PAGE ONE:

A MONTAGE OF “PRE-SUICIDE SHOTS.” FEEL FREE TO IMPROVISE A BIT IF THE SPIRIT MOVES YOU.

PANEL ONE:

Exterior of a house, night. It's a frat house on the campus of McCord University, Montreal, Canada. There are Greek letters on the side of the house – showing that it's a fraternity – and we're focused on the attic window, were we will soon “zoom in.” There's a note that overlies this panel.

NOTE: ...I know this will disappoint a lot of people, especially Dad.

PANEL TWO:

We're inside the attic now. A twenty-year old boy, CHAD CLUSKY, is adjusting a noose on one of the roof beam. Chad is pretty standard for a frat kid... he's a little chunky and footballish, wearing a sports sweatshirt with a hood and a big M on the chest. The only source of light in the room is a lamp on a desk with a digital clock (see panel three). The note continues, overlaid.

NOTE: ...I just can't keep going like this. Sorry. (signed) CHAD.

PANEL THREE:

There's an open bottle of pills on a desk. A clock behind them: 12:45 A.M.

PANEL FOUR:

Close-up of Chad's foot, sneaker-clad, as he tips the chair over.

PANEL FIVE:

Close-up of hands clawing at a noosed throat.

PANEL SIX:

Chad hanging, dead, lit by the desk lamp.

PAGE TWO:

PANEL ONE:

Chad hanging, dead (as Panel Six, Page One), now lit by light streaming in the window. Voices come from off-panel, probably in a caption.

SF/X: KNOCK KNOCK

TODD: ...my dad says they're organizing posses to hunt all the fuckin' things down.

JOEY: No shit? YO CHAD, WAKE UP, MAN!

PANEL TWO:

A trapdoor in the floor starts to open. We see the tops of the heads of TODD and JOEY, on their way in through Chad's trap door into his attic room.

TODD: There's more of them in Nevada, I guess, but Franko said...

JOEY: CHAD, YOU COME OUT OR WE'RE COMIN' IN, MAN!

PANEL THREE:

Todd and Joey with the trapdoor open, faces shocked.

TODD: Oh.

JOEY: Chad?

PANEL FOUR:

Todd and Joey tentatively approaching the hanging body.

TODD: I think he's...fuck, man, his tongue's sticking out...

JOEY: Oh, shit. What the...why'd he...

PANEL FIVE:

Close on Chad, hanging, eyes closed, tongue fat between his lips.

TODD: (off) I'm gonna fuckin' puke, man, I'm gonna...

PANEL SIX:

Chad's eyes open.

TODD AND JOEY (off) AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!

PAGE THREE: BIG ACTION SCENE. HAVE SOME FUN!

PANEL ONE:

Chad jerks on the end of his noose, clawing at the rope. He can't get back on the chair, it's tipped over; he can't pull himself up, the angle's all wrong. Todd and Joey are screaming, from off-panel.

CHAD: HLLLLK! HLLLK! HLLLLK!

TODD: AAAAAAAHHHHHH!

JOEY: FUCKIN' RUN, MAN!

PANEL TWO:

Chad keeps clawing away, obviously to no avail.

CHAD: HLLK!

PANEL THREE:

Chad sags in defeat, stuck at the end of his rope.

CHAD: Shit.

PANEL FOUR:

Todd and Joey return, Todd brandishing a gun.

JOEY: SHOOT THE FUCKIN' THING!

TODD: AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!

PANEL FIVE:

Close on Chad's head, as a bullet neatly severs the rope holding Chad up.

SF/X: BLAM!

SF/X: vip!

JOEY: (off) WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING?

PAGE FOUR:

PANEL ONE:

Chad, getting up off his ass, sees a few bullets whiz past him.

TODD: (off) AAAAHHH! DIE!

JOEY: (off) IN THE FUCKIN' HEAD, YOU IDIOT!

TODD: (off) SHUT UP!

PANEL TWO:

Recycle of Page One, Panel One, sort of. The attic window explodes as Chad dives out of it.

CHAD: WWHHHARRRRGGHHH!!!

PANEL THREE:

Chad lands with a thud. He's got glass sticking out of his face and body here and there, and a noose around his neck.

CHAD: WHUFF!

PANEL FOUR:

Chad runs. Still has the noose. Will for the rest of the piece. Just FYI. Joey and Todd are off-panel, and their words are very very small to show that they're receding in the distance.

JOEY: (off) SHOOT IT!

TODD: (off) CHAD! COME BACK!

CHAD: ...right...

PANEL FIVE:

Chad comes to a screeching halt. The voice is coming from an alleyway.

VOICE: HEY, DEAD BOY!

PAGE FIVE:

PANEL ONE:

A girl – LORETTA SOLANAS – dressed as a rich-kid punk (Avril Lavigne goes Ivy League) is in the shadows. She's our cheesecake, Roy. Granted, she's undead, but she's an ass-kicking dead girl!

LORETTA: Follow me!

CHAD: Who the hell are --

LORETTA: Come ON!

PANEL TWO:

Chad stands, sort of stupid, while Loretta pulls a piece of glass out of his face.

CHAD: How'd you know – HEY!

LORETTA: Your face is full of glass, Columbo. Let's go.

PANEL THREE:

Chad tries to keep up with Loretta, who is lifting a sewer grate. In an alley. Okay, that's stupid, isn't it? Uh, she's opening a low half-window that leads to a basement.

CHAD: But you knew I'd be...

LORETTA: There's usually one or two every night. They send me to sniff around every morning. Down here.

CHAD: They...

PANEL FOUR:

Loretta leads Chad through a rough hole knocked in a basement wall that seems to connect to a tunnel. But Chad isn't following. He's freaking out.

LORETTA: We've got a couple of insiders at the morgue. We get most returners from there before the public --

CHAD: WHAT – THE – FUCK – IS – GOING – ON?!?

PANEL FIVE:

Loretta keeps leading Chad through the tunnels.

LORETTA: Judging from your tie, you killed yourself, then you came back, and now your assmunch friends are trying to kill you again.

CHAD: I can't ... this isn't happening...

PANEL SIX:

Lorette clearly isn't enamoured of loser Chad.

LORETTA: Keep telling yourself that. Did you eat before you died?

CHAD: Uh...no. Why?

PAGE SIX:

PANEL ONE:

A bit of a splash page – a very large dominant panel, at least. Welcome to Returner Central. It's a terrorist cel, with all the crap that implies. Ten to twelve people are working on bombs, molotov cocktails, primitive weapons. There are maps and charts on the walls. The room is pretty damn big – it's the lowest level of an abandoned industrial building. The thing is, it's all Deadies at the helm, and they're in varying states of, er, repair. A couple of them are pretty horrific looking.

LORETTA: I'd hate to see you lose your last lunch ever.

CHAD: ...oh God...

PANEL TWO:

Much smaller panel. Close on Chad's face.

CHAD: ...this isn't happening...

HANK: (off) Who we got here, Loretta?

PANEL THREE:

Again, very small, and again, close on Chad. He doesn't actually speak, but Loretta's word balloon drifts in from off-panel.

LORETTA: Don't really know, Hank. Never caught his name.

PAGE SEVEN:

PANEL ONE:

Meet HANK, a leader of the Returned Rebellion. He's a handsome man...well, if you forget the fact that a hefty chunk of the left side of his face is gone. His left eye is intact, but bulges from its socket with no lid. He's dressed in a plaid workshirt, and is extending a muscular arm to shake Chad's hand.

HANK: Well, then. We'll call you “Hangman.”

CHAD: What?

PANEL TWO:

Hank has some concerns about Chad.

HANK: Not the fastest swimmer on the beach, is he?

LORETTA: I don't know how long he was hanging, Hank. His brain...

CHAD: My BRAIN is FINE.

PANEL THREE:

Chad is pretty messed up by all of this. He doesn't know whether to laugh, cry, or throw himself off a bridge.

CHAD: Everything was black, and then they were shooting at me, and she grabbed me and you've got no fucking face and...

PANEL FOUR:

Chad looks forlornly at Hank.

CHAD: Can I go home?

HANK: No, son. You're dead.

CHAD: Shit.

PANEL FIVE:

Hank fills Chad in on some facts of life.

HANK: You're dead, and you came back. That means something. And those bastards up there, those ignorant...bastards...

PANEL SIX:

Hank is winning Chad over. Father figure and all that.

HANK: ..they want to take it all away. But we're not gonna let them. Clear?

CHAD: Yes.

HANK: Sir.

CHAD: Yes sir.

PAGE EIGHT:

PANEL ONE:

Hank close with Chad again. There's a light in Chad's eyes now. Well, not really, because he's dead, but you know what I mean.

HANK: I know you, boy. All your life you got nothing to fight for. And now your life's over, and here it is. Your fight. Got me, Hangman?

CHAD: My name's...

HANK: Hangman.

PANEL TWO:

Hank and Chad are still talking, but we're closer on Chad now, to set up a parallel for Panel Four.

CHAD: Hangman.

HANK: Welcome home, son.

PANEL THREE:

Black panel. Hell, we do this enough times, it's a “motif,” right? Years from now, Scott McCloud's gonna talk about “The Boney/Shepherd Black Panel” in “Understanding Comics XVII”.

PANEL FOUR:

Panel Two again, but this time Chad's wearing a bandanna with a skull on it. Chad's also worse for wear – there's a serious burn on his face, and you can see a bit of his jawbone where some of his face has been blown away. He's still got the noose around his neck, but his clothes are now grey/black fatigue-style...urban combat stuff. Hank's close again, but he's looking DAMN messed up.

HANK: Tonight's the night, Hangman. You ready?

CHAD: Yessir. Hospital first, then the churches.

HANK: Let's show those goddamn Breathers that the Returned can fight back.

PANEL FIVE:

Hank and Chad walking loading a couple of rifles. A fuller-body shot shows they're well-armed and badly wounded; or rather they would be by living standards.

HANK: You've come a long way in the last few months, son.

CHAD: Thanks, Hank. Means a lot coming from you.

PANEL SIX:

Loretta approaches Chad, also armed. She's still intact, though.

LORETTA: Ready, Hangman?

CHAD: Good to go. Man...

LORETTA: What?

CHAD: I don't know. It's just...

PANEL SEVEN:

Close on Chad: dead, damned, and loving it.

CHAD: ...I've never felt so alive..