Dinner break, sorta. Well, except we got the pizza at 8:15 and we're so into our work that everyone just kept on going. Except me, the writer. I mean, it's hard to type and eat at the same time. But I feel like I have the easy job for now. We'll see how many more pages THAT lasts for.
Sketch postings coming soon. Page 1 is in inking, 2 and 3 are in pencils.
Here is the script so far, for those who are curious to see how these things come together. Some of it will make very little sense if you don't know the people we're referencing; the goal of the quickie script is just to have the folks in the office "get it".
Randy Doesn’t Get It aka Randy is Chased aka…
Page 1
Frame 1: Schoolyard. 10-year-old-looking Randy is sitting on a swing eating his sandwich (big sandwich, one bite out of it).
Frame 2: Three bigger kids, looking like they might be bullies coming to menace Randy.
Frame 3: Randy looks up at the kids, eyebrow cocked
Randy: Can I help you?
Frame 4: Bigger kids crowded around Randy
Left Bigger Kid: Are you… Randy?
Randy: *sigh* Not that joke again.
Frame 5: Bigger kids
Middle Bigger Kid: No, no, man, you’re like, famous!
Right Bigger Kid: Yeah, everyone’s talking about you!
Frame 6: Randy gets in “preachy mode” (think Calvin)
Randy: OK. I remember it like it was yesterday…
Frame 7: The same bench. Same Randy. But he’s holding a comic instead of the sandwich. Same bullies. But dressed differently. And Randy’s wearing a hat. And it’s cloudy.
Narrbox: 24 hours earlier…
Left Bigger Kid: You just don’t get it, do you Randy?
Page 2
Frame 1: Randy looking at the kids, wide-eyed
Randy: What?
Frame 2: The bullies laughing and pointing at Randy.
Frame 3: Pull away shot of playground, lots of people surrounding Randy, pointing and laughing.
Frame 4: Randy trudging away, dejected (headed right), various pointing fingers at him from the opposite side of the panel (pointing at him and offscreen laughing). He’s carrying his comic book under his arm (it’s relatively big under his arm since he’s so small)
Randy: I wonder what “it” is, anyway.
Frame 5: Randy looking at his comic cover as he walks. It’s “The Adventures of Bryce Taylor”. Bryce has Spit line coming out of his mouth as he says this (and any time he says chutzpah).
Randy: Bryce Taylor would know what to do. I wish I had his chutzpah.
Frame 6: Randy trips over a crack in the street and falls forward.
Randy: Oof!
Page 3
Frame 1: Randy, face down, with little Bryce Taylor heads rotating around his head, eyes looking “knocked out” (maybe the classic Xs). The Bryce Taylor comic book is in front of him.
Frame 2: Randy opens his eyes.
Offscreen Voice: Well, well, well, if it isn’t little Randy.
Frame 3: Randy looks up. It’s Bryce Taylor, giving the same “thumbs up” pose from the comic book cover. (shot is from low angle so Bryce looks big, even though he’s really not much bigger than Randy – except he’s got sunglasses and a goatee so he’s way cooler
Bryce Taylor: Come on, kid, you’ll never find your chutzpah down there!
Frame 4: Randy struggles up. Bryce Taylor is already pointing down the road out of the city to the mountain in the distance.
Bryce Taylor: It’s out there, Randy! And when you find it,
you’ll be on Easy Street!
(Frames 5 and 6 should be one of those time-passage frames, maybe a single frame with two motions, or however you want to interpret)
Frame 5: Randy looks up at the street sign. It says “Easy Street”.
Randy: But I’m already there!
Frame 6: Randy looks around, No sign of Bryce.
Randy: Bryce?
Frame 7: Randy starts walking down Easy Street whistling. A wolf howls in the distance (towards the mountain). From behind him (since we’re looking down the street at the mountain I guess this would be in the lower right corner) there is clink-clank sound.
Page 4
Frame 1: The city has suddenly gotten very dark around him. Tall sketchy buildings close in blocking the sun, basically a dark alley in the middle of the day. From Randy’s small point of view, everything towers up. Menacing clotheslines with rags, lots of trash, etc.
Randy: This doesn’t look so easy…
Frame 2: A giant rat drops down in front of Randy’s face. It is hanging from its paws from one of the rags on a clothesline, its mouth open, hissing.
Rat: HISSSSSSS!
Frame 3: The rat is all up in Randy’s face. Randy’s leaned back as far from the rat as he can get.
Randy: *ulp*
Frame 4: A loaf of WünderBread smacks the rat in the head in front of Randy’s amazed eyes (the loaf actually is swung from behind Randy but hits only the rat).
Frame 5: Randy turning around (we see his head turned around in the other direction, but body is still moving). Behind him the rat is flying off with an angry SQUEEE! We see the silhouette of a boxily shaped character in front of Randy, almost as tall as he is. The silhouette of the breadloaf in his hand is like a blackjack (you know those soft things you club people with, like a sock with a roll of quarters in them)
Frame 6: Close on the front of the new character so we can see his “face”. He’s a toaster. With arms and legs. His name is Hoskins.
Hoskins: People keep giving me these things. I have no idea what they’re for, but they
sure come in handy sometimes!
Hoskins (second balloon): Who are you?
Page 5
Frame 1: Both characters in frame: Randy sticks out his hand. Hoskins looks kind of startled.
Randy: I’m Randy!
Hoskins: Whoa, too much information, kid! I’m Hoskins.
Frame 2: : Randy gets into his “lecture pose”… and spits when he talks.
Randy: I’m looking for my chutzpah!
Frame 3: Both characters in frame: Hoskins looks confused. So does Randy.
Hoskins: What’s chutzpah?
Randy: I… don’t know.
Frame 4: Hoskins, wide-eyed.
Hoskins: Well that’s life for you, just one mystery after another. Me, I’m
looking for my purpose in life!
Frame 5: Randy, wide-eyed.
Randy: Hey, Bryce Taylor told me that when I find my chutzpah I’ll be on
Easy Street. Maybe your purpose is on Easy Street, too!
Frame 6: Music coming from some alley window. Randy and Hoskins are about to link arms, smiling, like they’re about to perform a musical number.
Frame 7: Randy and Hoskins look at each other, their expressions changed to awkward shock.
Frame 8: Randy and Hoskins look down the alley, pretending everything is normal and they’re cool.
Randy: Wanna go?
Hoskins: Um, yeah.
