Headspace - Resonance - Brian Manton

1.
Shot from behind Max, as he stands on the main street of Carpenter Cove, the town stretching out before him.
Max centre frame, the panel is split vertically showing the headspace version of Carpenter Cove on the left and IRL Carpenter Cove on the right.
Headspace Cove is in night and the strange creatures that populate it crawl the buildings.
IRL Cove is daytime, a busy town with happy people.

Max: They built a town in my head.

Max: I've come to the real town... for some perspective I guess.

2.
IRL Carpenter Cove.
Low shot looking up at Max. His feet are rooted on the ground but from his waist, multiple versions of his torso spring out, flailing in different directions.

Max: Everything vibrates into place and I hear something click.

3.
Headspace Carpenters Cove.
The dark town is empty.

Max: My mind is a ghost town.

4.
IRL Carpenter Cove.
A car crashes into a shopfront. Everyone who was walking around the town has fallen to the ground asleep. The sleepers look distressed.
Max stands in the middle of all of this, dumbfounded.

Max: And everyone out here has one of my personal demons to wrestle with in their dreams.
 

Headspace - The Recess - R.A. Wonsowski

Layout: 2x3

Panel 1 - Through the mouth of the crevasse, we see the Cove across the lake at a very dim twilight.

CAPTION:  I take one last look back before I go into the recess. Night falls like a kiss from a creepy uncle.

Panel 2 - Dark gray rock walls, going up and on into the dark forever, no end to the depth.

CAPTION:  Last time with the flashlight was disorienting. Spots danced and played hell on my eyes whenever I swung it around.

Panel 3 - Black.

CAPTION:  This time I'll let my night eyes adjust. Go in blind. In my head, I sing like Mama used to when the power'd go out.

Panel 4 - Black.

CAPTION:  Amazing grace, how sweet the sound...that saved a wretch like me...

Panel 5 - Black.

CAPTION:  I once was lost...

CAPTION: ...god...

CAPTION:  ...but now....

Panel 6:  Black, except for the impossible gleam of a knife edge.

CAPTION (someone else):  ...i see...

Congratulations RKL and Mr Hill on your success!  And thanks again for letting me play in your sandboxes...

Headspace - The Whole World - Niel Jacoby

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Panel 1: GAVIN, the deputy from Issue 1, is walking through a woods on the outskirts of Carpenter Cove. It is broad daylight.

CAPTION(GAVIN): I DON'T KNOW WHAT I EXPECTED. I GUESS I JUST WANTED TO GET SOMEWHERE ELSE.

Panel 2: Gavin is still walking through the woods, but it's much closer to dusk, and he's looking haggard.

CAPTION(GAVIN): SHANE WENT TOO FAR. I JUST COULDN'T STAY.

Panel 3: Night has fallen. Gavin is bleary, and the woods have clearly become more of a bayou.

CAP(GAVIN): I GUESS I JUST ASSUMED THERE WAS NO PLACE WORSE THAN CARPENTER COVE.

Panel 4: Gavin is struggling to pull one of his shoes out of the mud of the bayou, and we can see firelight in the distance.

NO COPY

Panel 5: We see Gavin's reaction to what he sees in Panel 6. We see his face in a look of confusion as it is illuminated by the firelight.

CAP(GAVIN); I WAS WRONG.

Panel 6: Gavin stands at the edge of the bayou, looking on at a gathering around a dilapidated shack. about 15 men and women in sheep masks are gathered around a stump. Bray Wyatt

is standing on the stump, leading his congregation in a song, as Luke Harper and Erick Rowan stand at either side of the stump.

WYATT AND FOLLOWERS IN UNISON(SINGING):

HE'S GOT THE WHOLE WORLD IN HIS HEAD,

HE'S GOT THE WHOLE WORLD IN HIS HEAD,

HE'S GOT THE WHOOOOOOLE WORLD IN HIS HEAD,

HE'S GOT THE WHOLE WORLD IN HIS HEAD.

Headspace – Thinking Outside the Box – MK Stangeland Jr.

(I can only make out the basics about what is supposed to be going on with HEADSPACE, so my apologies if this in no way lines up with what is actually going on.)

(6 Panels)

Panel 1: Still inside the mental image of MAX’s head, in the padded room where MAX sits on the floor in a straight jacket. MAX’s father  - rather, a mental image of his father - falls down face forwards, dead from the hole in his chest. Behind him stands GEORGE WASHINGTON, dressed up like a modern-day RAMBO.

WASHINGTON: It’s time to go, son.

Panel 2: MAX, still looks in shock at where his dad lies dead on the ground.

MAX: You just killed my father!

Panel 3: WASHINGTON steps forwards over the body of MAX’s father. He grabs for a combat knife at his side.

WASHINGTON (1): No, that would require he were real.

WASHINGTON (2): But none of this is. If it were, I would not be here, for I have been dead for over 200 years.

Panel 4: WASHINGTON stands over MAX, who looks up at him. He holds a combat knife by the blade, pointing the handle at MAX as if to offer it to him.

Ideally, the panel would be looking up at WASHINGTON alongside MAX to give WASHINGTON a greater presence.

WASHINGTON (1): Your so-called father was their latest attempt to control you.

WASHINGTON (2): I have come to help set you free.

WASHINGTON (3): You could stay here and let them win.

WASHINGTON (4): Or you can come with me, and maybe I can help you beat them back.

Panel 5: MAX, on the floor, looks at the knife that WASHINGTON is offering him.

Panel 6: MAX looks back up at WASHINGTON.

MAX: Cut me free.

(END PAGE)

Headspace - Adrift - Grant McLaughlin

Okay, let's see if this will make any sense.  We'll roll with three rows of panels.  Top row is panels 1 through 3, all equal width.  Second row is panels 4 and 5, the latter slightly larger than the former.  The final row is a single panel, panel 6.  The important thing to note is that the gutter between the first and second row is actually a jagged lightning bolt that flies across the page, diagonally descending from right to left.  There could even be a big "CRAAACK" along the way.  This means that the top row gets shorter going from left to right, while the second row gets taller.  The third row is unaffected by this.

One more thing, the first three panels would be in Eric Zawadzki's inimitable style, while the remainder of the page would be Riley Rossmo's.  The reason, if not already, will become evident as you read through.

1 - We open on Linda, the character from the first three pages of the first issue, in the boat Shane sent her off into the ocean in, sitting in the same position - arms handcuffed behind her back and looking down into the rowboat's bottom.  She is afloat in the middle of the water - pretty similar to that third page.  It is just starting to rain, with a few scant raindrops harmlessly falling from the heavens.

CAPTION (LINDA): Carpenter Cove was always quiet.

2 -  The camera can start to move closer to Linda and her boat, although it's still pretty far off.  The rain increases in intensity - it's becoming a regular shower.

CAPTION (LINDA): But nothing lasts forever.

3 - We're closer in yet again.  The rain has developed into a true downpour, slapping against Linda, her boat, and the water.  The ocean starts to become wild and choppy.

CAPTION (LINDA): I know it was only the calm before the storm.

This would be where the lightning gutter comes into play - perhaps a red lightning bolt - taking us across the page and into the art change.

4 - Closer still, water is coming over the side of the boat.  Linda pays it no mind.

CAPTION (LINDA): So I got out.

5 - The rain continues, but Linda's boat, while filling with water, has landed on a beach.

CAPTION (LINDA): It wasn't pretty, but it worked.

6 - Pull out, Linda continues to ignore the world around her in the background, but our focus is on Morley Mack (of Green Wake fame, natch) who is standing on the beach and smoking a cigarette.

CAPTION (LINDA): Unfortunately, I have a feeling I only traded one storm for another.

Headspace - Spinoff! - Ben Rosenthal

NOTE:  This will only make 'sense' if you have read HEADSPACE #2.  I use the term 'sense' very loosely.  Apologies to Ryan, Dan and the rest of the HEADSPCE crew.


1.  A text panel running across the top of the page.  The title is a graphic resembling the Indiana Jones logo.

TEXT: From the mind of Ryan Lindsay comes the next break out character from the hit comic HEADSPACE - THE ADVENTURES OF SURPRISE ALLIGATOR!


2.  Max is inside his house, answering the front door.  His hand is on the doorknob as he is about to open it.

SFX: Ding dong.

MAX: Ah, that must be my copy of "Murderer's Illustrated"

3.  The door is open.  Surprise Alligator Has leapt on top of Max, jaws singing in to his midsection.  Max has lost a hand.


4.  Max is in bed, on his side getting ready to kiss his wife. She is next to him in bed, covered up by the quilt.  It appears she is already asleep.  Max is puckering up to kiss her goodnight.

MAX: What a day!  Goodnight honey.

5.  Surprise Alligator is in Max's bed, not his wife.  He is eating Max's face.  Surprise Alligator is wearing sexy lingerie.


6.  Max is answering the door again, similar to Panel 2 however it is a new day and he is dressed differently.  He is being cautious about opening the door - there is fear in his eyes.

SFX: Ding dong.

MAX: Uh...


7.  The door is open with Max putting his hands up as he believes he is about to be attacked by Surprise Alligator.  However a postman is in the doorway holding out a box.

POSTMAN: Delivery for you, sir.


8.  Max is taking the box from the man, looking at it in disbelief.

MAX: Uh, thanks.


9.  Surprise Alligator is springing out of the small box, defying the laws of physics and eating Max's head.

Why Headspace?

Almost 4 years a go a group of aspiring comic writers were called to arms by one man.  That man was Ryan K. Lindsay.  Just over a year and a half ago Ryan left the site to focus on his comic writing career.  Since then he has released a whole heap of shorts, edited and wrote in a book of essays on Daredevil and even been hired to write a My Little Pony book on Rainbow Dash (amongst many other things).

Then last year a pitch of his was picked up by Monkey Brain comics.  That pitch was HEADSPACE.  The basic outline of this is:

The inhabitants of Carpenter Cove discover their strange town is actually a construct in the mind of a killer. Shane, the sheriff, wants to get back to his real life but one dark connection between him and the killer is going to make him rethink everything. 

For a series that has the ability to mess with reality (and does so) it remains firmly grounded.  It messes with your mind as well as following its own linear path of storytelling.  And it is captivating stuff.



Oh - and I did forget to mention that another former Thought Balloon writer, Dan Hill is the editor of HEADSPACE AND writes the back up matter each issue.

For that reason we are celebrating HEADSPACE this week at Thought Balloons.   Not only is it an excellent book, but it shows that if you work hard enough, and want it enough your dreams are attainable.

Go pick up HEADSPACE here - only 99 cents.