The Plutonian - Please Stand By... - R.A. Wonsowski

Standard 3x3 nine-panel grid.  Panels should look like television screens.  Page/panel borders should be black.  Lettering color indicates who is talking:  Blue = announcer, Red = Plutonian.

Panel 1 - Red lettering over a picture of the globe:  "PLEASE STAND BY"

CAPTION 1:  We interrupt our regular scheduled broadcast for a special address to the people of the world, from the Plutonian.


Panel 2 to 9 - Head and shoulders shot of the PLUTONIAN.  The backdrop from the Larry King show is behind him.  Captions and facial/emotional cues are as follows:

CAPTION 2:  (smiling sarcastically good-naturedly)  Good evening.  As you are already aware, I began this week with the televised, graphic decapitation of the heads of state from every nation.

CAPTION 3:  (as if recalling a fond memory)  As your elected officials  attempted to fill these top positions with replacements, I murdered them for your viewing pleasure as well.

CAPTION 4:  (smugly satisfied)  By Wednesday, no one seemed so eager to take their place.  By Friday, I was barely offered the opportunity to kill just one, thus I started on your spiritual leaders.

CAPTION 5:  (sarcastically apologetic)  So here I am interrupting your Sunday dinner once more, or weekend rioting, or whatever self-abuse you are doing to each other.

CAPTION 6:  (anger beginning to boil)  I realized that the dysfunctional dependency you burdened me with was just a symptom of a worse cancer.  The truth is, your sickness runs deeper.

CAPTION 7:  (anger becoming rage)   Your dependency on others has made it so that you refuse to take any responsibility for your own stupidity or impulsiveness.  Not even for your leaders and representatives, who you so richly deserve.

CAPTION 8:  (just the face, teeth gritting)  Therefore, I hereby announce that I will kill anyone who assumes that they have the ability or right, God-given or otherwise, to decide anything for anyone other than themselves.

CAPTION 9:  (leaning back, smug and disgusted)  The rest of you, do as thou wilt.  You are now free to assist each other's suicides with my blessing.

I couldn't give less of a damn.

The Plutonian - Voices - Niel Jacoby

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Panel 1: Long shot of the young(6/7-ish) PLUTONIAN walking off to school. From the look on his face, he doesn't have a care in the world, though he has a bit of a thousand-yard stare.

SOUND BUBBLES(faint, unconnected to anybody, these are random sounds Plutonian is hearing as he goes through his life):

• --3, 2, 1. TAKE THE SHOT.
• HOUSTON, WE H--
• BYE, MOM!
• -EAAAAGH!
• -CE DAY AT WORK, HONEY.
• -MEBODY CALL AN AMB--
• -GRKKK-GUH-GRUUUUK-GHHH-
• there are more, but since the cloud of sound bubbles should fade out around the edges, they should be somewhat unreadable, but they should seem like there's text in them.

Caption: JUST ANOTHER DAY IN THE LIFE OF

BOYTONIAN!(large, stands out): THE ADVENTURES OF THE PLUTONIAN WHEN HE WAS A BOY!

Caption: THE PLUTONIAN LEARNED EARLY IN HIS DEVELOPMENT TO SHUT OUT THE COUNTLESS NOISES HE HEARD DUE TO HIS PLUTONI-HEARING!

Panel 2: The young Plutonian is walking onto the bus.

SOUND BUBBLES(same as in panel 1):

• SAY, DID YOU HEAR ABOUT--
• -EAL'S DONE. DROP THE MO--
• WELL, I HEARD--
• --HAS COME TO SEAL MY DOOM!
• NOBODY MOVE, NOBODY GE--

Caption: YES, HIS PLUTONI-HEARING CAN HEAR SOUNDS FROM ALL OVER THE WORLD! BUT FOR ALL HIS VIRTUES, THE PLUTONIAN IS JUST ONE MAN--OR ONE BOY!

Panel 3: the Plutonian sitting on the bus next to another child. Plutonian has the same thousand-yard stare from panel 1, and the other child is visibly skeeved.

SOUND BUBBLES(same as in panel 1):

• --AN OMEN! I SHALL--
• --YEAR DID THE FI--
• --w'nafh Cthulhu R'lye--
• --COW GOES-

Caption: YES, EVEN WITH HIS PLUTONI-POWERS, THERE'S NO WAY THE PLUTONIAN COULD DEAL WITH ALL THE SUFFERING HE HEARS ON A DAILY BASIS, AND HE KNOWS THAT EVEN AS HE HEARS IT, THE SOUNDS ARE FROM SECONDS, EVEN MINUTES, AGO--IN MOST CASES, TOO LATE!

The Plutonian – Glass Houses - Shaun Richens.

I have only read the first trade of the series so I hope this fits in ok.

PAGE ONE.

6 PANELS.

LAYOUT

111

222

333

456

A panel from Irredeemable #1

1. A picturesque suburban street at night. Streetlights bath pools of light in between the darkness of the night. The guy in the red cap, henceforth known as RED CAP, from the panel above is walking home. He is wearing a sports jacket to keep out the cold, and big ear covering headphones. In the top right of the panel the boots of THE PLUTONIAN suspend in the air as he watches RED CAP from a far.

         NO COPY.

2. RED CAP is walking towards us, just passing under a light, bathed in it for a second. The Plutonian hangs with a creepy menace to him high in the air looking down on Red Cap. The Plutonian is wearing his original costume with the cape. The Plutonian is all in shadow apart form the dark, deep red glow of his eyes.

         NO COPY.

3. Red Cap is walking up the path, his back to us, towards a lovely looking home; lights are on in the front windows. This looks like a wonderful place to live. Red Cap holds his keys in hand. The Plutonian has landed at the gate to the house, his back to us as well.

         NO COPY.

4. Red Cap has looked back over his shoulder towards the gate. We are looking over his shoulder with him. The gate is closed and the street is empty, the night is quite and still.

         NO COPY.

5. Looking through an upstairs window into Red Caps bedroom, the door to the room is open and light from the hallway outside lights up the bedroom just enough for us to see Red Cap walking in.

         NO COPY.

6. The same set up as 5. Now however we have pulled back. Red Cap has turned the lights to his room on and goes to put his jacket away; we can see posters of girls in bikinis hung up on his walls. The Plutonian floats beside a tree out the window in enough shadow as to not be seen. He just floats, watching, waiting.

         PLUTONIAN 1:

         You judge others.

         (LINK)

         PLUTONIAN 2:

         Now you shall be judged.

The Plutonian -Stranger In A Strange Land -Dan Hill

Page Twenty One

1.1

We OPEN on a tight shot of THE PLUTONIAN, the camera slightly behind him, as he looks down off a balcony at PEOPLE going about their business in the atrium below.

The people are dressed in strange, futuristic looking, form fitting all in one suits.

THE PLUTONIAN

I don't understand. They're so...fragile.

1.2


From Plutonian's POV continuing to look down at the people below-- they continue to about their business, walking to and fro.

THE PLUTONIAN (CAPTION)

They bicker, fight, steal and lie. They're...insects.

1.3

CUT TO Plutonian as he turns to face CAMERA, a frustrated look on his face.

THE PLUTONIAN

This is futile. How could you understand? You were born of hope, face turned to some bright, glorious future.

1.4

CUT TO a TIGHT SHOT on (you all saw it coming, right?) SUPERMAN.

SUPERMAN

You're wrong.

1.5

CUT TO a WIDE PANEL revealing that we are in the Bottle City of Kandor. Superman and The Plutonian are on a balcony overlooking the citizens going about their business. Far above them we can see the glass 'sky' of the city.

SUPERMAN

I don't know how you came to be here, stranger.

(Link)

Let me show you the bigger picture...

The Plutonian – Redemption Quest – MK Stangeland Jr.

(4 Panels)

Panel 1: Large panel, taking up roughly the top third the page. QUBIT and PLUTONIAN stand in the middle of a room which is surrounded by a number of large monitors. On each of the monitors is a selection of panels from IRREDEEMABLE which show the PLUTONIAN and his vast array of destruction.

PLUTONIAN: What am I looking at?

Panel 2: Closer panel of QUBIT and PLUTONIAN, focusing more on them than the monitors around them.

QUBIT: It’s you in another universe. Where these events have already taken place.

PLUTONIAN: I did all this?

Panel 3: QUBIT turns to look at PLUTONIAN. PLUTONIAN has a look of anger developing on his face, but it’s not clear what he’s angry about.

QUBIT: Not you.

QUBIT (2): Not yet, at least.

PLUTONIAN: Why are you showing this to me?

QUBIT: Because it could be you.

Panel 4: Long panel stretching across the bottom of the page. Panel looks at the monitors, showing some of the most devastating moments from IRREDEEMABLE.

QUBIT: I haven’t shown this to anyone else yet, because I fear how they might react.

QUBIT (2): But I’m showing it to you, Tony, because I hope that by knowing what could happen, we can avoid the same thing happening here.

(END PAGE)

The Plutonian - Truth to Power - Grant McLaughlin

This would take place during / shortly after Plutonian's destruction of Sky City.  The Plutonian is walking amongst his devastation and he's run into a survivor, Robert.  On the previous page, Robert would have asked why the Plutonian just did all this total awfulness and the Plutonian would have given the "people are ungrateful / fickle" spiel.  The last panel on the previous page would have been silence.

1 - Robert is on his hands and knees, looking down.  He looks pretty bad.  He's bleeding from his head, arms, and legs.  His clothing is shreded all to heck.  That kind of thing.  Plutonian stands above him, looking down impassively.

ROBERT: Are you serious?

2 - Robert works his way up to just his knees, kneeling in front of the Plutonian.  Robert is indignant.  The Plutonian remains impassive.

ROBERT: You've just killed *cough* untold millions because everyone doesn't love you?

PLUTONIAN (quietly): Shut up.

3 - Robert is working his way up to standing at his full height, which is still pretty short compared to the Plutonian.  The Plutonian's expression is virtually the same, with a nearly impercetable sneer coming over his face.

ROBERT: That's not ingratitude, you dipshit, that's life!

PLUTONIAN: Shut up.

ROBERT: So why don't you *cough* why don't you grow the fuck up and take some responsibility for your actions?!

4 - Robert is at his full height now, in full rail against the Plutonian.  The Plutonian is visibly unhappy.

ROBERT: You were our paragon of goodness, but it turns out you're just some spoiled brat who can't deal --

PLUTONIAN (interrupting): Shut --

5 - Plutonian screams at Robert in rage.  The Plutonian is furious.  The force from his yell literally rips Robert apart, killing him pretty thoroughly.

PLUTONIAN: UP!!!

6 - Plutonian stands above the pretty nasty corpse that was Robert.  He looks as if he's breathing heavily from both the anger and the exertion.

NO COPY

7 - Shot that has Robert's corpse in the foreground.  Plutonian flies away.

NO COPY.

The Plutonian - How it Should Have Ended - Ben Rosenthal

1.  FULL PAGE SPLASH – The Plutonian is sitting on a director’s chair, behind the ‘scene’ of the Plutonian finale.  He is addressing the reader as if it were a tv show.

PLUTONIAN

Hi there, I’m The Plutonian.  Some of you out there have voiced displeasure with how my series, IRREDEEMABLE ended.

The cries by the internet labelling it as ‘disappointing’ and ‘droll’ have not fallen on deaf ears.

Here at BOOM! we are all about the fans.  This is why Mr Waid has agreed to ‘do over’ the ending so that it may appease you rabid trolls.

So relax and enjoy the new ending.

*Oh! The perils of only having one page of script a week!

**Although I would love to see the next double page splash of Mark Waid flipping the double bird at the reader.

The Plutonian - A Glass Darkly - J.D. Coughlan

SET-UP: Qubit recounts to his teammates a time when Tony encountered an evil doppelganger of himself, the Anti-Plutonian (essentially, Irredeemable's version of Bizarro). The Anti-Plutonian went on a berserk rampage before Qubit and Tony contained him.

Panel 1: The Plutonian and Qubit at a desk in a lab, intently discussing something. Papers and sophisticated equipment lie on the desk. Tony seems concerned. Note that this is a flashback, so he is wearing his old white costume and still has the floppy fringe.

In the background, the Anti-Plutonian stands in a glass tube. He is like a deformed version of Tony, in a crude version of his costume. He is angry, like a caged animal.

QUBIT (CAP): Tony and I spent hours coming up with a way of sending the Anti-Plutonian back to his home in the Anti-Dimension...

QUBIT (CAP): And while that is what we told everyone that we had succeeded in doing...

Panel 2: Reverse POV, over Anti-Plutonian's shoulder looking through the glass. Tony and Qubit now look at him gravely.

QUBIT (CAP): We found the humane solution to be impossible.

Panel 3: Qubit solemnly operates a control panel in front of the tube. Tony stands between Qubit and the tube, looking at the Anti-Plutonian. We cannot see his face, but the Anti-Plutonian looks down at him with rage, banging on the glass.

QUBIT (CAP): We both knew there was only one option for such mindless power. He would never really be caged for long.

QUBIT (CAP): I harmonised his anti-atoms, causing him to... to vaporise. I told myself he was never real to begin with, but...

Panel 4: Close on the back of Tony's head. There should be an outline of a reflection on the glass, but nothing detailed. The Anti-Plutonian still rages.

QUBIT (CAP): At the time, I assumed Tony was as heartbroken as I was over what we were doing...

QUBIT (CAP): But I know now that as he stared into the eyes of that monstrous beast...

Panel 5: Same as Panel 4, but now the Anti-Plutonian has been vaporised, leaving a wisp, and we can see Tony's reflection clearly. His face is screwed up in controlled anger, but a little bit of fear in his eyes too.

QUBIT (CAP): ...he saw himself.

END OF PAGE

Why The Plutonian?

Irredeemable #1

The Plutonian (or Tony for short) is a great example of the phrase, "Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely." But he did not start out that way.

It is no secret Mark Waid based the character on Superman, and Tony is essentially the Man of Steel without the limitless optimism. He was a godlike hero, loved by billions, who went out of his way to save and improve lives for no reason other than simple goodness. Slowly but surely, however, he was worn down by humanity's constant need for him, and what he perceived as ingratitude.

You know when you take time out of your busy day to do somebody a big favour and all you get in return is a tepid "Thanks"? Or when you put a lot of hard work into something you care about only for one person to sneer and highlight the tiniest flaw in what you've done? Imagine putting up with it on a daily basis.

Of course, in the grand scheme of things, these kinds of people are few and far between, but the Plutonian's biggest weakness, and the greatest difference between him and Superman, is his insecurity. He needs everyone to love him.

He's watching you!

And after years of his altruistic acts of heroism, these ungrateful naysayers wore him down until he... just... snapped. The world's most trusted individual suddenly became its most dangerous threat, lashing out randomly at humanity and taunting his former superhero allies.

So I invite you this week to unleash your frustrations at those who have taken you for granted, or perhaps, like Mark Waid, use the Plutonian as an opportunity to write something you could never do with Superman, but have always secretly wanted to. And for those at home, feel free to play along in the comments below!

Some men just want to eat chocolate while their friend's face burns.