James Brighton Society, Chapter 5: Pages 1-2

Page 1, 7 Panels- Hospital room, Arlington Virginia

Panel 1: We open on a shot of nothing but black. No presence of sound or light to be had anywhere in the course of the panel view at this point.

GREM [narration caption]: You thought that two-bit hood would be the one to kill me? After 120 years and 10 close calls)? Ha! Not a chance in bloody Hades…just a few lucky whomps in. Maybe a few gashes to my ribcage.

Panel 2: Same setting/layout as the previous panel. The blackness is muted slightly by a swirl of white and yellow, signifying a set of eyes opening up. In terms of sound, there's only the subtle hum coming from a row of lights beaming down on the immortal Irishman at that moment in time.

GREM [Cont., narration caption]: Huh. Smells like a mix of bleach and rotting meat…ah bloody hell, I'm in an operating theater. Again!

Panel 3-4: A two-part set of panels that center on the same setting and layout as the previous panel. In Panel 3, we see the first sign of the gray walls and the lights beaming above him through a white sheet of some kind. In the next panel, the sheet drops forward as we see him start to get up off his back, revealing briefly the dingy looking setting of the hospital room to the reader for the first time.

GREM [Cont. narration caption, Panel 3]: I can't blame ‘em though, whoever brought me here or the poor bastard tapped to operated on me. Hopefully they haven't taken any damn thing outta me. GREM [narration caption, Panel 4]: Could my body actually regenerate organs after being taken out? Possible, thanks to the elixir. I'm not really in the mood to test that out though…especially in the middle of a case.

Panel 5-7: A three-part set of panels that moves onto the same shot of a clearly naked Grem seated on the side of the bed, looking down toward the floor. The white sheet covering his genital region to the reader. His left hand carefully looks around in Panels 5 and 6, checking to see if the vital organs are all in one place in regards to his upper torso. In Panel 7, we see him slip his hand down toward his crotch to check that area too. His eyes tilting up and to the side.

GREM [narration caption, Panel 5]: Still there… GREM [Cont. narration caption, Panel 6]: Still there (praise Zeus)! GREM [narration caption, Panel 7]: Still hanging proudly (praise Aphrodite)! Now, where's…

Page 2, 6 Panels- Hospital room/Lobby, Arlington Virginia

Panel 1: We move to a shot of one of the doctors looking stunned at the naked Grem sitting in front of him, dressed in full scrubs. His mouth is fully agape, and his mind trying to contemplate what he’s just saw. You can see a little sliver of the hallway at that part of the hospital through the doorway in the background.

Panel 2: Cut to a shot of Grem watching as, a second after the action in Panel 1, he collapses onto the floor in shock. In the background, you can see a little bit of the walls and the lighting fixtures as well as the bleachers where others would observe what took place.

GREM [pleasantly surprised]: That was…anticlimactic. I'll take anticlimactic!

Panel 3: Close-up on Mr. Allen a second later, hopping off the bed and moving in the direction of the unconscious surgeon. His hand covering the towel that protects his crotch from the view of the reader.

GREM [remarking to himself]: Here's hoping he's out long enough for me to steal his clothes.

Panel 4-5: A two-part set or panels that moves to a shot a while later of Tasha seated in the lobby waiting room. She's looking over some notes on a notebook, seated next to an older white man in a brown suit who looks on her suspiciously. In the next panel, a minute later, she glances from her periphery as the man walks off to another part of the lobby area.

GREM [Caption, Panel 4]: “Cause I'd rather not show off the feoil agus caora to anyone who doesn't wanna see it, or have it enter them."

Panel 6: Same setting/layout as the previous panel. A second after the action in Panel 5, the good Detective's gaze is moved to the right of the panel view by the sound of the nurse at the front desk. She is concerned by the warning being bellowed, closing the notebook without looking at that moment. As for the man from the previous panel, he's seen in the background just about to sit down at a seat closer to the wall.

NURSE [from the speakers, Off-Panel]: We have a Code 227. All Mecha Help staff to the rear of the hospital immediately… DET. RANDOLPH [to herself]: That's Grem's room...