DW UNIVERSE: DARK WORLD- It Begins!

[W. Smith]

Allright, so not every one may like this but here is a clear script. Imagine the possibilites this opens up if you can. See what you think and let's go from here :

DW BOOKEND 1

By

J. Harris

(First Draft)


EXT. SPACE - INDETERMINABLE
Page 1: Three Panels 1 1/2 page, 2 and 3 side by side 1/4 page

Panel 1: a picture of infinite space with stars and suns, solar systems and planets
CAPTION
(upperleft)
In the beginning...

Panel 2: A picture of Light, a god like entity surrounded by white with the figure barely visible in the fines thinnest lines. It should be somewhat humanoid but better in every way, maybe even feminine
CAPTION
(upper left)
There was Light...

Panel 3: A picture of Dark, a monstrous chaotic form in the darkness barely visible in th picture through highlight and shadow.
CAPTION
(lower right)
...and there was Dark

EXT. SPACE - INDETERMINABLE
Page 2: 4 Panels

Panel 1 and 2
Two seemingly separate panels, similar to panels 2 and 3 on page one, but the border has broken and the darkness has begun to slip over into the top of the frame and into panel one, while, the light seems to be pulled through the bottom of the panel and into panel 2.
CAPTION
(upper left, panel 1)
And Dark coveted Light...
CAPTION
(lower right, panel 2)
...and Light succumbed to the Dark

Panel 3:
Larger panel- now the light and dark are swirled about each other, but along the border between them all sorts of heroic figures good and bad fight between the light and dark
CAPTION
(upper left)
When all seemed lost, Light resisted

Panel 4 similar to Panel 1 and 2 but instead of a clear border now it is clearly one panel divided by a then web of grey branching out between and into the light and dark
Light is restored on the far left hand side seemingly in flight, free and unbound from the Dark and untouched by the Web. and Dark is restricted by webs, bound into the far lower right corner.
CAPTION
(upper left)
A boundary was woven...
CAPTION
(Lower left)
...Light was freed
CAPTION
(Lower right)
...and Dark was bound

EXT SPACE. SPACE - INDETERMINABLE
Page 3: 5 Panels

Panel 1 -1/2 page
Upper left Light is whole and free like a sun; in the lower left, Dark is bound like a fly in the web. The whole panel is covered with webs. In the center a giant spider sits. He/She should be given human characteristics, looking wise and noble, old and wizened, but caring and charismatic. He doesn't have to be a direct spider, Maybe a humanoid spider with many eyes under a cowl and many arms. In between the branches of the Web should be identifiable pictures of human history. And even in the outer branches some pictures of different heroic figures, that are unknown to us. Under the web in the core center is our earth, a planet of light
CAPTION
(upper left)
The Weaver was given dominion over the Universe; a caretaker of destiny and fate.

Panel 2
Dark; bound angry and brooding in the trap.
CAPTION
Dark schemed and planned, often railing against the prison, to no avail.

Panel 3: From Dark's viewpoint looking across the Web and the universe at the Weaver. Dark slips the finest tendril Like a finger, out of the bindings and it touches the finest thread farthest from the center, like the pluck of a guitar or harp string.
CAPTION
(upper left)
Eternity passed... Darkness waited and the Weaver aged...
SFX: 'plink!'

Panel 4: The Weaver, obviously older, now horrified, rushes towards the Dark, raising a staff bursting with light and the tendril burst into smoke, Darkness recoils in pain and agony.
CAPTION
(upper left)
He was not quite as alert, or quite as astute...

Panel 5: The Weaver stands over the re-bound Dark, staff raised. Behind him a Comet rushes toward the center for the center of the web.

EXT. SPACE - INDETERMINABLE
Page 4: 4 panels

Panel 1:The comet strikes the center of the web With a great explosion. The Weaver is thrown down against the web, his staff falls.
THE WEAVER
(screaming SFX)
NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!

Panel 2: An overview shot of the web, Light and Dark. Dark is bound, segments of the web are broken and dangling broken and wild threads now cross the pictures of histories creating clear fissures, some of the pics fade to light and some fade to black. Webbing extends out and graps Light who struggles to be free.
CAPTION
(upper left)
Balance, once destroyed...

Panel 3: An over view shot of the web again. On the Web stands a new beautiful form, He/she is clearly dark, but metallic and humanoid, but beautiful. On one side Light is now bound. She is draining into the web and those threads become light, extending under the new figures feet. Light herself now bound like Dark, becomes gray. Under the now-standing but disheveled Weaver, Dark saturates his bounds and blackness slickens the webs at reaches out for the Weaver.
CAPTION
(upper left)
...is now restored

Panel 4: A Close up of the new beautiful antagonist in all her glory. She is gorgeous and horrifying all the same.
CAPTION
(upper left)
Chaos is born!
CHAOS
(smiling wickedly)
Come Old Man, Let's Play!

EXT. SPACE - INDETERMINABLE
Page 5: 2 Panels
Panel 1: 1/2 page: Chaos with a huge sword, and Weaver now settled with staff raised high rush each other on top of the web which bounces and breaks further.
SFX from the collision of the two great powers: KA-THOOOOM!

Panel 2: 1/2 page
The figures are miniscule in the center of the web. Pictures throughout the webbing change and flicker. Threads break off and become unraveled. On the far left, Light is bound weeping, on the far right Dark grins evilly. The planet earth at the core becomes both dark and light
CAPTION
(upper left)
...And so it begins anew
CAPTION
(lower right)
Where Light glistened brightly throughout the universe, now Dark and Chaos reign, filling in new threads and breaking old ones. The fabric of the Universe slowly weaves undone... Fate and destiny succumb to the will of Chaos, and the outcome will be decided in a new universe, on a-
CAPTION
(BOLD ITALICS)
~DARK WORLD

[W. Smith]

Okay comments and crits?...Besides the spelling and grammar. I wrote this literally less than an hour this morning at work. On my second read thru just now, i noticed alot of small errors and typos (that's what ya get when you rush through a spell check...)

This is not a be all end all, just a suggestion

Maybe this could be like our first contest: anyone else want to submit a 5 page script setting up our universe and providing some kind of major event?

[knockedoutpanzer]

I like this alot I think it sets the right tone.

[fletch137]

It seems a lot more cosmic than I was expecting, I'll give you that. I mean, we're talking Biblical, creation of the universe type stuff.

I wasn't going to offer any critiques until I could offer an alternative and I've been busy enough here at work to not be able to do one fully.

Still, here's what I was thinking the Weaver would be like, if you don't mind a really quick, abbreviated delivery:

Panel 1 - across top of page
A web stretches across a Kirby-esque cosmic skyline. The disembodied head of the Weaver speaks to the reader from one corner of the panel

Weaver: They call me the Weaver, but I did not create the web. I am little more than a traveler, moving along the strands of the universal web as it extends across galaxies and spans the millennia.

Panel 2 - across center of page
The Weaver holds two strands of the web. At each gap in the web pattern, an image of our comic universe appears. Could be characters and events taken from the stories we're working on in a sort of collage with only strands of webbing between each image.

Weaver: And where two strands meet, great events can occur that send unforeseen repercussions throughout the whole.

Panel 3 - bottom left of page
Close-up of the weavers hand plucking at a strand. The picture framed by the web is of a two explorers climbing over a subterranean ledge.

Weaver: But like true spider’s silk, the universal web is fragile. The slightest flick of a single thread can alter even the most mundane of existences.

First Explorer: Carl, did you hear-?

Panel 4 - bottom right of page
Close up of a 'web panel'. In fact it could be a second panel extending from the web in panel three. The panel reveals the rock face giving way underneath the foot of one of the explorers.

Explorer Two: The rock, it's giving - Aaaaahh.


And then page two would jump into the story of my two spelunkers as they delve into the Earth. Did the Weaver cause the rock to give away? Who can say for sure? All we know for now is that interesting things are about to happen to Carl and his friend and the Weaver likes to watch. Imagine similar set-ups revealing another author's hapless child encountering a lost magical artifact or an engineer trying to fix his rocket engines so they can escape the Galactic Armada and you have an idea of how I saw the Weaver when he was first suggested.

[T.J. May]

I would keep all "The Weaver" stuff secret and his/ her purpose hidden for as long as possible. View it as backstory, sprinkle hints throughout the main plot until it needs to come on stage.

I think if you open a book in the manner that has been suggested so far, you'll have other creative types assuming they've seen this before. "Eh, more myth and gods stuff. I've read Kirby, I've read Sandman." And move on. It's also likely you'll scare away the mainstream thinking it's heady gobble-dee-gook.

But if you start it out it with the familiar and some action, i.e. spelunkers getting trapped or what have you, throw some average Joe's into peril ASAP, you'll grab the attention of the broadest audience. Then you can expand the story and set the stage for your Fantastic world. Turn the reader on their head and they'll stay interested.

My 2 cents.

[W. Smith]

Originally Posted by T.J. May

I would keep all "The Weaver" stuff secret and his/ her purpose hidden for as long as possible. View it as backstory, sprinkle hints throughout the main plot until it needs to come on stage.

I think if you open a book in the manner that has been suggested so far, you'll have other creative types assuming they've seen this before. "Eh, more myth and gods stuff. I've read Kirby, I've read Sandman." And move on. It's also likely you'll scare away the mainstream thinking it's heady gobble-dee-gook.

But if you start it out it with the familiar and some action, i.e. spelunkers getting trapped or what have you, throw some average Joe's into peril ASAP, you'll grab the attention of the broadest audience. Then you can expand the story and set the stage for your Fantastic world. Turn the reader on their head and they'll stay interested.

My 2 cents.

Totally the plan...This was more to give everyone a feel and to demonstrate how, if need be, we could be mostly all inclusive and still achieve somekind of overarching story...

Thre seems to be a lot of confusion about how this is going to work. I'm not sure if I know how to really explain the vision better...

[r nelson]

Originally Posted by T.J. May

I think if you open a book in the manner that has been suggested so far, you'll have other creative types assuming they've seen this before. "Eh, more myth and gods stuff. I've read Kirby, I've read Sandman." And move on. It's also likely you'll scare away the mainstream thinking it's heady gobble-dee-gook.

I think I said it in the other thread, but T.J. is THE MAN, and I agree with him wholeheartedly here.

Start with something concrete and a little less biblical/otherworldly/out-there that occurs BECAUSE of the Weaver-conflict, use that to HINT at the Weaver-conflict, and then build back to it.

Build it like an Onion: Start with what seems like a simple event, and peel back layer after layer after layer until you finally reveal the core.

My 2.5 cents.

- Richard

[W. Smith]

I was reluctant to even go this route, and post it, but everyone seemed to want some kind of framework...

From here I think we should just put this aside and do some world building.

As for an inciting event...don't worry about it. We are not changing the whole earth at once. Neither DC nor Marvel had a particular event that birthed everything. Characters were built and over time they were slowly woven together into a whole. This should be our focus.

I am hoping to start a weekly character creation contest where we decide on some basic themes, everyone takes a crack at it, we vote and then add the winner's interpetation to a "company" stockpile, thereby building some characters for anyone and everyone to use...Effectively our JLA or Avengers, not a superteam mind you, just some major force heros and villians...

If it works out, then we can see if the artist's forum will do some competitions to visualize the characters This will be a good excercise for everyone and it will do some much needed world building.

After that I would like to move onto 3-5 page mini scripts, once every two weeks, utilizing a standard cast or our stock characters. In addition everyone start working on your own sandcastles in each corner of the box. Set up a constant thread for yourselves and the editors and others can C&C your work. As we move along we can start to incorporate the individuals ideas and stories into the whole..

Any other ideas?

Dark Worlders ASSEMBLE!!!!

[outlawmojo]

Sounds like a plan.
DW where the weak are killed and eaten.

[knockedoutpanzer]

The other-worldly stuff should be introduced slowly. I always liked babylon5 where the existence of the 'orrible Shadows was revealed bit by bit.

I'm all for the character contest and short scripts.