Avatar - The Madding Crowd, Part 14 - R.A. Wonsowski

All captions are Harry Dresden's.

Layout:
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Panel 1- Long shot, the Milky Way galaxy.

CAPTION: Magic, as Gravel says, isn't an art. It's a science. It's math of the Most High.

CAPTION: It's a rulebook for how the universe works.

Panel 2- AANG, in a stylized Shaolin temple courtyard high in the mountains. He is in a graceful pose in the middle of his tai-chi-like kata, and all four elements - fire, earth, water, and a visible swirl of air - ring him around his waist in a large circle, perfectly balanced about his axis.

CAPTION: You can't, however, break the rules of physics, so we must bend the ones of magic.

CAPTION: The last True Avatar could bend all four cardinal elements...

Panel 3- A SAMURAI duels in the waters of a shallow creek against two dirty THIEVES. The thieves are armed with short swords, but the SAMURAI defeats them, a katana in each hand, one short and one long. Each of the samurai's blades swings it's arc, trailing visible motion in flat black. The air seems to have that bubble-skin shimmering quality, kind of like...

CAPTION: ...but it wasn't until Musashi, the samurai, that the fifth element, the void, could be manipulated. And he'd been the only one...

Panel 4- ..."The Quiet". JON & SUZI under the sheets, making love, POV from above.

CAPTION: Until Jon and Suzi. Through the void, they are the first Timebenders in centuries. Making it stop...

Panel 5- In the Madness Gate, on the back of the master Hellspider, ECLIPSO reels in the Quiet, fumbling his scimitar, confused and angry. Background, and coming in fast, HAWK zooms toward us for the attack, talon-hands extended. DOVE has his back, keeping Hellspider-young at bay.

CAPTION: ...and go backwards.

ECLIPSO: ?!?gnineppah si tahw...

...to be continued...

Avatar - It Always Comes Back - Ben Rosenthal

1.  In the Southern Water Tribe.  Korra is just a child and is being carried away in the foreground by Zaheer.  In the foreground we can only see adult Sokka's head looking on as Korra is carried away.


2.  Reverse angle.  A tight shot severely beaten Sokka from the neck up - he doesn't have much left in him.  He holds in his arm his boomerang, clenched and about to throw it after Zaheer.  In the background to the left Katara and Aang are running towards him/Zaheer.  Katare is screaming and Aang is shocked.


3.  A tight shot on Zaheer as the boomerang hits him in the brow (it is the moment he got the scar on his brow).


4. A shot of the boomerang in mid air, flying back to Sokka.


5.  A wide panel.  The Boomerang has landed in the show at Sokka's feet.  Katara (who has tears streaming down her face of pure rage) and Aang are beginning to bend at Ming-Hua who has impaled Sokka with her water arm tendrils.  He has died.  Sokka was impaled before he threw the boomerang.  His last act was saving Korra.

Avatar – The Comedy of Amon – MK Stangeland Jr.

(As inspired by the “Comedy Amon” meme that I’ve gotten a ton of mileage out of since the concept first popped up during Season 1 of Legend of Korra. I’ve got roughly a hundred of those things to date and I’ve had fun with every one of them.

Plus, Varrick’s always a fun character. Hard to go wrong with Varrick.)

(6 Panels)

Panel 1: A 20’s or 30’s style movie set – the best inspiration would probably be the scenes from SEASON 2 of LEGEND OF KORRA during the NUK TUK filming scenes. VARRICK is in the middle of giving orders as BOLIN approaches.

VARRICK (1): AH! Bolin! Just the man I wanted to see!

VARRICK (2): We need to work out details about this Bolin Saves the World mover!

BOLIN: Varrick, I’m not sure if there’s be a Bolin Saves the World mover.

Panel 2: VARRICK is disappointed in BOLIN’s attitude.

VARRICK: Not with that attitude, there isn’t!

BOLIN: That’s not what I wanted to talk to you about anyway.

Panel 3: BOLIN is suspicious of VARRICK as VARRICK explains himself, looking proud of himself as usual.

BOLIN: What’s this I’m hearing about an Amon movie?

VARRICK: That? That’s my next big mover idea!

Panel 3: VARRICK speaks as he ‘sells’ his idea, complete with his arms out in front of him like he’s picturing a movie title displayed in lights. BOLIN looks less than thrilled about what VARRICK is saying.

VARRICK (1): I call it “The Comedy of Amon!”

VARRICK (2): It’s a fun, slap-stick piece that tells the story of Amon as he fails in his quest to ‘Get That Avatar!’ but has a ton of laughs along the way!

BOLIN: That sounds like a terrible idea.

Panel 4: VARRICK puts an arm around BOLIN’s shoulder as he continues to sell the idea.

VARRICK (1): Trust me, kid! I know exactly what I’m doing!

VARRICK (2): I invented the mover business, remember!

BOLIN: But a mover about Amon?

Panel 5: Continuation of PANEL 4.

VARRICK (1): Look, Bolin, I know all there is to know about movers, and you? Not so much.

VARRICK (2): The trick is to make light of Amon so that nobody takes him seriously!

Panel 6: VARRICK turns aside as he gets ready to move on to another line of thought as BOLIN fails to follow VARRICK’s saying.

BOLIN: I think you lost me.

VARRICK (1): Well, it’ll probably come off better once we’ve got a script together.

VARRICK (2): I’m still throwing ideas up against the wall and seeing what sticks.

(END PAGE)

Why Avatar?

Fire - Air - Water - Earth

Only one can master all four elements – The Avatar!

Back in 2005, Nickelodeon debuted an animated series created by Michael DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko called Avatar: The Last Airbender. It was set in a fantastical world where special individuals commonly referred to as Benders had the power to control one of the four classical elements.

One such individual known as the Avatar, who was born with the Avatar Spirit after the last one passed away, was special in that they had not just the power to learn how to control all four elements, but served as go-between for both the human world and the spirit world that it existed just short of right next to. The Avatar was then tasked to use this power to ‘bring balance’ to the world, which often involved serving as some kind of mix between a one-person United Nations (if the United Nations wasn’t an ineffectual mess 99% of the time) and The Pope.

Alternatively, to quote the short-lived abridged series, they’re “Kung-Fu Action Jesus”. Their words, not mine.

It was a pretty great series that picked up a pretty devoted fanbase for a good reason. Aside from having spectacular writing and great characters, the show did a phenomenal job with its world building that was heavily inspired by various Asian culture and mythology. Even the hallmark super-powered elemental kung-fu fighting styles draw directly from real-life martial arts.

The end result was a world with untapped potential the likes of which you don’t find very often.

Except there was a problem – For whatever reason, it’s also a property that Nickelodeon doesn’t seem to know what to do with, which seems to have created a very love-hate relationship. On the one hand, they followed up with a live-action movie, sequel comics to the series, and a full-on sequel series in the form of Legend of Korra. On the other hand, the movie was a mess, Legend of Korra has suffered from all number of mixed signals from Nickelodeon, and who can say what the future holds for the comics?

Which is why, aside from future trade paperbacks, this coming Friday’s series finale for Legend of Korra may be the last major addition we ever see to the Avatar franchise. So it seemed like a good time to put our own stamps on the series before it may well go away for good. With thousands of years worth of history to play in and plenty of characters to work with if you don’t feel like creating your own, it should be no problem finding something to write about.

Including for anyone who’d like to play along at home – just go ahead and put your own one-page script in the comments section below!