Dex Parios - The Madding Crowd, Part 4 (exposition) - R.A. Wonsowski

Previously: A crazed SHADE (the Changing Man) separated JACK RYDER from his alter ego, the CREEPER, but with the wrong mind in the wrong body. Vampire ANDREW BENNETT has hinted that two DOCTORS from JACK's past may be behind it, as part of a bigger plot...

PAGE 7: (done in the Stumptown art style)

Panel 1- Skyline of Portland, Oregon. Foreground, in a grassy field, homeless men and women cooking over a trashcan fire and putting up trash bag tents.

CAPTION (Andrew): Portland turned out to be the perfect place to stage first trials. With local authorities criminalizing the city's homeless...

Panel 2- In the parking lot of a public park, a short line of homeless people wait in line to see DR. SKOLOS and DR. YATZ, who are giving "inoculations" at their white Ford panel van: a stylized logo reading "MetaCare" is stenciled on the side, and SHADE can be seen waiting behind the wheel, watching in his side-view mirror.

CAPTION (Andrew): They had a perfect supply of four thousand human guinea pigs, marginalized to the point that almost no one would miss...

Panel 3- DEX PARIOS sits at an outdoor table at a local coffee shop. The WOMAN (mid-30s) sitting across from her wipes her eyes with a tissue as she passes a photo of her brother.

CAPTION (Andrew): Almost. A local investigator was hired by a local woman looking for her addict brother among the underpass dwellers...

Panel 4- The woman's BROTHER is slumped over blankly on a graffitoed cement bench.  DEX's hand is on his shoulder as she signals to PARAMEDICS in the background, who are running and carrying their kits.

CAPTION (Andrew): The brother was found in a catatonic state on a park bench. Police assumed an overdose...

Panel 5- The BROTHER is out like a light on a hospital bed hooked up to all manner of machines. Background, we see through a large observation window DEX is taking notes while talking to a DOCTOR reading from her clipboard.

CAPTION (Andrew): But a tox screen taken while he was in an induced coma showed only trace amounts of methadone, and no other medical anomalies...

Panel 6- As ANDREW describes...

CAPTION (Andrew): As the brother was being admitted into intensive care, his identical twin was found pummeling a bank security guard with a discarded length of rebar.

Small Inset Panel- ANDREW BENNETT talking to the CREEPER (standing like Jack Ryder listening during an interview).

ANDREW: Except he never had a twin brother.

Panel 7- DEX with military field glasses to her eyes. Reflected in the lenses is the MetaCare van.

CAPTION (Andrew): She turned up another fourteen cases of mysterious duplication. One twin on the edge of madness, the other comatose...

CAPTION (Andrew): ...and in each instance, a white panel van standing sentinel nearby....

...to be continued....

Dex Parios – Too Good to be True – MK Stangeland Jr.

(7 Panels)

Panel 1: DEX PARIOS is wearing a bathrobe. She holds a cup of coffee in one hand as she goes through her mail. In front of her she holds one piece of mail – a bank statement – that has caused her to freeze as she tries to repress a spit-take.

DEX PARIOS: (Text Box) …

Panel 2: DEX swallows her coffee. She puts both her coffee mug and bank statement down the table.

DEX PARIOS: (Text Box) One billion dollars?

Panel 3: DEX tries to clam herself and keep a cool head as the bank statement sits on the table in front of her.

DEX PARIOS: (Text Box) How does my bank account suddenly have an extra one billion dollars?!

Panel 4: DEX holds the bank statement in front of her, but folded so that she can’t read it as she prepares to open it again and make sure she didn’t make a mistake.

DEX PARIOS (1): (Text Box) Why am I questioning this? It’s a billion dollars!

DEX PARIOS (2): (Text Box) How could I not question it? It’s a billion dollars!

Panel 5: DEX opens the bank statement again.

DEX PARIOS (1): (Text Box) It’s too good to be true.

DEX PARIOS (2): (Text Box) There’s a saying about too good to be true.

Panel 6: DEX PARIOS looks at the bank statement to see that she didn’t make a mistake. She really has no idea how to react.

DEX PARIOS: (Text Box) No, I’m not seeing things.

Panel 7: DEX PARIOS slams the bank statement on the table in front of her. Her attitude shouldn’t be one of joy or frustration – it’s far more neutral out of a confusion about how to react to this mysterious turn of events.

DEX PARIOS (1): $#*^!

(END PAGE)

Dex Parios - Interlude - Grant McLaughlin

This page would occur in the midst of a particularly heavy workload for Dex.  She's been burning the candle at so many ends it feels like she's added on a few extra so she can go through it faster.  This also means she hasn't seen much of her brother Ansel (who, for those who may not know, has Down's Syndrome).  Missing her and concerned for her, he's made her promise to spend some time with him, insisting they go to the Lan Su Chinese Garden in Portland's Old Town Chinatown (an exceedingly beautiful place).

Page layout would have four rows.  Panel 1 would be alone on the top row, panels 2 and 3 would be the second row, panels 4 through 6 would be the third row, and panel 7 would be the last row.

I've included a number of image references that capture the setting better than my words could.  Feel free to look at or ignore them at your leisure.

1 - Establishing shot.  An exterior shot of Lan Su Garden.  We see the garden's outer walls and some hints of the pavilions and buildings within, but the area is surrounded by the city itself as well - cars drive by in front, building reach skyward beside and behind the garden.  It's a mixture of the chaos without and the calm within.  Maybe have two figures walking towards the garden's entrance, one leading the other by the hand  (there's no good image reference for this - but some kind of 3/4 shot could be aces).

DEX (tailless): Is this really necessary?

2 - Move closer to see Ansel leading Dex by the hand towards the garden's entrance.  Dex wears a blindfold and is toying at it with her free hand.  Ansel looks back, a plaintive expression on his face (image reference).

ANSEL: B-but you you promised!

DEX: Sorry.

3 - Ansel leads Dex through the front door of the garden, their backs to the reader (image reference).

DEX: You're right.  Lead on, little brother.

4 - Looking directly at Dex.  She still has the blindfold on, although Ansel is in the process of taking it off.  A little pavilion is behind them, but its details are not important.

ANSEL: I k-know you're busy.

5 - Repeat shot, but the blindfold is off.  Dex looks out with a tired, exhausted look on her face.  Ansel can be beside her, either looking expectantly towards the sight before them or at Dex herself.

ANSEL: But I thought you might like this.

6 - Repeat shot, but Dex now wears a wide smile on her face, the exhaustion melted away.

DEX: Oh, Ansel...

7 - Switch angel to behind Dex and Ansel.  They're sitting side by side on a seat looking out across the pond, plants and pavilions of the garden.  Dex has her arm around Ansel and puts her head down on his lovingly (perhaps something like this or this).

DEX: I love it.

Why Dex Parios?

In a sense, it's all about Portland.

About a year and a half ago, I went down to Emerald City Comic Con on a near whim.  I was going to be flying to the West Coast for the first time in my life and figured if I was already out there, I may as well extend the trip somewhat to go check out a nearby city I'd been hearing a lot of good things about: Portland.

I fell in love.

Portland was something of a revelation.  It's a beautiful city that has an amazing vibe to it. I might be romanticizing just a little bit, but one thing that I found particularly irresistible and amazing is the city's seemingly intrinsic appreciation for the arts.  It's hard to explain, but everywhere you go you can't help but notice it - it's almost like there's something in the air.

I know I might be overstating things a bit, but there are few places where I've found myself happier than Portland, Oregon.

So what does this surprisingly long tangent have to do with Stumptown?  In one sense, not a heck of a lot.  But in another, quite a bit.

A heck of a city

Stumptown, originally published in 2009, was one of the first comic book series that I actively sought out based solely on the creator behind the book instead of because of the characters on the cover.  Simply put, Greg Rucka's name is what got my foot in the door.  And am I ever glad it did.

I met Dexedrine Callisto Parios, a hard-headed private investigator who is loyal to a fault and gets the job done - no matter the consequences.  These are only some of her many qualities, but one thing she definitely isn't is boring.  Stumptown may not necessarily be quite as flashy as some of the other stories or properties that Rucka has lent his prodigious talents to, but it is easily one of my favourites.  I devoured that initial miniseries and was thrilled when a second (equally enjoyable) volume hit shelves in 2012.

In the back matter to one of the issues, Greg Rucka writes about the importance of place to literary PIs.  As he puts it, where the character is based is just as important as who that character is.  And Dex Parios has Portland.  I understood this on an intellectual level when I initially read it, but actually visiting Portland let me understand it on an emotional level, too.

Union Station!

Coming back to the series after my trip to Portland, I found myself experiencing it in a completely different way.  I'd always enjoyed Stumptown, but re-reading was like looking on it with new eyes.  It suddenly mattered a lot to me that Dex's office was at Union Station, that she goes to Timbers games, and that she was shot beneath St. Johns Bridge - to name but a few examples.  All these things that were minor details were now integral elements to the characters and to their world.

I love Portland.  I know I'm still something of a tourist in that town, but every time I go I feel a little bit more at home.  Unfortunately, as someone who lives much closer to the East Coast of North America than the West Coast, actually visiting Portland occurs much less frequently than I would like.  Happily, spending time with Dex and her strangely familiar adventures enable me to spend a bit more time

So I hope you'll join me this week to explore the city and the comic book series that I love so much.

Also: comics!