The Orient Express - featuring Dan Hill's Unknown Soldier - by Ray Wonsowski

I still maintain, one of the greatest characters created on this website, was Dan Hill's take on the Unknown Soldier. See here, here, and here...

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Panel 1- wide shot, a luxury private car of the Orient Express barrelling through a meadowed valley, surrounded by a backdrop of snow-capped mountains amidst a blue sky. Above a window, a small female figure, all white except for her long black hair, crouches on the roof, clutching the side of the car by the ornate trim. Her hair and loose white pants and blouse are being blown to the side, whipped by the wind.

CAPTION: One of the minor princelings in the House of Saud has been financing jihadi terror cells through child trafficking money laundered through his bank.

Panel 2- Interior of the luxury car. Foreground, the woman, the UNKNOWN SOLDIER, crashes in through the window. Background, a SAUDI BANKER (headdress still on, but half undressed) and a caucasian WOMAN (early 20's, swimsuit model's build, curly brown shoulder length hair, freckled skin, dressed only in her underwear), both on an enormous pile of tasseled cushions and pillows, are taken completely by surprise by the SOLDIER'S entrance. An ornamented scimitar hangs on the wall behind them.

CAPTION: Hate the sinning infidel, but love the sin.

BANKER: AAH!

Panel 3- close-up, the face of the BANKER, smiling as if sure that he has the upper hand here. Behind him, the WOMAN, still only in her underwear, pulls the scimitar from the wall in a fighting stance.

BANKER: You whore! Do you know who I am?!?

Panel 4- same POV as Panel 3, except the WOMAN has run the BANKER through with the sword from behind, only the bloody tip of the scimitar is visible in the panel. The BANKER looks at the tip in shock.

BANKER: *t*

WOMAN: Yes. But do we care?

Panel 5- zoom out, the WOMAN lops the BANKER's head in a baseball bat-like swing of the scimitar. Foreground, the white linen pant leg of the SOLDIER.

WOMAN: Well, this won't end well. Carlyle'll have a fit...

Panel 6- zoom out, the WOMAN, background, tosses the sword aside and steps off the cushion pile. Foreground, the SOLDIER soccer kicks the BANKER's head out the broken window.

WOMAN: Seen you on the interwebs. Nice to meet you in person...

Panel 7- long wide shot, the Orient Express still barrelling through the countryside...

CAPTION (WOMAN): Military deep cover agent. Sergeant Francine Rock.

CAPTION (WOMAN): Friends call me Frankie.

Unknown Soldier - Escalation - Dan Hill

Panel 1

Wide panel. An establishing shot looking out across Kandhaq. We’re focused on an area that looks like Tahrir Square. There are thousands of people protesting. Above them, speaking on a small makeshift stage, is the female UNKNOWN SOLDIER (from here). Her head is swathed in bandages, and she’s dressed in the clothes we last saw her in. She punches a fist to the heavens.

Letterer’s Note: The Voice captions are black background with white text.

1 CAPTION/The Voice: You were stupid. You demanded revolution.

2 CAPTION/The Soldier: It was needed.

Panel 2

Wide panel. The crowd is being dispersed and broken up by SOLDIERS brandishing riot shields and batons. This isn’t a simple sweep and clear. This is skulls being smashed, blood being spilt -- absolute carnage. Somewhere in the chaos the UNKNOWN SOLDIER is dragged away by CIVILIANS as she tries to pull herself free, wanting to join the fight.

3 CAPTION/The Voice: They have too much to lose, a single voice holds no sway.

4 CAPTION/The Soldier: Nothing changed.

5 CAPTION/The Soldier: I failed.

Panel 3

A thin, wide, horizontal panel. Nothing but black. Text in white.

6 TEXT/The Voice: This isn’t about you. It never was.

Panel 4

Wide panel. Tight on the UNKNOWN SOLDIER as she looks out of the panel towards us, a dark background behind her. Her eyes stare at us from beneath the bandages, her teeth gritted in the midst of an angry sermon we’re not privy to.

7 CAPTION/The Voice: Cast out revolution.

8 CAPTION/The Voice: Bury your ego.

Panel 5

Wide panel. We ZOOM OUT to see she’s flanked by others, all dressed in civilian clothes, their heads swathed in the iconic bandages of The Unknown Soldier. Some brandish ASSAULT RIFLES. All of them face us. A strip of text runs across the bottom of the image, telling us we’re watching a news broadcast.

The text reads: “Unknown Soldiers release manifesto online - group calls for end too --”

8 CAPTION/The Voice: And carve change into the flesh of history.

Dan Hill's "The Unknown Soldier" - سخمت* - by Ray Wonsowski

*Sekhmet:  In ancient Egyptian mythology, Sekhmet was the lion-headed goddess of war, fire, and vengeance.

Panel 1 - Exterior shot, an Egyptian bazaar (photo ref: http://thegoatslunchpail.blogspot.com/2011/02/photo-finish-friday-in-souk.html ).  In front of one stall is a dusty barber's pole.  Next to it, a barber gives a man a shave to another man in an old barber's chair.  The customer is reclined back, and the barber uses a straight razor.  Above, jumping across the alleyway from roof to roof is the feminine silhouette of the new UNKNOWN SOLDIER, her long straight hair whipping behind her.

CAPTION:  Aswan, Egypt.  Today.

CAPTION:  In 2007, the Al-Azhar Supreme Council declared that "the cutting of the rose" had no basis in Islamic law, and the Egyptian government banned the practice soon after.


Panel 2 - Interior, a non-descript room.  The panel should be in the shape of an open doorway, with curtains blowing across it.  Through the curtains we see a girl of about 9 years old in another barber's chair.  However, her "hijab" is coming loose from her head, and her face is contorted with fear.  On either side of the chair, two large Egyptian men hold her ankles, spreading her legs apart.  An older man, his head wrapped in a scarf and dressed in a black robe, blocks our view.  He is sitting on a wooden piano stool, staring into the skirt of the young girl, and he is flashing a scalpel.  A bloody, dirty sink is mounted on the wall behind the girl.  Foreground, the silhouetted head and shoulders of our SOLDIER.

CAPTION:  Some of the fundamental extremists, however, did not get the memo...


Panels 3, 4, and 5 are in one row.

Panel 3 and 4 - Both show the shocked/surprised face of one or the other of the large men that were holding the girl's ankles.  They also both have a throwing knife right between their eyes.

Panel 5 - The older man in the head scarf, now revealed to have a greying beard, has been hit across the face by a blur of motion.  The scapel flies from his hand.

Caption runs beneath captions 3, 4, and 5.

CAPTION:  The back-room operators don't wash instruments.  They reuse syringe spikes.  Girls get AIDS before their first kiss.  Unclean whether mutilated or not, a double damnation.


Panel 6 - The girl looking off-panel past us.  She is getting off the chair and straightening her hijab.  She is still afraid.

SOLDIER:  (off-panel)  Run, child.  Do not turn around.


Panel 7 - Our heroine, the UNKNOWN SOLDIER, her face bandaged tightly, accenting her anger, her dark hair a streak of motion behind her, drives her fist into the crotch of the bearded man.  She is wearing a white blouse and loose flowing linen pants.  Combat boots on her feet.  The bearded man loses his wind with puffed cheeks, and is crying.  An inset panel reveals in close-up her fist pulling away from his crotch, her hand bloody, clutching the handle of the bloody scalpel as she pulls it out of him.

SOLDIER:  العذارى سبعين ليس لها استخدام لالخصي.

CAPTION:  I am the archangel of children, sent by the Prophet...

CAPTION:  ...in sha Allah.


(BIG tip of the hat to Dan Hill for his post this week.  A middle-eastern woman Unknown Soldier was TOO good to pass up.  Thank you, Mr. Hill!)

Unknown Soldier - Out of the Blue, Into The Black - Niel Jacoby

Panel 1: The Unknown Soldier stands in the bombing bay of the Enola Gay, staring at the atomic bomb dubbed "Little Boy".

Caption: HIROSHIMA, JAPAN, AUGUST 6, 1945

Caption(Unknown Soldier): THEY SAY IT'S BETTER TO BURN OUT THAN TO FADE AWAY.

Panel 2: The Unknown Soldier shoots refugees with the 2nd Battalion, US Cavalry Regiment at the No Gun Ri railroad bridge near Seoul.

Caption: NO GUN RI, SOUTH KOREA, JULY 27, 1950

Caption(Unknown Soldier): YOU COULD ARGUE THAT A GHOST, AN UNSEEN PRESENCE LIKE MYSELF IS AS FADED AS A MAN CAN GET.

Panel 3: We see a helicopter spraying Agent Orange in Vietnam. Maybe put in an inset showing that the Unknown Soldier is the pilot, maybe not.

Caption(Unknown Soldier): AND I'VE DONE A HELL OF A LOT OF BURNING IN MY TIME.

Panel 4: We see the Unknown Soldier driving an Abrams tank in Afghanistan. The ghost of Colonel J.E.B. Stuart floats next to him. The Unknown Soldier is much older now. We can see G.I. Robot also manning the tank.

CAPTION(Unknown Soldier): NOW THEY'VE GOT ME STUCK WITH THIS COLLECTION OF FREAKS, AND I CAN HONESTLY SAY I'VE NEVER BEEN MORE GLAD TO BE DYING.

CAPTION(Unknown Solder): YES, I'VE GOT ONE YEAR TO LIVE, AND IF I CAN USE THAT YEAR TO DO THE ONLY THING I'VE EVER KNOWN HOW TO DO IN WHAT HAS TO BE THE STRANGEST MISSION THE UNITED STATES MILITARY-INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX EVER COOKED UP, THEN THIS CANCER MAY WELL BE THE GREATEST GIFT I'VE EVER GOTTEN.

Unknown Soldier - Challenges - J.D. Coughlan

Panel 1: The Unknown Soldier (classic WW2 version) sits at a table with a small light above illuminating him. He seems worried.

UNKNOWN: This... This all seems like something out of a fantasy novel...

Panel 2: Closer on the Soldier. He gestures, indicating something large, but stares off into the distance.

UNKNOWN: It was just supposed to be a routine espionage mission...

UNKNOWN: But when I got into the Nazi base, I saw this... machine.

Panel 3: Again, the Soldier looks off into the distance. His shoulders are shrugged, making him look defeated.

UNKNOWN: They talked about how they were losing the war, how this machine would extend the Third Reich...

UNKNOWN: As they activated it and stepped inside... what else could I do but follow them... Stop them...

Panel 4: The Soldier looks up at someone off-panel.

UNKNOWN: And now I'm here, in this strange place, with no idea what happened to those Nazi officers.

PROF. HALEY (O.P.): Don't worry, soldier...

Panel 5: Wide panel, showing who the Soldier is looking at: The Challengers of the Unknown. They stand proudly, with Prof. Haley prominent, smoking his obligatory scientist pipe.

PROF. HALEY: We have some experience... with the unknown.

END OF PAGE

Unknown Soldier – Juliet & John – Shaun Richens.

PAGE NINE – 3 PANELS.

Layout.

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1. Ext. Mid shot of the UNKNOWN SOLDIER, he sits, back against a thick tree. His eyes closed, head looking down at the floor, his palms resting against his temples

It’s the break of dawn and the sun is just rising. A yellow hue shimmers over the panel.

        CAPTION:

        672 Hours since Doctor Parker’s horrific discovery.

        CAPTION UNKNOWN SOLDIER:

For freedom, against terror. These are the causes men and women are given to fight.

2. Ext. Full shot of the UNKNOWN SOLDIER as he gets to his feet. One hand pressed against the tree.

The sun rises higher and the panel shifts into an orange hue.

        CAPTION UNKNOWN SOLDIER:

It’s all just politics though. Greed, hunger for more. These are the true ways of war.

3. Ext. We pull way back. The UNKNOWN SOLDIER stands alone in CENTRAL PARK NEW YORK CITY. The skyline of the city dominates the panel. Buildings burn all around, and smoke pours into the sky.

Military helicopters dot the skies; they are flying around like lost children.

The sun crests the horizon casting the panel into a hellish shade of red.

CAPTION UNKNOWN SOLDIER:

This time we just hunger to survivor. To out live what our greed has unleashed.

CAPTION UNKNOWN SOLDIER:

We fight so that we are not forgotten.

Unknown Soldier – Mirror War – MK Stangeland Jr.

The UNKNOWN SOLDIER is battling a man dressed just like him, bandages and all – the UNKNOWN IMPOSTER. For simplicities sake, the two will simply be referred to as ‘SOLDIER’ and ‘IMPOSTER’ during this script.

(8 Panels)

Panel 1: Setting: An industrial park. SOLDIER and IMPOSTER run in opposite directions as they simultaneously shoot at each other and try to move to cover as the back-side of an explosion continues to erupt in the background.

SFX: Bam bam bam bam bam!

SFX: toom-toom-toom-toom-toom!

RADIO VOICE: Lost targets, lost target. I repeat, lost targets.

Panel 2: A command center. AMANDA WALLER is edging a operator slightly to the side as she tries to speak directly to the other people at the industrial sight alongside SOLDIER.

WALLER: Get them back! I do not want us loosing track of the real one!

Panel 3: A video/computer screen image shows SOLDIER hiding behind a stack of crates. He’s fiddling with a small electronic device.

RADIO VOICE: We have visual on the Soldier.

Panel 4: Close-up on the face of AMANDA WALLER as she ponders out-loud.

AMANDA WALLER: What is he…

Panel 5: The screen from panel 3 goes to static.

RADIO VOICE: Scratch that, we’ve lost all video feed.

Panel 6: WALLER slams her fist down on a control panel in anger.

AMANDA WALLER: [Word Blacked Out]!!!

Panel 7: As people rush about trying to fix the problem one operator turns to look at WALLER.

OPERATOR: What’s he doing!?

WALLER: He’s making this fight personal.

Panel 8: Close-up on AMANDA WALLER’s glaring eyes.

WALLER: He wants to settle this fight between just the two of them.

END PAGE

Unknown Soldier - Aside - Grant McLaughlin

Panel 1 takes up most of the page.  Panels 2 and 3 are split equally along the bottom.

1 - An astronaut stands on the moon looking towards the Earth, his back to the reader.  This panel should be majestic as all get out.

CAPTION (UNKNOWN SOLDIER): It's gorgeous.

2 - Switch to a shot of the astronaut's helmet.  Through the visor, you can see it's the Unknown Soldier.  He wears a tired look on his face.

CAPTION (UNKNOWN SOLDIER): Too bad they didn't send me here to take in the sights.

3 - While the previous panel focused on the Unknown Soldier's face, this one is looking towards his chest / upper-body.  He has a space gun hanging in front of him from some straps around his neck.  He's moved his hands to grip it.

CAPTION (UNKNOWN SOLDIER): Better get to work.

Unknown Soldier - Hailing From - Ben Rosenthal

Two things - yes I did write this to take place in the SCW universe and yes it will be drawn up as an actual SCW strip down the line.  Hey, I have deadlines and need to multi task!

1.  The SCW Ring Announcer is standing in the ring.  Alongside him is a man in a soldier’s uniform, but with a black, emotionless mask over his face.  Reilly and Murdoch are in the commentary box in the bottom right of the panel (separate panel as always).  Reilly looks pleased with himself while Murdoch looks to be questioning.

RING ANNOUNCER

Introducing, and standing to my right--

MURDOCH

Kind of a cheesy uniform you chose for him Reilly.

2.  The Solider is saluting as the Ring Announcer reads off his stats.  In the commentator’s box Murdoch is appalled at the lack of imagination Reilly has used.

RING ANNOUNCER

Standing at an unknown height and hailing from places unknown, he is—

MURDOCH

How can he have an unknown height?  He’s standing right next to him? 

This character could not get any worse.

3.  The Soldier is completing his salute while the Ring Announcer finishes calling his name.  In the commentator’s box Reilly is looking pleased with himself.  Murdoch has slammed his head on the desk.  Hard. 

RING ANNOUNCER

THE UNKNOWN SOLIDER!

Unknown Soldier -Blank Canvas -Dan Hill

PAGE TWENTY TWO

22.1
OPEN on a woman’s HAND as it pulls a light cord.

1 CAPTION Thousands took to the street to protest.

22.2
CUT TO a CLOSE UP on the bare light bulb hanging from the bathroom ceiling as it flickers into life.

2 CAPTION A cacophony of voices against brutality and corruption.

22.3
Wide panel: CUT TO a shot of YOUNG WOMAN in her early to mid 20’s peering into the mirror inside a cramped bathroom. She’s middle eastern in appearance with shoulder length dark hair and green eyes. Savage bruises and cuts dot her face. Her vintage grey t-shirt and jeans are speckled with blood.

A first aid kit lies open on the worktop by the sink beneath the mirror.

3 CAPTION Why was mine singled out?

22.4
CLOSE UP on the woman’s hand as she reaches for the bandages inside the first aid kit.

4 CAPTION This is not defeat.

5 CAPTION I am not hiding.

22.5
CUT TO a tight shot on the back of the woman’s head as she begins to wrap the bandages around her head and face.

6 CAPTION I will be the blank canvas for the disenfranchised and oppressed.

22.6
Wide panel: CUT TO a shot focusing on the mirror of the bathroom. In its reflection we can see the young woman leaving the room, her back to us. She is partly hidden by shadow but we can see that the bandages now cover her entire head.

7 CAPTION I will be their masterpiece.

Why Unknown Soldier?

Unknown Soldier, like the other famous DC military character, was created by Joe Kubert and Robert Kanigher in 1966. The character appeared in a Sgt. Rock story (Our Army At War #168) before getting his own title several years later which ran into the early 80’s. This original iteration of the character was an intelligence operative during World War 2.  Hideously scarred and disfigured his head was swathed in bandages, giving him his iconic look. 

The second series involving the character painted him in a very different light, positing that the character was immortal and a fervent believer in the actions of the good old USA. To some, this was a misstep with the original series playing much more with moral ambiguity and imbuing the character with a cynicism borne of endless conflict and facing down death.

From here Garth Ennis took a shot at the character showcasing the characters post war activities as well as his search for a successor. 

But the real reason ‘Why’ I chose the Unknown Soldier as this weeks pick is Joshua Dysart’s interpretation of the character for Vertigo in 2008. Here the action moved to war torn Uganda and centred around the very real conflict involving the Lord’s Resistance Army insurgency which took place in 2002. This version of the character begins his journey as the antithesis of a soldier— Doctor Moses Lwanga. Moses and his wife Sera work together in Uganda and offer their services to the Acholi, a people who've been displaced by the current conflict. 

It’s this dichotomy that makes Dysart’s run one of my all time favourites. Moses is a man who has seen the worst that war has to offer— child soldiers, death, maiming, torture, refugees, starvation and corruption. He chooses to help those affected by the war, but in the grand scheme of things begins to wonder whether any of it truly makes an impact. Plagued by violent visions and dreams we begin to see a repressed dark undercurrent of aggression emerge in Moses that only gets worse as the series goes on. Dysart's series not only deals with the war inflicted upon a country but also the war for Mose's soul. 

In this way Moses is reflective of Africa itself-- a land of fascinating culture and beauty but one convulsing with the throes of violence and corruption beneath the surface. 

In the end it costs Moses. I won’t say any more than that. With the series Dysart seems to be making the argument that to truly fight those who would wage war a man has to put aside his humanity, morality and any semblance of self.  Whether physically or mentally, war claims all of its participants in the end. 

Whatever iteration of the character you choose, he offers a fascinating prism through which to view the nature and effects of war.

Get to it! 

Enemy Ace - Memorial Day - Ray Wonsowski

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Panel 1:  A Texas-style saloon.  We see the bar straight on, a couple of draft handles at the ready.  Two men approach empty bar stools.  The man approaching from the left wears the wide straw hat of a field hand, and his face is in the brim's shadow.  He has a lightweight boxer's build, and wears a denim shirt and jeans.  The man approaching from the right is 65 to 70 years old, face tan and leathery, his white hair cut to a military crew cut.  He is thin, and he wears a loose white blousy shirt and khakis.  This is HANS VON HAMMER.  Both men wear military style boots.  A BARTENDER cleans a beer glass with a rag.  The mirror behind the bar reflects the scene back, and we see the man on the left is scratching his face in the manner of the UNKNOWN SOLDIER.  The mirror has photos tacked around the frame, and a calendar on the wall has Betty Page in lingerie and the page reads August 1955.

CAPTION:  Fredericksburg, Texas.

BARTENDER:  Gen'l'men.


Panel 2:  Closer in.  The two men have sat on their stools, their backs to us, their faces reflected in the mirror.  The bartender puts the glass beneath one draft handle and begins to pour.

UNKNOWN SOLDIER:  Beer.

VON HAMMER:  Apple schnapps.


Panel 3:  Closer in.  The SOLDIER has his beer in front of him as the bartender puts the glass of schnapps in front of VON HAMMER.  The bartender is already turning away.  The two patrons stare at their reflections in the mirror.

NO COPY


Panel 4:  The reflection of the two men in the mirror, both staring into their glasses.  The SOLDIER scratches his face again.

UNKNOWN SOLDIER:  Ten years we've been meeting here like this...

VON HAMMER:  There shall not be another.


Panel 5:  Same POV.  The SOLDIER turns to look at VON HAMMER, who is still staring into his glass of schnapps.

VON HAMMER:  The cancer will not let me see year's end.

UNKNOWN SOLDIER:  I'm...I'm sorry, I...

VON HAMMER:  I have a favor to ask.


Panel 6:  Same as above, but the SOLDIER has his hand on VON HAMMER's shoulder.

UNKNOWN SOLDIER:  Anything.

VON HAMMER:  I have no more family.  At least none that I know of.  Or any that matters.

VON HAMMER:  But...HE...he had a son that he never saw or held.


Panel 7:  Zoom-in.  Glasses clinked in a toast.  A photo stuck in the frame of the mirror is just in view, but unclear.

VON HAMMER:  My Fokker is in the barn on my farm.  Sell the land, the house, and the plane.

VON HAMMER:  The boy gets everything.

UNKNOWN SOLDIER:  ...Ok.


Panel 8:  Zoom-in, to the photo.  It is a yellowed photo of SGT. ROCK, pointing to a picture of his new baby boy, uncharacteristically smiling.

UNKNOWN SOLDIER:  To Sgt. Rock.

VON HAMMER:  I cannot imagine a better man to have surrendered to.

VON HAMMER:  Ich trinke, um seine Ehre.*

CAPTION (small):  * "I drink, to his honor."