Courage

Panel One, Page One
Solid White Panel

Panel Two, Page One
We open on a closeup of a 19yr old male. He is smoking a cigarette. The air is cold and you can tell by the way he is dressed, and the occasional fog that comes from his breath. Its nighttime.

Panel Three, Page One
Shot looking at male from behind. He is looking out at a small lake (i.e. Celebration Lakefront). From off panel comes a familiar voice.

Off panel: Hey there stranger

Panel Four, Page One
Male turns around to see the origin of the voice. Panel encompasses both the male, and the origin of the voice. A girl, roughly the same age, stands about 5 feet behind the male. The girl's name is Allison, and she represents everything to our protagonist. Pain, Hope, Love, the whole spectrum.

Male: Hey Ali
Allison: Thought you were quitting?

Panel One, Page Two (top left corner of page, overlapping next panel)
Close Up Male Looking at cigarette between his fingers

Male: Yeah-

Panel Two, Page Two Full-Page Spread
Both Characters look at each other

Male: Its nice to see you again.
Allison: Yeah- its nice to see you too.

Titles:
Courage
Words by Mike Donohue
Pictures by Alex Berki

Panel One, Page Three
The two characters are walking around a small town (again I.E. Celebration).
Allison has her arm locked in his. The angle is looking at them far away from the other side of the street. A car is just about to block our view.

Allison: So what are you doing down here?
Male: I don't know, I come down here some nights, just to think.
Allison: And what do you think about?

Panel Two, Page Three
Close up on Male

Male: Life, death, the past, all that stuff.

Panel Three, Page Three
Close up of Allison looking over at Male, smiling.

Allison: Always the drama queen.

Panel Four, Page Three
Profile of Male looking up

Male: Yep that's me.

Panel Five, Page Three
Allison has Male in headlock, giving him a noogie.

Allison: Oh lighten up will ya, I'm just kidding.
Male: alright alright

Panel One, Page Four
Two-Shot, Allison has let go of Male, they are looking at each other, Male's hair is a mess from the noogie.

Allison: So whats on tonight's agenda

Panel Two, Page Four
Frontal close-up of Male, he is flattening the top of his hair.

Male: I was just thinking about when I went to school here.

Panel Three, Page Four
Close-Up Girl, she is licking her hand.

Allison: You know, I always fo get hu wet here.

Panel Four, Page Four
Two-shot again, she uses her wet hand to fix his hair.

Male: Yeah I guess I never brought it up a lot. Always made me kind of upset.
Allison: Well what for?

Panel One, Full page
Far shot the two stand below a fancy city hall. they seem overshadowed by its size. Almost swallowed whole beneath its monolithic appearance.

Male: I wanted to graduate here. In this stupid eiltist town. I wanted to belong here. In seventh grade I had had my whole future planned out. I was going to have the same friends I had then, we would talk about how awesome it was going to be in high school, how great prom would have been, driving, girls, how we would all go to the same college. I firmly believed that the people I knew then would be lifelong friends. Like this town was the place where stars aligned.
Allison: But it didn't end up that way.

Panel One, Page Six
Close up Male, still looking up

Male: Nope, my mom pulled me out the end of that year. I had been so focused on the stars, I didn't worry about my grades. She couldn't afford to bring me to a school so far away if I wasn't even going to make an effort.

Panel Two, Page Six
Two-Shot, both look up
Allison: Must have been hard
Male: -At first. But I got over it, you know, figured it out.

Panel Three, Page Six
Same as last panel, but Allison looks at Male

Allison: Figured what out?

Panel Four, Page Six
Close-up of Male as he lights another cigarette.

Male: That my dreams would always be better than real life.

Panel Five, Page Six
Allison hugs Male and he is taken aback.

Panel Six, Page Six
Same as last panel, Male look sat Allison, still hugging him.
Male: Whats this for?
Allison: I need a reason to hug you now?

Panel Six, Page Six
Same angle, Male embraces the.... embrace.

Panel One, Page Seven
Close up of Matt's face, still in the embrace.

Matt: You know speaking of dreams, I was thinking about that dream you told me about.

Panel Two, Page Seven
Close up of Allison in hug.

Allison: What dream

Panel Three, Page Seven
Two-Shot The embrace is over. Matt points at Allison.

Matt: I knew it!
Allison: What?
Matt: I fucking knew it!

Panel Four, Page Seven
Close-up of Allison, obviously angry.

Allison: goddmammit, what!?

Panel Five, Page Seven
Close-up, Matt. His hands over his head, bewildered.

Mike: I knew you made it up. I wanted to believe it, but I knew there was no way it was real, you were just trying to fucking coddle me. Make me feel better about the whole god damn situation!

Panel Six, Page Seven
Allison

Allison: Just because I can't remember some dream I had, doesn't mean I made it up, Matt.

Panel Seven, Page Seven
Matt.

Matt: Oh no, you'd remember this one.
Allison(off panel): Remind me.

Panel Eight, Page Seven
Two-Shot, Matt has one hand over his eye, Allison looks at him with her arms outstreched, waiting for what hes going to say.

Panel Nine, Page Seven
Close-up Matt

Matt: five or six months ago, right after.. well you know that whole mess, you text me and say you've had a dream about me. You say you had a dream that you found out I was in prison.

Panel One, Page Eight
Allison close-up, this time she has her hand over her face, realizing, finally, what MAtt is tlaking about.

Allison- I had a dream you were in prison. So in the dream, I went to go visit you. And when I finally saw you, I started to cry.

Panel Two, Page Eight
Matt.

Allison(off-panel): And you held me.

Panel Three, Page Eight
Allison.

Allison: And then we kissed. and you told me-

Panel Four, Page Eight
Matt.

Matt: -And I told you that, Everything was going to be all right.

Panel Five, Page Eight
Allison. Her hand still over her face.

Allison: Yeah.

Panel Six, Page Eight
Two-Shot, they look at each other.

Matt: Was it true?
Allison: Of course it was true! You think I would make something like that up?
Matt: I'm sorry, it just, it meant a lot to me.
Allison: It meant a lot to me too.

Panel One, Page Nine
Close-up Matt.

Matt: Probably not in the same way though.

Panel Two, Page Nine
Allison. Staring deeply.

Matt(off-panel): Sorry.
Allison: for what?

Panel Three, Page Nine
Matt.

Matt: For making every time we talk, a revisiting of how badly I fucked up and how sorry I am.

Panel Four, Page Nine
Allison. Now sitting on a bench outside City hall.

Allison: You didn't fuck up, and you've never had to apologize.

Panel Five, Page Nine
Two-Shot, as Matt sits down on the bench next to Allison.

Allison: Are you sorry for saying what you said?
Mike: No, I meant it.
Allison: Then you have nothing to apologize for.

Panel Six, Page Nine
Matt.

Matt: Yes I do, it wasn't fair, you had a boyfriend, and it wasn't right for me to put you in an awkward position.

Panel Seven, Page Nine
Allison.

Allison: I never asked you to stop texting me.

Panel Eight, Page Nine
Matt.

Matt: No, and that's because you were being nice, but it doesn't make it right, what i did.

Panel Nine, Page Nine
Allison.

Allison: Then why did you? If you knew it was wrong?

Panel One, Page Ten
Matt, further back, his arms around the back of the bench, looks over at an off-panel Allison

Panel Two, Page Ten
Matt, looking once again, up at the sky. Same angle.

Matt: Because I wished I was dead.

Panel Three, Page Ten
Allison, looking over at off-panel Matt.

Allison: what?

Panel Four, Page Ten
Side profile Matt, still looking up.

Matt: The same night I found out we weren't getting back together, I tried to kill myself. Obviously, it didn't work, but after that I had made plans to go take care of my grandma so I put my suicide attempts on hold, at least until I got back into town.

Allison: I remember one of the messages you sent me on the plane up there. "I'm seeing all these bright lights. but they all feel so dim. Looking down from this high up, I see all these thousands of homes, millions of people. and i don't even care-

Panel Five, Page Ten
Matt.

Allison (off panel): -The only light that I can see worth living for is you."

Panel Six, Page Ten
Allison.

Allison: Jesus Matt, I knew you were depressed but really?

Panel Seven, Page Ten
Matt.

Matt: I had every intention of killing myself, and not letting anyone know. But it was important to me that you knew how I felt before I was gone.

Panel One, Page Eleven
Allison now standing up.

Allison: So what changed, I mean, what happened so that were able to have this conversation?

Panel Two, Page Eleven
Matt. In the process of standind up from the bench.

Matt: Dunno

Panel Three, Page Elven
Matt. Now standing up.

Matt: I guess I decided to give myself another chance.

Panel Four, Page Eleven
Allison.

Allison: Bullshit.

Panel Five, Page Eleven
Matt.

Matt: What?, not bullshit, I'm standing right here aren't I?

Panel Six, Page Eleven
Allison.

Allison: I'm not stupid Matt. Someone who is so depressed and apparently suicidal, as you were, does not just snap out of it.

Panel Seven, Page Eleven
Matt.

Matt: Allison, calm down, I mean you're-

Panel Eight, Page Eleven
Allison.

Allison: I'm so stupid, I can't believe I couldn't place it.

Panel Nine, Page Eleven
Matt.

Matt: What?

Panel One, Page Twelve
Allison.

Allison: We may not see each other a much anymore, but that doesn;t mean I don't know what you've been up to.

Matt(off-panel): Oh what you keep tabs on me?

Allison: No, but I ask about you.

Panel Two, Page Twelve
Two-Shot. Allison pointing at Matt.

Allison: I know all about how your not working. How you do nothing with your days. You just sit there and do jack shit.

Matt: Allison-

Allison: And sometimes. Sometimes I hear, you don't even have the fucking COURAGE to get out of bed. You just lay there all day.

Panel Three, Page Twelve
Allison.

Allison: You may not be trying to kill yourself anymore. But you sure as hell not any better.

Panel Four, Page Twelve
Matt.

Matt: You know what fuck you, you don't know whats going on. It's not like your ever the first one to call anymore, every time we talk its larger distances in between until we talk again, what the fuck do you know?

Panel Five, Page Twelve
Allison, enraged, about to cry.

Allison: Do you not even see it? The only thing thats changed-

Panel Six, Page Twelve
Matt.

Allison(off-panel): Is the method your using to destroy your life.

Panel Seven, Page Twelve
Allison. It hits her and shes unable to hold back the tears.

Allison: And I'm the one that did this to you.
Matt(off-panel): No you're not.

Panel Eight, Page Twelve
Two-Shot Matt and Allison are close. Allison Still crying

Allison: Yes I am.
Matt: Look what happened between us was just a last straw. Things weren't going well for me for a long time. I didn't like who I was becoming, or how much time I had wasted. I got hope back when you came back into my life. If anything I should thank you.

Panel One, Page Thirteen
Matt.

Matt: Yeah you were the final push, but you weren't the cause, and like I said in those texts, you were in a lot of ways what kept me going. What made me brave enough to face another day, give this shit another chance.

Panel Two, Page Thirteen
Matt.

Matt: I don't know, maybe your right about how I've been lately, maybe I'm just lying to myself about being a hundred percent, but it doesn't mean I've given up. I'm not going to do that.

Panel Three, Page Thirteen
Allison.

Allison: You better not, I can't keep worrying over you.

Panel Four, Page Thirteen
Matt.

Matt: Being a prisoner to my own emotions was for some reason a sentence I gave myself. I don't want to feel like I'm trapped anymore.

Panel Five, Page Thirteen
Two-Shot. Allison wiping the tears from her eyes.

Allison: I'm glad we talked face to face. It's been too long.
Matt: Yeah, it really is a shame

Panel Six, Page Thirteen
Wide Shot of characters and the town around them

Matt: -None of this being real, and all

Panel One, Page Fourteen
Allison, smiling

Allison: I was wondering when you'd catch on. When did you figure it out?

Panel Two, Page Fourteen
Matt.

Matt: Haven't you been listening? 7th grade. My dreams will always be better than real life. This conversation could never have happened when I'm awake. I'd never be able to carry it this far with you and you would never be able to be this honest to me.

Panel Three, Page Fourteen
Allison, still smiling

Allison: Give me a little credit.

Panel Four, Page Fourteen
Matt.

Matt: Yeah your right. I would be the one to keep it to small talk.

Panel Five, Page Fourteen
Allison, listening

Matt: (off panel): You know when I was younger I would be really awkward and it would be hard for me to even look a girl in the face. So if i had a crush on a girl in class, I would choose a seat as far away from her as possible. So I could look at her all I wanted without it being really hard for me.

Allison: Why are you telling me this?

Panel Six, Page Fourteen
Two-Shot, they are close.

Matt: Because technically what 80, 90 miles away from here in real life?
Allison: 96 and three quarters.
Matt: Right well technically your 96 and three quarters miles away from where I'm standing right now-

Panel One, Page Fifteen
Two-Shot, they are face to face

Matt: And its still hard for me to look at you.

Panel Two, Page Fifteen
Matt kisses Allison on her nose

Panel Three, Page Fifteen
Then her forehead

Panel Four, Page Fifteen
Same as panel one

Allison: You're still the only boy whos ever done that.

Panel Five, Page Fifteen
Close Up Matt

Matt: You have a dream that I'm in prison...

Panel Six, Page Fifteen
A solid white panel

Panel One, Page Sixteen
Same face and angle as panel five on last page except behind him is a bed.

Panel Two, Page Sixteen
Side shot of Matt, with legs on floor over bed.

Matt: And I tell you that everythings going to be ok.

Panel Three, Page Sixteen
Same angle, but just a shot of the bed.

In the lower right hand corner reads: Courage.

Random

Page One, Panel One
Close Up of Mike Donohue sitting at the chair position of a board table. On the table next to him is a shopping bag, several sheets of paper, and a pen.

Mike: Alright, now that were all here, let me cut straight to the chase: Earlier today, Alex Berki asked me to write a short comic using the word "Random" as both a jumping off point, and the overall theme.

Page One, Panel Two
Same as previous panel

Mike: Now as most of you know, I go to you guys first for all my ideas, and today will be no different. What I'm looking for is good, solid, but brief stories.

Page One, Panel Three
Same angle, Mike shows off a small rain stick that he has pulled from the bag

Mike: And because of after what happened last meeting, I've decided to go out and buy a "talking stick" as it seems its the only real way to keep you guys from turning this board room into that saloon at the end of "unforgiven"

Off Panel Voice: That's a stupid reference.

Page One, Panel Four
Same as first panel, but with talking stick lying on the table

Mike: - Point is, the stick was $1.95, but I'm willing to let you guys pay me back in ideas. So-

Page Two, Full Page Spread

Above the board room table, looking down, who Mike is actually talking to is revealed. The table takes up most of the panel and resembles something that the members of the justice league would meet at. Around the table there is a well-to-do Hispanic man with a fine mustache, smoking from a cigar. He is wearing the traditional armor of Iron Man except for his face. This man is actually a mang, Iron Mang. Seated next to him are the rest of the Mexican Avengers: (I'll leave what they look like to you) Captain Mexico (Captain America), Hombre de Hormiga (Ant-Man), and the Incredible Armotoste (Hulk). Seated next is a group of five or six sixteen or seventeen year old boys with punkish and scene haircuts, then a group of cute-like girls, then there is a 9th grade Alex Berki, Josh Stenkamp, Andrew altobelli, and Mike Donohue, and finally after that "The Man who Upset the Universe", and whatever other characters you would like to see here.

Mike: Whos first?

Titles are on the bottom right of the panel:

Random: Words by Mike Donohue
Pictures by Alex Berki

End.

Danger

Page One, Panel One

Chicago Cityscape. Nighttime, a heavy fog cloaks most of the high-rises.

Page One, Panel Two

Pull back on previous panel. In center of panel is the back of a boy's head, looking below at the fog-ridden city.

Caption: Its too bad the fog decided to be out tonight. You can usually see Shea Stadium from up here.

Page One, Panel Three

Pull back farther to reveal the boy's full figure, he's maybe sixteen or seventeen leaning heavily against a railing looking down at the city. Still, in silent contemplation. His arms lean over the railing, cupping a baseball.

Caption: Ah well, never was very lucky.

Page One, Panel Four

CU of baseball in boy's hands

Caption: It's like coach always said:

Page Two, Panel One

Same angle as panel three on previous page, the boy has dropped the ball over the railing.

Caption: "When you boys step out onto that field, I want you to keep one thing in mind, the game will never go down like you expect it to."

Page Two, Panel Two
CU of the falling ball, surrounded in the gray ether of the chicago fog.

Caption: "No matter how many times you hold it, that ball will always feel different"

Page Two, Panel Three
Looking up into the face of the boy as he watches the ball fall to the ground.

Caption: and no matter how much you practice, you boys will never be prepared"

Page Two, Panel Four
Close up of the boy's shoe on the railing, as he begins to climb on top.

Caption: "but when you step to that plate..."

Page Two, Panel Five
Boy now has both feet planted on the railing but is unable to stabilize his balance.

Caption: "and it feels like the whole world is watching"

Page Two, Panel Six
The boy stands upright arms outstretched
"stand tall and look that pitcher in the eyes"

Page Two, Panel Seven
Close up of the boy's feet just off the railing, bent at an angle to suggest he's just jumped

Caption: "And when that pitch comes, when you take that big swing, be sure to always, always, always..."

Page Three, Full Spread
The Boy, arms still outstretched hurtles towards the hazy ground below.

Caption: Follow through.


End.