Page 1 - 2: The first two pages are spread out, some panels stretching over both pages. An entire third of the end of the second page should be left open.
Panel one: A car drives along a nice rural road, a good sized town in the background, nothing wholly spectacular.
Pa Hayter (Caption): We found you, son. You arenāt ours.
Panel two: A large, orb shaped casket lies in a crater. We see it from the back, the hatch open, and in the background we see Ma and Pa Hayter on the road, next to their truck, gazing at whatever is inside the casket.
Panel three: We get to see inside the casket.. and inside is like a nice, large area for a baby to sleep⦠along with a small boy, appearing to be maybe 2 or 3, along with a large box at the casketās side.
Tom Hayter (Caption): Then⦠who am I Pa?
Panel four: The same child, Tom Hayter, our protagonist, later, now looking about 8 or 9. He sits on the floor, smiling wide, with other children sitting off to the side, giving it a grade school feeling and setting.
Panel five: Tom, now seemingly 10, runs through a field, outrunning a train in fact, his legs moving at unearthly speeds.
Panel six: Tom, in his early teens, holds upĀ a car over his head with ease, a look of awe plaster upon his face.
Panel seven: An āopen panelā going from top to bottom on page 2. Tom, in he background ,walks away in a white unknown, his backs to us. In the foreground are people, all his age, of different looks and ethnicities. Two people follow behind him, just a bit. These two are Abby Adams, a dark skinned punk girl, and Donny Stevens, a large, hippy-dressing slacker type.
Pa Hayter (caption): Thatās something youāll have to figure out yourself, son.
Page 3: A nice, simple splash page. A chapter page, in fact. One of the few in the book. The page displays all the key players in the story, with Tom in the center, Alameda and Leecher in the back, Donny and Abby to either side of Tom, and just a few details about, such as a large, complex looking machine (Alamedaās Free Energy Generator that will appear later in the book), Tomās casket, anything else that seems proper.
Chapter title: From the Top
Page 4:
Panel one: A nice shot of a pretty normal looking school, some kids are loitering about, but not too many. Thereās trees everywhere, and the back looks like farmland.
Caption: Oldheart High School.
Panel two:Ā Tom Hayter, now age 16, seems to be staring out of the window of his class, no one really paying attention to him, or the class itself really.
Panel three: Tomās attention is gotten as he looks to the front of the class.
Mr. Bismarck (off-screen): Mr. Hayter!
Panel four: A large man, Mr. Bismarck, looking friendly, stands at the front of the room in front of a āsmartboardā, basically a large, electronic blackboard. The board has a bunch of math equations on them, standard stuff.Ā
Mr. Bismarck: Pay attention.
Panel five: Tom lazily holds his head up on the desk by his arms as his friend in the desk next to him, Abby, looks at him, smirking. Tom looks to her, not amused.
Abby: Busted.
Tom: No one says that anymore, Abby.
Page 5:
Panel one:Ā A close up on Donny, looking surprised, hands directed at whoever is in front of him.
Donny: No, no, look. You got to asses the mess, man.
Panel two: Nearly the same image as last, only now he holds up a finger, as if pointing to the sky.
Donny; You gotta grab a hold of what you got in your head and pull it out and just strangle the world with it! Tame that shit!
Panel three: Close up on Tom, now very unamused, just looking up at the taller student.
Tom: I donāt think thatās how it works, Donny.
Panel four: Pull away to show them eating at a table in the school cafeteria, Donny with an empty plate, Tom with a full one.
Donny: Then how does it work?
Tom: Just not like that.
Donny: Tommy boy, one of these days youāll say something Iāll comprehend.
Page 6:
Panel one:Ā Tom lays on a grassy slope, which if you look carefully, one can recognize itās near the place where the Hayterās found Tom. He just lays there, arms and legs spread, like he was about to make a snow angel in the grass.
Panel two: Pull back to reveal someone on the road above Tom. Itās the freakishly tall Arthur Alameda in a large trench coat, hands in pockets.
Panel three: Same image as last, maybe add a car whizzing past.
Alameda: Peaceful isnāt it? Hold some kind of significance to you, Hayter?
Tom: Maybe some.
Panel four: Pull farther away, getting a perspective of the two from down the road.
Alameda: Why is that?
Tom: A thing I donāt feel like sharing, Alameda.
Alameda: You canāt hide your little, trivial secrets forever.
Panel five: A close up of Tom, looking up at the sky, smiling warmly, almost eerie.
Tom: I can certainly try.
Page 7:
Panel one: A shot of the main street of Oldheart, filled with people talking, walking, cars going by, shops, all of that.
Tom (caption): Nothing happens in Oldheart, this sleepy little town.
Panel two:Ā Tom, Abby, and Donny all sit at a park area, having what seems to be an anachronistic picnic, sitting on a blanket with a picnic basket or two and everything.Ā
Tom (caption): The most exciting thing to happen here in decades is something no one knows about. Not even my friends, Abby and Donny.
Panel three: Arthur Alameda, clad in some kind mad doctor outfit, gloves, lab coat, wielder goggles, tinkers with a large machine, messing with the circuits in a panel with an odd looking tool, sending a few sparks about. In the background, awkward, nearly bald Gary Shead walks in with a large box filled with random pieces of metal and mechanical parts.
Tom (caption): The other only interesting thing here is one Arthur Alameda, our own mad scientist, with bungling Igor-type Gary Shead in tow.
Page 8: Just a series of panels further demonstrating Tomās abilities and his isolation due to them. Pulling ahead in track and then, head hanging low, slowing down to let others pass, breaking a punching bag and getting scolded by a teacher, crushing a doorknob/handle with his hands, looking bemused, staying away from other kids in general.
Tom (caption): I donāt know what I am.
Page 9:
Panel one: Abby, only her hand in view, snaps her fingers in front of a zoning out Tom, who seems like heās waking up from a dream.
Abby (off-screen): Tom, wakey wakey.
Tom: What.
Panel two: Abby stands in front of him, carrying a bookbag, while Donny is behind them, his back to them, seemingly having stopped to look at whatās stalling them while in mid-stride.
Abby: Itās time to go home, smart guy. You know home? The place where the heart is.
Tom: Oh, right. I guess I zoned out for a second.
Panel three: The three walk along, Donny apparently in a rush, keeping ahead of them.
Donny: Dude, you were out for like fifteen minutes. I was about to hang ornaments on you.
Tom: I will not be your Thomastree, man.
Alameda (off-screen): Iām sure you would make a great inanimate object, Hayter.
Panel four: Alameda and Gary, both obviously trying to look tough, stand in the path of the others.
Abby: What is it now, Arthur? Donāt you have better things to do than wander around like a nutjob?
Alameda: I would ask that you cease you accusations, Adams. Iām just here to tell you lot that tomorrow is going to be a very nice change of pace.
Panel four: The three just walk past Alameda and Gary, but both parties turn to face each other again, at least a bit.
Tom: I donāt think Iām catching your drift, Alameda.
Alameda: Oh, itās no worries. Youāll all see tomorrow.
Gary: Lots of lights, guys. Keep yourselves ready for that shit.
Panel five: The two walk away in the background, while in the foreground the other three proceed onwards, Tom looking back, anxious looking.
Gary: Lots of lights.
Page 10:
Panel one: From a distance we see Tom sitting on top ofĀ a large farming silo, looking off towards to the town.
Pa (off-screen): Thomas!
Panel two: An old man, very kindly looking, one Pa Hayter, shouts up at Tom.
Pa: Son, get down here.
Panel three: Tom leaps down from the silo and onto the ground, almost effortlessly, ignoring the fact the fall should have killed him.
Tom: What is it, Pa?
Pa: We got some things to tell you, son.
Panel four: The two begin walking to a nice, humble looking home, the Hayter residence.
Tom: What about?
Pa: āBout your future. And your.. peculiarities.
Ā