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Tuesday, May 15, 2018

Captain America in "Pugilism With a Side of Beef"


As mentioned on our episode about the Captain America TV movies, the first movie features an action scene in a meat packing plant where Steve Rogers actually uses the meat as weapons. To commemorate this momentous occasion, I've adapted it into a bronze-age style comics script. Fans of seventies and eighties action/crime shows might be happy to know that character actor Lance LeGault plays Harley. 

Comic scripts serve as a blueprint for the artists who will draw, color, and letter it, and different writers write them in different formats and with varying degrees of detail. I like to give the artists some room to do their thing while still laying out as clear an idea as I can.

Captain America in "Pugilism With a Side of Beef"

Adapted from a scene in Captain America the TV Movie, written by Don Ingalls, directed by Rod Holcomb.

NOTE: THIS SCENE FEATURES FOUR CHARACTERS:

STEVE ROGERS - MUSCULAR, BLOND. IN THIS SCENE, HE WEARS A LIGHT BLUE TURTLENECK, DARK BLUE SWEATER VEST, GRAY SLACKS, AND GRAY SHOES.

HARLEY - THE LEADER OF GROUP WHO'S ABDUCTED STEVE. SURLY-LOOKING. HE WEARS A BEIGE BLAZER, DARK BROWN TIE, AND DARK BROWN SLACKS.

TOUGH 1 - A TOUGH GUY IN CASUAL CLOTHES. GRAYING HAIR. HIS MOST NOTABLE FEATURE, A JEAN JACKET WITH A WOOL LINING.

TOUGH 2 - ANOTHER TOUGH GUY IN CASUAL CLOTHES. DARK HAIR. WEARS A LEATHER JACKET.

PAGE 1

TEXT ALONG TOP: After a near-fatal car accident, Steve Rogers received the FLAG serum his father invented. It saved his life, but it also might have done more!

PANEL 1

NIGHTTIME. A SEDAN SITS OUTSIDE A MEAT PACKING PLANT. HARLEY AND THE TOUGHS ARE LEADING STEVE ROGERS INSIDE. ROPES BIND STEVE'S HANDS BEHIND HIS BACK.

SIGN
Pearson Bros. Meat Packers

NARRATOR
Like criminals since time immemorial, Harley and his crew use the dead of night for their nefarious deeds.

PANEL 2

INSIDE THE MEAT PACKING PLANT, STEVE (LEFT SIDE OF PANEL) AND HARLEY (RIGHT SIDE OF PANEL) STAND FACE TO FACE. THE TOUGHS FLANK THEM (TOUGH TWO ON LEFT, TOUGH ONE ON RIGHT). ALONG THE RIGHT SIDE OF THE ROOM, SIDES OF BEEF HANG FROM HOOKS ATTACHED TO A METAL TRACK.

STEVE
Guys from the gas station, right?

HARLEY
So we meet again. Fun,huh?

PANEL 3

CLOSE ON STEVE AND HIS STEELY (IF A LITTLE CONFUSED) GAZE.

HARLEY (OFF PANEL)
I still need that film.

STEVE
I still don't know what you’re talking about.

PANEL 4

HARLEY GLANCES SIDEWAYS.

NO TEXT

PANEL 5

TOUGH ONE GUT PUNCHING STEVE.

STEVE
Ugh!

PANEL 6

BACK TO EVERYONE. STEVE ON HIS KNEES, HARLEY STANDING OVER HIM.

HARLEY
We've got as long as it takes, pal.

HARLEY (CONT)
Now let's try it again. Get him up.

PAGE 2

PANEL 1

SIMILAR TO PREVIOUS PANEL. TOUGH ONE IS PULLING STEVE BACK TO A STANDING POSITION. HARLEY FACES THE CURTAIN OF MEAT.

HARLEY
Your friend Hayden took some very important pictures for us.

HARLEY (CONT)
Then he got cute and hid the pictures... 

HARLEY (CONT)
and then he got dead.

PANEL 2

FOCUSING ON HARLEY. HE'S TURNED AROUND, SO MEAT FILLS THE BACKGROUND. HE LOOKS ANGRY.

HARLEY
Now we know he said something to you that night.

HARLEY (CONT)
We need to know what.

PANEL 3

SIMILAR TO PANEL 2, BUT NOW HARLEY LOOKS CASUAL, KIND OF AN "AW SHUCKS" ATTITUDE.

HARLEY
Ain't that simple?

PANEL 4

STEVE AND HARLEY FACING EACH OTHER AGAIN, HARLEY STILL CLOSER TO THE MEAT, HANDS ON HIS HIPS.

STEVE
What's in it for me?

HARLEY
You get to live a little longer.

HARLEY (CONT)
You want to live as long as possible, don't you?

STEVE (LINKED)
Yeah. I guess so.

HARLEY (LINKED)
Fine. Where's the film?

PANEL 5

HARLEY HAS GOTTEN CLOSE TO STEVE AND IS POKING HIS SHOULDER.

HARLEY
Once more, where's the film?

STEVE
I don't know.

PANEL 6

HARLEY GUT PUNCHING STEVE, WHO'S DOUBLING OVER.

STEVE
Oof!


PAGE 3

PANEL 1

STEVE HUNCHING OVER. HARLEY, ARMS SPREAD, COCKY, SMIRKING.

HARLEY
Well, Mr. Rogers?!

PANEL 2

TOUGH ONE AND TOUGH TWO GLARING.

NARRATOR
These hoods think they have the upper hand, but little do they know...

PANEL 3

CLOSE ON STEVE'S BOUND HANDS AS THE ROPES BREAK.

NARRATOR
that in this moment of need, Steve feels his mighty tendons tighten as if made of steel!

PANEL 4

STEVE THROWING TOUGH TWO AT HARLEY.

NARRATOR
He hurls his opponent as if throwing a sack of garbage away!

PANEL 5

TOUGH TWO CRUMPLED ON TOP OF HARLEY.

NO TEXT

PANEL 6

STEVE SHOVING TOUGH ONE THROUGH A TALL SWINGING DOOR.

TOUGH ONE
AAGH!

PAGE 4

PANEL 1

STEVE HOLDING ONTO A MEET HOOK AND SLIDING PAST SIDES OF BEEF, HIS FEET DANGLING ABOVE THE FLOOR.

NARRATOR
Steve makes a strategic retreat as he formulates a plan!

PANEL 2

HARLEY AND TOUGH TWO GETTING UP. TOUGH TWO HAS A REVOLVER DRAWN.

HARLEY
Get him!

PANEL 3

NOW STANDING (AND FURIOUS), HARLEY POINTS.

NO TEXT

PANEL 4

HOLDING A REVOLVER WITH A SILENCER ON IT, HARLEY IS CROUCHING AND PEERING IN THE GAP BETWEEN THE MEAT AND THE FLOOR.

NO TEXT

PANEL 5

TOUGH TWO BENDS OVER TO PEER UNDER A SIMILAR GAP.

NO TEXT

PANEL 6

LOOKING AT CROUCHING HARLEY FROM THE OTHER SIDE OF THE ROOM, MEAT BLOCKING MOST OF THE VIEW.

NO TEXT

PAGE 5

PANEL 1

WITH ONE ARM STEVE HANGS FROM A HOOK. HIS FEET REST ON SOME PIPES ATTACHED THE WALL.

STEVE (THOUGHT BALLOON)
They can't see me, but that means I can't see them! Wait a second.

PANEL 2

LOOKING DOWN TWO ROWS OF MEAT. THEY FORM A V-SHAPED TUNNEL, AND AT THE END OF IT, WE SEE TOUGH TWO STANDING NOW, HOLDING HIS REVOLVER STRAIGHT UP.

NO TEXT

PANEL 3

GRINNING, STEVE LOOKS AT HIS BALLED FIST.

NO TEXT

PANEL 4

ON THE GROUND NOW, STILL GRINNING, STEVE IS SHOVING SIDES OF BEEF ON THEIR TRACK.

NARRATOR
With a powerful shove, Steve puts the meat to work for him!

PANEL 5

TOUGH TWO HAS HIS BACK TO SOME MEAT, AS THE MEAT STEVE PUSHED IS SLAMMING INTO HIM, SANDWICHING HIM BETWEEN THE TWO.

SFX
FLAM!

PANEL 6

TOUGH TWO LIES ON THE FLOOR UNDER THE MEAT, HIS REVOLVER NEARBY.

NO TEXT

PAGE 6

PANEL 1

HARLEY SHOOTS AT STEVE DOWN A ROW OF MEAT.

NO TEXT

PANEL 2

STEVE IS PULLING A BEEF LEG OFF A HOOK.

NO TEXT

PANEL 3

STEVE FLINGING THE LEG ON THE FLOOR UNDER THE ROWS OF MEAT.

SFX
ZING!

PANEL 4

STEVE SHOVING ANOTHER SIDE OF MEAT.

NO TEXT

PANEL 5

HARLEY'S JUMPING AS THE LEG OF MEAT HITS HIS ANKLE.

NO TEXT

PANEL 6

HARLEY COWERING AS THE SIDE OF MEAT SLAMS INTO HIM.

HARLEY
Noooo!

PAGE 7

PANEL 1

THE TOUGHS HANG FROM MEAT HOOKS, AND HARLEY IS SLIDING ON ONE TOWARD THEM.

NARRATOR
Later...

PANEL 2

STEVE ON A TELEPHONE, CASUAL.

STEVE
Yes. I got a message for Agent Barber.

PANEL 3

THE TOUGHS AND HARLEY HUDDLED TOGETHER ON THEIR MEAT HOOKS.

STEVE (OFF PANEL)
Tell him there's three suspicious characters down here at Pearson Bros. Meat Packing Plant...

STEVE (OFF PANEL) (CONT)
and they may know something about Jeff Hayden's death.

PANEL 4

STEVE ON THE PHONE AGAIN.

STEVE
Oh, and, uh, tell him to hurry.

PANEL 5

SMIRKING, STEVE GLANCING SIDEWAYS (IN THE DIRECTION OF THE TOUGHS AND HARLEY OFF PANEL).

NO TEXT.

PANEL 6

STEVE GLANCING FORWARD AGAIN, SERIOUS AS HE LANDS HIS JOKE.

STEVE
I think they're getting a bad case of frostbite.

1 comment:

  1. I feel like Reb Brown would still be game for this, especially if he got to play a "strategic retreat."
    What artist would you like to see render this?

    ReplyDelete