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Main Junction: GRAVEL: What Mike Has To Work With

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  1.  (150.21)
    Since Warren has already posted bits of the scriptment for GRAVEL #1, there won't be any secrets exposed if I go ahead and post the comparative scriptment/script. Here are Warren's words, describing the opening scene of GRAVEL #1, followed by my full script for artist Raulo Caceres:

    GRAVEL #1
    Warren's Scriptment
    1: LOVE FROM DEEP BLACK COLD

    OPEN ON: An English village. Dead birds on the road as WILLIAM GRAVEL walks to a PUB in the gathering dusk. An old man stands outside the pub, selling copies of the local paper. The little stand next to him has the headline, printed on a big white sheet under the wire grille of the stand: THIRD GIRL MISSING.

    Inside the pub, as Gravel orders a pint of IPA: farmers bitching about the sudden die-off of their crops, leaving them fucked for winter earnings. Maybe the rainy summer did it? Fuck that: see the flowers all bloody die this month? The birds dropping out of the trees? Someone’s poisoned the fields, maybe. Maybe it’s global warming…

    GRAVEL #1
    Wolfer Script
    PAGE 1

    Panel 1: We're looking down at the surface of a paved road and several dead, black birds. Their beaks are open, as if they were squawking as they died. They are not physically damaged; they just look like they dropped dead suddenly.

    Panel 2: Same view, EXACT PANEL as above, only now GRAVEL'S FEET and LEGS are in the panel, standing near the birds. He is obviously standing there looking down at the dead birds, but all we can see of his body is from his knees down.

    Panel 3: WIDESCREEN PANEL- At ground level, we see the set of feet walking away from us and the dead birds. GRAVEL is actually in a nice little ENGLISH VILLAGE (see reference photos). There is a parked automobile in view, but no people walking about. It is SUNSET, but leave the sky white. Do not worry about drawing any clouds in the sky; a sunset sky can be done best by the colorist. GRAVEL is just across the street from a PUB (see reference photo). The name of the PUB can be seen on a sign hanging from a tall pole; The square wooden sign has the words REAPER'S ARMS and has a picture of a scythe (in reference to the local farmlands surrounding the VILLAGE). In front of the PUB stands a man selling the local newspaper. The man is fat and bald, a short cigar in his mouth. He wears an apron tied around his neck and waist that has a large pocket across the belly in which he holds his money. Next to him is a wire rack on which the newspapers are stacked; a white sheet of paper with the handwritten words THIRD GIRL MISSING is visible through the wire grille of the rack.
    CAPTION: By Southeastern Rail, it's a good hour's ride from the station at Charing Cross to Tunbridge Wells...
    CAPTION: Then a four kilometer walk to Langton Green, since there's no bus service way out here in the sticks.
    CAPTION: I opted to use my own method of transport.
    CAPTION: Got here from London in less than a minute.

    Panel 4: CLOSE UP of the words THIRD GIRL MISSING, written on the paper and seen through the wire grille.

    Panel 5: Inside the PUB (see reference photos), CLOSE UP of the bartender, drying a freshly-washed beer glass with a towel. He is looking toward us, toward GRAVEL, whose shoulder we can see in the foreground.
    BARTENDER: What'll it be, mate?
    GRAVEL: Pint of IPA.

    PAGE 2
    Panel 1: WIDESCREEN PANEL- ESTABLISHING SHOT of GRAVEL, sitting at the bar facing us. He has a glass of beer sitting in front of him. He looks cautiously to one side, listening to three older men who sit at a table behind him, talking. They are farmers, wearing casual clothing, flannel shirts.
    MAN 1: It was the rain, I say. Too much rain this summer.
    MAN 2: Ach. It's not root rot, not in my fields. Not mold, neither. Never seen anything like it.
    MAN 1: Anyroad, all my crops dyin', I'm fucked for winter earnings.

    Panel 2: The MEN talk in the foreground, GRAVEL sipping his beer in the background, one eye on the MEN.
    MAN 3: Maybe it's global warming. Lot o' argy-bargy on the telly...
    MAN 1: Fuck that. You see all the flowers bloody die off this month?
    MAN 1: The birds droppin' out o' the trees?
    MAN 2: More like someone's poisoned the fields.

    Panel 3: CLOSE UP of GRAVEL (facing left), sipping his beer. He is still listening, but does not look concerned by what he hears.
    MAN 2 (OFF PANEL): You ever seen a dead worm that didn't drown in a puddle o' water?
    MAN 2 (OFF PANEL): The soil's full of 'em.

    Panel 4: WIDESCREEN PANEL- GRAVEL is now walking away from us, down a hilly, country lane (see reference photo), trees lining the sides of the narrow, dirt road. A simple, wooden, handmade road sign is on the LEFT side of the road, facing us. It reads: PRIVATE ROAD.
    CAPTION (retain quotation marks): "I say it's poison."
    CAPTION: The old farmer's right. It is poison.
    CAPTION: But not one that comes in a bottle.
    • CommentAuthorJEFFSJ
    • CommentTimeDec 12th 2007
     (150.22)
    Thanks for posting this. Very cool to see.
    •  
      CommentAuthorGypsy
    • CommentTimeDec 12th 2007 edited
     (150.23)
    Mike Wolfer: Thank you for posting this! It's neat to see what and where you've expounded on the scriptment that Warren Ellis provided; it'll be fascinating to see how Raulo translates the script into the pages of the book.
    I like the specifics in the descriptions like:
    Their beaks are open, as if they were squawking as they died. They are not physically damaged...
    and the whole bit with the newspaper stand. I've learned a good many things from looking at this, one of which is that I never would have thought to tell the artist to leave the sky blank for the colorist to fill in with the sunset; makes sense, though.
  4.  (150.24)
    Nice. Since you have worked with Warren before, it is easier to produce your scripts from his due to familiarity with his writing style and subject matter?
    •  
      CommentAuthorUnsub
    • CommentTimeDec 12th 2007
     (150.25)
    I'm having a time out until I can learn some manners.
    I have the previous books with Gravel in them so I told my comic book guy to order this one for me as well. He already had.

    The other Mike Gravel is one heck of an impressive guy. Amazing that someone that cool could get elected to the US senate.
    I wish he was a combat magician and could get himself elected President in 08!
    • CommentAuthorsacredchao
    • CommentTimeDec 12th 2007
     (150.26)
    @ Unsub

    I was thinking about the other Mike Gravel when I clicked on this also.
    •  
      CommentAuthorGekko
    • CommentTimeMay 23rd 2009 edited
     (150.27)
    ABOUT CHAPTER TWO
    I hope this hasn't raised an issue already. I've search-engined key words and couldn't find what I've been looking for since I started reading Gravel TP vol 01:
    I guess every reader has noticed the word FUCK in bloody letters on Gravel's blade, Chapter 2, towards the end. My question is: Is there a reason for the presence of that word?
    I confess I haven't finished reading the TP so if there's an answer to be found please don't even bother to answer my lame question. I mean, of course one thinks of Artist's irony and just that. Yet.
  8.  (150.28)
    That was just something that artist Raulo Caceres snuck in there. I was surprised to see it myself.
    •  
      CommentAuthorGekko
    • CommentTimeMay 24th 2009 edited
     (150.29)
    Thank you Mike.

    Should one wonder whether Raulo ever had an explanation to his choice, this detail should probably be better off forgotten. Shouldn't it?
  10.  (150.30)
    It should.

    When you finish the trade, let me know what you thought of it!
  11.  (150.31)
    I love "scaffolding", as Warren called it in-- was it the Dark Blue script book? Checking-- yes, it was. Nice term. I love behind the scenes stuff.

    Mike, do you full script and send it by Warren when you're also doing the art, as for the bulk of Gravel after Strange Kisses? Rough thumbnails and dialog? Straight to the art? I ask because, while I assume Warren has final approval (every indication being he trusts you, barring the occasional editoral/ creative communication error (coughmathlabcough), I'm wondering if you prefer to map it out in script before hand, not, or have no preference.

    I knew two writer/ artists back in high school (hope to see their names on a finished pro work some day). One, if the teacher asked him for a script before hand when the end project was a comic-- he'd go nuts. Had to draw the damn thing first, write a script off that. The other was in a state of blind panic in art class when the teacher was getting us to improv comics to "loosen up". He HAD to have a script. He could change the final product from the script when he went to art, but he needed that framework down.

    So what works best to get Gravel out the door where it can take my money as the only regular series I buy in singles?
  12.  (150.32)
    Back in "the day" when I was doing WIDOW, I would work from a very rough draft of the script, then do final dialog after the art was completed. For GRAVEL, I leave no margin for error- I do a fully-realized script even though I'm drawing the book. Warren usually firmly establishes what will happen visually in his scriptment, so there are rarely questions about the visual execution of the book... It's the dialog which can be tricky. I turn in a full script first and then begin the art, which gives everyone a chance to give the dialog the once-over while I'm drawing. If there are any dialog changes, the production folks at Avatar are given a revised script from which to letter the book (Sorry, Mark!).
    My scripts for GRAVEL are much less dense, however, than a WOLFSKIN or a NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD, which are written for other artists. As with any script I'm working on, I have a very clear visual image in my head for each panel, but if I'm writing for myself, my panel descriptions include much less detail than I would give someone else- I already know where I'm going with it, in other words.

    Example-
    If another artist is drawing, I write this:
    PAGE 9
    Panel 1: WIDESCREEN across the top of the page. GRAVEL strikes first- He has balled his right hand into a fist and is pulling it backward over his shoulder as if pulling on some great rope. This motion is magically tearing BRUISER'S rib cage right out of his body in a shower of blood.

    If I'm writing for myself, I write this:
    PAGE 9
    Panel 1: WIDESCREEN across the top of the page. GRAVEL jumps and does shit.


    I'm just kidding about that last bit, but you get the picture.
    • CommentAuthorKradlum
    • CommentTimeJun 4th 2009
     (150.33)
    Is there a reason letterers don't get credits from Avatar? Is it because Ariana letters everything?
  14.  (150.34)
    If I recall correctly, Mark Seifert once told me that it's either him, Ariana, or David Marks. Am I recalling wrong, Mark? Has the workload shifted?
  15.  (150.35)
    I just wanted to point out that I'm excited this thread exists in the first place.
    I love looking at the scaffolding of any collaborative medium. I'm kind of a behind-the-scenes junkie that way.
    Anytime more than one person is involved in a creative project, there has to be a lot of trust, but also a unique form of communication for each group, I would imagine.

    So, thanks Warren and Mike for this insight into the process. I'd love more!
  16.  (150.36)
    @meaninglessnoise: You're welcome. Glad you've enjoyed what you've read so far.

    At this stage in the game, Warren and I seem to be rolling really well, full steam ahead. With seven illustrated issues under my belt, I'm back in that comfortable, creative groove that I experienced back in the STRANGE days. If you have any questions that have yet to be answered, fire away.

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