Acid Jack: Issue 1: Black Hole Jack. Page 1: Summer, 9 years ago. Frame 1: Inside of a police station in Portland. Late at night. Cop has a cup of coffee and is on the phone. Cop: Yes, I know how late it is, ma'am. Frame 2: Close up towards the door of the interrogation room. Cop: It's your son, ma'am. Frame 3: Black panel with only the green waveform of the policeman's voice coming over the telephone lines. Cop: He's out of his fucking mind. Page 2: Frame 1: Inside of interrogation room. Close up on Jack, Age 18. He's wearing a leather jacket and no shirt. Looking stupified. Like Hans Ellis' profile photo. Pupils are huge, taking up 90% of the eyes. Frame 2: Angle from entering the room. Shocked look on Jack's face Crazy Joker-like lettering: "MOM!" Frame 3: His mother in the room, his father in the background talking to the cop. Mother: It's ok, Johnny, everything's fine. We're going home. Page 3: Frame 1:Crane shot from about 12 feet up of a silver Lexus going down Macadam towards Lake Oswego. Emphasize speed. Dad: What were you thinking John? Mom: Leave him alone. Frame 2: Inside of the car. Jack's mother is driving. His dad looks worried and angry. Mom: Will, you're only making it worse for him. We can get him to talk about it in the morning. Let's focus on getting him home. That's all we need to do. Frame 3: Lengthwise panel. Jack’s POV. Looking out the window toward he rolls down the window, it makes a bzzzzz sound. Fluid wispy lettering outside the window says be silent as we approach the endless end There’s a question mark on the inside of Jack’s head Dad: I did acid once. Mom: How nice of you to tell me. Frame 4: Dad: I saw and did some crazy things, Jen… But it was nothing like this. Close up on the derelict shell of Jack's body. Frame 5: Same shot except Jack’s eyes are closed like he is trying to wall something out Mom(quietly): Christ, Robert. Dad: It’s like - he's out of this world entirely." Page 4-5 Frame 1: Close up on Mom's face turning around in the driver's seat. Bright lights from another car blind the view in front of her. Mom: How many tabs did you take? Frame 2: Jack: Doesn’t really matter now does it? Double Page Splash. A Huge Pickup Truck crashes into the car. Crushing the front of the Lexus entirely. All you can see of where his parents were thin lines of red. Jack is still as he was. His eyes are anime sized. Looking straight ahead at the dark impossibility that is happening. Frame 3: Left corner of page 5. Close up of Jack's wet black eyes. FX: CLICK. Page 6. Frame 1. [9 years later] CLICK! A lamp goes on and we see Jack, nine years older with a five o'clock shadow and good hair. He's wearing sweatpants as he pulls the covers off his side of the bed. The sheets are red satin. He is a wealthy man. Frame 2: Close up on hand, He turns on the radio. Radio: "..like a beautiful sunrise, but don't be fooled. You better get ready for stormy night. Thunderclouds are coming from the east and the cold is coming with it." Frame 3: Jack looks over at his wife, Carol, next to him naked with her red hair cascading across her pillow. Jack:(narration) I have had that dream, that flashback, more times than i can count. Radio: You better bundle up close tonight. Frame 4: Same as Frame 2, He turns off the radio. Page 7: Frame 1: Jack is in the bathroom splashing water on his face. Shot is from the waist up. Jack :(narration) Some days, when everything is right, I can make myself believe that it never happened. Jack: Do you want breakfast? Frame 2: Grace in bed, a wider shot giving more of an eye to the magenta walls and the pop art on there. She turns over in bed, making a rustling sound. Grace: "mmmf" Jack(narration): She doesn’t want anything. Frame 3: Wide rear full shot of Jack in a blue ermine bathrobe with a cigarette limp in his hand in front of a wall sized window. He has a fucking amazing view from the top of Big Pink overlooking the Portland metropolis, a city which in this universe is music bigger and taller than it actually is. He is looking east across the Willamette towards a sunset rising from the slopes of Mt. Hood there are dark cumulonimbus clouds coming from the east tinted pink by the sunrise. Jack:(narration) Some days, I find it hard to believe I can go forward at all. Frame 4: Close up on Jack's face. Bathed in sunlight and blue cigarette smoke Grace(from off-screen to the right): Honey? Page 8: Frame 1: Grace is holding the satin blankets up to her chest and looking incredibly sexy. She is on the right side of the bed. Lighting comes from the lamp turned on in 6:1. Grace: Can you come back to bed for a moment? Jack(narration): Some days I feel like the luckiest man on earth. Frame 2: Jack in an open robe, with blue jeans. Killer abs because this is a comic book. He has a sultry smirk on his face, holding the collar of the blue ermine bathrobe. Bear in mind the layout of the suite. The window on which he was previously looking at is in the room behind him. Rays of light are coming in from that room. Jack(teasing): But, I’m all dressed up already. Frame 3: They kiss briefly on the bed with Jack leaning over her. Frame 4: Jack is now out of frame. Grace looks at him, proud and doe-eyed. Jack: I really want to, I do. But I really have to get ready for work. It’s a big day for me today. Grace: I know, baby. Jack: You pulling a shift today? Grace: Yeah, it starts at 1. I’ll be watching you though. Frame 5: Grace’s POV. He has a white dress shirt on and now he is tightening his tie. He looks very sharp. He is not looking directly at her, looking off to know where in particular like a leader. Jack: I love you, babe Page 9: Frame 1: Jack is driving his electric convertible up to this crazy OHSU looking building except it’s called “The Pearl” and it’s a castle. I would suggest finding a good reference picture to trace online. Very ominous and intimidating, with a thick nuclear tower in the background. It’s a sunny day. Tourist Guide(narration): Welcome to Pearl Laboratories. The premier applied physics lab in North America. Pearl is the home of the Halocon Supercollider, the largest and highest energy particle accelerator in the world. Frame 2: Jack is walking through the hallways past a monitor with a female face on it which is doing the narration. On an inset of the monitor is a map of Portland with the outline of the collider shown in the thick black. The Pearl station is near the top part of the circumference of the circle. It goes around Lake Oswego and across the Willamette through Portland. Tourist Guide: Today is the day where The Halocon supercollider is 200 meters below sea level and has a circumference of 18 miles. Streams of protons are accelerated to almost the speed of light through pipes that are super cooled to absolute zero. When streams of protons collide with each other, miniature stable black holes are produced, along with variety of theoretical particles yet to be observed. There is no danger from the black hole, it will evaporate due to a phenomenon known as Oppenheimer Radiation, named after Pearl Laboratories’ own Jack Oppenheimer, the youngest man to be awarded the Nobel Prize in physics. Frame 3: A flock of tourists are shuttling around the floor to the observation deck. Jack is walking toward the POV. His phone rings from his inside pocket. The phone goes “Didili dilidi dilide dee! Didili dilidi dilide dee!” Frame 4: Small frame of the front of the phone. Showing the caller ID. It says Calvin Savage, Investigative Reporter. Frame 5: Jack: Hello? From phone: How’s my future bro-in-law? So you gonna give me an exclusive or what? Frame 6: Jack has come to a stop, he is amused. Jack: You know I would call you a rat bastard but I think you would take it as a compliment. Calvin: I’m flattered, Jack. Consider it a personal favor. Frame 7: Close up on Jack’s hand lighting up the down. Jack: …Fine, you got it, man. 10 minutes. Here’s the thing though, you can’t just spring this on me the day of. I have a really packed day today. Calvin: You excited, dawg? Jack: Yeah. Page 10 1. Elevator doors open and Calvin is in the elevator with the phone to his ear. He is wearing jeans, a leather jacket and a baseball hat. Calvin: Alright. Let’s get this shit rolling. 1a. Small inset. Calvin closing the phone. SNAP. 2. Jack enters the elevator with another scientist. Jack and Calvin clasp hands and pat backs like old friends. They’re both grinning. Jack: You really are a rat bastard, you know that. Calvin: Oh, I know. I know. 3. Elevator is going down. Jack and Calvin chatting next to each other. That random scientist is behind him doing the elevator silence. Jack: Dude, I haven’t seen you in like a month. What’s been going on? Calvin: Oh you know, this and that. Jack: How long have you been here? Calvin: About half an hour, had an interview with your boss. 4. Same frame Jack: Oh yeah? Listen, we should catch up. There’s an afterparty at Marquam’s mansion around on saturday. You should be there. Calvin: Maybe. 5. Collider level of the Halocon. Look up pictures of the LHC and just add as much high tech shit as you can. Bunch of scientists and engineers hanging around in the control room, catwalks and ground floor. Two floors up there is a window with shades covering what’s inside. Page 11. 1. 5 minutes earlier. Calvin is exiting an office. The header of the office says: James T. Terwilliger PhD. Director. Calvin is smoking a cigarette and putting on his hat. 2. An even closer shot of the door as we seem to be moving closer, Calvin glances back at Blackman like a glitch in the Matrix. 3. A black hand grabs the doorknob. Intercom: Your 8:30 is here, Mr. Terwilliger. Blackman? From inside: Send him in. 4. Lengthwise shot of Calvin. Looking or his shoulder at the man he just saw. 5. Lengthwise shot of James Marquam, looks like Walter Mondale but chubbier. He looks surprised and delighted. The office itself is extravagant, like a governor’s office. James: Blackman! I’m so happy to see you I could cry! You seem as fit as ever, my dear boy. 6. Blackman looking scary as fuck, He wears a sweet golden amulet with some sort of totem on it, it dangles. There’s a dark ultraviolet shadowy but subtle aura around him. Broad shoulders, secret service type suit with white tie. Long hair, Cowboy hat. You can use white to shade facial features and outline his wild hair. Blackman: We barely know each other, Doctor. James(from offscreen): Doesn’t mean that a man can’t call another man beautiful. Page 12: 1. The carpeted floor of the office. Muddy footprints on the ground and Blackman’s feet making the tracks. Blackman: What a strange thing to say. James: Of course it is, I would never say that to your face. 2. Blackman: I’m already in a bad mood. Don’t make my day any worse. 3. James: Oh, lord. Stop being such a bummer all the time. We do things today, and that itself is enjoyment. / “For tomorrow we die” as people use to say. Blackman (offscreen): It’s nothing I’m just hungover. 4. Blackman bring a flask out of his pocket, Close up on the coat, not Blackman. Blackman: Honestly, I’m ready. 5. From over Blackman’s shoulder. James looking unnaturally excited. James: Good, great, fantastic! My scientists gave you the acid right? Blackman: Yeah, on Monday. Page 13: 1. Blackman is drinking from a flask, his hair blowing in the wind. Blackman: Tell me, do you have any guilt about betraying a man? 2. James: I feel joyous at the moment, after all it’s not me, never will be either. Listen to me for a moment Blackman: I always do. James: I aim to self-amuse, my dear boy. And who the hell wouldn’t be so proud of his conquests. But if any of this comes back to me in the press I’ll destroy you. You better believe it. Blackman: Sure 3. James: I’ve had the pleasure of working with Jack for years, he’s my best man and famous the world over, and not just for his mind. He is one of a kind. Blackman: Don’t you think I fucking already know that. The dude is made for this. Whatever this is. 4. James: I’ll tell you what this is, little god. It’s a game, you’re a player. Not only that, it’s your fucking game. Make it work, that’s your job here. 5. Blackman looking out the window to the collider chamber. James: Just, put a black hole in that poor man’s brain and be done with it. Completely done with it, after that you’ll only fuck it up more, because that what you do, frankly. Be good. As for now, I have duties to attend to. Page 14. 1. The inside of the collider chamber from 10-5. Close up on the window to Terwilliger’s office from the POV of the ground level. Blackman is looking down at the chamber. 2. Close up on Blackman through the window glass, drinking his champagne. 3. Walking on a catwalk in the main chamber past one of those large detector dishes. Calvin is walking beside Jack with a tape recorder to Jack’s head. Calvin: How will the black hole be contained in the experiment? Jack: The antimony metal sphere will absorb the immediate shock of the shift in gravity. Due to a unique property in the metal, upon positioning through a powerful change in G-force, antimony nanofibers vibrate and shift spatial dimensions. All forces will by absorbed into that dimension rather than this one. 4. Same as 3 but closer and in a corner slot. Page 15 1. Close up on the antimony sphere Calvin: And what will happen in the other spatial dimension? Jack: Honestly, nobody knows. There’s no way we can hypothesize what will happen past the singularity. And so we aren’t supposed to care… legally. 2. Inside the tunnels where the collider rings are positioned. Scientists are working on supercooling the rings. An engineer is at the ops station on a walkie-talkie. Jack(continued): This is purely theoretical work, but if we’re right, the existence of alternate dimensions would no longer be simply imagined. Engineer on walkie-talkie: Section 4 secured. From walkie-talkie: Section 11 secured. – Section 5 secured Section 17 secured. 3. NASA style control room, different rows on computers arranged on a stair system. Jack(continued from box): This experiment will not only potentially explain the origin of the universe, but be a major turning point in the quest to create a unified theory of absolutely everything. From quantum leaps to stellar symphonies, this is the moment that humanity has been waiting for. Marquam enters the control room. James: All stations, ready post and brief station leaders. I want this thing ready within the hour. Scientist: Yes, sir. Another Scientist: Right away, sir. Page 16 1. Jack is with Calvin in the tunnels, Jack gets paged by James. Jack: It’s game time, come with me. 2. Control room James(into an intercom): All clear central fusing chamber, particle detectors and tunnel segments and begin 10 minute countdown. 3. Jack enters the control room. Jack: Hey, somebody’s in a rush. James: Can it, Acid Jack. It’s time to shine. 4. Jack being angry. Jack: Don’t fucking call me that. 5. Blackman in the elevator, drinking from his flask. Page 17: 1. Exterior of the downtown police station. Autumn leaves falling from the park. Jack(narration): Grace was watching me on TV from her office in the Portland City Police Department. 2. Exterior of an apartment building in Seattle facing the Sound, in the foreground of the exterior shot is the top part of the P.I globe. The apartment of the 8th floor of an 14 floor building. Label at the top: Seattle. Jack: My sister was watching from her flat by the ocean. 3. A rabbit getting eaten by a snake in the desert. Jack: Somewhere entirely different, a rabbit is getting swallowed whole by a snake. 4. The control room. Jack, looking forward at the countdown clock says 4:19 in bright LEDs. Scientists and tech people Jack: And it was 4:19 on the countdown. 5. View of Jack from his front left looking toward his back right, from where Blackman is entering. Blackman lights a cigarette as he enters. Jack: When the black man came into the room. Page 18. 1. Blackman is talking over Jack’s shoulder. Jack has his arms crossed. Blackman: Listen carefully. Nobody can see me right now and I just paralyzed you for 15 seconds. Pretend to act natural. This is for everyone’s good. 2. View of Blackman holding this intricate dagger silver handle, black blade with bright green luminescence. It’s poised to stab at Jack’s back. Blackman: I’m going to inject you with half a pound of black acid now this will ease the transition of your mind. 3. Jack being stabbed in the middle of turning around to see his subject and he’s in a middle of a sentence. Blackman: Relax Jack: A!? What the hell are you--- UGHAAAAA. 4. Top down view of Jack’s back being flooded by tentacles of darkness embracing his torso while bent over Blackman. Jack: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAA FUCK! 5. Blackman’s fist hitting Jack towards the camera where it pummels the personality of his face and blood sprays out into adjacent panels. SLAM! Blackman: Try to be more accepting of this. 6. Blackman holding Jack’s body as he readies himself to throw him into the collider chamber. Page 19. 1. Jack is in air belly up shattering through the huge glass window to the collider chamber. Shot from ground floor of the collider level looking at Jack from a 45 degree angle. Shards of glass are flowering out from the window and some shards are falling like rain. A pattern with rainbow colors is all in the collider chamber. SPLASH! This panel takes up the top 2/3rds of the page. 2. Jack falling to the floor with a BANG! Shards of glass all here and there. 3. Blackman firing his gun. 4. The vertex where the antimony ball is being suspended. The antimony sphere is hit by Blackman’s bullet and is knocked away. 3. The emission cannon from which the particles come out. Glowing bright red. “OM! OM!” in an explosive cheesy adam west batman type effect. Page 20. 1. Blackman falling gracefully from above extended legs, like a gymnast. Cigarette still in his mouth. Two Magnum guns firing pointing them directly them parallel to his legs. BANG! BANG! Manga lines drawing the action to top right to point to the next panel. 2. Jack getting electrocuted in the chest by lightning bullets 3. Jack getting dragged by the head, a trail of blood follows. He’s being dragged to the vertex of the black hole machine. 4. Jack’s head being held at the vertex. Page 21. Splash Page. Jack’s head with a black hole explosion going on in the center of his brain. There’s a black dot with a zone of darkness around it at the center of his forehead and black rays shooting out in all directions from there. Jack’s eyes are closed, mouth wide open in a scream. Last page. Page 22. Black page with white fancy bold text. Acid Jack Issue one: Black Hole Jack. 2008-12-16 23:52:02 UTC 2008-12-16T15:51:00Z 24 acid-jack

An early look at Alex Reed's new comic book project

2008-12-17T01:39:13Z Reed