The End of Paradise
Writer: TonyDoug Wright
Pencils, Inks, and Lettering: A. 'Kav' Kaviraj
Synopsis: Nick Hamilton, a former small-time criminal, is on a serious revenge mission to kill Frankie Paradise, a notorious mob boss responsible for the death of an innocent man and his family. Joining Nick on his mission is Marshall Jackson, a weapons dealer, and The Kid, a teenage prophet and gun for hire. Nick, Marshall, and The Kid must take out Paradise's henchmen in order to get to their main target, Frankie Paradise.
Webcomicography is a weekly article from Champion City Comics that goes behind the scenes of our webcomics to give you the complete story. This week we are starting part two of our series for
The End of Paradise, a crime noir tale of revenge. Did you miss part one and two of the story? Click
here to read part one, click
here to read part two, click
here to read part three, click
here to read part four, click
here for part five, and click
here for part six.
We've come to the part of the story where the bad guys are introduced. Pages 20 to 25 introduced Trent Reynolds, the long-time hit man for Frankie Paradise. Reynolds had to make his way to Paradise's bunker, which was located under a convent. if you're going to go into hiding, then put yourself somewhere your enemies wouldn't think of finding you. Just some friendly advice for all of you comic book writers out there.
Let's examine page 26 below:
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As a writer, I feel some stories do not need to be dialogue heavy, and that was the case with establishing the underground bunker for Paradise. I wanted artist A. Kaviraj to show readers that it was quite the set-up and that nobody was going to attack the place unless they had a few tons of explosives and even more determination. If you've been reading this series, you've noticed that the passwords come from the Bible. The last password to be said by Reynolds is "A den of thieves", which is a reference to Jesus' anger over the gambling in the temple. I was looking for an interesting password and I thought that one would be humorous since Frankie Paradise made millions off of his casinos in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Kav did a great job with this page, especially the last panel that shows the security center which monitors everything at the bunker.
Let's review page 27 below:
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When introducing villains, I do my best as a writer to avoid painting them as one-dimensional characters that are nothing more than the worst people on the planet. My view of villains is that they are people, but they do not see eye-to-eye ethically with the heroes of the story. Paradise and Reynolds are the bad guys in this story, and my job is to make the reader not like their methods of doing business and dealing with certain people. Reynolds and Paradise have friends and family, so they are capable of loving and caring for other people. Page 27 shows Paradise's interest in Reynolds killing of Bird, a fellow criminal that gave our hero, Nick Hamilton, the location of Sato Akio's hideout. This discovery creates conflict between Reynolds and Paradise. Kav has always told me that conflicts works on pages because it really grabs the attention of the reader, and that's what's starting here.
Let's review page 28 below:
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The tension is being built between Reynolds and Paradise and the panels move along smoothly in my opinion. Reynolds views Nick Hamilton as a threat to the secuity of Akio and Paradise, but Paradise doesn't seem to care. The name Danny Calhoun is mentioned again, and this is Nick's former friend that was killed.The important thing about writing dialogue between two characters is to make their conversation believable and not some sort of filler that's intended to be a history lesson for the reader. Some writers fall into that trap, and I still get dangerously close from time to time.
Let's review page 29 below:
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The purpose of page 29 is establish that Paradise knows that Nick Hamilton and Marshall Jackson are coming his way. Is Paradise worried? Of course not. Is Paradise over-confident or are the heroes of our tale not that skilled to take out Paradise?
Let's review page 30 below:
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As a writer, I enjoyed writing the following line, "I was expecting front page headlines. Instead, you read me the funny pages." I wanted to give Paradise some depth and give him some humor. I've always enjoyed the line, "See you in the funny pages", so I had to incorporate that into the script. Also, I wanted to give the reader a little bit more of a history on why Paradise was hiding in a bunker. I made reference to some friends in DC which means Paradise has friends in government.
I'll see you in the funny pages next week when I review pages 31 to 35!
TonyDoug Wright is the owner and editor of Champion City Comics. His webcomics include Dr Death vs The Zombie, The End of Paradise, The Red Devil, and Day 165.
