All Through Supper His Spirits Were So High - Kid Flash 8-page comic #10 of 16 in series 2
Characters: Bart Allen (Kid Flash), Jay Garrick (Flash), Max Mercury, Preston Lindsay, and supporting cast.
Rating: G.
Content: Humor.
Page Count: Eight pages of comics script.
Summary: Bart has invited his old Manchester pal Preston over for supper at the Garricks’ house, along with Max and Darrin Chambers, a recently released juvenile offender who needs protection from his old gang. Bart’s mind is really on his “Kid Flash Investigates!” movie. Meanwhile, in the Keystone City underworld some dangerous figures are moving against Kid Flash.
Continuity: Starting from the DC Comics standard, this series of eight-page backup stories about Bart Allen started here. This is part of the second story of that series, starting here. Bart is living in Keystone City with Jay and Joan Garrick; Barry Allen and Max Mercury are back.
Disclaimer: Kid Flash and his family and friends are owned by DC Comics under copyright and trademark laws. This pastiche is offered freely as entertainment for fans.
PAGE ONE (five panels)
Panel 1. Title and credits space.
TITLE:
All Through Supper His Spirits Were So High
CREDITS
Panel 2. MAX MERCURY, carrying a bottle of wine, greets JAY GARRICK in the front hall of the GARRICKS’ house. BART ALLEN, very excited, brushes past MAX to the door. Everyone is in everyday clothes.
MAX:
…stopped by a vineyard in Australia I heard about.
BART:
Ooh, he’s here!
MAX:
It’s good to see you too, Bart.
Panel 3. Outside the door, PRESTON LINDSAY has parked his car on the street outside and is coming up the GARRICKS’ front walk toward readers. He looks almost as excited as BART.
BART (off panel, connected to his balloon in previous panel):
Yeah yeah, hi, Max! But I’m talking about Preston!
Panel 4. Still excited, BART is about to open the front door for PRESTON, making one last check on the adults to make sure they’re not doing anything that would embarrass him.
BART:
I haven’t seen Preston in years!
Panel 5. BART has opened the door, and PRESTON comes in. Immediately they’re both hiding their emotion about seeing each other in favor of adolescent male apathy. They greet each other with a casual fist bump.
BART:
Hey.
PRESTON:
Hey, Allen.
•
PAGE TWO (five panels)
Panel 1. BART introduces PRESTON to JAY, who shakes hands with the college student.
BART:
Preston, this is Jay Garrick. I’ve lived with him ever since I left Manchester…most of the time.
BART:
And you remember--
Panel 2. PRESTON is shocked by the sight of MAX.
PRESTON:
Mr. Crandall?! I thought you were…
MAX:
Brunette?
Panel 3. MAX’s explanation doesn’t relieve PRESTON’s puzzlement.
PRESTON:
What?
MAX:
Sorry--family joke. I had to go away for a while, but I’m feeling better now.
Panel 4. PRESTON is still confused as BART barrels on, introducing JOAN GARRICK, who enters from the kitchen carrying a steaming casserole pot full of beef stew.
PRESTON (to MAX):
Oh. Good.
BART:
And this is Joan, Jay’s wife. She’s a great cook! You’re gonna love supper.
Panel 5. JOAN places her pot on the supper table. DARRIN CHAMBERS has followed her from the kitchen with a steaming pot of his own. CHAMBERS is dressed in some of JAY’s clothes, which fit well enough but clearly don’t reflect CHAMBERS’s own style, and he’s a bit abashed about it. His facial injuries are healing but still noticeable. People are all preparing to take their seats at the supper table. JOAN will be at one end with PRESTON at her right hand and CHAMBERS at her left. JAY is at the other end with MAX at his right hand (beside CHAMBERS) and BART at his left.
JOAN:
Well, thank you, Bart. But I had some help tonight. Darrin’s made some delicious sweet potatoes with dill.
JOAN:
And this afternoon Jay squeezed enough lemons to make fresh lemonade for all you boys.
•
PAGE THREE (six panels)
Panel 1. In JIMMY (Sausage Man) KARLSON’s storefront office, after working hours, he has a serious meeting with the ASPIRING HENCHMAN from the episode titled “The Public Eye Was on Him.” The ASPIRING HENCHMAN’s name is ROSS NEGOSHIAN.
UNCLE JIMMY:
This afternoon I told G.G. that you had a lead on Darrin Chambers!
NEGOSHIAN:
I did, Sausage Man! I went through orientation at Keystone Motors with the kid.
Panel 2. NEGOSHIAN explains apologetically.
NEGOSHIAN:
But after I called you, I chased down the head of Food Services, and she said Chambers hasn’t come in for two weeks.
NEGOSHIAN:
Wish I’d heard that before I quit the line.
Panel 3. NEGOSHIAN wheedles as UNCLE JIMMY paces around his desk.
NEGOSHIAN:
Can I still have part of that reward?
UNCLE JIMMY:
No! G.G. isn’t going to pay part of his price for a dead end!
UNCLE JIMMY:
We’ll be lucky if he has his dogs eat only part of us.
Panel 4. NEGOSHIAN starts to look nervous as UNCLE JIMMY leads him through a back door in the office down to the basement.
NEGOSHIAN:
“Us”?
UNCLE JIMMY:
The best way we can get G.G. off our backs now is by taking out Kid Flash.
Panel 5. NEGOSHIAN protests with alarm, but UNCLE JIMMY continues to push him down to a basement room.
NEGOSHIAN:
But he’s a Flash! He can…sneak up on people!
UNCLE JIMMY:
Another client left me the tech to slow him down. That’s where you fit in.
NEGOSHIAN:
Me? “Fit in” how?
Panel 6. UNCLE JIMMY flips on a light to reveal a bulky silver jumpsuit with various vacuum tubes and hoses strapped on the different limbs--an old-fashioned, first-generation outfit for a minor supervillain.
UNCLE JIMMY:
Your file says you’re a 52 regular.
•
PAGE FOUR (six panels)
Panel 1. Back at the supper party, MAX asks PRESTON what he’s up to.
MAX:
Preston, did I hear that you’re going to Saunders College?
PRESTON:
Yes, sir. I’m fixing to major in Film Studies.
Panel 2. BART steers the conversation, winking toward JAY and MAX.
BART:
Preston called me about playing music for some independent film. Why don’t you tell everyone about this independent film, Preston, because I know absolutely nothing about it?
Panel 3. PRESTON explains. BART reacts with feigned surprise.
.
PRESTON:
My editing professor told us to find somebody else’s short film to cut. He said we have to learn how to “use our skills to serve someone else’s artistic vision.”
PRESTON:
So I remembered this trailer I saw on YourVids about one of the heroes here in Keystone: Kid Flash.
BART:
Kid Flash? Wow!
Panel 4. Close up of PRESTON remembering old times.
PRESTON:
You remember, Bart, how back in Manchester that guy Impulse was always running around and showing up places and being a little annoying?
Panel 5. BART replies through gritted teeth while JAY suppresses a chuckle. PRESTON doesn’t notice BART’s reaction.
BART (icicle balloon):
No, I do not remember it that way at all.
PRESTON:
Well, this Kid Flash guy reminds me of Impulse.
Panel 6. CHAMBERS speaks up, the first time he’s contributed to this conversation.
CHAMBERS:
Kid Flash’s been helping me out. Last night he stopped some guys from beating on me, and then he rescued my family. I don’t know what he’s working on, but he’s fine by me.
•
PAGE FIVE (five panels)
Panel 1. BART grabs the opportunity he’s been looking for since he decided to bring CHAMBERS home from the police station. MAX eyes BART, having tumbled to what he’s up to.
BART:
Ooh, Preston! You should interview Darrin for the movie!
Panel 2. As BART responds indignantly to MAX’s look, PRESTON tries to make a connection with CHAMBERS.
BART:
What?
PRESTON:
The director’s this guy Peter, who’s studying videography at another college. But I can tell him about you, Darrin. I’d like to have your number.
CHAMBERS:
I’m, um, trying to keep a low profile.
Panel 3. CHAMBERS and PRESTON find a connection.
CHAMBERS:
But we might bump into each other at Saunders. I started working there today. At the main dining hall.
PRESTON:
Really? I’ll have to eat on campus more often.
Panel 4. PRESTON goes back to talking about the movie.
PRESTON:
I get the feeling this movie won’t be ready for the Flash Museum anytime soon. This guy Peter doesn’t have a lot of footage, and most of it is just Kid Flash talking to the camera.
Panel 5. JAY offers help and PRESTON responds while BART continues to fume silently.
JAY:
I know some folks at the museum. It might have more video that you fellows could use.
PRESTON:
Thank you, sir. I’ll pass that on. I guess there have been a couple of Kid Flashes before this one.
PRESTON:
Maybe the others were more interesting.
•
PAGE SIX (five panels)
Panel 1. NEGOSHIAN is now wearing the silver jumpsuit with the vacuum tubes and hoses, and it does indeed fit him. By pointing his arms in the same direction, he can belch out of the tubes a bubble of anti-graviton particles that briefly disrupt the gravity within that roughly spherical field. We know this because he’s just puffed out such a bubble at a pile of (stolen) DVDs in PETER KARLSON’s apartment, and they’re floating in the air. Meanwhile, UNCLE JIMMY is confronting PETER, who’s wary.
SFX:
fooom
NEGOSHIAN:
Huh. Interesting.
UNCLE JIMMY:
Peter, I’m not just asking you for a favor. I’m telling you. This is a matter of life or death--mostly, but not entirely, mine.
PETER:
So what do you want, Uncle Jimmy?
Panel 2. The DVDs crash back down, the gravity-disrupting bubble having dissipated. NEGOSHIAN looks at them while UNCLE JIMMY continues to lean on his nephew.
SFX:
Krssh!
NEGOSHIAN:
Lasts about twenty seconds.
UNCLE JIMMY:
You brought that Kid Flash kid to my office, right? You can still link up with him, right?
Panel 3. PETER lies, not meeting his uncle’s eyes. NEGOSHIAN has noticed the writing on a DVD that PETER has recorded.
PETER:
Um, I’m not sure.
NEGOSHIAN:
This disk says “Kid Flash Movie”.
Panel 4. PETER snatches the DVD away from NEGOSHIAN.
PETER:
That’s a college project, okay?
UNCLE JIMMY:
Yeah--how’s school going? How’re your marks?
PETER:
Aw, you know classwork isn’t my thing, Uncle Jimmy.
Panel 5. UNCLE PETER lays an avuncular hard sell on PETER as NEGOSHIAN stands nearby, cracking his knuckles.
UNCLE JIMMY:
I know, I know. So you help me with this, Peter, I’ll help you. I’ll give you the money to make your own movie--not this Kid Flash, schoolboy stuff. Any film you want. As long as you can make it for under $45--er, $40,000.
•
PAGE SEVEN (five panels)
Panel 1. PETER, looking worried, says goodbye to UNCLE JIMMY and NEGOSHIAN at the door of his basement apartment. It’s night outside.
UNCLE JIMMY:
Remember--we’re still family.
PETER:
How can I forget?
Panel 2. PRESTON takes leave of BART at the end of the supper party with a hearty handshake and a wave for CHAMBERS. It’s nighttime there, too.
PRESTON:
Good night, Bart! It was really great to see you again!
PRESTON:
And I’ll see you both again soon, right?
Panel 3. Across the middle of the page. PETER is sitting up late in his apartment, trying to figure out what to do.
Panel 4. Lunchtime the next day. PRESTON has spotted CHAMBERS working in the student cafeteria line and grabs the opportunity to say hello. The student in line behind him peers at the counter, mystified.
PRESTON:
Hey, Darren! Those were really good sweet potatoes!
CHAMBERS:
Hey, man--Preston. Thanks.
MYSTIFIED STUDENT:
Sweet potatoes?
Panel 5. PETER is on his cell phone leaving a message, looking troubled but going through with his uncle’s plan.
PETER:
Hey, dude, it’s your director. Can you meet me at 4:00 in the northwest corner of Broome Park beside those big rocks--you know, down near the old reservoir? I, um, got an idea for some, uh, good action shots.
•
PAGE EIGHT (one panel)
Panel 1. BART is standing in a corner of Broome Park where there are big boulders scattered about. He’s wearing his Kid Flash outfit and an impatient, though clueless, expression. NEGOSHIAN in his silver jumpsuit with the tubes is sneaking up behind him, ready to fire the anti-graviton particles. In the foreground, PETER is crouched behind a boulder, filming with his camera. His face is anxious but resigned.
PETER (whisper balloon):
And…action.
Continued here.
Rating: G.
Content: Humor.
Page Count: Eight pages of comics script.
Summary: Bart has invited his old Manchester pal Preston over for supper at the Garricks’ house, along with Max and Darrin Chambers, a recently released juvenile offender who needs protection from his old gang. Bart’s mind is really on his “Kid Flash Investigates!” movie. Meanwhile, in the Keystone City underworld some dangerous figures are moving against Kid Flash.
Continuity: Starting from the DC Comics standard, this series of eight-page backup stories about Bart Allen started here. This is part of the second story of that series, starting here. Bart is living in Keystone City with Jay and Joan Garrick; Barry Allen and Max Mercury are back.
Disclaimer: Kid Flash and his family and friends are owned by DC Comics under copyright and trademark laws. This pastiche is offered freely as entertainment for fans.
PAGE ONE (five panels)
Panel 1. Title and credits space.
TITLE:
All Through Supper His Spirits Were So High
CREDITS
Panel 2. MAX MERCURY, carrying a bottle of wine, greets JAY GARRICK in the front hall of the GARRICKS’ house. BART ALLEN, very excited, brushes past MAX to the door. Everyone is in everyday clothes.
MAX:
…stopped by a vineyard in Australia I heard about.
BART:
Ooh, he’s here!
MAX:
It’s good to see you too, Bart.
Panel 3. Outside the door, PRESTON LINDSAY has parked his car on the street outside and is coming up the GARRICKS’ front walk toward readers. He looks almost as excited as BART.
BART (off panel, connected to his balloon in previous panel):
Yeah yeah, hi, Max! But I’m talking about Preston!
Panel 4. Still excited, BART is about to open the front door for PRESTON, making one last check on the adults to make sure they’re not doing anything that would embarrass him.
BART:
I haven’t seen Preston in years!
Panel 5. BART has opened the door, and PRESTON comes in. Immediately they’re both hiding their emotion about seeing each other in favor of adolescent male apathy. They greet each other with a casual fist bump.
BART:
Hey.
PRESTON:
Hey, Allen.
•
PAGE TWO (five panels)
Panel 1. BART introduces PRESTON to JAY, who shakes hands with the college student.
BART:
Preston, this is Jay Garrick. I’ve lived with him ever since I left Manchester…most of the time.
BART:
And you remember--
Panel 2. PRESTON is shocked by the sight of MAX.
PRESTON:
Mr. Crandall?! I thought you were…
MAX:
Brunette?
Panel 3. MAX’s explanation doesn’t relieve PRESTON’s puzzlement.
PRESTON:
What?
MAX:
Sorry--family joke. I had to go away for a while, but I’m feeling better now.
Panel 4. PRESTON is still confused as BART barrels on, introducing JOAN GARRICK, who enters from the kitchen carrying a steaming casserole pot full of beef stew.
PRESTON (to MAX):
Oh. Good.
BART:
And this is Joan, Jay’s wife. She’s a great cook! You’re gonna love supper.
Panel 5. JOAN places her pot on the supper table. DARRIN CHAMBERS has followed her from the kitchen with a steaming pot of his own. CHAMBERS is dressed in some of JAY’s clothes, which fit well enough but clearly don’t reflect CHAMBERS’s own style, and he’s a bit abashed about it. His facial injuries are healing but still noticeable. People are all preparing to take their seats at the supper table. JOAN will be at one end with PRESTON at her right hand and CHAMBERS at her left. JAY is at the other end with MAX at his right hand (beside CHAMBERS) and BART at his left.
JOAN:
Well, thank you, Bart. But I had some help tonight. Darrin’s made some delicious sweet potatoes with dill.
JOAN:
And this afternoon Jay squeezed enough lemons to make fresh lemonade for all you boys.
•
PAGE THREE (six panels)
Panel 1. In JIMMY (Sausage Man) KARLSON’s storefront office, after working hours, he has a serious meeting with the ASPIRING HENCHMAN from the episode titled “The Public Eye Was on Him.” The ASPIRING HENCHMAN’s name is ROSS NEGOSHIAN.
UNCLE JIMMY:
This afternoon I told G.G. that you had a lead on Darrin Chambers!
NEGOSHIAN:
I did, Sausage Man! I went through orientation at Keystone Motors with the kid.
Panel 2. NEGOSHIAN explains apologetically.
NEGOSHIAN:
But after I called you, I chased down the head of Food Services, and she said Chambers hasn’t come in for two weeks.
NEGOSHIAN:
Wish I’d heard that before I quit the line.
Panel 3. NEGOSHIAN wheedles as UNCLE JIMMY paces around his desk.
NEGOSHIAN:
Can I still have part of that reward?
UNCLE JIMMY:
No! G.G. isn’t going to pay part of his price for a dead end!
UNCLE JIMMY:
We’ll be lucky if he has his dogs eat only part of us.
Panel 4. NEGOSHIAN starts to look nervous as UNCLE JIMMY leads him through a back door in the office down to the basement.
NEGOSHIAN:
“Us”?
UNCLE JIMMY:
The best way we can get G.G. off our backs now is by taking out Kid Flash.
Panel 5. NEGOSHIAN protests with alarm, but UNCLE JIMMY continues to push him down to a basement room.
NEGOSHIAN:
But he’s a Flash! He can…sneak up on people!
UNCLE JIMMY:
Another client left me the tech to slow him down. That’s where you fit in.
NEGOSHIAN:
Me? “Fit in” how?
Panel 6. UNCLE JIMMY flips on a light to reveal a bulky silver jumpsuit with various vacuum tubes and hoses strapped on the different limbs--an old-fashioned, first-generation outfit for a minor supervillain.
UNCLE JIMMY:
Your file says you’re a 52 regular.
•
PAGE FOUR (six panels)
Panel 1. Back at the supper party, MAX asks PRESTON what he’s up to.
MAX:
Preston, did I hear that you’re going to Saunders College?
PRESTON:
Yes, sir. I’m fixing to major in Film Studies.
Panel 2. BART steers the conversation, winking toward JAY and MAX.
BART:
Preston called me about playing music for some independent film. Why don’t you tell everyone about this independent film, Preston, because I know absolutely nothing about it?
Panel 3. PRESTON explains. BART reacts with feigned surprise.
.
PRESTON:
My editing professor told us to find somebody else’s short film to cut. He said we have to learn how to “use our skills to serve someone else’s artistic vision.”
PRESTON:
So I remembered this trailer I saw on YourVids about one of the heroes here in Keystone: Kid Flash.
BART:
Kid Flash? Wow!
Panel 4. Close up of PRESTON remembering old times.
PRESTON:
You remember, Bart, how back in Manchester that guy Impulse was always running around and showing up places and being a little annoying?
Panel 5. BART replies through gritted teeth while JAY suppresses a chuckle. PRESTON doesn’t notice BART’s reaction.
BART (icicle balloon):
No, I do not remember it that way at all.
PRESTON:
Well, this Kid Flash guy reminds me of Impulse.
Panel 6. CHAMBERS speaks up, the first time he’s contributed to this conversation.
CHAMBERS:
Kid Flash’s been helping me out. Last night he stopped some guys from beating on me, and then he rescued my family. I don’t know what he’s working on, but he’s fine by me.
•
PAGE FIVE (five panels)
Panel 1. BART grabs the opportunity he’s been looking for since he decided to bring CHAMBERS home from the police station. MAX eyes BART, having tumbled to what he’s up to.
BART:
Ooh, Preston! You should interview Darrin for the movie!
Panel 2. As BART responds indignantly to MAX’s look, PRESTON tries to make a connection with CHAMBERS.
BART:
What?
PRESTON:
The director’s this guy Peter, who’s studying videography at another college. But I can tell him about you, Darrin. I’d like to have your number.
CHAMBERS:
I’m, um, trying to keep a low profile.
Panel 3. CHAMBERS and PRESTON find a connection.
CHAMBERS:
But we might bump into each other at Saunders. I started working there today. At the main dining hall.
PRESTON:
Really? I’ll have to eat on campus more often.
Panel 4. PRESTON goes back to talking about the movie.
PRESTON:
I get the feeling this movie won’t be ready for the Flash Museum anytime soon. This guy Peter doesn’t have a lot of footage, and most of it is just Kid Flash talking to the camera.
Panel 5. JAY offers help and PRESTON responds while BART continues to fume silently.
JAY:
I know some folks at the museum. It might have more video that you fellows could use.
PRESTON:
Thank you, sir. I’ll pass that on. I guess there have been a couple of Kid Flashes before this one.
PRESTON:
Maybe the others were more interesting.
•
PAGE SIX (five panels)
Panel 1. NEGOSHIAN is now wearing the silver jumpsuit with the vacuum tubes and hoses, and it does indeed fit him. By pointing his arms in the same direction, he can belch out of the tubes a bubble of anti-graviton particles that briefly disrupt the gravity within that roughly spherical field. We know this because he’s just puffed out such a bubble at a pile of (stolen) DVDs in PETER KARLSON’s apartment, and they’re floating in the air. Meanwhile, UNCLE JIMMY is confronting PETER, who’s wary.
SFX:
fooom
NEGOSHIAN:
Huh. Interesting.
UNCLE JIMMY:
Peter, I’m not just asking you for a favor. I’m telling you. This is a matter of life or death--mostly, but not entirely, mine.
PETER:
So what do you want, Uncle Jimmy?
Panel 2. The DVDs crash back down, the gravity-disrupting bubble having dissipated. NEGOSHIAN looks at them while UNCLE JIMMY continues to lean on his nephew.
SFX:
Krssh!
NEGOSHIAN:
Lasts about twenty seconds.
UNCLE JIMMY:
You brought that Kid Flash kid to my office, right? You can still link up with him, right?
Panel 3. PETER lies, not meeting his uncle’s eyes. NEGOSHIAN has noticed the writing on a DVD that PETER has recorded.
PETER:
Um, I’m not sure.
NEGOSHIAN:
This disk says “Kid Flash Movie”.
Panel 4. PETER snatches the DVD away from NEGOSHIAN.
PETER:
That’s a college project, okay?
UNCLE JIMMY:
Yeah--how’s school going? How’re your marks?
PETER:
Aw, you know classwork isn’t my thing, Uncle Jimmy.
Panel 5. UNCLE PETER lays an avuncular hard sell on PETER as NEGOSHIAN stands nearby, cracking his knuckles.
UNCLE JIMMY:
I know, I know. So you help me with this, Peter, I’ll help you. I’ll give you the money to make your own movie--not this Kid Flash, schoolboy stuff. Any film you want. As long as you can make it for under $45--er, $40,000.
•
PAGE SEVEN (five panels)
Panel 1. PETER, looking worried, says goodbye to UNCLE JIMMY and NEGOSHIAN at the door of his basement apartment. It’s night outside.
UNCLE JIMMY:
Remember--we’re still family.
PETER:
How can I forget?
Panel 2. PRESTON takes leave of BART at the end of the supper party with a hearty handshake and a wave for CHAMBERS. It’s nighttime there, too.
PRESTON:
Good night, Bart! It was really great to see you again!
PRESTON:
And I’ll see you both again soon, right?
Panel 3. Across the middle of the page. PETER is sitting up late in his apartment, trying to figure out what to do.
Panel 4. Lunchtime the next day. PRESTON has spotted CHAMBERS working in the student cafeteria line and grabs the opportunity to say hello. The student in line behind him peers at the counter, mystified.
PRESTON:
Hey, Darren! Those were really good sweet potatoes!
CHAMBERS:
Hey, man--Preston. Thanks.
MYSTIFIED STUDENT:
Sweet potatoes?
Panel 5. PETER is on his cell phone leaving a message, looking troubled but going through with his uncle’s plan.
PETER:
Hey, dude, it’s your director. Can you meet me at 4:00 in the northwest corner of Broome Park beside those big rocks--you know, down near the old reservoir? I, um, got an idea for some, uh, good action shots.
•
PAGE EIGHT (one panel)
Panel 1. BART is standing in a corner of Broome Park where there are big boulders scattered about. He’s wearing his Kid Flash outfit and an impatient, though clueless, expression. NEGOSHIAN in his silver jumpsuit with the tubes is sneaking up behind him, ready to fire the anti-graviton particles. In the foreground, PETER is crouched behind a boulder, filming with his camera. His face is anxious but resigned.
PETER (whisper balloon):
And…action.
Continued here.