(Not my best work this week. I may eventually redo this week’s strip, but I’ve had too many delays because of accidentally deleted files and color palettes.)

Script:

Panel 1: Queen peeks around the corner, the light behind him casting long shadows.

BRIGHTON (off-panel): Maybe if you didn’t…you know, start drinking at eight every morning…Your blood would take less time to shoot out of your finger stumps….

Panel 2: Queen steps out to meet a stout shadowy figure in a fedora.

QUEEN (in German): I forget, but I’m pretty sure it was some cliche about birds.

Panel 3: The shadowy figure from the front, silent.

FIGURE: …

Panel 4: Queen gets suspicious.

QUEEN: Are you my contact?

Panel 5: Shadowy figure shouts, with little effort –

FIGURE (in German): SWITCH ON THE LIGHTS!

Panel 6: Large tracks of lights flood the area yellow. Behind the shadowy figure, we can now see a gang of thugs, all wearing black turtleneck sweaters.

QUEEN: I’ll take that as a negative then.

Panel 1: Title logo / credit. Only to be used on the first chapter and at milemarkers throughout the storyline.

Panel 2: A wide panel, we see the following characters, from left to right, standing with their backs against a darkened wall:

• LESLIE “LES” BRIGHTON, a stout man in a hunter green coat with thick-framed glasses and a beard, crouching with his back to the wall, eyes down, looking preturbed.
• ALTON BURCH, an older man with unnaturally red hair, white at the temples, and a pencil thin mustache that curls down at the edges of his mouth. He wears a cream-colored suit over a white dress shirt with the collar open. His white tie is wrapped around a bleeding hand, and blood has permeated the rest of his clothing. His face is contorted in agony.
• MARTIN QUEEN, a tall man with blond hair, a sharp dagger of which slants down across his forehead, thick eyebrows, a squared, but boyish jaw, and a slight look, despite the situation, of bemusement. He wears a blue peacoat over a white dress shirt and thin black tie. He waits at the corner of the wall, and a sliver of light cuts across his face.

BURCH [in large letters]: [EXPLETIVE DELETED]

{Second Row panels are separated by gutters, though together they comprise one complete image.}

Panel 3: Close on Brighton’s face as he growls:

BRIGHTON: Will you shut up? I’m not in the mood to get my head blown off….

Panel 4: Burch, almost in tears:

BURCH: [EXPLETIVE DELETED] It HURTS!

Panel 5: Queen turns to face the other two, and over his shoulder, we can see a SHADOWY FIGURE.

QUEEN: Quiet, both of you! Someone’s coming….