Patsy Walker – Should be Sleeping – Brian Manton

1.
Patsy, four years old, asleep in bed. A stuffed Tigger keeps her company.
Mostly cropped from frame, we can make out the top of her Defenders bed sheets (Namor, Hulk, Dr Strange).

2.
Same shot. The Tooth Fairy flies into frame - a sparkling trail of light marks her path.

3.
The Tooth Fairy stands by the pillow, lifting it up and reaching under.
Patsy, eyes still closed, smiles a big grin - revealing a missing front tooth.

4.
Patsy has lifted her head and looks right at the Fairy, who is holding the tooth from under the pillow. The Fairy is startled.

Patsy:  Hi!

5.
Profile view.
Patsy is sitting up in the bed, knees tucked into her chest.
The Fairy looks confused.

Tooth Fairy:  You can see me?

Patsy:  I can see all you guys.

6.
Patsy is counting on her fingers all the mythical creatures she has seen (two fingers in this frame as she is cut off)
The Fairy has flown a little closer and looks interested.

Tooth Fairy:  Us guys?
Patsy:  Yeah... the Easter Bunny, Santa--

7.
The Tooth Fairy takes up the same pose as Patsy (arms around knees, tucked into chest), perched on Patsy's knee.
Patsy furrows her brow, giving a serious appraisal of Mr. Claus's character.

Tooth Fairy:  You've met Mr. Claus? What's he like?

Patsy:  Jumpy.

8.
Wider shot. We can see the slightly cracked open door with some light shining through from the hallway.
Patsy lies back down in the bed and pulls the covers tight around herself.
The Fairy waves goodnight.

Patsy's Mother (from outside the room):  Patsy? Did you call me?

Patsy (whispers):  I gotsta sleep now. See you next tooth!

Patsy Walker: Hellcat - The Fault in our Stars, 1st excerpt - R.A. Wonsowski

For the next 3 weeks (or more, depending on the picks), I'm going to try to do an interconnected narrative.  Marvel's INFINITY is starting up, and Bendis's GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY is firing on all cylinders, but they haven't quite gotten around to explaining how they survived Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning's excellent THANOS IMPERATIVE.

THE THANOS IMPERATIVE introduced the concept of the Cancerverse, which was revealed to be on the other side of a Fault in time and space.  The Cancerverse is a Lovecraft-inspired dimension where "Death has died", and the Marvel characters are all immortal worshipers of elder gods.  At the end of the miniseries, (SPOILER ALERT!!) the Fault is closed and a universal apocalypse is averted.

And so, this little experiment.  The set-up:  MANTIS, the precog Celestial Madonna, has augured that another Fault is to open just "above" our Milky Way.  To prevent the dark elder gods known as the Many-Angled Ones from crossing over, MANTIS assembles her own team of "Annihilators" to combat the threat...


Layout:
1122
3344
5555

Panel 1 - We are in a small apartment kitchenette.  There is no table or chairs, due to the size.  PATSY WALKER, still in her HELLCAT costume but with the cowl down, closes her pantry closet door with one hand, holding a package of Chips'o'Yeah cookies in the other.  A glass of milk is already poured on the counter.  Standing nest to the refrigerator is MANTIS (in her Guardians uniform), pleading her case, and CLEA, the on-again-off-again girlfriend of Doctor Strange, arms crossed and considering the dirty dishes in the sink with distaste.

PATSY:  And please don't think I'm being rude here, but why aren't you at Avengers Tower for the big guns?

MANTIS:  One of the downsides of being precognitive is that most people consider my gifts as nothing more than making hunches that I go out of my way to make not come true...


Panel 2 - PATSY hops up to sit on the counter next to her glass of milk.  CLEA (who looks privately annoyed) and MANTIS (who looks a bit apologetic) continue...

PATSY:  ...and most of the Avengers are men of reason and science, gods with their own agenda, or, in Tony's case, both.  So...

CLEA:  (with a little bitterness) So, no Defenders either.  If Agamotto doesn't see it, Stephen doesn't want to know about it.


Panel 3 - PATSY pulls a cookie from the bag as MANTIS and CLEA go on.

MANTIS:  Clea and I haven't been of this world in quite some time.  We were hoping you could help us with a few more--

PATSY:  Well, I get together with a couple of the girls on Wednesdays for bowling.  I've got two Captain Marvels on my team, and one of them's a pilot...


Panel 4 - PATSY smiles to herself as she dunks a cookie into her milk.  MANTIS smiles in approval, but CLEA still has a look of concern.

PATSY:  I'll make some calls.  Maybe we can get a Quinjet with a star drive out of it...

PATSY:  Yeah, count me in.

CLEA:  Are you sure?  Our road leads to the madness of the beyond.


Panel 5 - Close-up, PATSY, taking a bite from her dunked cookie, munching in one cheek, the other corner of her mouth curved up in a knowing smile.  Her other hand extends the open end of the cookie package toward us.

PATSY:  My ex-husband is the son of Satan.  LITERALLY.  Doesn't get more "many-angled" than that.  I'm in.

PATSY:  ...Cookie?

...up next:  Annihilators Assemble!

Hellcat - A Game of Cat and Mouse - Niel Jacoby

Panel 1: Hellcat is sneaking across some rooftops.

Caption(Hellcat): I'VE BEEN ON THE TRAIL OF THE TUNNEL MOUSE GANG FOR 2 WEEKS NOW.

Panel 2: We see Hellcat peeking her head above a ledge to watch what's going on below. We don't see what she's looking at, but we do see that she's intrigued. She's got a camera with her.

Caption(Hellcat): THEY'VE BEEN SMUGGLING WEAPONS OUT OF HELL: SULFURIC AMMUNTION, HELLFIRE WHIPS, SOUL-POWERED TANKS.

Panel 3: We see what she's seeing through the camera's viewfinder: a low-level street tough making a deal with a figure in a dark red suit with glowing red eyes.

Caption(Hellcat): YEP. THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT I'M LOOKING FOR.

SFX:SNK!

Caption(Hellcat): WITH THIS EVIDENCE, I'VE GOT THE TUNNEL MOUSE GANG ON THE...

SFX: GRRRRHHHHH...

Panel 4: We see Hellcat turning behind her to see a slavering Cerberus(hellhound, not aardvark).

Caption(Hellcat):...RUN!

Patsy Walker: Hellcat - The Kitty Cat Club - J.D. Coughlan

Panel 1: Large. An elegant, very up-market nightclub. Various characters are lounging around, drinking milk, cleaning themselves, etc. -- including Catwoman, Catman, Black Cat, Tigra, Cheetah, Black Panther, and any other feline-themed heroes/villains you can think of. Plus, Patsy Walker, of course. She looks slightly uncomfortable.

CATWOMAN: How you guys feline?

BLACK CAT: Just purrfect.

CATMAN: I'm tired. Might go for a catnap.

BLACK PANTHER: You must be dog tired!

CHEETAH: ...

TIGRA: God damn it, Panther...

PATSY: You know, I might not be into this as much as you guys are...

Panel 2: The club door opens to reveal Black Canary, looking very awkward.

NO DIALOGUE

Panel 3: Reaction shot of the crowd, from Black Canary's POV. All, except Patsy, look menacing.

CATWOMAN: You just walked into the wrong club, pretty bird.

END OF PAGE

Patsy Waker: Hellcat – Coverage - Shaun Richens.

PAGE FIVE – 6 PANELS.

5.1

Looking down into a monstrously large cavern in the Alaskan wilderness. A group of five occultists stand around a large eight-foot long slab of misty ice in a star formation, the member at the head of the ice holds a black and twisted dagger in hand

Each member of the group wears a long black robe with a hood; the hoods are all up and cover their faces. They hold their arms outstretched as they chant.

OCCULTISTS:

Consurge. Consurge.

5.2

We pull back; still looking down on the scene at hand, however now we see PATSY WALKER, in her HELLCAT outfit, is watching the scene from a ledge above the cavern. Her outfit has fur trim on the collar and cuffs (Think NiteOwl from the Antarctica scene in Watchmen.)

HELLCAT:

These Occultists are always such clichés. I mean robes and Latin. Come on guys.

OCCULTISTS: (Small)

Consurge. Consurge.

5.3

Close up on the head occultist as he raises the black dagger high above his head, clasping at its hilt with both hands, its twisted blade pointing down.

HEAD OCCULTIST: (Large)

Vos surget.

5.4

The dagger sticks out of the ice. Its blade half buried into the deep ice. Three void like black eyes, in a triangle shape, shimmer under the surface of the ice.

SFX:

Beep beep

5.5

Cut back to Hellcat looking down on the scene. The occultists have all stepped back from the slab of ice and are looking up towards Hellcat and pointing, her cell phone kind of giving her away.

The slab of ice has now begun to crack open. Dark purple and red auras radiate from the ice. Hellcat can see that this is some old school dark magic way over the head of some Occultists.

HEAD OCCULTIST:

The ritual has been tainted by this foul she devil.

5.6

Tight shot on Hellcat as she grabs her cell phone from her costume pocket.

HELLCAT:

No reception in my apartment, but here I get a text.

Patsy Walker:Hellcat - Eye of the Beholder - Dan Hill

Page One

Page One, Panel One

    WIDE PANEL: a panoramic establishing shot of Stonehenge, dawn, the sun beginning to rise. A light drizzle is falling.

1) Caption: It looks miserable, I know.

2) Caption: They tell me England always looks miserable.

3) Caption(Elsa): “I don’t see anything.”

Page One, Panel Two

WIDE PANEL: The visitors car park to Stonehenge. A lone RANGE ROVER is parked up. We can see two FIGURES stood on the roof. One of them is looking through a pair of binoculars.

4) Elsa: You sure they’ll be here?

5) Patsy: I’m sure.

6) Caption: It doesn’t look so bad from here.

7) Caption: (Present company excluded)

Page One, Panel Three

    CLOSE UP on the figure with the binoculars. It’s ELSA BLOODSTONE. She’s wearing a tactical/special ops type costume underneath a long dark overcoat. She looks wet and miserable.

    8) Elsa: I hate this place.

    9) Caption: Some people can see the way a machine works.

Page One, Panel Four

    CLOSE UP on PATSY WALKER. She’s stood next to Elsa on the roof of the Range Rover. Both of them are looking towards Stonehenge. Patsy doesn’t need binoculars. She's wearing her costume beneath a similar dark overcoat, the mask off.

    10) Caption: Like a diagram or a chart in their head.

    11) Patsy: Pipe down, Elsa. They’ll be here.

Page One, Panel Five

    WIDE PANEL: CLOSE UP on Patsy’s eye, we can see swirls of colour and outlandish, otherworldly shapes reflected and dancing on the surface of her eye; a mere hint of what she can see.

    12) Caption: Me? I see colour, I see battles fought and lost, I see worlds and realities that shouldn’t exist.

    13) Caption: I see magic.

    14) Caption: (I think I’ll like it here)

Patsy Walker: Hellcat - It's A Living - Grant McLaughlin

1 - Patsy Walker stands in front of her office door.  It is a stereotypical private investigator forsted glass door.  She looks quite upset and frustrated, which is perhaps unsurprising considering that lettering obviously misspell her first name, reading:
Pasty Walker
Occult Investigator

CAPTION (PATSY): I never imagined myself restarting the old business, but when you're a superhero for a living, sometimes you want to get back to basics.

PATSY: Oh, come on!

CAPTION (PATSY): Relatively speaking, of course.

2 - Patsy stands up from her desk to shake the hand of the client she's meeting with.  The client looks frightened and worried, but Patsy is all confidence, smiling broadly.

CAPTION (PATSY): I hadn't realized how much I'd missed it.  Part of it was being happy doing something I was good at.

CLIENT: You sure you can help?

PATSY: It won't be a problem.

3 - Patsy is in a dank looking basement fighting a group ghosts.  She's trying to cast a spell from a big ol' spellbook, which doesn't seem to be working terribly well at the moment.  In response, the ghosts are trying to blow her off her feet with their ghostly lung powers.

CAPTION (PATSY): I rarely had any difficulty finding those pesky ghosts and ghoulies my clients were so worried about.

PATSY: Mali Spiritus Exierit!  Mali Spiritus $@%&# Exierit!

4 - Back in Patsy's office.  The group of ghosts, along with a host of other assorted monsters, demons, and the like crowd the room.  They're not causing outright destruction, but they're clearly a mischievous lot.  Some throw papers from her filing cabinets.  Others play catch with her cell phone.  Others still light a small fire in the corner.  That sort of thing.  For her part, Patsy is kind of overwhelmed, slouching into her office chair in despair.

CAPTION (PATSY): The hard part, as I soon realized, was finding ways to get rid of them.

PATSY (quietly): This is a problem...

Patsy Walker: Hellcat - Heads or Tails - Ben Rosenthal

FULL PAGE SPLASH

Front on.  A Frost Giant stands before Hellcat, looking down at her.  We can see from behind Patsy as she meets the giant’s gaze.  Both of her arms are behind her back – she is holding an explosive device from the view of the Frost Giant.

CAPTION (Hellcat)

Magic and science. Same coin, different sides.

I tracked him here via his glimmer spell.

The science in my hands is going to send him home.

Patsy Walker: Hellcat – Movie Magic – MK Stangeland Jr.

(6 Panels)

Panel 1: HELLCAT is in NEW YORK CITY, in costume, near the scene of where a battle just took place. In the background, the damage can be seen and is centered around the disembodied eye of SHUMA-GORATH, though the eye looks like it’s actually still alive, and it's glaring at Dr. Strange.

Next to the eye are DR. STRANGE and BETA RAY BILL who are both looking at the eye.

However, this is all in the background, and the focus should be on HELLCAT, who is talking on her cell phone.

HELLCAT: I’m sorry, mom, but I was in the middle of helping some important people smash a very tentacled monster.

PHONE (1): No need to explain, Patsy. I actually saw the whole thing on the news!

PHONE (2): Is that Mr. Beast there with you?

Panel 2: HELLCAT looks a touch embarrassed, but in a way that show’s she’s doing a good job of hiding it. Nearby is seen BEAST and ABIGAIL BRAND.

In the background, BETA RAY BILL indicates to SG’s eye in a way that says ‘now what?’, while DR. STRANGE looks like he’s saying something akin to ‘I got this’.

HELLCAT (1): Mom, it’s either Dr. McCoy or just Beast.

PHONE (1): Oh, I’m sorry.

PHONE (2): Could you say ‘hello’ to him for me?

HELLCAT (2): *sigh*

Panel 3: HELLCAT has her head away from the phone just enough to make it believable that she could be swapping between talking to someone else and talking into the phone.

BEAST and AGENT BRAND look towards HELLCAT as she talks to BEAST.

Over by SG’s eye, DR. STRANGE has his hands up and looks like he’s waving his hands just a touch as he prepares a spell.

HELLCAT (1): Beast, my Mom says ‘hi’.

BEAST (1): Oh.

BEAST (2):  Well…say ‘hi’ to her for me, I guess.

HELLCAT (2): Beast says ‘Hi’, Mom.

Panel 4: The look of HELLCAT suggests she’s currently in one of those situations where it’s “Look, I love you, but can we have this conversation some other time?”.

As DR. STRANGE does his work, SG’s eye looks like it’s folding in on itself. BETA RAY BILL looks a touch surprised by what’s happening.

PHONE (1): He seems like such a nice man.

HELLCAT (1): Mom, is this important, or can I call you back later?

PHONE (2): I just wanted to give you the good news.

HELLCAT (2): What good news?

PHONE (3): This is still supposed to be hush-hush, but some people from Hollywood recently said they’d like to make a movie about you.

Panel 5: Beat panel, focused solely on HELLCAT, as she wonders something along the lines of “What?” or “Did I hear that right?”.

Panel 6: HELLCAT starts to move away from the scene of the fight in an attempt to keep the conversation more to herself.

HELLCAT: About me?

PHONE (1): Yes, dear.

HELLCAT: Why me?

PHONE (2): Remember those comics I wrote that were based on you and your friends?

PHONE (3): It seems that with comic movies being all the rage these days they’re looking for opportunities everywhere they can, and someone stumbled upon some of the issues.

(END PAGE)

Why Patsy Walker: Hellcat?

As far as comics go, Patsy Walker has a long history. While not initially a character who in any way resembled a superhero, she first showed up way back in 1944 – less than four years after Captain America made his debut – and her own self titled Patsy Walker­ was among the first comics to be labeled as an actual “Marvel Comic”.

And this is stuff that, believe it or not, is more or less still canon in the actual Marvel Universe (to some degree). An impressive feat that is topped off by having been reworked into her more familiar status as one of Marvel’s countless superheroes, allowing her to escape the fate of forgotten obscurity that took hold of most with origins such as hers.

Talk about versatility and tenacity.

But while I’m certainly not going to be one to say you can’t play into her pre-superhero days, I’m guessing that most people are far more interested in her current status – the superheroine known as Hellcat. For which I’ve metaphorically enlisted the help of special guest Kathryn Immonen by pulling from her original pitch for the “Snowball Effect” mini-series, as published in the Patsy Walker: Hellcat TPB. Because I think she sums up the “Why?” better than I could.

“With her ability to see magic (but not wield it) and punch people really hard (but still have them somehow like it) there’s no reason that Patsy Walker / Hellcat can’t be a kind of Indiana Jones with a pinch of Hellboy for Marvel. Her vibrant likeability should be the ace up her sleeve but once she’s deep in the backwaters of ice and snow and ancient crazies, she’s just a big city interloper.”

She’s immensely likeable, she’s versatile, she’s full of energy and pep, she’s inclined to be drawn towards the weird and mystical, and she hits stuff. Sounds like a good recipe to me!