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PAGE FOUR

1 CITY STREET - CONTINUOUS

Grip stands over the dying Woman of Fire as her flames go out, looking down at her.

NARRATION
Where the rest of humanity has fallen short, we have found the Buddha’s Nirvana.

2 CITY STREET - CONTINUOUS

Grip looks up to see other ninjas being swatted aside by the Giant Man’s immense arms like a child knocking over toy soldiers.

3 CITY STREET - CONTINUOUS

Grip runs toward the Giant Man who stands motionless for a second, looking around and trying to figure out the intention of the ninjas who crouch just out of arm’s reach on all sides of him.

4 CITY STREET - CONTINUOUS

In complete unison with the others, Grip leaps into the air, all of them aimed to land on the Giant Man’s shoulders. He flails his arms to thwart them off, but even though he strikes one down, four others, including Grip, get past his hands.

NARRATION
We move as a single body.

5 CITY STREET - CONTINUOUS

The four ninjas (including Grip) land on the Giant Man’s shoulders and raise their swords in a reverse double-handed grip, the points all aimed at the base of the Giant Man’s neck.

NARRATION
Our thoughts identical.

 

 

 

I love the idea of someone whose thought process is so twisted that they equate killing an innocent human being with reaching the ultimate Buddhist goal of complete inner peace. This was a moment that I really wanted to make sure was given it's fair chance to hit the reader full-force.

Sean had taken some liberties with the page 2+3 spread which made the visuals cool as hell, but took out the panel where we see Grip, emotionless, in close-up. Thus, I had to shift the dialogue from that panel to the first panel on this page.

So what? Well, the way Sean originally drew that first panel Grip was actually looking into the background, where the Giant Man was knocking around ninjas. This caused the story to move on to the next beat before I had a chance to finish the bit on Buddhism. If I'd put the narration in that panel the way it was originally drawn it would have been two different thoughts going on at the same time and it wouldn't have worked.

However, since we see the Giant Man swatting ninjas in the second panel, having him do it in the first panel was unnecessary and so I felt I wouldn't be detracting from that action sequence to erase him and the ninjas he fights from panel one. A few minutes in Photoshop (after getting Sean's permission to alter his work) and we now have the impression that Grip is looking down at the woman he just killed, which fits with the narration.