It was a great pleasure to receive the first pages of Vol III from The List’s concept artist and penciller Henry Pop a few days ago. As much as I love any pages that come through, for some reason the first pages of a new volume seem special. Maybe because it’s a sort of milestone; a confirmation that the series has done well enough to warrant a third volume (of the four). In this unstable industry of Aussie comics where many series die out after the first or second volumes and are never heard of again, it is nice to know that the readership and critical acceptance of The List are strong enough to charge past the halfway mark with things only getting stronger as they do so.

With regards to this penultimate volume, we will be handling things a little differently: at Henry’s request this website will act as a kind of ‘Developer’s Diary’ where we will show the process of this volume’s creation from script to finished product (while being careful not to give anything away as we do so). To kick things off we have uploaded the script and pencils of pages 1 and 2 of Volume III, and when our inker, Tom Bonin, works his magic on said pages, these will also be displayed.

Any comments you may have are more than welcome, as in the end we are doing this to show you, our readers, what goes into bringing this crazy tale from our minds…into yours:

First up, of course, is the script:

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THE LIST

Vol. III

An Honouring of

Commandment IV

 

 

 

 

 

 

Author: Paul Bedford

Pencils: Henry Pop

Inks: Tom Bonin

 

 

© Copyright Paul Bedford 2009. All Rights Reserved.

‘The List’ is registered with the Australian Writers’ Guild.

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The List. Volume III. Paul Bedford.

PAGE ONE (five panels)

Panel 1. Night. The rain has stopped. The blood splattered Son (especially his face) is making his way along the street which leads away from the park (the entrance of which can be seen in the b.g). He looks absolutely haggard – his head hangs low as he walks and his arms dangle loosely at his sides.

Panel 2. Close: his feet catch on each other-

Panel 3. -he lurches sideways, on course for a nature-strip rooted tree-

Panel 4. –and collides with it (his side strikes the trunk).

SON 

OOF!

Panel 5. His legs crumple as he begins to slide down the trunk.

SON (whisper)

OHH…

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The List. Volume III. Paul Bedford.

PAGE TWO   (three panels)

Panel 1. Collapsed at the base of the tree with his head drooping forward and his eyes half closed, the Son mumbles to himself.

SON (whisper)

I KNOW YOU EACH WATCH ME - AND THUS, HAVE SEEN ME FALTER…PERHAPS YOU EXPECTED ME TO DO JUST THAT…

SON (whisper)

…FOR NO GREAT THING IS EVER BORNE WITH EASE.

Panel 2. Close on: The expressionless Son.

SON (whisper)

OUR FAMILY WAS CHOSEN FOR THIS TASK FOR WE WERE DEEMED WORTHY, AND I AM SOON TO PROVE THAT WE WERE RIGHTLY CHOSEN.

Panel 3. Side View: The saddened Son has lifted his head to look to the Heavens.

SON (whisper)

MOTHER, FATHER. YOU NEED NOT LOOK AWAY IN SHAME, FOR

I WILL NOT FAIL US.

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Next step, Henry’s rendering of my words into pics…

Page One

Page Two

Tom’s Inks will be up soon to complete the process. I suppose sending him the pencil’s might help that happen…

Thank you for your continued readership and support.

The List Team: Paul, Henry and Tom.