Lara Croft - Trail of Blood - Matt Duarte

Lara Croft in “Trail of Blood” by Matt Duarte

Note from the author: You are probably wondering why I'm uploading my Lara Croft script now, when it was the character's turn two weeks ago. I was on vacation during that time, so I couldn't write it, even though I had a good idea for a page. So you are getting it now. My Silver Surfer script should go up later today, until then, enjoy!

This page is divided into six panels. The first row has three long vertical ones, the second row has two small ones, and the final row is only a big wide one.

Panel 1

Description: Lara Croft is standing in the middle of a big cave, holding both a flashlight and a pistol in her hands towards the floor. She is carrying a Bluetooth headpiece, which rests in her ear and she is talking through it. On the other side of the com line is James (who I just made up), who works as her information broker. On the floor, there’s sets of footsteps and blood.

LARA: You know, James, when you said that there was a trail of blood leading up to this relic, I didn’t think you were being literal.

JAMES (through headpiece): What do you mean?

LARA: Sets of tracks, and lots of blood. It seems to be from the tracks that are leaving the cave.

Panel 2

Description: Lara is now upon a smaller hole within the cave, the tracks and blood are leading into it.

JAMES (through headpiece): Where do they lead?

LARA: Small chamber on the north side.

JAMES (through headpiece): Sounds like a trap... you are going to go in, aren’t you?

LARA: Please James, I’ve got a reputation to uphold. Of course I’m going in.

Panel 3

Description: Complete darkness. The only thing we can see is the spotlight from Lara’s lantern, and a small red glowing light towards the end of it.

LARA: I think I’ve found it.

JAMES (through headpiece): What say? Line breaking up

LARA: Great.

Panel 4

Description: Lara is coming up to a large and long mound inside the cave. On top of it is a small but bright red stone. She is reaching to grab it.

VOICE (off panel): Ta ta ta, dear.

Panel 5

Description: We can only see the back of Lara’s body, and there is a two-barreled shotgun aimed directly at the back of her head. We can see that she has already grabbed the stone.

VOICE (off panel): Did your parents not teach you anything? You mustn’t grab what does not belong to you.

LARA: And who might you be?

Panel 6

Description: From the front, we can now see Lara, still holding on to the stone, and behind her stands the person that was talking earlier. It’s a tall woman, with long red hair, wielding a shotgun. She is wearing a trenchcoat, and bright orange clothes, along with a choker around her neck that holds a stone similar to the one that Lara is holding.

ELSA BLOODSTONE: Me? I’m Elsa Bloodstone, and that’s my father’s tomb you are so happily raiding there. Who the bloody hell are you?

LARA: The name’s Lara Croft, and if you don’t put that gun down, you’ll be joining your dear dad soon enough.

Up Next: Tomb-Raiding, Monster-Fighting Action!

Lara Croft - Game Over - Rol Hirst

Panel One.

Lara Croft descends a grand staircase in a large country mansion, wearing an evening dress to die for. It’s slit up the side, revealing a stockinged leg as she steps forward. Around her low-cut neckline she wears glistening diamond jewellery. Other guests (mainly men in dinner jackets) gaze in awe at her entrance.

CAP: You are Lara Croft.

CAP: You are beautiful.

Panel Two.

In a dusty museum back room, surrounded by antiquities that are yet to go on show, Lara leans over a table studying an ancient map. She’s dressed now like a sexy teacher fetish fantasy, her hair tied back, wearing huge glasses that highlight her eyes.

CAP: You are an expert in archaeology, cryptography, and the customs and cultures of hundreds of civilizations long forgotten by the modern world. You are also fluent in 127 ancient languages…

Panel Three.

Lara (in traditional Tomb Raider outfit) is fighting temple guardians armed with enormous swords. She dodges and kicks and shoots as they try their very best to chop off her head.

CAP: …and 128 forms of armed and hand-to-hand combat.

Panel Four.

Lara is in a dark and shadowy corridor. There are torches burning on the walls. She’s holding two hand guns in x-formation across her chest as she makes her way cautiously forward.

CAP: And yet, despite all this… your life is not your own.

Panel Five

At the end of the corridor she steps into a dimly lit room. The walls are covered with peeling images, but it’s too dark to make any of them out. The only light comes from an unseen source in the far corner of the room. The reason we can’t see the source of the light is because it’s blocked by a large throne / seat in the centre of the room. The throne is facing away from us, towards the light source. An enormous figure sits on the throne, though we (and Lara) can only see the back of his head. The figure is unaware of Lara’s arrival.

Lara points a gun at the back of the figure’s head.

CAP: It is completely at the mercy of others. Your every move guided by unseen hands. Free will has never been yours.

Panel Six.

Close on Lara’s gun as it fires.

CAP: Until now.

Panel Seven.

Her gun still smoking, Lara steps around the throne to reveal the source of the light. It’s a TV and computer gaming system. The TV shows a Tomb Raider screen shot. It is splattered with blood. The man in the throne is dead, Lara’s bullet having blown out the front of his skull. He is a huge, overweight man wearing just a wife-beater vest and underpants. He is slumped forward over the computer joystick in his lap.

CAP: One gamer at a time – you’re taking it back.

Lara Croft - Deepwater Vanishing - Simon McDonald

1. Birdseye view of a ship anchored in the South Atlantic Ocean; speeding away from it is a speedboat, and we can just make out two figures on board, both outfitted in scuba-gear. One of Lara Croft; the other is Kevin Alderson (new character, no reference)

CAPTION

The South Atlantic Ocean

KEVIN ALDERSON

... took the spill from BP's Deepwater Horizon for the politicians to get their heads out of their arses and do something...

 

2. Closer on the speedboat; Lara is seated, staring impassively out at the ocean. Alderson is speaking with vigour and passion.

KEVIN ALDERSON

... how many years since the War ended? Yet we've got hundreds of sunken vessels threatening environmental catastrophe that they've continued to ignore...

Take the Hemmingway as an example; the tanker was sunk in 1942, Lara. It was carrying more than 5000 tonnes of oil, yet it's remained untouched for over sixty years...

 

3. Small panel; tight on Alderson, suddenly looking deflated; defeated.

KEVIN ALDERSON

And now that we finally have...

 

4. Lara and Alderson are in the water, swimming downwards into the murky depths.

CAPTION

Kevin Alderson has dedicated his life to safeguarding these forgotten vessels,

and he's finally been provided the funding to do so.

It only took a man-made disaster in the Gulf of Mexico to instigate a pragmatic solution...

 

5. Tight on Lara; we can see the reflection of bright illumination on her facemask.

CAPTION

Unfortunately, Kevin and his team found more than this British naval tanker when they began their survey...

 

6. Largest panel on the page: an overheard shot. We're looking down at the tanker, the Hemmingway, rusted from a lifetime under the sea. And beside it is a stone circle comprised of eight megaliths - think of Stonehenge - and an otherworldly glow is emanating from its middle.

CAPTION (1)

Whatever it is, it evaporated Kevin's team before his very eyes.

They actually dissipated as they approached the monument.

CAPTION (2)

I'm here to find them.
And if I can... to discern the monument's origin.

 

7. Lara's holding up her hand; it's beginning to fade, beginning to dissolve. She shows no indication of panic. Just another day in the life, right?

CAPTION

Here we go.

 

8. Kevin Alderson, in the ocean, alone. Lara has vanished.

Lara Croft - The Endless Search - Ben Rosenthal

1. Lara Croft is standing to the left of the panel. We see her mostly from the back, but is at an angle that we also get a side profile of her as well. She is dressed in her classic blue top and green shorts, and a gun in each hand. She is looking out over a room full of Egyptian hieroglyphics.

CAPTION
“I’ve been on its trail for years, ever since the beginning.”

2. Lara is standing the same as the previous panel. She is now dressed in brown crop top and brown pants. In front of her is a large waterfall, with the slight hint of fire coming from behind it.

CAPTION
“I’ve come close to getting it, only for it to be revealed as fake.”

3. Lara is again in the same pose, but this time sporting a blue long sleeved top and grey cargo pants. She is looking out over rubble of a long forgotten city within the Amazon.

CAPTION
“Now though ... now I have it. I’m sure of it.”

4. Lara is in the same pose as the other panels. However this time she is wearing her full body black leather costume. She is standing in the middle of the Colosseum in Rome.

CAPTION
“Here’s hoping it works......”

CAPTION
“Up, Up, Down, Left, Right, Up, Right, Down, Right.”

6. The panel reads ‘Code Accepted. Nude Lara Croft is now playable’

CAPTION
“It works! After all these years – it works!”

7. We see panel 4 again, exactly the same however this time Lara is standing nude. However, black bars cover her naughty bits. ‘CENSORED’ is written across them.

CAPTION
“DAMMIT!”

Lara Croft - Waiting For Spiders From Mars - Ryan K Lindsay

This scene would come at the end of an issue where Lara Croft has been fighting against a lady who looks a bit like a meaner Lara Croft; this lady is Lara's half-sister.
1. Lara Croft lies on her back, we’re looking at her with the balustrade of the story above showing, as are a set of black shoed feet on this perched spot that belong to her half-sister, Desdemona Singensen.

2. Lara is looking to the side, blood on her face, it’s been a real throwdown. Feet are landing just next to her.

Desdemona: You’ve been pretty damn good. I’m impressed.

3. Desdemona collapses to the floor, a blade sticking out of her collarbone area. Lara is smiling.

4. Lara sits up, wiping blood from her mouth and holding a gun in her other hand.

Lara: I’d love to chat some more, sis, but this reunion needs to end now.

5. Lara holds a gun to Desdemona’s head.

Desdemona: Wait?
Desdemona: Have you heard of the Spire of Ziggy Stardust?

6. Lara points the gun up, her face quizzical.

Lara: No…you mean all this…?

7. Lara lays back down, her wounded half-sister next to her.

Desdemona: Yes, a mere test.
Desdemona: And you better have a butler hiding here somewhere because we’ve got a train to catch in about two hours.

Why Lara Croft?

Will Turner is currently in Norwich with some shaky net but he managed to get the following through to me, which I duly present to you.

It's easy to forget that comics exist outside Marvel and DC. In an effort to broaden my reading, I read the Top Cow Lara Croft comics and found them surprisingly good. I've always liked the character but found the games frustrating to play and the films lacking a decent script or coherent direction (Angelina Jolie was brilliant as Lara, but a great actor can't make a rubbish script great, merely tolerable).

The other reason is that I am English and as such we don't really have superheroes. While 2000AD hails from Oxford and we have greats like Alan Moore and Neil Gaiman, in terms of superheroes we don't really have them. In my opinion, James Bond and Lara Croft come the closest, in the sense that they have a similar air of invulnerability.

Therein lies the problem and my challenge to you excellent writers- to add emotional depth without sacrificing excitement and to somehow get that in one page. Good luck!