Meeting Points - Tyrannicide - P. A. Nolte

Apologies for all the late entries recently, and thanks to Grant for posting The Orient Express' Why? for me in a pinch.  Hopefully things will be smoother sailing from here on out.  At least for a little while.  And, in case you missed them, my entries for Ashkan Honorvar's Heroes and The Orient Express are now live, so go read them!

1/ A hooded figure in black leather armor whispers hatefully into the Archduke's ear as he presses the monarch up against the railing of his oration balcony.  He is simultaneously plunging a jeweled dagger deep into the Archduke's gullet.  The blood gushing from the wound stains the white and purple vestments of the former ruler of this world.

Myrgos: For my sister...

2/ Myrgos withdraws his blade, pulling back to stand in full view.  He is a drow, flanked by a large man with red hair wearing full plate, a woman barely visible under a midnight blue cloak with the hood drawn, and a kentauride with short cropped hair and tribal brandings up and down her exposed arms.  The redheaded man cradles his large hammer, the cloaked woman stands still as a statue, and the kentauride has an arrow nocked, but not aimed.

Farrar: Is--  Is that it?  Is it over?

Violca: No. Not yet.

3/ Profile.  Close.  From within her cloak, Violca has drawn a handful of dust, raised it in front of her face, and is blowing it towards the unsteady figure of the Archduke.

4/ He backs up, tripping and about to plummet to his death over the rail.

Archduke: No! Not like this! Not--

5/ The Bazaar.  The speck of the Archduke's body can be seen as it falls from the balcony.  The multitudes watch on in silence.  The tyrant has departed this world.

Caption: "Take my life, but take it in vain, as an innocent's, and pray to your God that the blood you shed today may never be visited upon you."

6/ Myrgos.  Sneering.  He spits from the corner of his mouth.

Myrgos: Good riddance.

Meeting Points – I BELIEVE IN MIRACLES – Derek Adnams

Page 1 – (5 Panels)

1.1:  Exterior, twilight on an alien world, a Father dressed in tattered vestments holding the tiny hand of his eight year old Daughter.  She wears a ragged dress and holds a brown blanket over one shoulder.

Daughter:  Where are we, father?

Father:  The Nexus of All Things.

1.2:  The Father and Daughter walking along the edges of a tent city shanty town, a refugee camp turned bazaar.  Vendors are selling all manner of other-worldly goods.  The Daughter is looking slightly behind her, staring at the wares being hawked by some less than savory characters.  The Father’s gaze remains set straight ahead.

Daughter:  Are we here to purchase something?

Father:  I guess you could say that.

1.3:  The Father and Daughter walking in front of a golden monument, bizarre cupola topping the obelisk base.  There are two helmeted sentries wearing green flowing robes stationed on each corner of the monument.

Father:  The world has moved away from what I knew.  There are too many out there, beyond, who would do us harm.

Father:  You deserve so much more than this, and there’s only one way I can ensure that your potential isn’t squashed.

Daughter:  How?

1.4:  Father kneeling before his Daughter, hands on her shoulders.

Father:  By leaving you here so that you may learn.

Daughter:  But I don’t want to leave you!  I don’t want to be alone! 

Daughter:  I love you, Daddy . . . why are you doing this?

1.5:  Large panel of the alien cityscape of the Nexus of All Things.  The Tent City is at ground level, expanding in all directions.  Towering above are the golden buildings, sky-scrapers and government capitals, all connected by a network of almost art deco bridges.  In the foreground, the sobbing Father gives his little girl one last hug.

Father:  Because I believe in miracles.

Meeting Points/Bridges – Funtastic Four Versus A L’il Bit ‘O Doom – MK Stangeland Jr.

(In the style of Scottie Young’s L’il Marvel and Baby Marvel series.)

(6 Panels)

Panel 1: MARVEL BABY-style versions of the FANTASTIC FOUR – REED RICHARDS, SUSAN STORM, JOHNNY STORM, and BEN GRIMM – are outside a treehouse that very much resembles a DR. DOOM style castle. REED RICHARDS is fiddling with a scientific-looking contraption, the other three are off to the side a little. SUSAN STORM is carrying a couple of dolls that should resemble FRANKLIN and VALERIA RICHARDS.

JOHNNY (1): Yo, Stretch Armstrong!

JOHNNY (2): Are you sure it’s smart to be so close to the big scary doomhouse?

Panel 2: RICHARDS turns to look to the other three.

RICHARDS (1): Nonsense.

RICHARDS (2): Victor’s only grumpy all the time because he needs a friend.

RICHARDS (3): I’m going to go say hello and help make him less grumpy.

Panel 3: RICHARDS starts cranking his machine, which looks to be extending an artificial bridge of some kind up to DR DOOM’s treehouse of doom.

SUSAN: Are you sure about that, Reed?

GRIMM: Yeah, I think Doomboy’s just grumpy because he’s a big ugly meaniepants.

RICHARDS: Don’t be silly, you guys…

Panel 4: Wide view as a large number of retro-style kiddy toy ray guns attached to metal robotic arms have extended from DR DOOM’s treehouse and are pointed at RICHARDS and his bridge machine.

DOOM TREEHOUSE (1): RICHARDS!

DOOM TREEHOUSE (2): Remove yourself from the presence of DOOM immediately!

DOOM TREEHOUSE (3): DOOM hereby commands it!

Panel 5: The members of the FANTASTIC FOUR silently shuffle away from DOOM’s treehouse, all of them looking directly at it as they do. RICHARDS pulls his bridge contraption behind him.

Panel 6: RICHARDS, SUSAN, JOHNNY, and GRIMM have moved far enough away that DOOM’s treehouse is now off panel. RICHARDS looks to the other three.

RICHARDS: Ok, so maybe it’s not that simple after all.

GRIMM: Gee, ya think?

(END PAGE)

Meeting Points - Counter, Earth - R.A. Wonsowski

Layout: panel 1 is the top 2/3 of the page, panel 2 the lower third.

Panel 1, POV is from the railing of the Staten Island ferry. Above the New York City skyline, we see three Templeships of the Universal Church of Truth. They are large enough to cast the entire city in shadow.

CAPTION: MAY THE PEACE OF TRUTH BE UPON THIS WORLD, AND WITH YOU ALL!

Panel 2, The maddened, grinning face of Adam Warlock's evil self, the MAGUS, addressing the city below from a parapet. He is flanked on each side by his Black Cardinals.

MAGUS: I AM THE MAGUS!
MAGUS: YOUR LORD GOD!

Meeting Points - Change - Grant McLaughlin

1 - Establishing shot of a big city market, perhaps not unlike the image from this week's Why.

CAPTION (ELIZABETH) (1): It's the same old story.

CAPTION (ELIZABETH) (2): When there's lots to go around.

2 - Closer-in on one of the market stalls.  Two guards are hassling a lone vendor, who looks tired and scared.

CAPTION (ELIZABETH): Someone will always want more.

GUARD: You're not late again, are you?

3 - Pull back slightly.  An elderly woman (Elizabeth) at her own stall looks on at the scene unfolding.  She doesn't look happy.  She wears an outfit that's all black.  The man pulls out a small bag, presumably filled with coins, and nervously passes it to the guards.

CAPTION (ELIZABETH): I used to complain to Archie that someone should stand up to them.

VENDOR: No, no.  It's all here!

4 - The guards walk over to Elizabeth's stall.  They wear the easy going attitude of people who know they have all the power.  If on panel, Elizabeth is openly outraged.

CAPTION (ELIZABETH): Eventually, I convinced him to do just that.

GUARD: Afternoon, Mrs. Walder.

5 - Elizabeth is as mad as ever.  A similar bag of coins sits on her table / counter, although she doesn't openly gesture to it, instead focusing her rage at the guards.  They don't really care.

ELIZABETH: Just take it already.

6 - Elizabeth is alone at her stall, the guards have left (along with the coins).  She cries openly.

CAPTION (ELIZABETH): I still wish I hadn't.

Meeting Points - The Kindness of Strangers - Perry Kent

Panel One:
Exterior of a fantasy-inspired city. Our protagonist is a young street urchin named Lukas. He is wading through a crowd on his way to the booths of the city's street market.

Lukas (caption): A new month means new vendors. And that means new suckers from all over the kingdom.

Panel Two:
Lukas, with a pitiful expression on his face, accepting a bowl of soup from an old woman. There is a large cauldron of soup in her little market stall.

Lukas: May the gods of plenty grace you.

Lukas (caption): The villagers from the East always help with food.

Panel Three:
Lukas coughing into one hand while accepting a small bronze coin in the other. The man giving him the coin is a wizened fellow selling trinkets.

Lukas: Silba, the healer-

Lukas (SFX): cough

Lukas: -bless you.

Lukas (caption): In the West, they give small coins to ward off sickness.

Panel Four:
Lukas bowing his head with a pair of socks in his hand. The woman giving him the socks is selling clothing.

Lukas: Your kindness returned a thousand-fold.

Lukas (caption): Up North it's good luck to give a child clothing.

Panel Five:
Lukas, sitting on the railing of a small bridge, looking across a small waterway. He is chewing on an apple.

Lukas (caption): They come from all over with their little customs. Thank the gods they do.

Why Meeting Points? - Perry Kent

I enjoy looking at SciFi and fantasy art. Perhaps it was the covers of old fantasy/scifi novels that I would grab from the library. Those little works of art may be forever embedded in my psyche. But now whenever I see fantasy and scifi art it sets my brain down a cascade of questions and wonder. The art captures my imagination. Fantastical art that pushes against the boundaries of understanding. And also art that takes us just a bit outside of the “known”. The plausible and the ludicrous. I find both equally inspiring. One day I stumbled upon this piece entitled “Bridges” by Andrée Wallin:

I'm sure this picture speaks to people in different ways. But it made me think of the meeting of different places and cultures. The bridges, designed to bring two places together. And a city market, which is a living mixture of different cultures brought together.

For this week, the topic is about the meeting (and possibly clashing) of different places or cultures. How is a meeting place different? Or how do people act in these places? What happens when different cultures meet and mingle? What happens when they don't get along? It's all fair game.