Public Domain Characters--Sherlock Holmes--David Press.

PAGE ONE.

1.1: Opening on 221B Baker Street’s door. There’s something hitting the door from the inside, so perhaps show some impact lines pushing the white door outward.  

SFX: Thunk.

1.2: The door comes completely loose and a long coated, curly haired SHERLOCK HOLMES from the modern era, (think Cumberbatch), flies out onto the sidewalk. In the doorway we can see a DARK HAIRED face, left fist raised. It's MORIARTY in each of these sequences. 

CAPTION [Time/Location]: Earth 212. London, England, 2015.

1.3: Similar shot this time, but now there is a tall and skinny SHERLOCK in mid-air falling off the stoop of a Brooklyn brownstone. This one could be the Elementary Sherlock played by Johnnie Lee Miller. In this case, Moriarty is a woman--blonde-haired and steel eyed. Moriarty has her leg raised in a front snap kick pushing Sherlock out the door.  

CAPTION [Time/Location]: Earth 518. Brooklyn, NY, 2015.

1.4: Now we’re in a field where an older man walks towards the reader wearing a bathrobe and a bowler hat and a cane. This is OLD MAN SHERLOCK, and I’m using him mostly because I just saw the delightful Mr. Holmes starring Ian McKellan.

CAPTION [Time/Location]: Earth 72. Lake District, England, 1909.

1.5: The two Sherlocks—call them CUMBERLOCK and ELSHERL—roll down the hill towards OLD MAN SHERLOCK.

OLD MAN: Well, what do we have here?

1.6: Cumberlock and ElSherl, totally puzzled, stand on opposite sides framing Old Man Sherlock.

CUMBERLOCK: It was Moriarty!

OLD MAN SHERLOCK: Perhaps this is some cheap cash in? 

           

ELSHERL: Or Crisis of Infinite Sherlocks!

--END--

Public Domain - Lady Satan and the Ace of Spades (Turn the Page, interlude) - Ray Wonsowski

In case you haven't joined us before, here are the previous chapters of Turn the Page:

Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 - Part 4

Layout:

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Panel 1- a lady's slender fingers, her nails shellacked blood red, lightly brush the surface of a crystal ball. A green glow from the serpent ring on her middle finger seems to cause eddies in the grey mists inside the glass.

LADY SATAN (off-panel): The Ring of Dragon Scale unveils the shadow-world. The Sorceress Supreme eclipsed...

Panel 2- same as above, except the image in the ball is cleared: CLEA, consumed head to toe in the Flames of the Faltine, tearing the Cloak of Levitation in two.

LADY SATAN (off-panel): ...undone by her Faltine blood and passions strange long cooled...

Panel 3- same as above, but the image has changed to the confused goofy expression of AUGUST TURN, his head encircled by surreal shapelets.

LADY SATAN (off-panel): Turn to a new apprentice, she has chosen poorly...

Panel 4- same as above, the image has coalesced to a towering DORMAMMU.

LADY SATAN (off-panel): ...leaving her unprepared for her demonic uncle lying in wait...

Panel 5- from her chair behind a simple table, her fingers still stroking the now fogged crystal ball, rises the LADY SATAN (imagine Betty Page in a sleeveless blood red evening gown, a pale green silk blindfold over her eyes). The wallhanging behind her is a blow-up of the Tarot card, the Hierophant.

LADY SATAN: What she sees as unfinished family business, may actually be a dimensional incursion the likes of which she may be woefully unprepared for.

Panel 6- reclining in a throne-like chair, long legs draped over one armrest, sits the ACE OF SPADES. (She is slender, lanky, dressed like a female Stevie Ray Vaughn, black leather boots and pants, black silk shirt knotted at the navel, her domino mask visible under her wide-brimmed western-style hat, reddish brown hair knotted in a ponytail.) She is pushing her hat brim off her brow with a shiny steel long-barrelled Colt Revolver, a thin-lipped smile at us. - Behind her is another wallhanging, the Wheel of Fortune.

ACE OF SPADES: She's been beyond her reach since Stephen Strange disappeared. She may need a little back-up.

Panel 7- LADY SATAN and ACE OF SPADES face each other from opposite sides of the swirling crystal ball. LADY SATAN still stroking the glass, her ring still glowing, the ACE holsters her pistol. On the wall hangs a third Tarot blow-up, the Lovers.

LADY SATAN: You yourself may not be enough to turn the tide. A gifted gunslinger you may be, but to win, it may take the aid...

Panel 8- close-up of the crystal ball, the image of the profile of WILLIAM GRAVEL, head haloed by a ring of bones, now clear.

LADY SATAN (off-panel): ...of a combat magician.

...to be continued...

Public Domain – The Adventures of Uncle Giveaway – MK Stangeland Jr.

(This is a characterthat apparently exists for reasons. Because of course he does.)

(4 Panels)

Panel 1: UNCLE GIVEAWAY is hosting a long-distance custom-motor race. Think a more subdued, less extreme version of WACKY RACES. It’s actually part of a ploy to draw out a scheming villain.

The PRIZEMOBILE, UNCLE GIVEAWAY’s car, drives down the road at high speed.

SFX: *vrrrm*vrrrm*

Panel 2: A trap is sprung, sending the PRIZEMOBILE off the road.

Panel 3: The PRIZEMOBILE comes to a halt off the road.

UNCLE GIVEAWAY: Oh dear!

Panel 4: UNCLE GIVEAWAY gets out of the PRIZEMOBILE and looks back towards the road.

UNCLE GIVEAWAY (1): And yet, it’s exactly what I expected and was waiting for.

UNCLE GIVEAWAY (2): Now that he has made his move, our counterplay to catch him can begin!

Public Domain - The Secret Origin of Blaze Baylor - Grant McLaughlin

1 - Establishing shot of the cemetery for Coal City Cemetery.  There is a sign reading as much, an eternal flame sitting beneath it, and if you can fit it, as sign that reads "We Will Remember".  It is raining.

CAPTION (BLAZE BAYLOR) (1): Fire.

CAPTION (BLAZE BAYLOR) (2): Man has tried to control it since the moment he stole it from the gods.

2 - We move to a funeral happening in the rain.  The headstone has the shape of a firefighter helmet carved into its top.  A priest leads a group of perhaps two dozen, all standing with umbrellas raised against the elements.  If you can fit it, a young man (Blaze) stands apart from the group, arms crossed and without protection from the rain.

CAPTION (BLAZE BAYLOR) (1): And whenever control has proven impossible, he has resorted to fighting.

CAPTION (BLAZE BAYLOR) (2): Too often at his own peril.

3 - The crowd is dispersing.  A woman lights a candle at the foot of the headstone.  Blaze continues to brood off to the side.

CAPTION (BLAZE BAYLOR): No more.

4 - Blaze kneels at the grave, the woman walking off in the background.

CAPTION (BLAZE BAYLOR): Father, I solemnly swear that you will be fire's final victim.

5 - Focus on the headstone, which reads:
James "Smokey" Baylor
1953-2015
We must burn brightest when the night is at its darkest

CAPTION (BLAZE BAYLOR): Under my watch, the fate of every single flame - from the greatest inferno to the smallest spark - will be the same;

6 - On the burning candle.  Perhaps with a shadow looming above it.

NO COPY

7 -  The candle has been snuffed out.  Blaze's fingers can still be on-panel to show he did it.

CAPTION (BLAZE BAYLOR): It will be extinguished.

Public Domain - The Phantom Sphinx - P. A. Nolte

1/ Red Norton has revealed himself as a traitor.  He is holding a loose page of translated text.  Dr. Salle lies bleeding on the floor of the tomb.  Nancy Taylor has a magnetic tape recorder. The mummified remains of Amron, a medjay chief and revered officer in his day, are exposed to the elements thanks to whoever pried off the front of his sarcophagus.  His eyes are beginning to glow.

Norton: --reveal your true form to me!

2/ Amron steps forward.  The bandages are starting to fall away and reveal partially restored muscle and bone.

Norton: Ha ha!  It works!  Dr. Salle, you crazy old loon!  It works!

Nancy: Norton, you monster!

3/ Norton is grinning ear to ear.  He's just seen the metaphysical regeneration of an age-old corpse, and there's profit to be had.

Norton: A monster, am I?

Norton: Okay, Amron!  First order!  Kill Nancy Taylor, ...

4/ Amron's eyes glow fiercer.

5/ Amron stretches out his hand, but pointing towards Norton, who collapses into a pile of scarabs and dust, some of which unfortunately hit(s) the lovely Ms. Taylor as she lunges for the gun Norton used to shoot Salle.  Amron is fully human at this point, but still dressed in the ragged remains of his former garments and tarnished headdress.

Norton: Aauurrgghh!!!

Nancy: Eep!

6/ Nancy holds up the revolver.  The fear in her eyes is visceral.  How is she to know that the revived Amron means her no harm?

Nancy: Stay back!  I'm warning you!

Why Public Domain Superheroes?

Who created Superman?  What about Batman?  And Spider-Man? But what about Stardust the Super Wizard or Nelvana of the Northern Lights?  Did you know that there's a whole other Daredevil?  There sure is.  Sadly, he hasn't been re-invigorated by a recent Netflix show or high-profile comic run.  Once again, it's Thought Balloons to the rescue.

This week, we're tackling some of our favorite Public Domain Superheroes, whether that's Spacehawk, Mekano, The Black Angel, or one of several thousand other characters that saw print in the 40's, 50's, and 60's whose rights situations are either completely unknown, completely irrelevant, or so convoluted that nobody could possibly claim them regardless.  Did I mention that we're not necessarily going to be limited by the superhero genre?  Our predecessors certainly weren't.

So, take a gander at some folks who've tried to re-invigorate some of these forgotten PDSH before us, or peruse this enormous library of characters trapped in perpetual limbo, and then come back all this week for the continuing and/or rebooted adventures of your favorite heroes you never knew existed.

As always, feel free to play along at home!  After all, why should we have all the fun?