2000AD Future Shocks Competition

[Luiglin]

Hi all, I'm thinking of entering another 2000AD writing competition and this time it's a touch different.

The competition involves pitching a script for a Future Shocks script. These are an established comic strip feature in 2000AD and are one off stories, often more sci-fi or dystopian rather than fantasy and told over four pages.

The fun part to the comp is that your entry has to be in the form of a 2min self recorded video pitch. Not something I've done before and, as anyone from the UK will attest, a Black Country accent could sink it quicker than a cannon ball in a bubble bath.

My own dulcet tone aside, I've gone back through some of my 75s and picked out four that I could expand on. Unfortunately, I cannot decide which to choose.

Any help would be appreciated. Cheers, Stuart aka Luiglin

White room
They scratch and push at my wall, seeking a weakness, a route in.

I'm not sure how long I can keep them out.

I'm not even sure who or what they are.

Cowering, I hug my knees tight and pray to a God that I don't believe in.

Their whispers are seductive, words unintelligible but tone and nuance obvious… let us in.

-

...test subject 936: partial success... high psy rating... resists contact... mind locked out

Virtuosity at Paganini’s
The beat dropped and the crowd erupted. Bodies writhed, arms pumped and hands twisted to each heavenly hook.

Slaves to the pulse of the bassline.

In the pulpit, the DJ worked his decks, adding loops, fading the pitch, juggling the tracks to birth something new, something wicked.

A shadowy idol, the DJ deepened the bassline step by step and the crowd responded, sweat soaked bodies cavorting to a hellish beat.

The DJ grinned, fiddle forgotten.

Hooked
He was never alone.

Lines of red messages scrolled up his optic feed, to give the alley a bloody tinge. Looped warning messages bombarded his cochlear construct. He could taste the dirt, smell the trace heavy chemicals; olfactory and taste receptor nanobots overloaded.

So much noise.

He wasn’t addicted, just needed a few minutes, an hour at the most.

Faraday's Cage, the neon sign above the door read. He stepped through and into blissful silence.

Hooters
The bar emptied but he waited, the wall supporting his inebriated infused confidence.

Then she appeared, they’d been sharing looks all night.

“Hey, gorgeous,” he drawled.

She walked past and he staggered after. His addled mind hunted for a good opening line… and failed.

“Why do they call you Hoots?”

With deliberate unhurried pace, her head twisted around to face him.

“It’s because I can do this. Fancy a bite to eat, little mouse?”

 

[The Judge]

Hmm. Of the stories, I prefer Hooked and if you were planning a short story that's the one I'd go for, but it's not as image-laden as the others, so might not make as good a graphic story. Virtuosity has good images, but as written the story isn't as strong, so that would need beefing up plot-wise.

For me the one that currently has the best mix of story line and graphics is Hooters. so I'd suggest going with that one.

Good luck with it!

 

[-K2-]

Hmmm...I agree with @The Judge with Hooked, but I'd argue that graphics wise it's fine, maybe even better. At first blush it doesn't have the graphic intensity of the others, but...

*Bob walking down a dark street, with what looks like a heads-up display projected in every direction he looks (imagine LED/Hologram signage).
*Bob's display shifts with a turn of his head, and the street is packed with it, except for one distant spot.
*Bob's thought balloons are flooded with audible ads, his noting about taste, touch and smell.
*Bob looks to his hand which is bare, half-frame he see's it filled with something tactile.
*Bob's face and posture is extremely stressed.
*Bob walks into the black spot he saw, and there are no projected images (in his mind), object in his hand de-rezzes, his thoughts fade, break up, goes blank.

How I envisioned that...IDK.

First I just see a guy in a padded room. Second just orgiastic dancing, the dj, dj changing tracks with a smirk, folks looking like they're about to unhinge. The last, all I see is a 'Hooters Gal' being chased after until the last frame with her 180-degree head turn.

K2

 

[Daysman]

I'd watch a movie set in Faraday's Cage... sooooo many possibilities... might depend on the house DJ of course, and the bar staff, and the things that go on in the back rooms...

 

[The Judge]

That's interesting -- I wouldn't have got anything like K2's images for Hooked! Whereas for Hooters I can see him outside the bar looking at the name** in lights, then him inside being disappointed the waitresses/barmaids aren't topless, getting sozzled with multiple frames of her turning her head to watch him and him running over corny opening lines in his head, plus him with erotic day-dreams of what he thinks they'll be doing later, then him leaving and waiting leaning on a wall, her coming out, the penultimate frame she's turned her head right round, then the final frame is a mouse running along the base of the same wall and the shadow of an owl and just the grasping claws emerging into the frame from the right.

** one problem, though, is that Hooters as a name is trade-marked, so making the story less desirable for the competition organisers, as they might worry that the companies will get nasty.

 

[Luiglin]

** one problem, though, is that Hooters as a name is trade-marked, so making the story less desirable for the competition organisers, as they might worry that the companies will get nasty.

2000AD have a history of referencing companies without referencing directly, if you know what I mean. I don't think I'd mention it directly.

Cheers for the well thought out replies folks. I must admit to seesawing between Hooters and Hooked. The former has a good visual twist which Future Shocks often have but the latter has the edge for the sci-fi. I'll look at extending both and script them out over the required panels and see what works

 

[DLCroix]

Hi! Hooters looks better to me. I don't know, the dialogue throws me more; it's cool, it's got hook. Well, it's just a personal impression, although the situation is much clearer and even optimistic: something good is going to happen. Come on, little mouse!