Teen Hostage! - script for digital Batman and Robin tale
Universe: DC Comics, any standard version.
Genre: Crime-fighting adventure.
Rating: All ages.
Characters: Robin (Dick Grayson), Batman (Bruce Wayne).
Length: 20 comics pages.
Notes: This is an exercise in writing a comics script in the format that DC's using for its digital Legends of the Dark Knight comic: 20 pages, landscape rather than portrait layout, relatively few panels per page.
Disclaimer: Robin and his sidekick are owned by DC Comics under copyright and trademark laws. This pastiche is offered freely as entertainment for fans.
Summary: Tying up the Boy Wonder is the easy part.
Teen Hostage!
PAGE ONE (one panel)
Panel 1. The setting is one of those familiar Gotham City criminal hideouts: a little-used warehouse. This one is the property of a bankrupt furniture supplier, and it’s full of metal shelving, two stories high, half-filled with unsold furniture. Dick Grayson as ROBIN, just turned sixteen, is tied to a dining-room chair, arms behind his back, ropes wrapped around his chest, more ropes binding his ankles to the chair legs. In the foreground, a third criminal named IKE is holding ROBIN’s utility belt, shouting into the belt buckle.
IKE:
You hear me, Batman? Am I coming in clear?
IKE:
If you or the cops go anywhere near Pier 19 tonight, your little pal gets it!
•
PAGE TWO (two panels)
Panel 1. Two more criminals, MAURY and KARL, are standing watch a few yards in front of ROBIN. MAURY steps forward with a pistol, but IKE brushes him off.
MAURY:
C’mon, Ike! Let’s just ventilate him.
IKE:
No-the kid’s much more useful to us alive!
Panel 2. MAURY gestures to ROBIN, who has a smirk on his face.
MAURY:
Then why’s he smiling?
•
PAGE THREE (one panel)
Panel 1. ROBIN offers a critique of the criminals’ performance. IKE studies the buckle while MAURY and KARL look on.
ROBIN:
Well, in the first place, to make my belt-radio work, you have to push down the button on the left of the buckle…
•
PAGE FOUR (two panels)
Panel 1. IKE has pushed the button on the buckle. Batrope springs out in coils at IKE’s face, and a gas bomb and percussion cap go off as well. All three criminals are, naturally, surprised.
ROBIN (off panel):
…while holding the belt right-side-up.
Panel 2. IKE sits on the floor, dazed and draped with cords. MAURY has dropped his pistol. KARL has stumbled back, shielding his eyes.
ROBIN (off panel):
And second,…
•
PAGE FIVE (one panel)
Page 5. The criminals’ view of the chair, now empty. Scraps and loose coils of rope lie around the chair’s front legs and on the floor behind it.
ROBIN (off panel):
…you think I’ve never been captured and tied up before?
•
PAGE SIX (three panels)
Panel 1. MAURY grabs his gun off the floor.
MAURY:
That does it! We finish him my way!
Panel 2. Leading with his gun, MAURY steps past the chair where ROBIN sat. KARL pulls out his pistol as well.
•
PAGE SEVEN (one panel)
Panel 1. ROBIN crouches behind a thick sofa wrapped in plastic, hands cupped around his mouth as he shouts to one side.
ROBIN:
I’ve been trained to get out of ropes!
•
PAGE EIGHT (one panel)
Panel 1. MAURY fires his pistol at the source of the sound. KARL follows his lead. Behind them, IKE has gotten to his feet and is pulling out a pistol as well.
MAURY:
Over there!
SFX:
POW! POW! POW!
•
PAGE NINE (two panels)
Panel 1. Grinning, ROBIN climbs the shelving as bullets burrow through wooden wardrobes several yards away.
CAPTION:
And I’ve been trained to throw my voice.
SFX:
KRAK! KRAK! KRAK! KRAK!
Panel 2. ROBIN reaches the top of the shelving, two stories up.
CAPTION:
And for my second act…
SFX:
Pow! Pow!
•
PAGE TEN (two panels)
Panel 1. Crouched atop the shelving, ROBIN taunts the criminals.
ROBIN:
Think about it, fellows! I was a decoy!
Panel 2. While MAURY keeps peering for the source of the shouting, IKE and KARL exchange nervous glances.
ROBIN:
And who do you think I’m a decoy for?
•
PAGE ELEVEN (two panels)
Panel 1. A batarang smacks into the back of MAURY’s head, stunning him.
KARL:
Batman!
Panel 2. KARL whirls, firing wildly at the side of the warehouse where he thinks BATMAN might be.
SFX:
POW! POW! POW! POW! klick klick
•
PAGE TWELVE (one panel)
Panel 1. Wide image of ROBIN, atop the sheving, throwing a batarang. On the floor below, KARL is reloading while still scanning the far side of the warehouse. MAURY is on his hands and knees, and IKE is confused.
ROBIN:
All right, Batman! We’ve got ’em bottled up!
CAPTION:
Of course, the point of a batarang is that you can throw it past the mooks,…
•
PAGE THIRTEEN (two panels)
Panel 1. The batarang smacks KARL in the face, causing him to drop his gun.
CAPTION:
…and it comes right back at them.
KARL:
OWW!
Panel 2. KARL, holding his bleeding nose, turns to IKE and MAURY. They’re all resigned to being arrested.
KARL:
What’s the use, guys? The Batman’s got us.
•
PAGE FOURTEEN (four panels)
Panel 1. In response to orders barked from off panel, MAURY tosses his gun away. IKE and KARL slump to the ground.
ROBIN (off panel):
Toss your guns into the corner! Drop to the ground!
Panel 2. MAURY, IKE, and KARL move to put their hands behind their heads as they lie face down on the floor.
ROBIN (off panel):
Hands behind your heads! Legs spread!
Panel 3. The three criminals lie on the floor as ordered.
Panel 4. Close up of KARL, face bleeding and bruised, cautiously peering around.
KARL (whisper balloon):
Where are they?
•
PAGE FIFTEEN (two panels)
Panel 1. ROBIN roars through Gotham City on his motorcycle.
CAPTION:
Crime-fighting doesn’t stop just because Batman’s out of town with some Justice League muckety-mucks.
Panel 2. ROBIN weaves through traffic.
CAPTION:
So I’m working my own traps.
•
PAGE SIXTEEN (three panels)
Panel 1. ROBIN screeches his motorcycle to a halt in a waterfront alley.
CAPTION:
Letting myself get captured? All part of my plan to find out where those guys’ friends were headed.
Panel 2. Close up of ROBIN’s gloved hand pulling a new utility belt out of a compartment on the back of his bike.
Panel 3. Strapping on the belt as he runs, ROBIN dashes around the corner of a building.
CAPTION:
One utility belt-not booby-trapped-and I’m ready to…
•
PAGE SEVENTEEN (one panel)
Panel 1. On Pier 19, BATMAN is kicking a man in the face while the gas pellet he’s thrown disables another. A third lies unconscious on the ground. In the background, a fourth man is running away from a semi-trailer he was loading with stolen electronics. ROBIN stares at this scene in surprise.
•
PAGE EIGHTEEN (two panels)
Panel 1. ROBIN uses a batarang on a batrope to trip up the running man.
CAPTION:
Might as well help out. With my own bust.
Panel 2. BATMAN and ROBIN pile up the criminals.
ROBIN:
Hey, Batman-how’d you know this was going down?
•
PAGE NINETEEN (four panels)
Panel 1. BATMAN strides toward the alley, taking out his grappler, with ROBIN following.
BATMAN:
I heard the location over the radio.
ROBIN:
But my belt-radio wasn’t really working.
Panel 2. In the alley, beside ROBIN’s motorcycle, BATMAN reaches under ROBIN’s collar in the back.
BATMAN:
Not the belt-radio.
Panel 3. BATMAN holds up a small radio transmitter.
BATMAN:
This tracer-radio.
ROBIN:
What?!
Panel 4. ROBIN protests angrily.
ROBIN:
You bugged my uniform!
•
PAGE TWENTY (one panel)
Panel 1. BATMAN rises to a nearby roof on his grapple line, leaving ROBIN standing chagrined below.
BATMAN:
You think you’ve never been captured and tied up before?
Genre: Crime-fighting adventure.
Rating: All ages.
Characters: Robin (Dick Grayson), Batman (Bruce Wayne).
Length: 20 comics pages.
Notes: This is an exercise in writing a comics script in the format that DC's using for its digital Legends of the Dark Knight comic: 20 pages, landscape rather than portrait layout, relatively few panels per page.
Disclaimer: Robin and his sidekick are owned by DC Comics under copyright and trademark laws. This pastiche is offered freely as entertainment for fans.
Summary: Tying up the Boy Wonder is the easy part.
Teen Hostage!
PAGE ONE (one panel)
Panel 1. The setting is one of those familiar Gotham City criminal hideouts: a little-used warehouse. This one is the property of a bankrupt furniture supplier, and it’s full of metal shelving, two stories high, half-filled with unsold furniture. Dick Grayson as ROBIN, just turned sixteen, is tied to a dining-room chair, arms behind his back, ropes wrapped around his chest, more ropes binding his ankles to the chair legs. In the foreground, a third criminal named IKE is holding ROBIN’s utility belt, shouting into the belt buckle.
IKE:
You hear me, Batman? Am I coming in clear?
IKE:
If you or the cops go anywhere near Pier 19 tonight, your little pal gets it!
•
PAGE TWO (two panels)
Panel 1. Two more criminals, MAURY and KARL, are standing watch a few yards in front of ROBIN. MAURY steps forward with a pistol, but IKE brushes him off.
MAURY:
C’mon, Ike! Let’s just ventilate him.
IKE:
No-the kid’s much more useful to us alive!
Panel 2. MAURY gestures to ROBIN, who has a smirk on his face.
MAURY:
Then why’s he smiling?
•
PAGE THREE (one panel)
Panel 1. ROBIN offers a critique of the criminals’ performance. IKE studies the buckle while MAURY and KARL look on.
ROBIN:
Well, in the first place, to make my belt-radio work, you have to push down the button on the left of the buckle…
•
PAGE FOUR (two panels)
Panel 1. IKE has pushed the button on the buckle. Batrope springs out in coils at IKE’s face, and a gas bomb and percussion cap go off as well. All three criminals are, naturally, surprised.
ROBIN (off panel):
…while holding the belt right-side-up.
Panel 2. IKE sits on the floor, dazed and draped with cords. MAURY has dropped his pistol. KARL has stumbled back, shielding his eyes.
ROBIN (off panel):
And second,…
•
PAGE FIVE (one panel)
Page 5. The criminals’ view of the chair, now empty. Scraps and loose coils of rope lie around the chair’s front legs and on the floor behind it.
ROBIN (off panel):
…you think I’ve never been captured and tied up before?
•
PAGE SIX (three panels)
Panel 1. MAURY grabs his gun off the floor.
MAURY:
That does it! We finish him my way!
Panel 2. Leading with his gun, MAURY steps past the chair where ROBIN sat. KARL pulls out his pistol as well.
•
PAGE SEVEN (one panel)
Panel 1. ROBIN crouches behind a thick sofa wrapped in plastic, hands cupped around his mouth as he shouts to one side.
ROBIN:
I’ve been trained to get out of ropes!
•
PAGE EIGHT (one panel)
Panel 1. MAURY fires his pistol at the source of the sound. KARL follows his lead. Behind them, IKE has gotten to his feet and is pulling out a pistol as well.
MAURY:
Over there!
SFX:
POW! POW! POW!
•
PAGE NINE (two panels)
Panel 1. Grinning, ROBIN climbs the shelving as bullets burrow through wooden wardrobes several yards away.
CAPTION:
And I’ve been trained to throw my voice.
SFX:
KRAK! KRAK! KRAK! KRAK!
Panel 2. ROBIN reaches the top of the shelving, two stories up.
CAPTION:
And for my second act…
SFX:
Pow! Pow!
•
PAGE TEN (two panels)
Panel 1. Crouched atop the shelving, ROBIN taunts the criminals.
ROBIN:
Think about it, fellows! I was a decoy!
Panel 2. While MAURY keeps peering for the source of the shouting, IKE and KARL exchange nervous glances.
ROBIN:
And who do you think I’m a decoy for?
•
PAGE ELEVEN (two panels)
Panel 1. A batarang smacks into the back of MAURY’s head, stunning him.
KARL:
Batman!
Panel 2. KARL whirls, firing wildly at the side of the warehouse where he thinks BATMAN might be.
SFX:
POW! POW! POW! POW! klick klick
•
PAGE TWELVE (one panel)
Panel 1. Wide image of ROBIN, atop the sheving, throwing a batarang. On the floor below, KARL is reloading while still scanning the far side of the warehouse. MAURY is on his hands and knees, and IKE is confused.
ROBIN:
All right, Batman! We’ve got ’em bottled up!
CAPTION:
Of course, the point of a batarang is that you can throw it past the mooks,…
•
PAGE THIRTEEN (two panels)
Panel 1. The batarang smacks KARL in the face, causing him to drop his gun.
CAPTION:
…and it comes right back at them.
KARL:
OWW!
Panel 2. KARL, holding his bleeding nose, turns to IKE and MAURY. They’re all resigned to being arrested.
KARL:
What’s the use, guys? The Batman’s got us.
•
PAGE FOURTEEN (four panels)
Panel 1. In response to orders barked from off panel, MAURY tosses his gun away. IKE and KARL slump to the ground.
ROBIN (off panel):
Toss your guns into the corner! Drop to the ground!
Panel 2. MAURY, IKE, and KARL move to put their hands behind their heads as they lie face down on the floor.
ROBIN (off panel):
Hands behind your heads! Legs spread!
Panel 3. The three criminals lie on the floor as ordered.
Panel 4. Close up of KARL, face bleeding and bruised, cautiously peering around.
KARL (whisper balloon):
Where are they?
•
PAGE FIFTEEN (two panels)
Panel 1. ROBIN roars through Gotham City on his motorcycle.
CAPTION:
Crime-fighting doesn’t stop just because Batman’s out of town with some Justice League muckety-mucks.
Panel 2. ROBIN weaves through traffic.
CAPTION:
So I’m working my own traps.
•
PAGE SIXTEEN (three panels)
Panel 1. ROBIN screeches his motorcycle to a halt in a waterfront alley.
CAPTION:
Letting myself get captured? All part of my plan to find out where those guys’ friends were headed.
Panel 2. Close up of ROBIN’s gloved hand pulling a new utility belt out of a compartment on the back of his bike.
Panel 3. Strapping on the belt as he runs, ROBIN dashes around the corner of a building.
CAPTION:
One utility belt-not booby-trapped-and I’m ready to…
•
PAGE SEVENTEEN (one panel)
Panel 1. On Pier 19, BATMAN is kicking a man in the face while the gas pellet he’s thrown disables another. A third lies unconscious on the ground. In the background, a fourth man is running away from a semi-trailer he was loading with stolen electronics. ROBIN stares at this scene in surprise.
•
PAGE EIGHTEEN (two panels)
Panel 1. ROBIN uses a batarang on a batrope to trip up the running man.
CAPTION:
Might as well help out. With my own bust.
Panel 2. BATMAN and ROBIN pile up the criminals.
ROBIN:
Hey, Batman-how’d you know this was going down?
•
PAGE NINETEEN (four panels)
Panel 1. BATMAN strides toward the alley, taking out his grappler, with ROBIN following.
BATMAN:
I heard the location over the radio.
ROBIN:
But my belt-radio wasn’t really working.
Panel 2. In the alley, beside ROBIN’s motorcycle, BATMAN reaches under ROBIN’s collar in the back.
BATMAN:
Not the belt-radio.
Panel 3. BATMAN holds up a small radio transmitter.
BATMAN:
This tracer-radio.
ROBIN:
What?!
Panel 4. ROBIN protests angrily.
ROBIN:
You bugged my uniform!
•
PAGE TWENTY (one panel)
Panel 1. BATMAN rises to a nearby roof on his grapple line, leaving ROBIN standing chagrined below.
BATMAN:
You think you’ve never been captured and tied up before?