Sharing Some News

Back in January of this year, I happened to find my way over to a little site called thought balloons.  It's a wonderful little endeavour where people write a one page comic book script on a weekly basis.  The fun part is that the writers change characters every time, so every week brings a new character to the party, along with their own unique challenges and opportunities.  Once the posts go up, people offer their thoughts on what parts of a script worked, what could use some work, and what was out of this world.

As you might imagine, a place that combines comics, writing, and constructive feedback was pretty appealing to me.  And the best part is that the site encourages readers to "play at home", writing their own scripts for the weekly choices.  I jumped at the opportunity, doing my best to write up scripts every single week.

Of course, real life got in the way sometimes, so there were occasions where I wasn't able to post something in a timely matter - or at all in some cases - but I did my best.  Over the four or five months I've been frequenting the site, I think I've made a pretty good showing for myself.

Fortunately, the regular thought balloons seem to feel the same way, kindly inviting myself and one of the other play-at-homers to join the group, officially becoming fellow "tenured writers" (as they like to call it) this week! You can read the post introducing us right here, if you are so inclined.

My first official script is going up later this week (this week's choice is Zatanna, which I am quite excited for), but I thought I would re-post one of my favourite past scripts to celebrate the occasion.  I've produced a lot of different pieces focusing on a number of different characters, but my favourite one is actually the first post I made.

When I originally discovered the site, they were in the midst of a week focusing on Lois Lane.  Initially, I didn't have much of an idea of what I would do with Superman's gal pal.  It was slow going at first, but with some brainstorming, I decided that focusing on Lois and Clark's home life could be a lot of fun.  That kind of thinking ended up becoming the script you see below.

I hope you enjoy this one.  It may be an oldie, but I firmly believe it to still be a goodie.

A quiet moment between Lois and Clark, discussing bathroom redecoration options.

1 – Lois and Clark are sitting on a couch in their apartment, going through color swatches together. Clark seems to be thoroughly enjoying himself, Lois is less impressed.

LOIS: Burly Wood?

LOIS (2):Electric Pink?

LOIS (3): Peachy Keen?

LOIS (4): Marvellous Maroon?

2 – Lois throws the color swatches away in frustration. Clark is surprised by her sudden outburst.

LOIS: Ugh!

LOIS (2): Who comes up with these names? And who thinks these colours would look good in a bathroom?

3 – Clark is on his hands and knees, picking up the dropped swatches. Lois is standing in the background, hands on her hips, a look of mild frustration on her face.

CLARK: I know you aren't quite as excited at the prospect of redoing the bathroom, Lois. If you prefer, I could pick out the colors.

CLARK (2) (quietly, partly to himself): -heh- Haven't done anything like this since I helped Ma design my costume...

4 – Clark looks up, smiling his big, friendly smile. Three swatches are visible in his hands: red, blue, and yellow.

CLARK: What do you say, honey?

5 – Silent panel showing Lois's upper-body. Her hands remain on her hips, but her frustration is tempered by the kind offer of her husband. Weighing the merits of his proposal, she wears something between a smirk and a grin.

6 – Repeat panel.

LOIS: Let me see Peachy Keen again...

I hope you liked it and I hope to see you over at thought balloons.  We're always happy to have more writers...