holding up a splintered piece of wood to protect himself. The Wrecker swings a cudgel at him.

SAILOR

Wreckers!

PANEL 6

Similar to Panel 3, close-up of Owen’s eyes, but sleepy now, and lit by bright sunlight.

PANEL 7

Big panel, primary one on the page. Owen wakes up lying on a bed in a small wooden-walled cabin with a patchwork quilt over him, a bandage on his head. A hinged porthole window on the near wall has been swung open to let in sunlight and fresh air.

OWEN

Unnnhhh. Where am I? What happened? They rescued me!

PAGE 2

PANEL 1

A stern-looking Wrecker woman (Xandrina) stands at the cabin door, dressed in a frumpy rag dress with a magenta sash and bangles; she also has a magenta scarf wrapped around her head; she’s stout and no-nonsense. She holds a chipped bowl in her hands.

XANDRINA

I thought you’d wake up sooner. I made some fish broth for you to gain your strength … but it’s cold now.

PANEL 2

Owen struggles to sit up in bed, groaning. Xandrina extends the bowl, impatient.

OWEN

This is a strange sort of hospital …

XANDRINA

And I’m a strange sort of nurse. Now eat, so you can be up and out of here. You’re supposed to recover so you can be useful.

PANEL 3

Owen takes the bowl and slurps his soup. (No way is this woman going to spoon-feed him!)

OWEN

Who are you?

XANDRINA

I am Xandrina … and you are Owen Hardy of Barrel Arbor. HE said we would find you, and he told us to save you.

PANEL 4

Angry, Owen throws the bowl to the side, as he struggles to get up. Xandrina is at the cabin door, leaving.

OWEN

You … you’re the Wreckers! You lured our ship to the reef! You killed everyone!

XANDRINA (LAUGHS)

We are the Free People of the Sea. We are hunters … don’t expect us to feel sympathy for the rabbits.

PANEL 5

Owen staggers across the deck, unsteady, grabbing his head.

OWEN

Wait! How do you know my name? Where—

PANEL 6

Owen stands at the door, yanks it open, looks outside. We see his astonished face.

OWEN

Oh …

PAGE 3

PANEL 1

One of two jaw-dropping pages in the issue (the other is p 11). The Wreckers have built their own “island” an incredible cluster of ships they have wrecked, the hulls lashed together to form a city of dead ships. Many of these ships have been there for some time, tangled with ropes, festooned with bright streamers. Laundry hangs on clotheslines tied to masts. Owen is a tiny figure; we see this city of floating ships from a height. (We can even put a seagull in the frame next to the viewer.)

OWEN

This is where the Wreckers live …

PANEL 2

Xandrina picks up baskets from a pile on a tilted deck, glancing up at him.

XANDRINA

This is what the Wreckers
built
out of what was left to us. We can’t just destroy everything, you know.

XANDRINA

I’m glad you decided to get out of that cabin. He paid me two diamonds to care for you, but I didn’t know you would be so much trouble.

PANEL 3

Owen shouts after Xandrina as she walks away across the deck carrying several baskets, on some urgent chore of her own. She doesn’t even look back at him.

OWEN

But you’re pirates! Murderers. You killed Captain Lochs!

XANDRINA

We’re the
Free People of the Sea
. And now you’re one of us.

PAGE 4

A series of panels depicting the rough, colorful Wrecker life. They are gypsies, free spirits, edgy, but with their own dark charm. See pp 252–254 in novel for more descriptions.

PANEL 1

Small panel, close-up. Owen touches the bandage on his head, which now sports a fresh splash of red blood.

OWEN

No … I don’t think all is for the best.

PANEL 2

A family (adults, but with a couple of late teens) squatting around a bright blue coldfire cook fire and a pot, while the father lounges in a hammock behind them. One of the teens is hanging laundry.

PANEL 3

Her eyes closed, a middle aged woman sways as she plays an exotic clarinet-like instrument.

PANEL 4

A rowboat pulls up to the side of one of the hulls, and men lift up nets full of flopping fish, while other Wreckers take them onto the deck.

PANEL 5

A rough-looking man (the one who struck Owen with a cudgel at the end of issue 5) is in an open-deck boxing match with another Wrecker. Others crowded around are laughing, but there’s an edge to their attitudes and to the men fighting. It’s not obvious whether this is all in good fun. The rough-looking man lands a powerful roundhouse punch on his opponent’s face.

PANEL 6

Men and women dance to raucous music. Behind them, two Wreckers jump from the deck of one ship to another.

PAGE 5

PANEL 1

Big panel, Owen makes his way to where a small, tattered scout airship is tethered to the deck of one of the conglomerated Wrecker vessels. This is the patchwork airship shown in Hugh’s painting on p 271 of the novel.

OWEN

I know that ship … I’ve seen it before.

PANEL 2

A female Wrecker scoutship pilot tugs on one of the tether ropes, preparing to board the ship. She is dressed in motley clothes, even has steampunk goggles. Her hair is short and she looks like a ragamuffin; a smear of grease is on one cheek.

OWEN

When I was on the steamer bound for Atlantis, I know I saw this ship up in the sky.

(small voice)

No one believed me.

PILOT

I always watch for ships and storms. And opportunities.

PANEL 3

The pilot looks over her shoulder as she swings into the scoutship.

PILOT

We light the beacon and get ready. The ships always fall for it. Sounds like you got lucky the first time.

PANEL 4

Close-up, Owen’s face with a tear running down his cheek.

OWEN

Lucky …

PANEL 5

Big panel. With his back to us, Owen watches as the steam airship lifts up and sails away. The Anarchist speaks to him from outside the panel. We don’t see him until next page.

ANARCHIST (OUT OF PANEL)

You travel a very random course, Owen Hardy of Barrel Arbor. Refreshingly unpredictable!

PAGE 6

PANEL 1

Dramatic panel, the villain appears on stage. The Anarchist stands there, grinning.

ANARCHIST

Good thing I stole one of the Watchmaker’s own Destiny Calculators, or I would never have known where to intercept you.

PANEL 2

Owen is shocked and angry. He clenches his fist.

OWEN

You! The last time I saw you, you set a detonator in Chronos Square—tried to destroy the carnival!

OWEN

And they blamed me for it! You … you ruined everything.

PANEL 3

The Anarchist laughs.

ANARCHIST

Consider it a fresh start. The nudge you needed to change your life.

ANARCHIST

I set you free!

PANEL 4

Two shot, view from above so we can see more of the interconnected shipwrecks.

ANARCHIST

The Wreckers are my kindred spirits—that much should be obvious. They understand freedom.

PANEL 5

Shot of two Wrecker men climbing a tilted mast, while another one throws a rope up to them. Anarchist continues from previous panel.

ANARCHIST

Once we destroy the Watchmaker’s Stability, they will do just fine. They’re survivors.

PANEL 6

Close-up, the Anarchist extends his tattooed hand.

ANARCHIST

I’ll do my best to teach you, make you fit in. Come, let me show you something.

PAGE 7

PANEL 1

The Watchmaker’s section, with appropriate panel design and gear embellishments from his previous scenes. Establishing shot of the Watchmaker’s Tower.

CAPTION

Crown City. The Watchmaker’s Tower.

PANEL 2

Big panel, exotic and strange. The Watchmaker stands before an odd apparatus, an arrangement of large and small lenses, all of them connected by clockwork gears … something like an optometrist’s eye-testing apparatus, but this arrangement is as large as a window. Oddly, the connected lenses are mounted in front of a brick wall, so the Watchmaker can’t really be seeing anything. But as he adjusts the gears, two of the random lenses glow with the faint blue of coldfire.

WATCHMAKER

Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.

PANEL 3

A breathless uniformed Regulator captain of the black guard rushes in.

REGULATOR CAPTAIN

Watchmaker, sir! We found them! The Wreckers—we have their coordinates at last.

PANEL 4

The Watchmaker turns and gives a hard, determined smile. He is so ancient! And his eyes have a faint blue of coldfire … somewhat like his daughter, the gypsy fortune teller.

WATCHMAKER

Exactly as my Destiny Calculators foretold. Even my former student isn’t as unpredictable as he thinks he is.

PANEL 5

At his desk, the Watchmaker picks up folded, accordioned pages and pages and pages with decision trees spilling across them.

WATCHMAKER

Two centuries ago, I took the chaotic land of Albion and imposed my Stability. It was a tremendous fight, but I succeeded!

PANEL 6

From a hook on the wall, the Watchmaker grabs a gray military-style jacket (like the Regulator’s, but gray) while he ushers the Regulator captain out of the tower room. They are in a rush.

WATCHMAKER

This battle is just as important. Dispatch all troops, all weapons, all airships. We must fight to ensure that all is for the best.

REGULATOR CAPTAIN

Yes, sir! All is for the best.

PAGE 8

PANEL 1

The Anarchist and Owen stand beside a towering rig, like a crane structure or an oil derrick. It is a slatted structure made of wooden beams, situated on a separate deck from the inhabited ships, out at the edge of the raft-island. At the top, extended on an arm like a crane, dangles a large crackling blue-white sphere of coldfire, dim now. This is what the Wreckers used to attract ships.

OWEN

That coldfire globe! That’s what lured our ship during the storm.

ANARCHIST

Yes, people are so easily fooled by what they want to see. The coldfire is dim now, but we can stoke it during a storm … and it’s as bright as an angel!

PANEL 2

Aloof, the Anarchist grabs one of the slats and swings himself up, climbing.

ANARCHIST

It’s time to continue your education, Owen Hardy. I need to make you useful.

PANEL 3

Owen stands on the deck at the base of the coldfire tower, hands on his hips, obviously looking angry.

OWEN

I don’t want to be here. And I certainly don’t want any of your education.

PANEL 4

The Anarchist is high up now, almost to the top, calling down, taunting. Looking uncertain, Owen begins to climb after him.

ANARCHIST

I would never force you—but any truly free man should not be afraid to listen to other ideas. Are you afraid?

OWEN

No … just not interested.

PANEL 5

Big panel, together the two are at the top of the tower (with the coldfire globe extended out on its arm and dangling below). They look at the amazing conglomerate raft island of wrecked ships.

ANARCHIST

The Wreckers were happy to join me. They’ve embraced my mission to restore humanity to a natural state of complete freedom!

ANARCHIST

We sink cargo ships, deprive the evil Watchmaker of his vital alchemical supplies. I will bring down the Stability!

ANARCHIST

And as for the Wreckers … I think they just like to plunder the ships.

PAGE 9

PANEL 1