Challenge topic 18: talking monkeys and robots. You have 24 pages to remind the reader why they used to love comics. And... go.
"Prof. Simian and the Irregulars"
Professor Gordon Saimiri was the first monkey shot into space. Before the fateful morning of December 13th, 1958, the professor was an ordinary squirrel monkey named Gordo. Something out there (cosmic rays, curious aliens, the Kree, whatever) picked up the Jupiter AM-13 rocket. When the capsule returned to Earth, Gordo had been changed. No longer an ordinary monkey, Gordon Saimiri is four feet tall and possesses an IQ over 200. Now, armed with his multiple doctorate degrees and a flamethrower, Prof. Saimiri travels wherever adventure takes him.
S.T.E.A.M. E.N.G.I.N.E. Built by Prof. Saimiri using parts of the Jupiter AM-13 capsule and powered by an atomic Muller device, S.T.E.A.M. E.N.G.I.N.E. is an eight foot tall sentient robot. Steam's hulking robotic frame has the power to tear a car in half like a phone book and impenetrable alloy skin. The robot's piercing red eyes are equipped with an array of high-tech sensors. Steam's a gregarious sort though. He loves sports betting, being around people and sobs like a baby at the movies.
Becky Goodnight is a blonde bombshell in the 1940's Veronica Lake mold and Prof Saimiri's assistant. She has degrees in journalism, abstract paleontology and conjectural engineering to compliment her keen eye and deductive mind. Becky answered the professor's campus ad for a teaching assistant and has been with him ever since. An amateur boxer and the daughter of an Air Force pilot, Becky's convinced she's got the best job in the world.
The world's smartest monkey, his robot and his girl travel the world seeking adventure in the unexplainable corners of the globe. Along the way they'll fight alien invaders, monsters, demons and the internet.
Sample:
PAGE 1, PANEL 1. WIDE ON A DARKENED BEDROOM. FAINT MOONLIGHT BARELY OUTLINES THE OBJECTS IN THE ROOM. NIGHTSTAND. DRESSER. CLOTHES ON THE FLOOR. AND A BED INHABITED BY A LARGE, SHEET COVERED MOUND. ON THE NIGHTSTAND IS A TELEPHONE. A SLIM FEMALE HAND IS REACHING TOWARDS THE PHONE FROM UNDER THE COVERS.
SFX: RING! RING!
PANEL 2. MATCHING. THE PHONE CORD IS PULLED TAUT, DISAPPEARING UNDER THE COVERS.
BECKY: MMM... HELLO?
BECKY: WHAT IS...? WHAT?
BECKY: NO.
BECKY: SURE. THE PROFESSOR'S... OH. MY. GOD.
PANEL 3. BECKY GOODNIGHT IS THROWING BACK THE COVERS, REVEALING THE OTHER OCCUPANTS OF THE BED: PROFESSOR GORDON SAIMIRI, A FOUR FOOT TALL SQUIRREL MONKEY, AND S.T.E.A.M. E.N.G.I.N.E., AN EIGHT FOOT TALL STEEL PLATED ROBOT. THE GIRL, THE MONKEY AND THE ROBOT HAVE A POST-COITAL LOOK ABOUT THEM. THEY'RE NAKED BUT SHADOWS COVER THE TRIO IN JUST THE RIGHT SPOTS. BECKY'S HOLDING THE PHONE OUT TOWARDS PROF SAIMIRI.
BECKY: GORDON, WAKE UP! I
BECKY: IT'S PROF. KEANE AND I THINK YOU BETTER TAKE THIS.
PANEL 4. GORDON'S SITTING UP IN BED HOLDING THE PHONE AND RUBBING THE SLEEP OUT OF HIS EYES. THE ROBOT'S REACHED OVER AND IS TURNING ON THE LAMP. YELLOW LIGHT ACCENTS THE ROOM.
PROF SAIMIRI: HMM-- THIS BETTER BE GOOD KEANE. YOU CAN'T IMAGINE THE DREAM I WAS HAVING.
"Challengers of the Unknown" is taken and I can't think around a better title than that. I'll be updating this post when I think up something better than "Prof. Simian and the Futurenauts"
Update: changed title to "Prof. Simian and the Irregulars"
Any suggestions? Leave them in the comments section.
1 comment:
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