WRITING COMICS
DIRECTIONS FOR GRAPHIC NOVEL PROLOGUE
PAGE ONE (refer to page ix at front)
Panel 1
EXPLORATION TEAM WALKING THROUGH GRECIAN RUINS, LED BY AN OLDER BRITISH MAN WITH A HANDLEBAR MUSTACHE (LORD FRANCIS BEEDLES). BESIDES BEEDLES, THERE SHOULD BE AT LEAST ONE WOMAN, AND A MALE FROM INDIA WHO IS CARRYING AN ENORMOUS PACK AND POSSIBLY A BLUNDERBUSS (FASHION CIRCA 1907). IT DOESN’T NEED TO BE A LARGE GROUP (MAYBE FIVE PEOPLE IN ALL).
Caption (1): In 1907, Lord Francis Beedles led a team of explorers to the Greek island of Crete. They were looking for the labyrinth where Theseus slew the Minotaur. What they discovered was even more remarkable.
Panel 2
BEEDLES HOLDS UP A TORCH TO REVEAL STRANGE PICTOGRAPHS OF THE THULE (WALKING LIZARDS WITH SIX ARMS, TWO LEGS AND A TAIL–REFERENCE AVAILABLE). FACES SHOULD REVEAL SHOCK AND CONFUSION.
Caption (2): deep inside a cave near the ruins of Knossos were pictographs of strange creatures that looked like walking lizards. It was a curious find.
Panel 3
THE GATEWAY SHOULD BE SOME KIND OF DOORWAY INSIDE THE TUNNEL SYSTEM OF THE CAVES. IT COULD BE RINGED WITH GLYPHS, ARCHED OR SQUARED. REGARDLESS, WE NEED A SENSE THAT IT IS MORE THAN AN OPENING . . . IT IS A GATEWAY TO ANOTHER WORLD. MAYBE THERE’S SOME KIND OF GLOW, OR SOMEONE REACHING A HAND THROUGH AND IT’S SWALLOWED BY THE DARKNESS SO YOU CAN NO LONGER SEE IT.
Caption (3): So was the gateway, a door that somehow led them to a strange new world . . .
Panel 4
BEEDLES IS HIDDEN AS HE DISCOVERS A SCENE WITH AT LEAST ONE OF THE THULE STANDING THERE, AND POSSIBLY MORE.
Caption (4): A world populated by the very creatures they had found on the walls.
PAGE TWO
Panel 1
JEREMIAH HIBBIT (ABOUT 28-35 YEARS OLD) IS RUNNING WITH ONE OF THE THULE CHASING AFTER HIM. IT WOULD BE NICE TO SHOW HIS CAMERA . . . SOMETHING HE IS HOLDING ON TO AS A PRIZED POSSESSION.
Caption (1): Of the seven explorers, only one returned—a photographer by the name of Jeremiah Hibbit.
Panel 2
PHOTOS OF STRANGE CREATURES SPREAD HAPHAZARDLY ACROSS A TABLE.
Caption (2): He brought back pictures, but they were dismissed as fakes.
Panel 3
SHOW ONE OF THE THULE IN EITHER LONDON OR TOKYO (CIRCA 1900-1915).
Caption (3): Soon bizarre creatures were spotted in places like London, Tokyo, and New york City. For the gateway worked both ways.
Panel 4
SHOW A MAN SKULKING ABOUT IN THE SEWERS (CIRCA 1900-1915). HE’S BEEN SPOTTED BY SOMEONE WEARING A HARDHAT WITH A LIGHT (SOME KIND OF SANITATION WORKER). LOTS OF SHADOWS AND PERHAPS THE PERSON DISCOVERED HAS GLOWING EYES.
Caption (4): Some witnesses even claimed that the creatures could shapeshift.
Panel 5
THE MAN HAS TURNED INTO A HULKING THULE.
No dialogue or caption.
PAGE THREE
Panel 1
SHOW SOLDIERS AS THOUGH THEY ARE POSING FOR A PHOTOGRAPH. THE CENTER FIGURE IS THE PHANTOM FLYER (REFERENCE AVAILABLE).
Caption (1): years later there were rumors that Hitler found an enclave of the lizard men, and that he enlisted to fight in his army.
Panel 2
BATTLE SCENE WITH AT LEAST ONE THULE FIGHTING ONE OR TWO US SOLDIERS. THE THULE SHOULD TOWER OVER THEM (ABOUT 7-8 FEET TALL VS. 6 FEET TALL).
Caption (2): In response, the united States formed the Central Headquarters Against the Occult and Supernatural.
Panel 3
SHOW THE THULE OVERWHELMING ANOTHER ALIEN RACE.
Caption (3): CHAOS agents learned that the lizard men were a race of warmongers known as the Thule.
Panel 4
SHOW THE THULE FIGHTING BESIDE NAZIS (AND A NAZI ROBOT).
Caption (4): Over the centuries they had expanded their empire by destroying world after world. Now that their own planet was dying, they sought the Earth as their new home.
PAGE FOUR
Panel 1
Caption (1): After the Allies defeated Hitler, the Thule went into hiding. They waited as their scientists invented a technology that could open a gateway large enough for their machines of war.
Panel 2
SHOW AN AERIAL VIEW OF THE EARTH AS THOUGH IT IS BEING TAKEN FROM OUTERSPACE. POSSIBLY SHOW A SPACESHIP OR AN ARMADA.
Caption (2): The Earth would be theirs, for according to an ancient prophecy, they would never know defeat . . .
Panel 3
SHOW “THE BETRAYER” (A THULE) STANDING WITH HIS ARMS IN THE AIR AND HIS HEAD THROWN BACK, WITH THULE LYING AT HIS FEET, UNCONSCIOUS.
Caption (3): That is until one of their own blood—The Betrayer— would turn against his people. On that day, their Empire will crumble.
PAGE FIVE
Panel 1
SHOW AN ALIEN POW BEING PARADED IN FRONT OF US SOLDIERS.
Panel 2
SHOW A GI INJECTING HIMSELF WITH BLOOD. SHOW AN ALIEN CADAVER NEARBY . . . BUT HAVE IT BE WHOLE WITH ITS ARMS ACROSS ITS CHEST (NO GORE).
Caption (2): desperate to end the war, GIs injected themselves with the blood from an alien cadaver. They hoped it would turn at least one of them into the Betrayer.
Panel 3
SHOW A DOCTOR INJECTING A CHILD WITH A SYRINGE AND NEEDLE. MAYBE THE CAMERA IS IN THE CEILING LOOKING DOWN AT A CHILD WHO IS LYING ON AN OPERATING TABLE LOOKING SCARED AS THE DOCTOR IS ABOUT TO INJECT HIM.
Caption (3): It didn’t work. But the united States government adapted the test and secretly injected thousands of men and boys with a serum that contained alien dNA.
Panel 4
SHOW COLT MCALISTER (THE 16-YEAR-OLD STAR OF THE BOOK SERIES) FLYING THROUGH THE SKY IN A JET PACK, COMING TOWARD THE CAMERA. HE’S DRESSED IN A 1940S BOMBER JACKET AND IS WEARING AVIATOR GOGGLES AND A JET PACK. HE HAS LONG, BLOND HAIR FLOWING IN THE WIND.
Caption (4): It took more than fifty years, but they finally found a match.
Caption (5): As the Thule prepare to invade, our leaders pray that Colt McAlister truly is the one . . . that he is the Betrayer.
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