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1 A SERIES OF AFTER-IMAGES: THE WHITE TIGER EXECUTES SOME IMPOSSIBLE Daredevil-STYLE GYMNASTICS TWISTS. IF POSSIBLE, LET’S SEE A GYPSY CAB ON THE STREET BELOW. LIGHT TRAFFIC.
A GYPSY CAB IS AN UNLICENSED LIVERY VEHICLE, TYPICALLY PRETTY BEAT UP, PERHAPS WITH A STICKER ON THE DOOR, MIS-MATCHED PAINT (LEAVE COLOR NOTE), ETC.
1 CAPTION: Okay, it works like this:
2 CAPTION: Making felony arrests gets me promoted.
3 CAPTION: Getting promoted gets me more money.
4 CAPTION: Getting more money chills Gwen out.
5 CAPTION: Chilling Gwen out is all I live for.
2 TIGER COMES IN FOR PERFECT THREE-POINT LANDING ON THE HOOD OF THE GYPSY CAB. MENACING.
6 CAPTION: Much as I’d like to make these off-duty tours through hell about protecting and serving the people—
7 CAPTION: —truth is, every lowlife skel I hook up brings me closer to domestic tranquility.
8 CAPTION: It’s the circle of life.
3 CUT TO: INT/CAB: TIGER RAKES HIS CLAWS ACROSS THE WINDSHIELD, THE CLAWS SLICING THE THICK GLASS LIKE IT WAS CHEESE. TIGER GLARING. THE CAB DRIVER (MAKE HIM UP) REACTS IN FEAR. HE FIGURES HE’S BEING ROBBED.
9 CAPTION: All right you hump— baby needs pay-per-view.
10 CAPTION: Time to get my thing on.
4 NEW ANGLE ON THE CAR: THE CABBIE EXITING, OFFERING HIS WALLET TO TIGER, TIGER SLAPS THE WALLET AWAY, ANNOYED AT THE DRIVER FOR INSULTING HIM.
11 CAPTION: Remember the accent…
12 TIGER: You dare insult the scion of Wakanda with your petty lucre?! Begone!
13 CAPTION: ‘Fore I smack you upside your head, fool.
5 NEW ANGLE: THE GYPSY CAB TAKES OFF, TIGER CLEARLY AT THE WHEEL, THE WINDSHIELD RUINED FROM TIGER’s CLAWS. TIGER HAS STOLEN THE MAN’s CAB.
14 CAPTION: The difference between cops and crooks is cops have 401k’s and dental.
15 CAPTION: Steal car— fight crime— get raise.
16 CAPTION: Works for me.
| — | Excerpt from Christopher Priest’s THE CREW #2 script. He’s got the whole set up on his website, along with other pieces documenting the history of this short-lived series. It makes for interesting reading. You can tell how much Priest was trying to make this story distinct, not just from the traditional Marvel fare, but from the bizarre fan expectation leading up to the book’s debut. There’s a lot of that comic-specific infopacking we were talking about — but for all the references he drops on his artist (with 2003-appropriate requests for a fax number or an email address), Priest is always clear and direct in the action and mood he wants. Any flowery flourishes are anchored with clear direction that sometime boarders on redundancy. I think it’s more a case of him hedging his bets. You see a lot of spec scripts that try to be all Neil Gaimen about it, but the obsidian obelisk of their Authorial Genius only gives the artist something to stub her toes on, when clarity really ought to be king. |
