Jimmy Palmiotti has more comic book credits
under his belt than can be sensibly listed in a sidebar biography.
He's done lots. Trust us. We don't lie. Much.
Notable amongst the above mentioned credits
are: Co-creator of 21Down, The Resistance,
Gatecrasher, Ash, and Painkiller Jane. Editor
and founder of Marvel Knights, working on Daredevil,
Black Panther, Punisher, Killraven, and
The Inhumans. Writer/co-writer on Beautiful Killer
and Superboy.
Jimmy is also one of the comic industry's
most popular ink artists, having put his pen to Superman, Batman, Catwoman, Midnight Mass, Codename ; Knockout, Sci -Spy, Punisher, Nick Fury, Brotherhood, and many, many more.
Justin Gray has been extremely lucky in
that he has managed to slide his way into a number of exciting
and interesting situations for which he was distressingly under
qualified. He traveled to the mountains of the Dominican Republic
and mined amber with the local people, spending his nights partying
on the balconies of Santa Domingo. Along with eccentric inventor
Roy Larimer, Justin has delivered previously undiscovered species
of insects to the curator of entomology at American Museum of
Natural Histrory.
Currently Justin is co-creator and co-writer
of 21Down and The Resistance, with Jimmy Palmiotti,
as well as being co-writer of Chastity Re-imagined from
Chaos! Comics.
His upcoming projects include a piece of
sequential fiction for the official Matrix
Movie Website with artist JG Jones.
Comic books are a collaborative medium, no big news there. Our friends at the Speech Balloon, a collective of artists and writers soon to be launching a website specifically geared toward helping aspiring comicbook creators develop their skills and gain exposure. You should visit their forum (here) to find out more.
Shameless Self Promotion
And now a peek behind the curtain. The following is three pages of sample script from our book The Resistance published by Wildstorm/DC Comics. The script is accompanied by four pages of artwork to give you a chance to see how Juan Santacruz, who speaks little or no English, turns text into dazzling images.
The Resistance Issue #3
PAGE 12 - PANEL 1 They come to a door that looks something like an industrial bank vault. On either side of the door are palm pads.
PANEL 2 The girl from the Preview Book places her hand on the pad the door makes a huge unlocking sound.
SFX:
KKKKKKRRR-CCHANK!
PANEL 3 Standing in a decontamination chamber—all red lights—something that hits them with an antibacterial blast OF LOW LEVEL RADIATION. The girl from the preview book is standing beside Hicks.
PANEL 4 The second door opens splashing harsh white light on Hicks’ face. We see Hicks and the kids, but NOT what they see. The girl is beside him.
GIRL:
The food they tried to steal was not for us…
PAGE 13 - PANEL 1 BIG A massive room with glass incubators for illegal babies turned over to the Resistance by parents unable to care for them or babies discarded in the streets, garbage cans and so forth. Make this as high tech as you want as long as we see there are infants in the cubes and there are teenagers and kids taking care of them. This is a mind-blowing shot and we need it to have emotional impact. Hicks looks across a room filled with infants in plastic cubes being monitored by children no older than ten. Although he’s aware that such places exist, he’s never seen it for himself and the effect is staggering.
GIRL:
…it was for them.
PANEL 2 Shot of Hicks walking through a row of these incubators so we can see there are dozens of them.
PAGE 14 - PANEL 1 SUNSET Shot of FTP using a communications device-headset. Beside her is Tommy. They need to be in different clothing, nothing that identifies them other than their faces.
NARRATION BOX:
Manhattan’s East Side-The Float
FTP:
Surge, Tommy and I are in position.
PANEL 2 SUNSET Wide shot of the FLOAT. The Atlantic Ocean has moved in on the eastern coastline of Manhattan and there is an entire city floating out there. This city is a conglomeration of boats, rafts and garbage barges; basically anything that floats has been lashed together with anything you can imagine and set up as a functioning landmass. The people that live on what is called the FLOAT are as diverse as the city itself; these are mostly multiethnic refugees that have been denied access to the city, freaks, cyborg’s and surgically enhanced humans. This means JUAN GO CRAZY!
PANEL 3 SUNSET On the horizon, coming toward us OVER THE WATER is the Helios-Carrier (THINK FUTURISTIC ZEPPELIN). The silos of Surge, Mary and Brian are in the foreground. They are wearing jumpsuits marked: GROUND CREW and have on goggles. Mary’s hair is tied back.
SURGE:
Roger that, FTP, we have the Helios-Carrier in view looks like she’ll be docking in moments.
MARY:
Nice.
PAGE 15 - PANEL 1 SUNSET Ground level shot of the Helios-Carrier landing on a huge deck surrounded by fuel workers and armed androids.
FTP (VO):
Once she’s down for refueling, Surge, you’ll only have a short time to do this with a potential audience of more androids than I can count.
HEAT:
I hope that access code works.
PANEL 2 Getting dark out. Tommy lighting a cigarette.
TOMMY:
Surge I think you’re making a mistake. You don’t need to be putting yourself in the line of fire.
PANEL 3 GETTING DARK OUT. Surge, Brian and Mary are walking out onto the tarmac. Surge and Brian are pushing some kind or metal crate. They are wearing jumpsuits marked: GROUND CREW and have on goggles. Mary’s hair is tied back.
SURGE:
Your opinion has been noted, besides I can smell you from here…
BEAT:
AND you’re still drunk.
PANEL 4 GETTING DARK OUT. The three of them walk up to a pair of androids outside the boarding ramp. There are people everywhere. Think airport of the future.
PANEL 5 GETTING DARK OUT. Light shining through the android glass helmets.
ANDROIDS:
Clearance code?
SURGE:
Ncc1701 refrigeration and replacement culinary.
ANDROIDS:
Proceed.
insomnia
Most nights I don’t sleep more than 4 hours at a time. While it’s good for work, it’s hell on the body. It’s now just about four AM and I don’t feel like talking about comics.
On the TV is a 30-minute infomercial detailing the benefits of some natural herb that promises 25% penis growth in just less than two weeks. The host is interviewing two women; both claim to be dancers or entertainers, which as we can clearly see, means strippers aspiring to be actresses. These girls are a bus ticket from backroom gonzo porn.
The strippers are driving home the importance of “confidence” i.e. big penis.
Suddenly I’m thinking Washington monument.
Suddenly I’m thinking Y The Last Man.
Stripper number one is explaining her turn-on is a guy that approaches her to ask her out while she's surrounded by a pack of her friends.
I see Lucy pulling the football away at the last minute.
Stripper number two prefers a guy that can go the distance. Everyone is jittery like a pack of coked up game show contestants with no prizes to win. They express sincere concern over the crippling disease of small penis, staring into the camera as if I were on the other side of a pet store window.
Suddenly I’m thinking Anna Nicole Smith and that glazed look she gets when someone asks her a question.
Suddenly I think about Iggy Pop hypnotizing chickens.
You can tell when the applause sign comes on because there is a ten second delay when everyone looks to their right before they start clapping. I want to suggest a mild electric shock for each seat. I want to be sitting at the controls, turning the diodes, upping the juice.
During commercial breaks someone passes small shots of espresso to keep these people conscious. These are dollar a day extras lured in by the idea of being on television and a complete lack of anything else to do. If they weren’t here they’d be aimlessly pushing shopping carts in some supermarket. I see an elderly woman in the audience, hands folded, grinning like she knows something dangerous.
Suddenly I’m thinking about The Filth.
I imagine these people are on some infomercial bus tour. Maybe they offer this particular travel package in the back of Midwestern copies of the Pennysaver. Next stop canned hair, coming up on your right, do it yourself French manicure sets, jump to super cleaning agents not available in stores, jump to vinyl repair paste for torn car seats, juice machines, bowie knives, videos of drunken college girls flashing their breasts for Snoop Dogg, jump to 8-minute abs, jump to facial hair laser surgery… This is the 4 AM snake oil circus sideshow of America. This is a reason to start taking sleeping pills.
