Eponymous Bosch
Premise
We follow the members of a massive terrorist organisation, Eponymous. There are levels of evil amongst the people who work within the Eponymous organisation ranging from absolutely cracked in the skull demons to guys who liked kicking nerds in high school and just followed that path, to people just pulling in a pay cheque and even a few good guys who lost their way in life. Our POV character is a good guy, a little clueless, especially considering he’s so incredibly smart; he’s inherently good, but not perfect.
Over the course of the strip we’ll see Eponymous agents train, take in a POW from the ‘good guys’, HOOD (Homeland Offensive Ordnance for Defence), attack a rival terrorist organisation, and overall glimpse life within their main headquarters in Denmark, near Hirtshals.
The strip will aim to be funny, in a dark way, a lot of the time, but there will also be a bit of violence, a bit of sex, and an overall story that will pull people in. This isn’t something throw away, everything means something.
I’m not sure what sort of layout I want, but I don’t want a page a day. I want a strip a week, maybe even just four panels across, or eight, but I also want the room to move some days and let the story breath. Give it a 2 x 4 set of panels, or a splash of whatever size. Structure need not be locked in, but overall about 4-8 panels a strip, with one strip a week to start off with.
I’m liking the structure of The Abominable Charles Christopher and I would see this running the same way. I don’t want to be locked in, I want room to move, breathe, and enjoy.
Characters
Henry Sharpe
He’s a guy in his twenties, average looking, in shape, as everyone in Eponymous has to be, but otherwise he’s just a lab jockey. He’s our relatively nice POV guy. He sees the world a little differently, but he likes to play up on it, he’s out to throw people off. There is way more to Henry than he lets on. We don’t know much about Henry’s past, and we can’t really see how dedicated he is to Eponymous. He really only seems to work when he’s excited about something, and otherwise he’ll pawn it off to Laerke. The higher ups know this, but can’t let him go, and need him for those special cases when he is interested because he’s the best at it.
Maybe has a bit of a Casey Affleck vibe going…or Sam Rockwell. Unassuming, not the Clooney handsome type. Cute.
Eponymous Bosch
Eponymous is the leader of the whole organisation. We don’t see Eponymous at first, we only see POD’s (Personal and Occupational Duplicates) who come in various ranges and sizes, Eponymous will turn up as a man, then a woman, then a kid, always changing (this might be confusing, but if written well it could be something very cool) but will always speak the same. Some flunky will eventually ask Eponymous why he called it Eponymous, that flunky will be duly killed for being an idiot. Eponymous is pretty hard core, but also very savvy. He’s not the person with all the brains, or even the balls and muscles to get everything done, but he’s most certainly the only person with the wherewithal to put it all together. He would be in her mid-thirties. He’s not in it for world domination, he just wants money, and loves destruction. It makes him feel powerful over others.
Eponymous will pop into a lot of scenes, chatting with people, making sure that all is well.
Elias Laerke
Goofy dipshit of a forgotten lab jockey. In my mind looks a little like Eric Christian Olsen, which is important, because he has to be a bit of a local Scandinavian, and he has to be sulky as hell. Laerke is the guy who always finished fourth in every class. They were some pretty hard classes, and he’s still smarter than me, but his desire to be the best and his massive chip on the shoulder constantly hold him back. Laerke is the guy who took this because HOOD tossed him back after letting him in for a training program but then bounced him when he constantly placed fourth. You almost wanna feel for Laerke, but in the end he’s his own biggest problem and enemy and he acts in a way that you’ll sell him out too.
He is also a bit of a sleaze.
Annette Rossi
Annette is pretty hardcore. Family lost to war when she was a teen. She held her home together fine, raised her younger brother, but then town was attacked again. Her brother died and she went after the terrorists, Eponymous decided to show up and help her do it.
We’ll find out later that her brother, Dante, is actually still alive, and either working for HOOD or a terrorist of his own when he lost his sister. We’ll get flashbacks of them when they were young, and when they were alone together (a possible oxy-moron whoops). We want to build some sort of sympathy for Annette, she’s that girl that just always ends up in the wrong situation and with the wrong guy. Things won’t end well for her, but by the end we’ll probably wish they would. Doesn’t help that she doesn’t seem to help herself.
She is a cute little thing, glasses when she can, short and small, but tough as nails, which stems more from her mental stand point than her actual physical make up.
She’s got a bit of a Maria Bello thing going, but with dark hair. She’s about thirty and hot as hell, but she feels that her age is catching up on her.
Agent Hopper
He’s not R Lee Ermy, let’s get that out straight off the bat. Hopper is a drill sergeant type in the army, but I want him to stand out. He is actually heroic, and cares for his people, and does a good job. He’s also hard as nails and was sold on the job because he was told that they would be going after terrorist organisations, which they often do. He’s a grunt man and doesn’t think too far behind the scenes. He is given the scenario and he works out how to make them win in it. He isn’t known as a master strategist, but we will see he is hoping to make one score big enough so that he can retire with Amanda Duncan. He knows that this will be dangerous, and he’ll have to spend the rest of his life on edge, but he is confident he can take out any flunkies that get thrown his way. He’s big and tough and in his forties, the sort of guy who could fight his way out of a mess if he was the last guy standing. He should also have scars, not necessarily on his face, but on his hands and arms so that we can see them casually. Also on his back, but the shirtless scenes will be few and far between.
Agent Amanda Duncan
She’s the nice girl that everyone loves. Is nice to everyone, gets things done and looks like a ray of sunshine hitting a patch of flowers growing strangely and independently in your front lawn. She’s trained in all combat but she seems a bit of an anomaly in the company. She had dated Henry but they fell apart when he stopped trying. He got to the centre and realised she actually was as good as she acted, he thought it was an act and so broke it off when he saw he wasn’t good enough for her. Why does she work for Eponymous? She’s a girl that they recovered very young and then raised her in stasis (Spider-Woman style) and so she never had an upbringing, she’s rather naïve, and she doesn’t quite get the concept that Eponymous is bad. Amanda has never known anything else, she’s trapped. She’s the same age as Henry, but with much less life experience.
Karl Schwarz
Karl is kind of Eponymous’ up front man. He’s the guy who runs the day to day show of what’s happening. He’s nasty as fuck, like he’s out to hurt the world. His motivation? Easy, a chick cheated on him. Sure, things slipped a lot for him to end up here, but that was the start. That one hot chick who didn’t even really care for him blew him off. Next thing he knows he’s a terrorist blowing up a modelling company in the name of something more. Karl is about 40, he has a black beard, he is well built, can handle himself, but he’s not ‘roiding out. He’s like the buff guy who finally got the office job, he’s getting slower. Eponymous is riding his ass and making him prove he should still have his spot.
He’s got a bit of a bearded Eric Bana thing going on. He’s handsome, there’s no denying that, but he also has a very mean and muscular streak to him.
Yorick Tesla
Tesla is the resident genius, playboy and superhero of HOOD. He’s like the Iron Man/Tony Stark of S.H.I.E.L.D.. He invents stuff and saves people and everyone loves him, so he’s pre-Civil War Tony, he’s 70’s have-a-martini-playboy Tony. He doesn’t have any great enemies or foes because he’s locked them all up. Tesla can create electricity from a suit he has created
He has pretty bitching sideburns, thick and honourable..haha.
Ray LaGuardia
Ray is a medical operative and Henry’s best friend. He’s a bit younger than Henry, but with plenty of nasty European life experience. He has long hair and is always unshaven, but never bearded. He’s a little more cutting edge than Henry, and he pushes Henry into things a lot. He’s like the coolest best friend ever, the party guy. We’ll soon see that he has been experimenting on dead or dying operatives that come to him. We don’t’ know why, but it doesn’t look good.
Sample Scripts
Strip One
1. We see Hopper standing in front of a fancy Eponymous jet. He is looking up at Annette as she descends out of it via some stairs. Hopper is wearing a nice action Eponymous suit, kind of like a Nick Fury one with some stripes, it’s a jumpsuit type thing. Rossi is wearing more of a suit, jacket and shirt, some tight and smart pants.
Hopper: How was the mission, Agent Rossi?
Rossi: Hopper, you know two things.
Rossi: One, the mission was fucking fantastic.
2. Annette tosses a small vibrator shaped and sized object into the air, and Hopper makes to catch it with one large hand.
Rossi: And, two, you know my name’s Annette, not Agent.
3. Annette walks Hopper to the back of the plane, a remote control in her hand that she points at the plane’s rear as if it is a tv.
Rossi: But rather than tell you about the brilliance of my mission, how about I show you?
Rossi: This is what I managed to locate in my travels through my favourite old town.
4. Hopper is looking up into the back of the plane, the cargo is not visible to us.
Hopper: What are we going to do now?
Rossi: You’re going to take that doo-hickey to Henry Sharpe.
Rossi: And I’m going to have a bit of fun with this little gem.
5. We see what is inside the plane. It is a man strapped to a chair in the back. There is some blood that has bled out from his feet and spread in little pools about a foot around from them. We are looking at him from behind and seeing Rossi and Hopper looking in at him.
Hopper: How did his chair not fall over?
Rossi: I nailed his feet to the floor.
Hopper: Right. Of course.
Caption: There were two optional reactions that Agent Rossi always had when she met a man. She either wanted to fuck them or fight them. This was often confused within her brain.
Strip Two
1. We see a lab, it looks pretty bright and shiny. Lots of beakers and instruments sitting around. Someone has his back to us, and he is tinkering with something that looks like a suit on a lab table. He is about 6,1”, lean build. His name is Henry Sharpe.
Henry Sharpe: If the suit is able to take the Glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate and…
2. Hands run across the suit on the table.
Henry Sharpe: …synthesise it straight through then we can tap into the…
3. Henry pulls some serious amplifying goggles down onto his face, they look nerdy, but also wicked cool.
Henry Sharpe: …conus medullaris and have an instantaneous nutritional supplement without ever having to move. We just need…
4. Henry runs an ultra UV light across the suit.
Henry Sharpe: Aha, to up the phototroph exposure on the nanocomposite sequence with the ultratensile webbing, so that will give the suit…
5. Henry smiles with his goggles on as he pulls the suit up a bit closer.
Henry Sharpe: …the added biochemical spatial area in direct proportion to the secure antiballistic and dielectric spatial areas.
6. Show Henry’s smile up close, perhaps his whole face as he is getting it. A voice comes in from off-panel.
Caption: Elias Laerke once set up a mic in the lab to see who spoke the most while working. Henry Sharpe dominated him with a 95/5 count.
Voice: Henry, SHUT UP!!!
Strip Three
1. We see Elias Laerke. He is a good looking guy, slightly shorter than Henry, has blonde/orange hair. He is Henry’s lab partner. Jealousy is crossing his face.
Elias Laerke: For such a smart guy why can’t you just work it out in your head?
2. Henry is still running the UV light over the arms of the suit.
Henry Sharpe: The direct ratio between phototrophs and nanocomposite strands will have to be just right to get the wearer to be able to utilise the sleeper functions, and be able to still fully activate in complete riot mode.
3. Elias is holding his hands up in the air.
Elias Laerke: He doesn’t even listen to me when I berate him.
Elias Laerke: Oh great, now he’s got me talking to myself too.
4. Henry looks up and across the lab at Elias. He is pulling his goggles up.
Henry Sharpe: What was that?
5. Elias looks down at the beaker in his hand.
Elias Laerke: Obviously nothing too important.
Henry Sharpe: Then why were you even…
6. Henry is interrupted by Agent Hopper walking through doors that have just opened. The agent is the sort of guy built for the field. He is a field general, the guy who always survives, but with scrapes that he will never feel anyway. His name is Hopper. Henry looks kinda confused at him, Elias just has his head in his hands.
FX: Fwsch
Agent Hopper: Listen up boys, we got some stuff here gonna make you break your lenses just to get a look at.
Henry Sharpe: Then how exactly are we going to get a good look at them?
Strip Four
1. Hopper hands across a short staff-looking device. It is about six inches long and one inch thick. It is cylindrical and shiny black. There are some grooves along it, it kinda looks like a short police baton. Henry is looking at it with wide open eyes. His scientific brain is simply used to taking things in.
Hopper: We requisitioned this in the field one hour ago…
Henry Sharpe: Whereabouts did you get it from?
Hopper: We requisitioned it on a classified mission.
2. Henry looks at Hopper, pretty straight faced.
Henry Sharpe: So you’re telling me that you can’t tell me where you got it from?
3. Hopper is trying not to lose his cool with Henry. He has heard things about Henry, but only had to deal with him on minimal issues once or twice before.
Hopper: That is exactly what I am telling you.
Caption: Agent Hopper had been the Eponymous shrink for three months. He had only hit him twice, both times with an open palm.
4. Henry is looking at the device, looking down its length like a gun sight.
Henry Sharpe: But I need to know where it came from.
5. Hopper is making the same face as before.
Hopper: I really cannot divulge that sort of information.
6. Henry is karate chopping the device in his hands.
Henry Sharpe: Then I won’t be able to work 100% with it. That’s unfortunate.
7. Hopper rolls his head back in exasperation.
Hopper: We got it in Old Town in Krakow.
8. Henry has his eye up close to one of the ends. Laerke is just jutting into screen, trying to get some of the action.
Henry Sharpe: That’s good to know, but I more meant who you got it off. Was it HOOD? DIAMOND? One of our own? I assume it was not resting against St Mary’s Basilica on its own.
Strip Five
1. Hopper still looks the same, he is bottling it all up.
Henry Sharpe(op): You really shouldn’t tell me classified information, especially coordinates of missions.
Hopper: It was obtained from a HOOD agent.
2. Henry looks over the device back at Hopper. Laerke is closer.
Henry Sharpe: Cool.
Henry Sharpe: What are HOOD doing in Poland?
3. Hopper is gritting his teeth.
Hopper: We requisitioned this an hour and a bit ago from a HOOD agent in Krakow. I am bringing it to you for you to look at.
4. Henry holds the device back out to Hopper. Laerke is looking pained at what is going on.
Henry Sharpe: And now I have looked at it.
5. Hopper picks his teeth with his tongue, he is just planning on ignoring Henry’s stupid behaviour.
Hopper: I have been told expressly to bring it to you as you are THE brain in this business. And you know how much it pains me to say that, no less admit it.
6. Henry pulls the device back and looks down at it as it lies in his hands. Laerke is nearly over Henry’s shoulder.
Hopper(op): We want you to figure out how it works.
Caption: Henry Sharpe was responsible for working out much of the HOOD items that were collected. No one in HOOD, so far as they knew, had been able to collect and disassemble anything that Sharpe had made.
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