POWERLESS #2

POWERLESS

A Composite Graphic Novel exclusive to Absinthe Hour.

PAGE TWO

“Black and White”

1 – Small panel.  Inside a local police department, a FRANTIC YOUNG OFFICER waves a TROOP of equally FRANTIC OFFICERS ahead.  Papers are flung from desktops as officers toss on their coats.  All rush hurriedly in one direction.

NARRATOR (CHIEF HARRISON): It’s all CLEAR.

2 – Small panel.  Close on the police lightbars; reds and blues flash with relentless purpose.

NARRATOR (CH): BLACK and WHITE.

NARRATOR (CH): LAW and ORDER.

3 – Small panel.  Inside the police car, POLICE CHIEF HARRISON is calm, almost sedated, but positively morose, lost in the open folder of files in his lap.  Meanwhile, the scene around him is hysterically unrestrained.  The OTHER OFFICER, who is driving the car, is shouting at the two-way radio furiously and with a heightened panic.  Lights from the other cars leave a trail zigzagging outside the window like artificial strokes of lightning.

NARRATOR (CH): That’s how it’s SUPPOSED to be, but it never is.

NARRATOR (CH): Not EVER with him.

4 – Small panel.  A look inside shows a picture of Tulley, not unlike a photo taken for a driver’s license, clipped to a hefty sized bundle of papers.  He is average in looks and in no way sinister.  He even has a half-smile in the photo.  Underneath the photograph are various police reports, biographical information, and other files we can’t see.

 

NARRATOR (CH): His name is JAMES TULLEY.

NARRATOR (CH): The people call him their SUPERHERO.

5 – Small panel.  Over the shoulder of Chief Harrison, and through the windshield of the patrol car, the car’s broad headlights separate the darkness with ease and capture three men (from page one) as they lay motionless on the pavement in front of the alley next to the convenient store.  The girl (from page one) sits on the ground in front of the store holding her knees to her chest.

NARRATOR (CH): The law calls him a KILLER.

NARRATOR (CH): I HATE that he does it.

6 – Small panel.  Close on the girl’s face; her mascara has run down her face, her hair is disheveled, her bottom lips quivers, but she’s become hardened and she’s alive.

NARRATOR (CH): Because it makes HUNTING him that much harder.

7 – Small panel.  Chief Harrison wraps a blanket over the girl’s shoulders and leads her to an ambulance, which is not seen on this panel.  ANOTHER OFFICER approaches from off panel, and Chief Harrison glances toward him.

NARRATOR (CH): When you think about it, when you boil it all down,

CHIEF HARRISON: Take her statement.

NARRATOR (CH): The only thing separating this VIGILANTE and a cop is the PAPERWORK,

8 – Small panel.  Close on the patrol car’s equipment console.  The windshield and the action in the distance through that windshield are in view.

Chief Harrison’s hand grasps the radio firmly.

Through the windshield, the car’s headlights catch everything.  The officer from panel seven is caringly leading the girl to an ambulance, which hasn’t appeared on panel yet.

NARRATOR (CH): and on night like THESE,

9 – Small panel.  The patrol car’s lights are still blinking vibrantly.  Chief Harrison leans on the open passenger door and tests the length of the radio’s wire as he calls the local station.  He’s somber in tone and expression.  Behind him, the girl is sitting on the back of the ambulance, staring at a nondescript spot on the concrete in front of her.  The police offer who has tended to her is trying to ask her questions.

NARRATOR (CH): it’s really not hard to rather be him wearing a cape

CHIEF HARRISON: Put out an APB on TULLEY

CHIEF HARRISON: Last spotted at Seventh and Walnut.

NARRATOR (CH): Than me wearing a badge.