Michael Gordon's Blog

So, you’ve just read ‘Can We Come In?’, right?

And my transparent attempt to connect that short script in people’s minds with something upcoming in the world of comics? Yes? :)

Well, now I’ll give a little update about projects I have on the go:

‘Transdimensional’ (formerly known as ‘Thalassophobia’) is still in progress with a well-known UK indie publisher! I can’t name names just yet, or reveal who the awesome artist is on the project, as it hasn’t been officially announced by the publisher yet. But 3 scripts out of 4 are in stages of completion (#1 edited and ready to go, #2′s second draft just finished and #3 still to be redrafted) and I’m hoping it will see publication in late 2016/early 2017.

I have an action/crime thriller concept named ‘Red Winter’ that I want to pitch to publishers later this year. I’m on the hunt for an artist for that. It’s set in Moscow and features a corrupt cop looking for redemption, rival gangs going for each other’s throats, an estranged son who isn’t all he seems setting everyone against each other; oh, and lots of noir-ish narration, introspection and black humour, as well as hails of bullets and intense situations. And swearing. Probably a lot of swearing.

I also recently completed a short 10 page script for an upcoming graphic novel that will be Kickstarted later this year. As far as I know, nothing about the creative teams for the graphic novel has been announced, so once again, I can’t really say too much yet. But I did get paid for the script, which was awesome. Currency! For my words!

Whoa.

Michael.

Hey!

If anyone reads the short script I posted below and has a knowledge of what is happening in the world of comics, they might think: ‘Isn’t there already a comic coming out about Black-Eyed Kids?’

Well, yeah, there is. On 20th April 2016, Aftershock Comics will be releasing ‘B.E.K.’ or ‘Black Eyed KIds’ #1 by Joe Pruett and Szymon Kudranski.

It sounds really cool and I’ll definitely be picking up a copy. Not least because I saw the soliciation (http://www.previewsworld.com/Catalog/FEB161048) barely a month after I’d written the nasty little horror short story ‘Can We Come In?’ that I’ve posted below! Which, naturally, also deals with the urban legend of Black Eyed Kids. Check out some of people’s stories, they’re pretty creepy: http://thoughtcatalog.com/christine-stockton/2013/11/16-peoples-terrifying-encounters-with-the-black-eyed-kids/

I choose to see this as a case of ‘great minds think alike’. :)

And, hey, if anyone at Aftershock Comics wants to give my script a read…that’d be pretty awesome.

Hey,

Haven’t updated the ol’ blog in a while! My bad.

Here is a short horror script I wrote recently.

by

Michael Gordon

Draft 2.0 - 30/11/15

12 Lisnoe Park, Lisburn, BT27 5NS
07908831755
mikeonfire@hotmail.com

PANEL 1

Establishing shot of a quiet, suburban neighbourhood in the mid-afternoon sunshine. The houses that line the streets are well-maintained, with pretty gardens out front and fairly expensive cars in the driveways.

PANEL 2

A medium level panel which puts focus on one of the houses. The shades are open in the large, rectangular window at the front of the house and we can see inside. A young boy is sitting in the living room, playing his games console.
This is JASON, an 8 year old with curly blonde hair and freckles. He is holding the wireless controller tightly in his hands, concentration written all over his face as his eyes fix on the TV.

PANEL 3

Interior of the living room. We can see that Jason is playing some kind of Mario Kart style game, and there are various toys/action figures scattered around the sofa and floor area near him.

SFX
KNOCK KNOCK!

JASON
MOM! There’s someone at the door!

PANEL 1

Jason has his head turned slightly as he yells for his mother. He seems annoyed that something is breaking his concentration on the game, which we can see on the TV screen has been paused.

SFX
KNOCK KNOCK! KNOCK KNOCK!

JASON
MOM! Can you get that? I’m playing my game!

MOM (OFF)
Just answer the door yourself, sweetie! Mommy’s busy!

PANEL 2

Jason is trudging out of the living room doorway, head down in a sulk.

JASON (SMALL)
…better not lose that race…

PANEL 3

Jason is reaching for the front door-handle. He has a surly look on his face, typical of any kid taken away from a good video game.

PANEL 4

Jason has opened the front door. This is an over the shoulder shot from behind the two children standing on the doorstep looking at Jason, who wears a slightly bemused look. The children are holding hands.
From behind we can tell that the older, taller child is a girl with long, straight red hair and the smaller child is a dark haired boy. The girl is wearing a white baseball shirt with coloured arms and her jeans are flared at the bottom. The boy is wearing a tattered white vest with shorts and sandals.

JASON
Uh, hi…

PANEL 5

Close shot of the children’s faces and upper bodies. Now we can tell the girl is about 12 or 13 years old, with a slight smile that contrasts with her disarmingly vacant stare. The boy also has a vacant look in his eyes, but is not smiling. Overall, they look a bit unsettling.

GIRL
Hello. My brother and I are lost. We can’t find our dad.
(link)
Can we come in and use your phone to call him?

PANEL 1

Close-up of Jason’s face. His mouth is hanging open slightly and he looks like he doesn’t know what to do.

JASON
I don’t – I’m not supposed to talk to strangers…

PANEL 2

The girl’s smile widens but her eyes stay unnervingly glassy and vacant. It’s creepy.

GIRL
We’re not strangers. We just moved in down the block.

PANEL 3

Jason’s eyes have widened slightly and tiny beads of sweat have begun to form on his forehead. He looks scared.

JASON
I’ve never seen you before, though…

PANEL 4

The girl’s smile is now gone, replaced by a fairly sinister absence of emotion. Her face and eyes are completely vacant.

GIRL
Just let us in. Please.
(link)
We need to come in, before your mom hears –

PANEL 5

Full-tier panel across the bottom of the page. Over the shoulder shot from behind the two creepy kids. Jason’s mother is now standing beside him with her hand resting reassuringly on his shoulder, smiling at the two kids. Jason’s face has drained of colour; he looks frozen in fear.

MOM
Hi there! Can I help you two?

GIRL
We’ve been telling Jason that we just moved in down the block and need to use your phone to call our dad. We’re lost and can’t find him.

JASON (SMALL)
How does she know my name…?

PANEL 1

Similar full-tier panel to Page 3, Panel 5. Mom still has her hand on Jason’s shoulder, but now her brow has furrowed and she looks mad.

MOM
I know for a fact that no one has moved into this area for well over a year. And if you did just move in down the block, you wouldn’t be ‘lost’.
(link)
Why are you lying?

PANEL 2

Medium shot, looking at the two kids. The boy is frowning and looks upset. The girl’s face is still vacant, but that isn’t what is most unsettling. Both her eyes, and her brother’s eyes, have turned completely black.

GIRL
I’m not lying. We just need to come in. Please just let us in your house.
(link)
I promise we won’t hurt you. We don’t have a gun or anything.

PANEL 3

Mom’s eyes have gone wide in shock and fear. Her hand is now gripping Jason’s shoulder tightly. A few tears trickle down Jason’s cheeks.

MOM
A…gun? Why would you even –?
(link)
Okay, look, I’m telling you both to leave now. You’re scaring my son.

PANEL 4

The girl, for the first time, shows a bit of emotion. She looks slightly upset at the idea of scaring Jason. Her eyes aren’t black anymore.

GIRL
I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to scare Jason.
(link)
I just need to call my dad…

PANEL 5

Mom looks furious now, and has her hand on the door handle, about to slam the door shut. Jason is cuddling into her side, crying softly.

MOM
Stop saying that!
(link)
I’m closing the door now. If you don’t leave, I’ll be forced to call the police.
(link)
Now go away!

PANEL 6

Over the shoulder shot from behind the two kids, who are both glancing at each other with sadness on their faces. In the background, the door has been slammed shut.

SFX
SLAM!

PANEL 1

Full-tier establishing shot of Jason in his bedroom at night. Mom is tucking him into bed, and he has the covers pulled up high so that they are held tightly under his chin. He is still scared.
His room is decorated with a space theme, so there are starships on his curtains, his duvet cover is very reminiscent of Star Wars, and his night-light illuminates the glowing green shapes of the moon and stars over his walls and the roof.

MOM
It’s sleepy-time now, little man.
(link)
Your dad’ll be home any minute and we don’t want him seeing you’re still awake past your bedtime.

PANEL 2

Mom is sitting on the edge of Jason’s bed, smiling reassuringly at him while stroking his curly hair. Jason’s eyes still show fear as he looks up at her.

JASON
I can’t go to sleep now, mom. What if they’re still out there?

PANEL 3

Close-up of mom. She looks perplexed.

MOM
Those kids from earlier? They’re long gone, sweetie. Probably just playing a prank or something.

PANEL 4

Mom is tickling Jason on his ribs through the duvet. He is giggling and smiling.

MOM
Now go to sleep before I tickle you to death!

JASON
Haha! Mom! Haha!

PANEL 5

Mom is standing in the doorway, holding the door-handle as she prepares to close it behind her. She has a slightly serious expression on her face. Is she worried about the kids coming back?

MOM
G'night, Jason. Sleep tight.

PANEL 1

Jason is turned over on his side, sleeping. The stars and moons on the wall glow softly in the darkness.
A noise emanates from his window, behind the closed curtains.

SFX
TING!

PANEL 2

Close-up on Jason’s face, cheek resting on the pillow as he looks toward his window with bleary eyes. The noise happens again.

SFX
TING!

PANEL 3

Jason is standing nervously in front of his curtains, gingerly extending his arms to open them.

PANEL 4

Over the shoulder shot from behind Jason, who has opened his curtains and is looking down on the street below.
Beneath a street lamp directly across the street from his window, the girl and her brother are standing and looking up at him. They are illuminated by the street-lamp, so we can make out the familiar vacant looks on their faces. The girl is holding a small pile of stones in her open palms; she has been throwing them to get Jason’s attention.
Their eyes are black again. It’s creepy.

JASON
…no…!

PANEL 1

Jason bursts from his room into the hallway, yelling at the top of his voice. The light is on in the hallway so we can see fear is etched all over his face.

JASON
Mom! Dad! Those kids are outside again!

PANEL 2

Jason is standing in the doorway, looking into his mom and dad’s room. The light from the hallway is illuminating the room and we can see the bed has been slept in, as the sheets are ruffled, but mom and dad are not there.

JASON
Mom, you gotta come quick – huh?!

PANEL 3

Jason bounds down the stairs in a panic.

JASON
Mom! Dad! Where are you?!

PANEL 4

Jason has thrown open the kitchen door and this shot shows his reaction to whatever he has seen. His eyes are wide in surprise, mouth dropped open in shock.

JASON
…!

PANEL 5

Full-tier panel across the bottom of the page. This is what Jason is looking at.
Mom is standing over dad’s dismembered corpse, holding a bloody axe. Her head is turned toward Jason and she has a chilling smile on her face. Her nightgown, arms and face are all covered in blood.
Dad’s corpse is a mess, with large chunks of his flesh missing. In fact, he is barely even recognizable as a human being; he looks more like a piece of butchered meat.

MOM
Sweetie.
(link)
Dad’s home.

PANEL 1

This shot looks at Jason, tears streaming down his face, as he bolts down the hall towards the front door. Mom is running behind him with an insane expression on her face, wielding the axe high.

MOM
Get back here!

PANEL 2

Jason has reached the front door and is clasping the handle with both hands.

PANEL 3

Over the shoulder shot from behind Jason, who has opened the front door but been stopped in his tracks by the two creepy kids, who are again standing on his porch. Their eyes aren’t black anymore.
The girl is reaching her hand out slightly towards Jason, with worry in her eyes. The boy is cuddled in tightly to her and looks frightened.

JASON
HELP ME! HELP, SOMEBODY – huh?!

GIRL (SMALL)
…look out…!

PANEL 4

Mom has caught Jason by the hair and is dragging him back into the house. He has both hands above his head and around her wrist, trying to free himself from her grasp but she is too strong.

MOM
Your father and I need to have a word with you, sweetie.

JASON
NO! HELP ME! HELP MEEEEE!!!!

PANEL 5

The girl and the boy stand with their heads hung low in despair. They are illuminated by the porch-light, so we see that a few tears are dripping from the boy’s face.

GIRL
We just needed to come in…

‘Out Of The Blue: A Collection Of Campfire Tales’

Coming soon from Stache Publishing!

Already fully back on Kickstarter, this anthology, positively jam-packed with awesome horror stories by talented indie creators, will be made available to backers digitally on October 31st, followed by print versions by the end of November!

It comes in two awesome versions: a 125 page Trade Paperback edition and also a 175 page deluxe hardcover edition featuring bonus stories!

My first ever published work will be in this anthology, so it’s a bit special for me. The story is entitled ‘Thalassophobia’ and it is a 6 page horror tale set on a submarine, with art by Federico De Luca (John Carpenter’s Tales For A HalloweeNight) and letters by Tomas Marijanovic!

Check it out on Kickstarter and feel free to throw a few extra bucks Stache’s way, if you are impressed by what you see: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1517309735/out-of-the-blue-a-collection-of-campfire-tales

This is a short script that I wrote recently, a science-fiction horror that I feel would be a good fit for someone like 2000AD…:)

Some of the formatting went a bit squiffy in the translation to Tumblr, but it still reads okay, I think.

Enjoy!

________________________________________________

‘The Other Man In The Mirror’

by

Michael Gordon

Draft 1.0 - 27/08/15

12 Lisnoe Park, Lisburn, BT27 5NS
07908831755
mikeonfire@hotmail.com

5 PANELS

PANEL 1

Full-tier establishing shot, roughly one third of the page in size.
We see an elevated view of a futuristic cityscape at night. There are several large skyscrapers looming imposingly over a city filled with bright, neon lights. A few cars fly between the buildings, their headlights illuminating the night sky and reflecting off the skyscrapers’ windows.
It should be along the lines of Los Angeles’ depiction in Blade Runner, only not quite so oppressive and dirty; this city is cleaner and less frightening.

CAPTION
It all started a few months ago.

PANEL 2

We have pulled in closer to one of the skyscrapers, an apartment building, and are looking into the penthouse area through it’s large windows, which stretch horizontally along the entire upper floor of the building.
A man is leaning slightly against the window, forearm and head resting on the glass as he gazes out upon the city. He is in his underwear, and though we can tell he is fairly young (early 30’s), he looks haggard.
He sports a bushy beard and long, straggly hair that hasn’t been trimmed or tidied in quite some time. He looks tired; the overall impression is of someone who needs to sleep for a week, but can’t.

CAPTION
At first, I thought I was imagining things.

PANEL 3

Apartment interior. The man, in the far right of the panel, casts his gaze wearily over his living room, which looks like something out of a high-class furniture catalogue. There is beautiful framed artwork on the walls (with a soft, glowing light emanating from behind the frames) and expensive ornamental items adorn the areas around a plush sofa and matching chairs.
A television screen, of sorts, floats in the middle of the room in front of the sofa; it looks like a hologram, simply hanging in midair. Across the room from the man, on the opposite wall, hangs a gorgeous mirror with the same glow emanating from behind it.

CAPTION
Or that I was having…extremely lucid waking dreams.

PANEL 4

Close-up on the man’s tired, fearful face as he looks at something off-panel. We can see his eyes are bloodshot.

CAPTION
But now I know the truth. I’m not imagining anything.

PANEL 5
Close-up on the large mirror hanging on the wall across the room.

CAPTION
When I look in the mirror…

CAPTION
…it isn’t me staring back.

5 PANELS

**Page 2 and most of Page 3 are made up of flashback panels.**

PANEL 1

Side-on shot of the man in his bathroom, at the sink, cheeks puffed out as he swirls mouthwash before bed. He is looking in the mirror above the sink, and looks completely different to how we saw him on page 1: clean shaven, with short hair styled in a side-parting. He looks well-rested, like he hasn’t a care in the world.

CAPTION
It’s sometimes hard to remember what life was like before I was scared all the time…

PANEL 2

A slightly angled shot, to show the man with his back to the reader but also show his reflection in the mirror looking back at him. His back is arched as he spits mouthwash in the sink.

CAPTION
…but before this…I was happy.

CAPTION
When I looked in the mirror, I liked what I saw.

PANEL 3

Another angled shot, but this time we see the man has leaned in slightly towards the mirror. We can see his reflection’s facial expression has changed somewhat; his brow has furrowed and his eyes have narrowed.

CAPTION
I didn’t realize what was happening that first time. Something just felt…off.

PANEL 4

Another angled shot. The reflection in the mirror now looks cruel, with an unnerving leer and dead eyes staring back at the man.

CAPTION
Suddenly, I was looking at me, but…not.

CAPTION
I didn’t recognize the look in my own eyes.

CAPTION
I looked…cruel. My blood ran cold.

PANEL 5

Full-tier panel along the bottom of the page. The man has backed away from the mirror, fear etched on his face, but we can see that his reflection is still leering at him menacingly.

CAPTION
I felt an unnatural sense of oppression…a dread that gripped my bones and refused to let go.

5 PANELS

PANEL 1

The man is now walking the city streets in the daytime. His beard has begun to form and his hair is longer, denoting that some time has passed from page 2. He has his shoulders and coat collar pulled up high to his chin, and looks nervous. A few people bustle around him, paying him little attention.

CAPTION
Over the next few months, I became a wreck.

PANEL 2

The man is passing a shop window. He is looking straight ahead, purposefully avoiding looking in the window, where we can see his reflection is turned towards him, still leering with evil intent.

CAPTION
Reflective surfaces became a thing of the past.

CAPTION
The other man in the mirror was always there.

PANEL 3

The man is in his home, sitting on the sofa with his head in his hands, shoulders trembling.

CAPTION
I stopped going to work. Stopped going outside, period.

CAPTION
This penthouse became my whole world. My own home became my prison.

CAPTION
I finally spoke to my therapist. Apparently, it’s a very common dream phenomena to see someone other than yourself in the mirror.

PANEL 4

Angled shot, showing the man anxiously looking in the living room mirror. His beard and hair are now longer still, showing even more time has passed.
His reflection is giving that familiar leer, but we can also see that behind the reflection is what looks like a swirling, black liquid. His reflection’s skin colour has also changed slightly, with a faint purplish hue.

CAPTION
It could be my subconscious showing me what I desire; an image of myself I wish I had.

CAPTION
Another option was a dopamine imbalance in my brain and this was the beginning of a dissociative personality disorder. She prescribed me some medication…

PANEL 5

Back to the present day. Similar panel to page 1, panel 4, with the man looking fearfully towards the mirror across the room.

CAPTION
I knew then that she couldn’t help me.

CAPTION
I wasn’t dreaming and I didn’t have any disorder.

CAPTION
Something evil had entered my life and no pills would make it go away.

5 PANELS

PANEL 1

Close-up of the mirror, which is entirely filled with the swirling, black liquid. It should be oddly beautiful and hypnotic. There is no reflection now.

CAPTION
I knew that even if the man in the mirror seemed to leave…if he stopped tormenting me for a brief moment…

CAPTION
…it was just a trick. He was simply toying with me, waiting to return worse than ever.

PANEL 2

The man is now standing very close to the mirror, seemingly transfixed by the swirling liquid.

CAPTION
I felt it in my soul. He was still in there.

PANEL 3

Biggest, most important panel on this page.
We see a side-on shot of our man on the right of the panel with the swirling black vortex now taking up the middle section of the panel. Behind the vortex, on the left, we can see another man, or rather, an alien; bald, with purple skin and green eyes.
He is holding up a large sci-fi style ray-gun with both hands, and has fired a bullet from it, so our man on the right side of the panel is being shot in the forehead. His head is snapping back and blood is spattering.

SFX
BLAM!

PANEL 4

Close-up on the alien, who is sporting that familiar unnerving leer.

PANEL 5

The alien has his hand up to his ear, talking into an earpiece of some sort in his own language (which we will translate to English).

ALIEN (JAGGED)
Target eliminated, Emperor.
(link)
Yes, he’d been catching glimpses through the veil for some time, but he’d begun to see further…it had to be done.
(link)
Thank you, sir.
(link)
I’m calling in Zay’s team to seal up the breach now.
(link)
End transmission.

// END

These are the stories that I’m currently working on, a little bit about them and what I hope is in their future.

Course Correction Initiative

CCI is a science-fiction noir tale, set in the year 2054 in a world not too technologically advanced from ours. There’s no jetpacks or flying cars, for example; but the one important advance is that time travel exists and is used by the Course Correction Initiative, an organization that sends its agents back in time to alter the course of history and eliminate targets associated to The Proclamation, a terrorist group responsible for a number of atrocities.

The protagonist of the series is Jackson Cole, a CCI agent who begins to feel like everything is not what it seems in the organization and starts to distrust his boss, Richard Castor, who may have been lying to everyone about the CCI’s true purpose.

I’ve written two full 22-page scripts for the first two issues of CCI, and I see it as a five issue miniseries with art in the style of Goran Sudzuka (Ghosted) or someone similar.

True/Crime

This is another five issue miniseries, of which I’ve written two full scripts and am halfway through #3.

True/Crime is a crime thriller about an author named Alana Frost, who gained fame in the 1980′s for writing a bestselling true crime novel about the notorious ‘Crosslake Weeper’ serial killer who terrorised the (fictional) California region of Crosslake.

Alana has another book soon to be released, when a series of copycat murders begins to occur; murders that are modelled exactly after the Weeper’s original killings. The Crosslake PD sends two detectives, Leo Rollins and Margarita ‘Margie’ Davalos, to try and enlist Frost’s help in tracking down this new killer. After all, she’s the expert, right?

The real core of the story is that Frost, in fact, is no expert. Rather, there never was a Crosslake Weeper at all; it was an elaborate hoax concocted by Alana in order to sell newspapers when she was a journalist and later to get a book deal, in which she tied together a series of unconnected murders with fake letters written to the press.

This new killer, however, knows that Frost is a fraud and will keep killing until she comes clean about her lies and faces up to the consequences. Which, obviously, would include jail. At the very least.

I imagine art in the style of Sean Phillips (Fatale, The Fade Out) or Michael Lark (Lazarus, Daredevil) for this one.

A man can dream, right?

These are pages by the wonderful Federico De Luca (Dorian Gray and The God Project from Bluewater Productions and John Carpenter’s Tales For A HalloweeNight).

They were extra pages that Federico worked up when we were pitching our initial short story ‘Thalassophobia’ as a potential four-issue miniseries. The original story was six pages long, and will be posted here eventually, lettered by Tomas Marijanovic, but for now I’ll just post these two extra pages. Cos they’re cool. And I still have hope that Thalassophobia will find a home at a publisher as a longer story.

Oh, by the way. Thalassophobia is defined as ‘an intense and persistant fear of the sea’. Which should give you some clue as to the nature of our undersea horror tale.

This is my first posting in my very first tumblr blog. It’s very exciting, as I’m sure you’ll all agree….right? Right?!

Well, obviously not yet, as I don’t have any followers. But I will have some soon, you just mark my words, internet!

My name is Michael Gordon and I’m a 29 year old husband, father, and aspiring comic book writer. This will be my internet home away from home for me to post…stuff…related to my writing.

I may post script excerpts (or full scripts, maybe), as well as pieces of art from any projects that I manage to get off the ground. By get off the ground, I mean ‘successfully trick an artist into working with me’. Ha. I kid, I kid.

Hopefully over time this will develop into something cool, a nice interwebs calling card that I can point people towards if they’re interested in my musings. I do have a few irons in the fire, and an exciting announcement coming soon, but alas, I can’t say anything just yet.

So, if you end up looking at my blog at any point….thanks. I really appreciate it.