Far From God sample

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Without any further comment other than to say that I'd really like to see this story drawn and published, I'll turn you over to the text of the script. At one point I've had an artist be interested in doing it, but I think that maybe life has caught up with him. I'd really like to see him do this one. Any way, I think this could be a truly adventurous comic as it will ultimately go into the realm of questioning our own reality. (Well, it is only a comic book, right? Not yet, but some day...)

FAR FROM GOD #1: With Her Eyes on Fire Arnett/_______
Page One (three panels)

Panel 1. Establishing shot, night, of Alexandria, Egypt, circa 48 BC, from far out in the ocean. The lighthouse on the Pharos peninsula is shining out into the darkness.
1. CAPTION: Fawcett Grell has loved ancient Egypt since he was a child. Studying every
book he could find.
2. CAP: When he took the Ambassadorship in Cairo, the first chance he had, he stood in the Valley of the Kings. Basking in the hot sun and the swell of history.
3. CAP (GABE): "Ambassador Grell?"

Panel 2. Ambassador Grell is in his 60's and dressed as an Egyptian scholar. He has turned and is confronting the hooded figure who stands about fifty feet away. (The Hood is Jennica's son, Gabriel, but the reader won't know that.) They stand in the Man Hall of the Library. It's lit with candles that are along the walls, far from any scrolls. Grell carries a flashlight. (I'll try to find a picture of a reconstruction of the interior of the Library. I saw one somewhere once.)
4. GRELL: Yes? Who are you?
5. CAP: He could not pass up the chance to visit the fabled "mother" Library at Alexandria. Lost to the sands of time in his world. He practiced being Egyptian, calling himself Callimachus after the famous Librarian. For him, this is the ultimate vacation.
6. GRELL: I'm not due back for three days.

Panel 3. The Hood has pointed (full arm extension) and is firing a Big Gun at the off-panel Ambassador.
7. SFX: BLAM! BLAM!
8. CAP: His wife didn't want him to go.
9. SFX: BLAM!

FAR FROM GOD #1: With Her Eyes on Fire Arnett/_______
Page Two (splash)
Panel 1. On a video screen in a busy computer lab, the camera is looking down a fire line from a spot above, perhaps from a balcony overlooking the little square where the community well pool is. The line extends for blocks along with a second line from a separate pool towards the Library at Alexandria which is an inferno of flames. It's Greek columns are barely holding the roof up as flames reach towards the night sky and threaten the buildings around the Library. In the lower third of the page, Abby is turning around and calling behind her.
1. ABBY: BOSS! I've got video!
2. TITLE: With Her Eyes on Fire
3. CREDITS: Written by Jason Arnett
Drawn by _______

FAR FROM GOD #1: With Her Eyes on Fire Arnett/_______
Page Three (five panels)
Panel 1. Jennica stands hunched over the back of Anna's chair with the computer screen in front of Anna showing flat lines on heart rate, blood pressure, respiration and brain activity. She's wearing a headset mic and looks like she could be sitting down at Houston control center for NASA.
1. ANNA: We've lost him, Boss.
2. JENNICA: Could he've had a heart attack?
3. ANNA: Unlikely. He was healthy as a horse when we sent him last week.

Panel 2. Jenny turns to Peter who's across the room, in a similar position behind another woman, Abby, who's frantically pounding at her keyboard.
4. JENNICA: What've you got there?
5. PETER: You need to see this.

Panel 3. In the foreground (as if the camera were in the center of her screen), Abby is frantically stabbing at the keyboard in front of her. Peter stands hunched over the back of her chair as Jenny comes up.
6. JENNICA: What happened?
7. PETER: No idea. We lost all thirty cameras, but Abby's got twelve of them back.
8. JENNICA: Where's Grell?

Panel 4. Switching angles to the opposite so that we're now behind them, Abby's monitor has split into four screens, showing the burning library, Grell's small empty apartment in Alexandria, a fire line handing buckets to each other and a view of the city from far in the harbor.
9. ABBY: Not where he's supposed to be.
10. JENNICA: The Library never burned! This was supposed to be safe!

Panel 5. Abby looks up at Peter who's looking at Jennica who has turned away from the screen. She's truly pissed off. The Library shot remains on the screen if it can be seen.
11. JENNICA: Damn it!
12. JENNICA: Peter, tell Ambrose I'm coming.

FAR FROM GOD #1: With Her Eyes on Fire Arnett/_______
Page Four (five panels)
Panel 1. Ambrose is looking at the brochures for "The Ultimate Vacation Getaway" which has a picture of earth floating in space on the front. Some headlines that can be seen throughout the literature might include: "Live the life you've always dreamed about!" and "Go wherever you've always wanted to go!" and "Down to the last detail, you can be whoever you want to be!" and "Affordable and safe!" and "Available soon!". There are probably travel posters on the wall behind him that tout Alternate Reality Vacations with beautiful people in Ancient Rome, and at a French court or in medieval China. The same people appear in each poster. On his desk is a replica of the transporter module we'll see in the transporter room later. It can teleport four people at a time.
1. AMBROSE: You lost him?

Panel 2. Jennica is sitting across his desk, more posters adorn the wall behind her. Ambrose's desk is littered with other brochures, all for ARV. She's dressed in a business suit and is trying to maintain her dignity.
2. JENNICA: We're not sure if he's dead , or if there's been a malfunction.
3. JENNICA: I've got my people checking all the available information. The problem is that we lost both bio and video feeds for about ten minutes.

Panel 3. Ambrose throws the brochure he held back onto the desk carelessly. Jennica is pensive. He sits slightly higher than she, giving the impression that his chair is some kind of throne.
4. AMBROSE: I've placed all of my faith and reputation in your abilities to deliver on this project, Mrs. Goddard.

Panel 4. Ambrose turns his back to her by swiveling his chair. She's startled by this.
5. AMBROSE: If you don't find the Ambassador, I'll have you counting snowflakes in Antarctica.
6. AMBROSE: Are we clear?

Panel 5. Jenny stands up, straightening her jacket, looking at Ambrose's back.
7. JENNICA: Yes, sir. I'll inform you as soon as I have anything further.

FAR FROM GOD #1: With Her Eyes on Fire Arnett/_______
Page Five (six panels)
Panel 1. The exterior of a low building surrounded by old oak trees with a parking lot full of about twenty cars. There's a corporate sign for Ambrose Varigate Research in the front.
1. PETER (OP): "How'd it go, Boss?"

Panel 2. Jennica is sitting in her office, staring at her flat screen monitor, intently. The desk and the four stacks of bookshelves behind her are laden with books in all manner of subjects: Physics, Religion, Morality, Art . Her jacket lays carelessly on the chair opposite her desk, and she's opened the top of her blouse by two buttons. There's a pad of paper in front of her and a pencil behind her ear. Peter is entering from the door at the other end of the room.
2. JENNICA: He's a businessman, Peter. All he's concerned with is the bottom line.
3. JENNICA: Do we have an action plan yet?

Panel 3. Peter comes around the desk behind her to look over her shoulder at the screen, which we can't see, yet.
4. PETER: Abby's ready to go in for the extraction. We just need coordinates from you.
5. PETER: Look, Jennica, after you get this, maybe you should take a vacation.

Panel 4. Looking over their shoulders we see the screen. They're looking at footage (split in four screens) of Alexandria. The header on the screen reads "Grell. Day two. 8 pm local" Two screens show empty streets, a third the interior of the Library (with scrolls on the racks) and the fourth shows a hooded figure close to a wall. The face of the figure isn't visible.
6. PETER: The strain from Gabe and Alain plus all this...
7. JENNICA: Thank you, Peter, I'm fine. There !

Panel 5. Close on the fourth screen. For the first time, we see Ambassador Grell, dressed as an Egyptian nobleman entering the Library in front of the hooded figure.
8. PETER: Who could it be?
9. JENNICA: Let's find out.

Panel 6. Jennica stands, looking down at the screen, unbuttoning her blouse further. Peter is picking up a phone.
10. JENNICA: Tell Abby to stand down.
11. JENNICA: I'll be there in twenty minutes.

FAR FROM GOD #1: With Her Eyes on Fire Arnett/_______
PAGE SIX (five panels)
Panel 1. Jenny stands in front of a full-length mirror looking at herself. She's dressed as an Egyptian noblewoman with the elegant silks of her gown clipped together at her right shoulder and looks unhappy at the result. The dress is elaborately pleated, horizontally across the chest drawn up into the clip, and vertically from just under her breasts to the hem of the dress. It's nearly form-fitting. She's extraordinarily beautiful, so it's not obvious to the reader what she's reacting to. She's wearing a wig that has its long black hair piled high and held with pearls. She's wearing a couple of bracelets and a belt that appears to be made of precious stones. The reader should have to look closely to make sure it's Jenny.
1. JENNICA (thought): The silk is too sheer.

Panel 2. Almost identical, though she's trying to adjust the clip so it sits a bit more comfortably. She frowns at herself.
2. JENNICA (thought): sigh.

Panel 3. From Jenny's POV as she enters the transporter room. Two techs, a man and a woman in dark jumpsuits, as well as Peter are standing at the controls as the door opens and they turn towards it. They are stunned.
3. PETER: ...any second...

Panel 4. Jenny breezes past them. They all three are speechless as she moves towards the transporter platform.
4. PETER: ...now?
5. JENNICA: Not a word, guys. Please.

Panel 5. The techs drop their eyes and do their job, but Peter can't look away as Jenny stands in the extreme foreground in the transporter. Energy begins to crackle around her.
6. JENNICA: Just watch the monitors.
7. JENNICA: And pull me out if there's any trouble, okay?

FAR FROM GOD #1: With Her Eyes on Fire Arnett/_______
PAGE SEVEN (six panels)
Panel 1. Jenny materializes in a dark alley in Alexandria. She holds her right hand to her ear.
1. JENNICA: I'm in. Can you hear me?

Panel 2. She peeks around the corner into the street, where no one else is. She's being wary.
2. JENNICA: Peter? You there?

Panel 3. The street is empty, it's night. There are lights coming from windows, and the moon is full in the sky behind her, so there's really plenty of light, but plenty of shadow where the moon doesn't reach. She's staying close to the wall of the building she's turned the corner on
3. JENNICA: Nice. Only static. Hope you can hear me, guys. Watch close, okay?

Panel 4. In the left of the panel, in front, is Grell, making his way to the library with a flashlight. Behind him we see the Hood (Gabriel), hiding in the shadow of another alley. In the background is Jenny, trying to stay on the opposite side of the street from the Hood.
4. JENNICA (thought): I should've come disguised as a man.

Panel 5. Jenny hikes up the silks a bit, showing the elaborate sandals she's wearing, in an effort to stay quiet and move a bit more quickly. She looks down at her feet.
5. JENNICA (thought): These clothes are lousy for espionage. So're the shoes.

Panel 6. From Jenny's POV, the street leading up to the Library is empty.
NO DIALOGUE

FAR FROM GOD #1: With Her Eyes on Fire Arnett/_______
PAGE EIGHT (six panels)
Panel 1. Jenny stops just short of an alleyway, stunned that she lost sight of the Hood.
1. JENNICA (thought): Where---?

Panel 2. She looks right, dropping the silks of her dress. Frowning.
2. JENNICA: Damn.

Panel 3. Changing angles to her left, the Hood, his face obscured, waits for Jennica to make a decision on which way to go. He's flat against the wall. He can't see her and doesn't know who she is because of her makeup and different hairstyle.
3. JENNICA: How far ahead were they?

Panel 4. Same angle as Jenny decides to walk past him towards the Library, hiking the dress again.
4. JENNICA(thought): Can't let Grell die. Better catch up!

Panel 5. The Hood (Gabriel) slugs Jenny from behind, knocking her out.
NO DIALOGUE.

Panel 6. Black.
5. OP VOICES: WATER! GET THE WATER!
6. OP VOICES: FORM THE LINE! QUICKLY!
7. ABBY (OP): Bring her home, Peter! Now!

FAR FROM GOD #1: With Her Eyes on Fire Arnett/_______
PAGE NINE (six panels)
Panel 1. From behind Peter as he leans in to Jenny's office. He's got his left hand on the door jamb and his right is holding the doorknob. On the door is the legend: "J. Goddard, Project Leader" over a stylized logo for Ambrose Varigate Research.
1. PETER: Boss, Gabe's here to see you.
2. JENNICA (OP): Sure. Send him in.

Panel 2. Jennica sits at her desk, leaning back in her chair with an ice pack at the back of her neck. She smiles at him as her son enters. Gabriel enters, looking angry already from the single door on the wall to the desk's right as she sits there. The office is in disarray, but over the course of this scene we'll see the entirety of it. The two walls of bookshelves (behind her and to her right as she sits at the desk), one wall of pictures showing that Jennica does remember her family alongside her accomplishments (at the opposite end of the room) and another wall that's half window, and the other half short bookshelves stuffed to overcapacity (to her desk's left). The windows look out the back of the building towards a calm lake in front of a bustling skyline.
3. JENNICA: Hi, Gabriel.
4. GABRIEL: I'm glad you're still alive.

Panel 3. Close on Gabriel as Jenny sits up, still holding the ice pack to her neck as Gabe faces the wall of photographs and diplomas. We can't see the pictures yet. He's got that kind of superior look to him, like he's going to relish raking his mother over the coals.
5. JENNICA: What's that supposed to mean?
6. GABRIEL: Just what I said. I haven't heard from you in weeks. Keeping busy, I bet.

Panel 4. Reverse the angle from over Jenny's shoulder. Gabe's pulling one of the framed photos down. She's sitting up straight and trying to stand up.
7. GABRIEL: I like this picture from the trip to Gibraltar. It was a happy time.
8. JENNICA: What's going on here, Gabriel? What do you want?

Panel 5. Jenny sets the ice pack on her desk as she stands up. Gabriel is in front of the desk, holding the picture. He's got an unnerving smile on his face.
9. GABRIEL: Just look at it, Mom. Remember how happy we were then.
10. JENNICA: I remember well enough, thank you.

Panel 6. He stands the picture up on her desk. Jenny, a much younger Gabe and her husband Alain (a professor-type with receding hair and graying beard and the extra weight around the middle) are holding each other and smiling so wide their faces might burst. They stand on a beach and the ocean is in the background.
11. JENNICA: Your father was only happy that one day the whole trip.
12. JENNICA: Or don't you remember?

FAR FROM GOD #1: With Her Eyes on Fire Arnett/_______
PAGE TEN (six panels)
Panel 1. Gabriel remains calm, looks again at the picture he's picked up again.
1. GABRIEL: Been working a lot of hours?

Panel 2. Jenny sits back down, putting the ice pack back to where (unknown to her) Gabriel slugged her last night. She's obviously in a great deal of pain. Gabe cradles the picture.
2. JENNICA: Yes. What have you been up to?
3. GABRIEL (OP): This and that. Nothing terribly important.

Panel 3. Gabe launches the frame at the bookshelves behind her, raging. Jenny ducks, dropping the ice pack.
4. GABRIEL: I GRADUATED LAST WEEK!!

Panel 4. Jenny is shocked by his actions and his statement. She's still sitting down. Gabe continues to rage at her from the other side of the desk.
5. GABRIEL: JUST COULDN'T MAKE IT, COULD YOU? COULDN'T TEAR YOURSELF AWAY FROM YOUR PRECIOUS WORK LONG ENOUGH?!
6. GABRIEL: EVEN FOR YOUR SON?

Panel 5. Jenny stands up, moving to her right, amazed at his behavior. Gabe is in tears, facing her.
7. GABRIEL: Do I mean so little to you? Is this what happened with Dad?
8. JENNICA: You know better than that.

Panel 6. Jenny slaps Gabe hard across the cheek with her right hand.
9. SFX: WHAK!
10. JENNICA: And how DARE you? I shouldn't have to prove my love for you any more!

FAR FROM GOD #1: With Her Eyes on Fire Arnett/_______
PAGE ELEVEN (five panels)
Panel 1. Gabe is shocked at the slap, holding his left hand to his injured cheek. Jenny is off-panel.
1. JENNICA: I'm sorry I missed your ceremony, Gabriel. I really am. But you don't speak
to me like that.

Panel 2. Jenny glares. Gabe is off-panel.
2. JENNICA: And don't ever bring up my marriage when you're pissed off about something else. You don't have the right.

Panel 3. Toe-to-toe, now, Jenny is angry, glowering at the still shocked Gabriel. But behind Gabe's shock is a seething anger of his own.
3. GABRIEL: I don't have the right...

Panel 4. Gabe turns to walk away from his mother towards the door which is still open. He's ready to blow.
4. GABRIEL: You've given up any rights you had when you let him leave.
5. GABRIEL: I hate you.

Panel 5. Gabriel pulls over the bookshelves that stand next to the door, spilling everything out, screaming at the top of his lungs at his mother.
6. GABRIEL: I HATE YOU! YOU'VE DESTROYED EVERYTHING!

FAR FROM GOD #1: With Her Eyes on Fire Arnett/_______
PAGE TWELVE (seven panels)
Panel 1. Gabriel stomps out of the office. Jenny (off-panel) calls after him.
1. JENNICA (OP): GABRIEL!

Panel 2. Abby knocks Gabriel out with a solid right cross.
2. SFX: WOK!

Panel 3. Gabriel lays on the floor, unconscious, as Abby, Peter, and Jenny all look down at him.
3. JENNICA: Abby, would you and Peter see that my son gets home?
4. ABBY: Sure.

Panel 4. Jenny sits again in her chair, staring at the computer screen on her desk. She's still holding an ice pack to the back of her neck, but is wearing a t-shirt and sweats. Peter stands just in front of the toppled bookshelf.
5. PETER: We've found something.

Panel 5. Jenny puts down the ice pack and looks at him.
6. JENNICA: What?
7. PETER (OP): A second transporter signal. Dangerously thin and hard to see, but it's there.

Panel 6. Jenny seethes.
8. JENNICA: I want an accounting of everyone's whereabouts for the last seventy-two hours. EVERYONE!

Panel 7. Peter walks away from Jenny, who holds her head in her hands in the background.
NO DIALOGUE

FAR FROM GOD #1: With Her Eyes on Fire Arnett/_______
PAGE THIRTEEN (five panels)
Panel 1. Interior of the Hindenburg dining area (but the reader won't know that yet!). The dining area is pretty full and we see other diners sitting at their tables while black-clad waiters circulate. The four senators, dressed in elegant evening wear, are enjoying champagne cocktails. All the men are in black ties and tuxes, and we've yet to meet Senator Davenport. They're talking about her over their drinks.
1. BURKE: ...body was the unscrupulous type, why, he could be a king!
2. REYNOLDS: Oh, do be quiet, Burke. We're here to enjoy our host's hospitality.
3. CARTER: Speaking of which, has anyone seen Dixie?

Panel 2. Senator Holbrook sits back in his chair, still holding his glass, but resting it on the table. Senator Reynolds is fondling her necklace, slightly turned on by Holbrook's statement.
4. HOLBROOK: I believe that she's enjoying the hospitality of one of the locals. In her room.
5. REYNOLDS: Senator Holbrook. That would be scandalous!

Panel 3. Holbrook sips at his glass. Smiling a little.
6. HOLBROOK: But isn't that what we were promised? That we could be anyone? DO anything?

Panel 4. Senator Carter plays absently with a fork in front of him.
7. CARTER: It IS, Senator. I think the honorable lady from Oregon was trying to appear to be proper.
8. CARTER: Isn't that so, Lara?

Panel 5. Burke has turned sideways in his chair, one arm across the back of it, leering at the women all around him.
9. BURKE: Well, the junior senator from New Mexico'll take advantage of the hospitality, then.
10. BURKE: Good evenin' t'you, folks.

FAR FROM GOD #1: With Her Eyes on Fire Arnett/_______
PAGE FOURTEEN (five panels)
Panel 1. Senator Reynolds sips at her drink as a waiter stands to her right, ready to refill, should she desire it. Holbrook begins to laugh.
1. REYNOLDS: HOW did he get on this committee? The man is a pig.
2. HOLBROOK: Blame President Harriman, Lara. Everything's his fault anyway, isn't it?

Panel 2. The remaining senators look up as Senator Dixie Davenport arrives, still fixing one of her earrings. She is in her late thirties and very pretty, dressed in an elegant black gown.
3. DAVENPORT: Always has been, always will be, Martin.
4. DAVENPORT: Hello, Lara. Vaughan.

Panel 3. Senator Davenport sits down next to Reynolds as the waiter has moved to Dixie's right to pour a glass of champagne. Reynolds looks sideways at her and Carter ignores her. Only Holbrook acknowledges her and speaks.
5. HOLBROOK: Glad you could join us, Dixie. I understand you've been exploring some of the local customs?
6. DAVENPORT: mmm.

Panel 4. Close on Dixie as she lifts her glass. She looks dead serious.
7. DAVENPORT: I'm surprised things aren't as different as I would've guessed.
8. DAVENPORT: Pleasantly surprised.

Panel 5. Carter stands up, indignant at Dixie's behavior. Dixie seems unperturbed by his action, but the others are shocked.
9. CARTER: You're a whore, Mrs. Davenport. I want you to leave this table right now.
10. HOLBROOK: Carter! Sit down and be quiet.
11. REYNOLDS: Really, Vaughan. You're making a scene.

FAR FROM GOD #1: With Her Eyes on Fire Arnett/_______
PAGE FIFTEEN (seven panels)
Panel 1. Looking down on the walkway that ran through the Hindenburg's center Gabriel can see a crew man walking towards the nose of the ship. Hiding in the shadows, the reader can't see his face. He's dressed in a pair of coveralls, as an attempt at disguise. He's holding himself on a section of metal that rather looks like a support ladder (I have some pics I'll send along later).
1. CAP (CARTER): "You're a United States Senator, behaving as if you were on spring break!"
2. CAP(REYNOLDS): "Sit down , Vaughan!"

Panel 2. Gabriel looks back up at the small time bomb he's attached to the rigging and the clock face reads 3:00. We can't see his face at all on this page. I don't want the reader to know who it is.
3. CAP(DAVENPORT): "No, Lara, it's okay. Senator Carter has an opinion."
4. CAP(HOLBROOK): "It's not one we share with him."

Panel 3. Gabe climbs down the rigging, away from the bomb, whose face reads 2:55.
5. CAP(CARTER): "As is your right, Holbrook. But if she's too --- BUSY to be on time...

Panel 4. Gabe drops to the delicate looking catwalk.
6. CAP(CARTER): "...I don't have to listen to her escapades!"
7. CAP(REYNOLDS): "Jealous, Vaughan? I've seen how you look at her."

Panel 5. Gabe holds a cell phone-like device and pushes a button on it.
8. CAP(DAVENPORT): "Now, Lara, that was mean. I can go. It's okay"

Panel 6. Same shot, only Gabriel's gone.
9. CAP(HOLBROOK): "No one really wants you to leave, Dixie."

Panel 7. Senator Davenport has risen from the table and is walking away. Behind her, Carter is sitting down and Reynolds and Holbrook are glaring at him.
10. DAVENPORT: No, Martin. It''ll make it more difficult for him later on if I leave now.
11. DAVENPORT: I'll see you on the ground.

FAR FROM GOD #1: With Her Eyes on Fire Arnett/_______
PAGE SIXTEEN (one panel)
The Hindenburg is a fiery mass, falling or already having fallen to earth tail first. (Thom, there are a dozen really good photos of this. What I want to avoid is a recreation of the cover of Led Zeppelin 1. I'll do a Google search to find some pics for you, if you don't have any.) The dialogue is Herb Morrison's famous commentary.
1. CAPTION: "It burst into flames!
2. CAPTION: "It's afire and it's crashing. It's crashing terrible. It's burning, bursting into flames and it's falling on the mooring mast.
3. CAPTION: "This is one of the worst catastrophes in the world. Oh, the flames, 400 or 500 feet into the sky.
4. CAPTION: "It's a terrific crash... the smoke and the flames now and the frame is crashing to the ground, not quite to the mooring mast.
5. CAPTION: "Oh, the humanity. And all the passengers..."

© 2002 by Jason Arnett. All rights reserved.

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