REBOOT: "...Baby Huey's Take." --David Press.

Kind of a reboot on the Baby Huey comic and cartoon, but instead of Huey being a giant duck--he's a human. And kind of crass. 

PAGE ONE.

1.1: A desk sits solitary in the middle of a grassy plot of land. There's a typewriter on top of it and a sheet of paper.

NO DIALOGUE.

1.2: A square plot of a garden: there are fourteen beds with various things growing out of it in states of spring renewal.

NO DIALOGUE.

1.3: Panning to the left of the garden we can see a GUY in cargo shorts, t-shirt, and a baseball hat. He’s holding a WEED-WACKER and mowing down some weeds alongside a stonewall that extends up to a HOUSE’S white siding.

1.CAPTION:           “I’m not going to lay down another metaphor for you.

1.4: As if we’re panning up from the GUY’s position, the white siding is the form of a BACK PORCH strung with lights.

            There’s a bench, two chairs, and a black table. Sitting on the bench is a WOMAN in dress clothes sipping coffee.

2.CAPTION:           “Seasons change and we regrow and re-live.

1.5: Still panning upwards from the porch, we’re now looking into a SECOND FLOOR window. In the window, we can see a CRIB and the faint shadow of a baby looking out the window.   

3.CAPTION:           “The years change, but the word—‘REBIRTH’— is a lie.

1.6: Now we’re in the window at looking at the BABY in the crib.

4.BABY:              I’m Huey.

1.7: And now out to the WIDE YARD again. In a hammock, is HUEY’s little sister reading a Winnie the Pooh book.

5.CAPTION:           All we ever do is run around recycling the same things. Humans are no better than lemmings.

1.8: Back to Huey in his nursery he’s smashing his toys against the rug and laughing about it.

6.HUEY:              They’re all just toys. Toys get broken and then you get a new one.

6B:                       Why cry about it?

--END--

Reboot - Back to Back to the Future - Perry Kent

I am traveling a bit so this was a quick attempt at a reboot. Technically a movie but why not make a comic of it!

Panel 1
Exterior, night, side of a street lined with cars. An  indistinguishable figure works inside a Tesla roadster, the door hanging wide open. The car sits on the side of a residential city block with lots of cars packed in around it.

1. CAPTION: 2016
2. WOMAN: Come on… This is taking too long.  Don’t crap out on me now.

Panel 2
Inside of car. A young woman sits in the driver’s seat fiddling with a device. The device is connected to two wires extending from a hole in the dashboard where the start button use to be. She has a look of elation.

3. WOMAN: Yes!

Panel 3
The young woman grins devilishly toward the reader. Behind her is a Flux Capacitor pulsing. Out the back window the red and blue lights of cop cars can be seen.

4. WOMAN: Let’s see how fast this sucker can go!
5. SFX (cop sirens): Wahooo wahooo!

Panel 4
First of two side-by-side panels: Top down view of two burning tracks on the pavement and cops following where the Tesla should be. The burning tracks lead up to and join the next panel.

Panel 5
Second of two side-by-side panels: Top down view of Tesla streaking across the panel. The Tesla is covered in blue lightning and flame tracks lead back to the previous panel. The street is dilapidated with trash on the sidewalk and broken cars along the sidewalk.

6. CAPTION: 1986

Reboot – The Declassified Adventures of Baker & Grodd – MK Stangeland, Jr.

(For the record – No, I do not intend on using this as the basis for any future Baker & Grodd bits I write, it’s just a thematic one-off.)

(6 Panels)

Panel 1: ANIMAL MAN is outside a dimly lit cell inside a prison for super criminals. He gives the wall next to the cell a knock.

SFX: nuk nuk nuk

ANIMAL MAN (1): Knock-knock!

ANIMAL MAN (2): This is your wake-up call.

Panel 2: A hint of GORILLA GRODD can be seen peering out from the darkness of the cell.

GRODD: grrrr…

ANIMAL MAN: There you are, big guy.

Panel 3: ANIMAL MAN looks into the cell, where GRODD is still mostly hiding in the darkness of his cell, giving him a dark and scary appearance.

ANIMAL MAN (1): No need to play dumb, Grodd.

ANIMAL MAN (2): I’ve been very well informed about how smart you are.

ANIMAL MAN (3): Maybe even too smart for your own good.

Panel 4: GRODD continues to skulk in the darkness of his cell.

GRODD (1): Ha.

GRODD (2): What would a human weakling know about true intelligence?

Panel 5: ANIMAL MAN and GRODD look at each other through the cell viewport.

ANIMAL MAN (1): Aw - You wound me, Grodd.

ANIMAL MAN (2): See, they tell me you’re a criminal mastermind, and probably only avoided real punishment because they have no idea how to put a Gorilla on trial.

Panel 6: ANIMAL MAN looks happily ready to take on a challenge – perhaps disturbingly so.

ANIMAL MAN (1): You ask me?

ANIMAL MAN (2): I think you just need an attitude adjustment, Grodd.

(End Page)

Reboot - Hero for Hire - Grant McLaughlin

1 - Batroc the Leaper stands on a rooftop surrounded by Daredevil, Moon Knight, Captain America, Spider-Man, and maybe one or two other masked heroes.  Batroc has a satchel across his shoulder branded with Sigma Corp's logo (a technology company new for this storyline).  Batroc stands with his hands on his hips, a look of annoyance on his face.

BATROC: Well, this hardly seems fair.

DAREDEVIL: All we want is the data you stole from Sigma Corp.

CAPTION: You know that old saying?

2 - Close on Batroc as he cold-cocks Daredevil.  Daredevil not only drops unconscious, but a second Daredevil appears right next to the first, also in the midst of falling unconscious.

BATROC: Oh, I'm not giving up without--

SFX: smak!

SFX: POK!

CAPTION: That two heads are better than one?

3 - Batroc stands over two unconscious Daredevils, a look of extreme confusion on his face.  The masked heroes around him look equally ill at ease, as if they've all paused in the midst of trying to stop Batroc.

BATROC: ...a fight?

CAPTION: Well, I've never been entirely convinced.

4 - The heroes snap out of their stupor and all converge to beat down Batroc.

NO COPY

CAPTION: Because you can never know what's going through someone else's head.  Never know whether you're really on the same page.

5 - Batroc lies unconscious on the ground.  Spider-Man crouches down to help one of the Daredevils up to a sitting position.  That Daredevil reaches up to hold his head / take off mask.  Moon Knight crouches over the other still unconscious Daredevil.

DAREDEVIL: That's embarrassing.

SPIDER-MAN: You gotta keep ahold of yourself.

DAREDEVIL: I know...

CAPTION: When it comes down to it, there's only one person you can rely on.

6 - Spider-Man helps up the conscious Daredevil, who has removed his mask to reveal that he is Jamie Madrox, the Multiple Man.  Meanwhile, Moon Knight is reabsorbing the extra Daredevil, as he is also a copy of Jamie Madrox.  

DAREDEVIL MADROX: Don't want to ruin this for the rest of us.

CAPTION: ...Yourself.

Reboot - Animorphs - P. A. Nolte

1/ A group shot of our terrified protagonists hiding behind a concrete tube and other abandoned remnants of the construction site they shouldn't have taken a short cut through.  Light spills over the top of the tube, making what they're hiding from difficult to see.

Jake is our everyman, brown hair and eyes.  To his left is Marco, kind of handsome, mostly obnoxious.  To Jake's right is Rachel, his cousin, a blonde teen model type.  Then Cassie, Rachel's best friend and opposite, and Tobias, a scruffy-looking kid with sandy blonde hair.

Elfangor:  <Do not be frightened, children...>

2/ An alien ship has crashed in the middle of the construction site.  In the distance is a mall, but everything else beyond is anonymous residential.  The ship itself is built somewhat like a tiny USS Enterprise, with a larger pod towards the front and stubby wings tipped with long, tubular engines.  The primary difference is the large beam weapon jutting out of the back, between the wings, that curves back up and into a point like the tail of a scorpion.  Out of a crescent-shaped door, a walkway has extended, and collapsed on the walkway is Prince Elfangor-Sirinial-Shamtul.  An Andalite.

At first glance, he looks mostly like a blue centaur, but his body is more lean, like a deer, there are too many fingers on his hands, and his tail, though long and flexible, has a frighteningly sharp blade on it.  Eerily reminiscent of the tail on his ship.  His face has almond-shaped eyes, but no mouth, and two stalks sprout from his forehead with an extra eye at the end of each stalk.  They would be wildly scanning the area around him if Elfangor weren't so focused on the problem at hand.  He is about to die.

In front of him, several feet down the walkway, is a blue cube. Each side is about six inches long, and the whole thing pulses with a soft light.  Elfangor must have dropped it as he made his way out of the ship.

Only Tobias has hesitantly stood up and started to step out from behind the detritus.

Tobias: We aren't.

Marco: Speak for yourself.

3/ Tobias is at Elfangor's side.  He's put one arm around his shoulder, trying to help the wounded alien to his feet.  It's a heartfelt but meaningless gesture.  Cassie has moved a little closer, but the others are still firmly planted where they were.

Elfangor: <You are... young.  You have no power with which to resist the Yeerks, but-->

Tobias: Yeerks?

4/ Elfangor reaches out for the blue cube, but his injuries prevent him from moving even an inch closer to it, and he winces in pain.

Elfangor: <The Escafil Device...>

5/ A human hand grabs the cube.

6/ From Elfangor's point of view, Jake holds out the Escafil Device.  The other three stand behind him with various worried expressions.  Tobias has backed away from Elfangor a little, just enough to be out of Jake's way and  in frame with the others.

Caption: My name is Jake.

Why Reboot?

Amidst Disney's current string of live-action adaptations of their back catalogue, the upcoming murder mystery version of Archie, and the new Ghostbusters movie with all of its drama before even being released, the time has come for those of us here at Thought Balloons to step up and give our adoring public what they clearly want:

If we're going to reboot all these franchises--  If we're going to make, for instance, Transformers movies until the end of time, and I think it's safe to say that's the plan, can we at least make them good?  That is, can we do the original idea justice, as silly as it might be?  Craft the resulting product well?

This week, we're certainly going to try.

I have a few favorite intellectual properties that I think could be major blockbusters, or hit TV series, or successful comics, if just a little heart went into them before the inevitable product placement contracts.  You probably do too.  So, before someone else gets to them first, and with our cynical little tongues planted firmly in our cynical little cheeks, let's reboot them!

Welcome to Thought Balloons (2016).  Join us, shall you?