BACKSTORY PAGE
Previously On. Runs along the left side of the page interspersed with downsized panels from the previous issue where/if space permits.
Dimitri Sokolov makes bad decisions. When he discovered that his lover was fighting an addiction to painkillers, which had drawn her into heroin addiction, he came to agreement with his drug dealing friend Miles to buy pills on the black-market. He had intended to use them to help her taper off her addiction without going cold turkey, but the police interrupted the deal, led by an officer named James and his strange hunches.
A gun battle ensued and people died. Dimitri fled, pursued by James and his partner. Drawn forward by a whirling storm and strange black energy only Dimitri and James could see, the chase ended in an abandoned warehouse where they found the Shadowmancer, a sorcerer capable of manipulating the essence of shadows and drawing knowledge from the darkness.
James and Dimitri were forced into an unspoken alliance against this new threat, but bullets seemed incapable of stopping the fiend. Finally, in a fit of desperation, Dimitri grabbed a mysterious ritual knife and buried it into the old warlock’s heart. The blow let off an explosion of magical energy and left Dimitri baring the mantle of the Shadowmancer….
Character Bios. Runs along the right side of the page and each section is matched with a close up of the character’s face. In this issue they are assembled in groups of four each, the first under the heading ‘The Living’ and the second under the heading ‘The Dead’.
1. DIMITRI SOKOLOV: Dimitri is a graduate student of English literature at Portland State University. He’s the child of a family of Russian immigrants and gangsters originally from the east coast. After his mother died in childbirth, his father let Dimitri be raised by his Uncle Vlad, who installed the boy with a strong Mafiosi sense of honor.
2. NIKKI BARNES: Nikki is an undergraduate at PSU. Originally from Seattle, she came to Oregon to attend college. Soon after arriving she met Dimitri and the two have had a close relationship ever since. The pair have recently moved in together.
3. JAMES STALLWORTH: James is a detective in the Portland Police Bureau. A lifelong resident of the city, he joined the force out of a genuine (some might say naive) desire to protect his community. He frequently has hunches which help him close cases, the result of latent psychic abilities.
4. JEFF KLINE: Jeff is a disgraced soldier with a dishonorable discharge. After leaving the military, he became an enforcer for a drug dealing business run by his childhood friend. He’s recently been arrested and is in custody waiting for bail to be set.
5. NOAH: Noah was a small time criminal affiliated with the Tuff Boyz, a street-level skinhead gang. He was working for ‘the Boss’ who finances the gang when he was killed in a shootout with the police, and his mysterious employer’s merchandise was seized.
6. MAX: Max was a detective and James’ partner in the Narcotics and Organized Crime Unit. He was a twenty-year veteran of the force before he was killed by the old Shadowmancer. He was rumored to have been at least lightly corrupt.
7. MILES: Miles was a college drop-out and campus drug dealer. He met Dimitri at a party and the two had been casually acquainted since. He was murdered by Jeff, who blamed both Miles and Dimitri for the police interrupting their narcotics sale.
8. THE SHADOWMANCER: This mysterious figure evidenced the ability to make shadows manifest physically and mold them with his will, among other powers, some even more bizarre. He was seemingly killed by Dimitri with a strange ritual knife before his body strangely began to dematerialize…
PAGE ONE (one panel)
Panel 1. A replication of the ending splash page from the first issue. DIMITRI stands over the body of the SHADOWMANCER, who is already turning to wisps of shadow. DIMITRI is in full darkness armor, he’s holding his arms forward looking down at himself. JAMES sits huddled in a corner near the body of MAX and he seems to be in shock.
1. DIMITRI: Well… fuck.
PAGE TWO (five panels)
Panel 1. A shot from above. DIMITRI leans over the body of MAX and checks him for a pulse. MAX just stares blankly upwards towards the reader, he’s dead.
1. NARRATION: Looks like this guy’s bought it.
Panel 2. A close up shot of DIMITRI’s face, his eyes are closed and he seems lost in thought.
2. NARRATION: Somehow I just know I’m going to get blamed for all this. Except-
Panel 3. DIMITRI still standing over MAX looks over his shoulder to face JAMES who continues to stare forward shell-shocked.
3. DIMITIRI: Hey buddy, you alright?
Panel 4. A close up of JAMES’ eye.
4. JAMES: Dark… dark… dark…
5. DIMITRI (OFF): I’ll take that as a no.
Pane 5. DIMITRI stands over MAX’s body considering his situation. The old SHADOWMANCER’s body has disintegrated entirely.
6. DIMITRI: Well I’d better get out of here before-
PAGE THREE (five panels)
Panel 1. A view from outside further down the alley facing the warehouse. A pair of police cars has pulled up outside the warehouse with lights on. Police officers are getting out, guns drawn.
1. NARRATOR: The cops arrive.
Panel 2. DIMITRI stands beside a window looking out at the cop cars. Their red and blue lights can been seen reflected off the window.
2. DIMITRI: Everything is terrible.
Panel 3. A close up of MAX’s gun next to his body. DIMITRI’s hand reaches down to take it.
3. NARRATOR: Well he won’t need this anymore.
Panel 4. DIMITRI partially dismantles the gun and checks the clip.
4. NARRATOR: Glock 19, chambers 9×19 Parabellum. I have only a very average sized penis so I prefer something that fires the larger .45 round, but unfortunately I left my own gun back on the east coast when I left.
Panel 5. A view from inside the doorway small group of police officers form up on the broken entrance into the warehouse.
PAGE FOUR (five panels)
Panel 1. DIMITRI leans up against the wall in a dark corner of the room behind a couple of boxes. Through the doorway police officers can be seen approaching the room with their weapons drawn.
1. DIMITRI: “No way the cops are smart enough to look back here” he said bitterly to himself before being dragged off to prison.
2. JAMES (OFF): Dark… dark… dark…
Panel 2. The cops enter the room. The lead cop is rushing over to the fallen detectives; the others however are beginning a search. Dimitri continues to hide.
3. POLICE OFFICER: Holy shit James, what happened? Is Max alright?
4. NARRATION: That’s it; check your buddies, no need to look in the back corner.
Panel 3. A police officer looks around the boxes and directly at DIMITRI.
5. NARRATOR: This is it.
Panel 4. The police officer who looked at DIMITRI moves on while DIMITRI looks totally bewildered. ANONYMOUS is a disembodied voice it speaks through a black caption box with white words.
6. ANONYMOUS: You are invisible in my embrace.
7. POLICE OFFICER (OFF): Officer down. Repeat, we have an officer down.
Panel 5. DIMITRI ducks out of the room, the shadows seeming to swirl around him. The police officers inside the room have all crowded around the bodies and are examining them.
8. NARRATOR: What the hell? That guy looked right at me, no way he missed me.
9. POLICE OFFICER: James, get a hold of yourself. What happened here?
PAGE FIVE (six panels)
Panel 1. DIMITRI evades another pair of police officers as he makes his way out of the warehouse.
Panel 2. DIMITRI stands on one side of a window. A police officer is on watch and the cop cars’ headlights are coming through the window illuminating the entire area. The open door is on the other side.
1. ANONYMOUS : The light is hateful to us. We must travel a darker path.
Panel 3. DIMITRI is still in the same position but he’s beginning to physically melt into the shadows. He looks surprised as he sinks into the ground.
2. DIMITRI: Who’s saying…?
Panel 4. The same shot as before but DIMITRI has disappeared.
Panel 5. The same shot again but now DIMITRI has teleported to the other side of the light still in the same posture with the same look of shock.
Panel 6. DIMITRI steps outside the door. From the back of the cop car the gangster JEFF sees him sneak out and watches him in shock.
3. NARRATOR: I don’t know what’s happening and I don’t want to know. I just want to get back to the apartment and to bed.
PAGE SIX (six panels)
Panel 1. A large apartment building at night. DIMITRI is visible but quite small from the far angle necessary to encompass the entire building. He is approaching the front door.
1. NARRATOR: No place like home. I don’t know what’s going on, but I hope it makes more sense after I sleep it off.
Panel 2. A close up of DIMITRI’s hand and arm. The shadow armor which had surrounded him is beginning to dissipate and vanish like smoke.
2. NARRATOR: There’s no way any of that happened. I must have gotten drugged at some point. I’ve never had a trip like that before but-
Panel 3. A shot of a staircase from above, which DIMITRI is ascending. The shadow armor which had surrounded him is already mostly gone and still melting away, DIMITRI is examining himself.
3. DYLAN (OFF): Let me in David!
4. NARRATOR: And there’s a drunk boyfriend slamming on the neighbor’s door, of course.
Panel 4. DIMITRI is in front of the door to his apartment and inserting his key, the armor is gone. Next to him is DYLAN, a drunken well-built man in a wife-beater. He has a bottle in his hand and is slamming his fist on DIMITRI’s neighbor’s door.
5. DAVID (OFF): I told you I didn’t want to see you again.
6. DYLAN: Let me in. We all know how this ends: you let me in. So let me in.
7. DIMITRI: I don’t think he wants to see you buddy. Why don’t you quiet down and go home.
Panel 5. A close up of DYLAN’s face. His pupils are dilated and his expression is drunken and slack jawed.
8. DYLAN: What did you say?
Panel 6. DIMITRI and DYLAN are facing off against each other. DYLAN is drinking from his bottle. DIMITRI just looks exasperated.
9. DIMITRI: Look I just want to go to sleep. So how about you shut up and go sober up somewhere.
PAGE SEVEN (five panels)
Panel 1. DYLAN takes a swing at DIMITRI with his bottle.
1. DYLAN: Don’t you tell me what to do you homophobic son of a bitch.
Panel 2. DIMITRI grabs DYLAN’s arm and flips him over with a judo throw.
Panel 3. DIMITRI is on top of DYLAN’s splayed form with his knee crushing DYLAN’s wind pipe.
2. DIMITRI: I don’t think you have any conception of just how not in the mood for this I am right now. So let me put this another way: Fuck off out of here now, if I see you again I fucking kill you, got it?
Panel 4. DIMITRI continues to sit down exasperated on the ground. DYLAN has risen to his feet and is moving to retreat down the stairs quickly.
3. DYLAN: Sure thing pal.
Panel 5. DIMITRI is back on his feet and unlocking his apartment door again.
4. DIMITRI: Hey David that jerk off is gone. If he comes back call the police.
5. DAVID (OFF): Thank-you.
PAGE EIGHT (six panels)
Panel 1. DIMITRI enters the apartment while taking off his coat and closing the door behind him.
Panel 2. DIMITRI takes a seat at the kitchenette which stands just to the side of the front door and holds his head in his hands.
Panel 3. DIMITRI takes off his shoes and tosses it near the door.
1. NIKKI (OFF): Baby, you’re back.
Panel 4. DIMITRI takes off his other shoe and throws it to the same location.
2. DIMITRI: Yeah, I guess I am.
Panel 5. NIKKI walks over towards DIMITRI. She is wearing a bathrobe and is only visible from behind. She obstructs the view of DIMITRI.
3. NIKKI: What happened tonight?
Panel 6. NIIKI has embraced DIMITRI who just stares forward past her towards the viewer.
4. DIMITRI: I got no fuckin idea.
PAGE NINE (five panels)
Panel 1. NIKKI stands in front of DIMITRI giving him an appraising look.
1. NIKKI: Well that sounds ominous.
2. DIMITRI: It does doesn’t it?
Panel 2. DIMITRI remains in his seat. NIKKI is now behind him looking into the refrigerator.
3. NIKKI: Do you want to talk about it.
4. NARRATOR: Yes.
5. DIMITRI: No.
Panel 3. NIKKI has pulled out a bottle of wine and placed it on the counter and now is digging through a cupboard for glasses. DIMITRI is still in his same position in his seat.
6. NIKKI: Nonsense, of course you do.
7. NARRATOR: Goddamn.
Panel 4. DIMITRI is still frozen. NIKKI is now pouring two glasses of wine.
8. DIMITRI: Well now that you’ve made it clear that my future endeavors to ever have sex again are dependent on this I guess I do.
9. NIKKI: There you go.
Panel 5. A close up of the wineglasses with DIMITRI visible from behind them.
10. NIKKI: Have a drink first.
PAGE TEN (eight panels)
Panel 1. DIMITRI and NIKKI sit at the kitchen table drinking wine. The bottle is on the table between them.
1. NARRATOR: I love this woman.
Panel 2. A close up of NIKKI’s face as she takes a drink.
2. NARRATOR: Too much as it happens.
Panel 3. Back to a shot of the two of them, now DIMITRI is pouring more wine into his glass.
3. NARRATOR: No way I can even start to tell her what’s happening. I know she’s nearly out of smack and she’ll be going into withdrawals soon. The last thing she needs to worry about is the police bursting down the door looking for me.
4. NIKKI: Well…
Panel 4. A close up of DIMITRI’s face as he takes a drink.
5. NARRATOR: Not to mention the… other stuff. Being on site for a cop killing after fleeing my failed drug deal is actually one the tamer occurrences this evening.
6. DIMITRI: I was out for a walk; thinking.
7. NIKKI (OFF): And?
8. NARRATOR: Gotta deflect onto something else.
Panel 5. A shot from the table of DIMITRI placing his empty glass back down on the table.
8. DIMITRI: I don’t know what we’re going to do. I mean about your… thing.
9. NIKKI: I’m not using anymore. I threw everything I had left away.
Panel 6. NIKKI has stood up and is now facing away from DIMITRI and the viewer sees both of them from behind.
10. DIMITRI: Do you know what that means? I don’t suppose you’ve ever seen someone go cold turkey off H but it’s not pretty.
12. NIKKI: And I guess you have seen it before.
Panel 7. DIMITRI has also stood up and now is approaching NIKKI; neither of their faces are visible.
13. DIMITRI: I have in fact.
14. NIKKI: Goddamn, New York really is a shithole.
15. NARRATOR: She’s right about that actually.
Panel 8. NIKKI turns around to face DIMITRI.
16. DIMITRI: And I’m not looking forward to seeing it happen again and to someone I love.
PAGE ELEVEN (six panels)
Panel 1. A close up as NIKKI and DIMITRI kiss.
Panel 2. The two of them head towards the bedroom tearing off clothes as they proceed.
Panel 3. The two collapse onto the bed almost totally undressed with DIMITRI on top.
Panel 4. A shot of NIKKI and DIMITRI’s clasped hands.
Panel 5. A view of NIKKI in silhouette against the window astride DIMITRI as they climax
Panel 6. NIKKI and DIMITRI lie naked in bed next to one another.
PAGE TWELVE (nine panels)
Panel 1. DIMITRI sits up in bed and rolls a joint on the nightstand. NIKKI has fallen asleep in the bed next to him.
1. NARRATOR: The sex is always best right before the DTs kick in they say.
Panel 2. A close up of the handgun taken from MAX being grabbed through a handkerchief.
2. NARRATOR: A gun is nothing but a safety blanket. It makes you think you’re safer, but usually it only causes problems. What was I going to do? Shoot my way out through a dozen cops?
Panel 3. DIMITRI is back out in the main room and is placing the handgun into a ventilation duct.
3. NARRATOR: Now I need to take off my fingerprints and hide it until I can dump this thing. Hopefully before anyone asks why I have a firearm registered to a roasted pig.
Panel 4. A shot from outside as DIMITRI opens up the window in the bedroom. NIKKI is still asleep in the bed.
4. NARRATOR: I wish I could sleep. I’m exhausted but I’ve just been laying there for hours.
Panel 5. A wide shot of DIMITRI as he steps out onto the fire escape outside the window and closes it behind him.
5. NARRATOR: What happened to me? It doesn’t even feel real now.
Panel 6. A shot from just slightly below as DIMITRI sits on the side of the fire escape and dangles his legs off the side while smoking from his joint.
6. DIMITRI: I needed this.
Panel 7. A view from above of DIMITRI as he continues to smoke but now looks confused.
7. ANONYMOUS: When you killed that old man, your predecessor. It wasn’t the first life you’ve ended.
8. DIMITRI: Nikki?
Panel 8. DIMITRI looks around the fire escape for someone, but the area is empty except for him.
9. ANONYMOUS: She’s only with you because she’s afraid to be alone.
10. DIMITRI: Who’s there, show yourself.
Panel 9. A close up of DIMITRI’s face, he looks frustrated and confused.
11. ANONYMOUS: When she doesn’t need you, she’ll leave.
12. DIMITRI: Come out!
13. DAVID (OFF): Hey neighbor.
PAGE THIRTEEN (eight panels)
Panel 1. A shot still close to DIMITRI’s face but pulled back to see over his shoulder. DIMITRI is looking behind him at DAVID, a lanky and mildly effeminate looking young man dressed in casual attire. The neighbor is climbing out of his own bedroom window onto the fire escape.
1. DAVID: Sorry, I didn’t mean to sneak up on you, I just heard you outside. I guess you can’t sleep either.
2. DIMITRI: Oh, sorry. Yeah, I just came out for a smoke.
Panel 2. DAVID sits down dangling his legs off the escape like DIMITRI had been doing. DIMITRI stays standing and eyes him suspiciously.
3. DAVID: I wanted to thank you for helping me earlier. Dylan is- I don’t know but I’m through with him.
Panel 3. DIMITRI sits down next to DAVID.
4. DIMITRI: Don’t worry about it.
Panel 4. DIMITRI hands his joint over to DAVID.
5. DAVID: Give me a puff?
6. DIMITRI: Sure.
Panel 5. A close up of DAVID as he smokes the joint.
7. DAVID: Is anything wrong? You seem like you’re in trouble.
8. DIMITRI (OFF): I’m seeing things that shouldn’t be there and hearing voices.
Panel 6. A medium shot of the pair. DAVID is having a coughing fit and hands the joint back to DIMITRI who wears a sardonic grin.
9. DAVID: Are you serious?
10. DIMITRI: I wish I wasn’t. Why? Do you know anything about-
Panel 7. DAVID looks back over towards DIMITRI who is smoking once again.
11. DAVID: Spirits and magic?
12. DIMITRI: I was going to say psychology.
Panel 8. A close up of DAVID’s face, he wears a face like a lecturer.
13. DAVID: Western medicine can’t help you friend. I know I guy. I’ll make a call once the sun comes up. We can go see him this afternoon.
14. NARRATION: I really would be crazy if I actually took advice from this Goddamn hippy.
PAGE FOURTEEN (five panels)
Panel 1. Establishing shot of a sunny semi-residential street. It looks like Division Street in Portland.
1. NARRATOR: I really am crazy.
Panel 2. DIMITRI and DAVID are walking down the street together.
2. DIMITRI: So what is this guy, some kind of new age holistic healer or something?
3. DAVID: His name is Pierre Jean-Paul. He’s a voodoo expert, the man’s a genius.
Panel 3. A close shot of the pair’s faces. DIMITRI looks incredulously over towards DAVID.
4. NARRATOR: Voodoo experts. This is why I hate Portland.
Panel 4. A wide shot as DIMITRI and DAVID start walking up towards a largish house with a wooden deck and big bay windows facing the street. It might have seen better days, but is still in fairly good condition.
5. NARRATOR: I mean New York has voodoo experts too, but they’re all in projects somewhere working with some yardie gangbangers slicing up bodies to intimidate rival sets.
6. NARRATOR: This guy is in a trendy hipster neighborhood and only meeting clients by appointment.
Panel 5. A close up of a plaque next to the front door which reads ‘Pierre Jean-Paul: Voodoo Practitioner and Expert in the Mystical’, and then below it ‘Call for appointment’.
7. DIMITRI (OFF): You must be joking.
8. DAVID (OFF): The man is a genius.
9. DIMITRI (OFF): He’d better be.
PAGE FIFTEEN (six panels)
Panel 1. A shot from behind DAVID and DIMITRI as they are standing in front of the door which has been opened. Standing inside the house is PIERRE, a serious looking, bald African-American man in his late fifties. He’s wearing an old fashioned suit and tattoos are just visible on his wrists and neck, a gris-gris hangs around his neck and he also is holding a walking stick which has an impressive looking skull grip with ruby eyes.
1. DAVID: Doctor Jean-Paul, thank-you for meeting with us on such short notice.
2. PIERRE: It’s no problem at all David, and this must be your friend.
Panel 2. A view from inside the entrance hall to the house now facing DAVID and DIMITRI. PIERRE has stepped aside and is motioning for the pair to enter.
3. PIERRE: Please come in.
4. DAVID: This is Dimitri; he’s the one who needs your help.
Panel 3. PIERRE leads the other two men into a spacious sitting room with large bay windows looking out onto the street. There is a sofa and a pair of easy chairs all facing the window. The walls are filled with bookcases and there is also a glass fronted cabinet filled with idols, masks and other cultural artifacts which are primarily African.
5. PIERRE: I see. Sit down. Would you care for some tea?
6. DAVID: Yes please.
7. DIMITRI: No, I’m good.
Panel 4. A view from the windowsill into the room. PIERRE is now sitting down on the couch. He points beside him to an open door which seems to lead into a kitchen.
8. PIERRE: My housekeeper Maria will make the tea. We have a number of different styles, David why don’t you go tell her what you would like-
9. DAVID (OFF): Just some earl gray would be fine.
10. PIERRE: -while I speak to Dimitri privately for a moment.
11. DAVID (OFF): Oh I see. I’ll be back in a few minutes then.
Panel 5. A shot from behind the characters. DAVID is gone and the door into the kitchen is closed. DIMITRI is sitting opposite the couch in an easy chair. PIERRE has risen to his feet with a large iron spike in his hand.
12. DIMITRI: Well…
13. PIERRE: Now tell me warlock why you had my friend David bring you here and why I should not kill you right now.
14. DIMITRI: Excuse me?
Panel 6. A close up of PIERRE’s face. He looks enraged.
15. PIERRE: Did you think I could not sense what you were the moment you stepped through the door, that I could not see the dark magic that covers your aura like oil, and that I would not have defenses within my own sanctum.
16. PIERRE: Now tell me why you have deceived young David into bringing you here.
PAGE SIXTEEN (six panels)
Panel 1. DIMITRI has jumped up to his feet in surprise. PIERRE remains seated but holds his cane in front of himself for protection with the jewel pointed directly at DIMITRI. A magic circle on the floor, another on each of the doors, and all of PIERRE’s tattoos have started to glow. PIERRE tosses down the iron spike.
1. DIMITRI: Wait so you actually do know what’s happened to me!? You’ve got to tell me what’s going on!
2. PIERRE: Stay back!
Panel 2. A close shot of the iron spike thrown into the floor inside DIMITRI’s shadow.
3. DIMITRI: What the hell is that?
Panel 3. PIERRE smashes DIMITRI upside the head with his cane.
Panel 4. PIERRE stands away as DIMITRI struggles to go after him but his tethered by his shadow where the iron spike lays.
4. DIMITRI: Ow! What the fuck are you doing!? I don’t know anything about this magic bullshit, that’s why I came here Goddamn it! Why can’t I move?!
Panel 3. DIMITRI is still straining against the spike holding his shadow in place. PIERRE strikes him with his cane once again although he blocks the blow partially with his arm this time.
5. PIERRE: I don’t sense any deception from you. But your kind are masters of obfuscation. I’m afraid that I don’t believe you. You can’t make a deal with the devil without being given a contract to sign.
6. PIERRE: We shall have plenty of time to discuss the matter. I have pinned you in place. Shadows are just as integral to a creature as an arm or a leg and can be held just as vastly.
Panel 4. A shot of DIMITRI, he’s collapsed to his knees and both men’s shadows are visible on the floor. DIMITRI reaches out towards PIERRE’s shadow’s arm.
7. DIMITRI: Just as integral as an arm or a leg?
Panel 5. A view of PIERRE arm as it twists and breaks at a sickening angle.
8. PIERRE: AUGH!
Panel 6. DIMITRI and PIERRE are facing each other grimacing in. DIMITRI is still pinned by the spike but has a firm grasp on PIERRE’s shadow. PIERRE has dropped his cane and his right arm is broken and hanging limp, he holds his gris-gris with his left arm.
9. DIMITRI: Listen to me Goddamn it! This spooky wizard was conducting this ritual. A group of us interrupted, and then Gandalf started hanging people with shadows. I stabbed him with this fucked up ritual dagger and got super powers. That’s all I know, I swear.
10. PIERRE: …I see.
PAGE SEVENTEEN (five panels)
Panel 1. A close up of PIERRE’s face as he closes his eyes considering what he has heard.
1. PIERRE: A ritual dagger? Did you take it with you?
2. DIMITRI (OFF): No I left it behind.
3. PIERRE: Damn.
Panel 2. DIMITRI has let go of PIERRE’s arm and the voodoo expert rises unsteadily to his feet, still in pain but also considering possibilities.
4. PIERRE: I thought you were a mere demon worshiper but you have the abilities of a full shadowmancer.
4. PIERRE: Assuming I believe you’re as ignorant as you claim, which I don’t. I suppose it could be possible some malfunction in the ritual you interrupted left you with the old shadowmancer’s pact.
5. DIMITRI: Is that how these things work?
6. PIERRE: No, but the only alternative is that you’re lying to me and that I need to destroy you.
Panel 3. A shot of DIMITRI as he sits casually with his legs in front of him on the floor.
7. DIMITRI: Let’s say it is possible then. What the hell is a shadowmancer?
Panel 4. An image: a cabal of men in a circle all in slightly different variations of the shadow armor which DIMITRI wore. Some are dressed as medieval Muslim scholars others are knights bearing the Templar cross. They stand in a dark area and seem to be performing some ritual. Sepia toned to indicate a flashback.
8. PIERRE (CAPTION): A magician who manipulates the stuff of shadow and darkness. A wielder of lies and assassination who leaves chaos in his wake.
9: PIERRE (CAPTION: At one time there were many of them, a whole order. They were eventually all hunted down over a period of centuries starting with the crusades and ending with the inquisition.
Panel 5. An image of the old SHADOWMANCER in the warehouse. Sepia toned to indicate a flashback.
10. DIMITRI (CAPTION): They didn’t expect the Spanish inquisition I take it.
11. PIERRE (CAPTION): No one does, but still some of their lore survived. There are always those willing to sacrifice their soul in return for power, and shadow magic is most powerful indeed.
PAGE EIGHTEEN (six panels)
Panel 1. Back in the sitting room DIMITRI is now standing back up. PIERRE is in the process of removing the spike from the floor.
1. DIMITRI: That’s all very well, but it seems like I missed picking up the shadowmancer handbook because I don’t know any lore.
2. PIERRE: There are complex manipulations of the primordial darkness that can be performed only with rituals, but the most basic abilities would come naturally to you once the pact has been made.
Panel 2. A shot of only PIERRE who has stood up and is making his way over to a nearby bookcase.
3. DIMITRI (OFF): Like what?
4. PIERRE: You should find it a simple thing to hide even in plain sight. The shadows pull themselves around you and hide you from others minds even if they see you with their eyes.
5. PIERRE: Only the incredibly strong willed or those with mystical training will be able to bring themselves to look upon you and actually see you.
6. DIMITRI (OFF): So I can just be in the middle of a conversation and then pop out of sight?
7. PIERRE: Only rarely, most people are unwilling to be convinced that a man just disappears out of thin air. Although the extraordinarily dull witted may lose track of you.
Panel 3. PIERRE is examining the book case looking for a particular text which he is pulling off the shelf.
8. PIERRE: Shadows can also provide you a means of transportation. A shadowmancer can enter any patch of darkness and then appear at any other point connected by at least a single tenebrous strand.
9. DIMITRI (OFF): How far does this teleportation go?
10. PIERRE: Theoretically an endless distance, though an amateur like you should focus on traversing a room before you begin hoping continents. And bear in mind that light provides a solid barrier to this travel.
Panel 4. A view over PIERRE’s shoulder. He has opened the book, it’s covered in runes but there is also a picture of a man wearing shadowmancer armor and wielding a sword
11. PIERRE (OFF): Shadowmancers are also able to mold the stuff of shadow into physical objects.
12. DIMITRI (OFF): That old man strangled a cop with a garrote made out of darkness that came from nowhere.
13. PIERRE (OFF): Manipulation with that precision is likely beyond you for the time being. Shadowmancers were renowned however for their black armor which could spring up around them at a moment’s notice.
Panel 5. DIMITRI is scratching his head and looking at the book which he is reading over PIERRE’s shoulder from the previous panel’s position.
14. DIMITRI: Yeah, I found myself wearing the stuff right after I offed Dumbledore.
15. PIERRE: Really?
Panel 6. PIERRE and DIMITRI begin walking back over towards their seats.
16. PIERRE: I suppose they’re famous for it because it’s the most natural form of shadow substance to call out. Linked to the survival instinct probably.
PAGE NINETEEN (six panels)
Panel 1. DIMITRI has made it back to his chair PIERRE is still walking back over holding the book and supporting himself with his cane, held in his left hand.
1. DIMITRI: So just how common is this knowledge anyway?
Panel 2. A close up of PIERRE as he eases himself into his seat.
2. PIERRE: Not very. In fact even among the mystically inclined knowledge about shadow magic, to say nothing about the discipline itself, is quite esoteric.
Panel 3. A close up of PIERRE’s face with his eyes closed.
3. DIMITRI (OFF): Then how do you know about all this?
Panel 4. A shack out in the bayou at night, lights are on in the windows. A storm is raging over head much like the storm of dark energy caused by the SHADOWMANCER’s ritual. Sepia toned to indicate a flashback.
4. PIERRE (CAPTION): I had an encounter with an old man like the one you met once.
5. ANONYMOUS: He believes it is the same man. He appeared old even then, but in fact your predecessor was far more ancient than even his appearance suggests.
Panel 5. PIERRE as a young boy is hiding under a bed looking out at an older African-American man who looks a lot like older PIERRE holding the ruby cane out defensively against the old SHADOWMANCER who appears in his full armor. Sepia toned to indicate a flashback.
6. ANONYMOUS: The man came to his home. His father spoke with the stranger but he didn’t understand what they spoke of.
Panel 6. A close up of the young PIERRE. He is terrified and holding his eyes shut. Next to his head a pool of blood is visible on the floor. Sepia toned to indicate a flashback.
7. ANONYMOUS: His father was taken. He feared he would die. He closed his eyes as hard as he could and when he opened them the stranger was gone.
8. PIERRE (CAPTION): But I don’t want to talk about it.
PAGE TWENTY (seven panels)
Panel 1. A shot from above and behind as DIMITRI and PIERRE are both resting easy back in their seats.
1. DIMITRI: I’ve also been-
2. ANONYMOUS: If you speak of us he will know you have been listening to him, listening to what lies behind the words out of sight in the darkness. He keeps that night close to his heart. He fears you knowing.
3. PIERRE: Yes?
Panel 2. David is in the kitchen holding a mug of tea at the closed door with his head pressed up against it. He’s been listening to what’s happening on the other side.
4. DIMITRI (OFF): I don’t know, this whole thing has my head all fucked up.
5. PIERRE (OFF): Dimitri listen to me. The power you wield comes from a place of destruction, of chaos.
6. DIMITRI (OFF): Are you trying to tell me its evil?
7. PIERRE (OFF): Not evil, not exactly. Death puts an end to decay and allows life to begin anew. The universe is a place of balance. Light and dark together.
Panel 3. Imagery of planets and stars. Something cosmic.
8. PIERRE: But shadow magic is a thing of extremes. The power comes from a dark place, the Dark Place. The shadowmancer places their soul into the Dark Place and then uses that link to draw their power.
9. DIMITRI: Are you saying my soul is gone?
10. PIERRE: Not gone exactly. Your body and soul are still connected. Think of it like the old style diving suits that had an air hose which ran up into a ship on the surface.
Panel 4. A close up of PIERRE’s face. He has his fingers pressed together in front of him and he seems quite solemn.
11. DIMITRI (OFF): So when I die-
12. PIERRE: You will be in the unenviable position of the diver watching the ship and his air hose sink.
Panel 5. DIMITRI has leapt up and seems frantic. PIERRE remains in his same position and appears intractable.
13. DIMITRI: Well get my soul out of this Dark Place!
14. PIERRE: I wish I knew how Dimitri. I’ve never heard of anything like this happening before. In every other case a sorcerer has willingly put their soul into the Dark Place. But I promise you I will begin researching away to make you whole again.
Panel 6. DIMITRI runs his hand through his hair looking sheepish at his outburst; he stands in front of the bay window looking out onto the street. PIERRE remains statuesque
15. DIMITRI: I suppose I can’t ask for much more than that.
16. PIERRE: I believe you are a good person Dimitri or at least have the potential to be. I wouldn’t be helping you otherwise. Please remember where this power comes from and don’t come to rely on it. You must rid yourself of it as soon as I can find a way.
Panel 7. A shot of the door leading into the kitchen.
17. DIMITRI (OFF): Don’t worry. I want out of this whole mess.
18. FX: Knock knock.
19. DAVID (OFF): Are you two finished yet?
20. PIERRE (OFF): Yes David, I believe we are.
PAGE TWENTY ONE (eight panels)
Panel 1. A shot from the street. DIMITRI and DAVID step out outside of PIERRE’s house, shutting the door behind them. DIMITRI is rubbing a bruise from where PIERRE hit him.
1. DAVID: So what did you think of him?
2. DIMITRI: He’s certainly striking.
Panel 2. Both DAVID and DIMITRI are walking down the street in front of PIERRE’s house.
3. DAVID: Did you find out what ails ya?
4. DIMITRI: I certainly have a new perspective on the matter.
5. DAVID: Oh, cryptic. I love it when men are mysterious.
Panel 3. DAVID is looking over at DIMITRI and he seems to be considering him. DIMITRI just looks forwards pondering.
6. DAVID: I’m going to grab some coffee would you care to join me.
7. DIMITRI: I didn’t sleep a wink last night. I need to go home and to bed.
8. DAVID: Fair enough, see you later than Dimitri.
Panel 4. DAVID has parted ways with DIMITRI and is already a few feet away but he’s turned and they are looking at each other.
9. DIMITRI: Hey David, thanks for your help.
10. DAVID: No problem, just returning the favor.
Panel 5. DIMITRI is walking down the street. He looks lost in thought.
11. NARRATION: I’ve been wandering around for almost an hour wondering, do I really buy that voodoo witch doctor stuff?
Panel 6. A close up of DIMITRI. He seems to have made up his mind.
12. NARRATION: I suppose I do. Well then now what?
Panel 7. A wide image of DIMITRI’s apartment building. DIMITRI is approaching the front door. Off to the side JAMES and his car are visible, but not very unnoticeable.
13. NARRATION: I guess now I take care of Nikki and then get rid of the gun. Hopefully this Pierre guy will have found something in a few days.
Panel 8. DIMITRI is unlocking the front door to the building looking exhausted.
14. NARRATION: For now it’s time for bed.
15. JAMES (OFF): Mr. Dimitri Sokolov?
PAGE TWENTY TWO (one panel)
Panel 1. A full page spread from over Dimitri’s shoulder showing James. He’s holding his badge in one hand and has a pair of handcuffs dangling from his left index finger. Dimitri seems surprised and James has a stern look on his face.
1. JAMES: …You’re under arrest.