Way back in 2005 when Jake and I went to our very first San Diego Comic Con, I was fortunate to meet and befriend David Lloyd (Google him) and show him the prose version of what I had finished thus far on “Savage Investigations.” He was kind enough to read it and said that he liked it but for the name “Drake Savage.” He did not think that Drake was a very realistic or plausible name. I felt very strong about that name and set about to justify Drake’s name. So I came up with a tale of how his mother dropped him off as a newborn in the wee hours of the morning at The Drake Hotel in Chicago, and Frank Savage, the night manager, would end up adopting him. This is the first four pages of the comic script for “MEET Drake Savage”, which is the back story on Savage. If this works out I might do some more “MEET…” back stories for other main characters in the novel. David also told me that he enjoyed the prose draft of “Savage” (it was only a hundred plus pages at the time–it’s grown since then) and he didn’t recommend that I turn it into a graphic novel. My plan is to release it as both a prose novel and a graphic novel simultaneously, and it is proving to be a trial, but it’s like I always say sometimes, “Tenacity is its own reward…”

Anyway, here it is. I’d appreciate any feedback you’d care to offer, too.

MEET DRAKE SAVAGE
Written by CHUCK LARNTZ
Art by CORY KOOMOA

For David
Copyright, 2011

Page 1-full page EXT: NIGHT: Background is the front of the Drake Hotel in Chicago, with the famous Drake Hotel neon sign at the top of the panel. Foreground silhouette of the back of a girl from the waist up. She’s carrying what appears to be a large basket on her right arm.
CAPTION: 1968, 2:45 A.M.

Page 2: 4 panels, 2 top, 2 bottom
Panel 1: EXT: NIGHT: Same background shot of the hotel as page 1 but the girl has gotten smaller because she is walking across the street.
No dialogue
Panel 2: EXT: NIGHT: Main entrance fills screen. Girl, now lit from behind, back still to us, peering through the door. She is dirty and unkempt, basket is weighing her down. She is hunched over as she puts her hand on the door to open it. We can see rough details of the lobby through the door, table in center with huge flower vase and registration desk across back wall, unoccupied. Lobby is deserted.
No dialogue
Panel 3: INT: See reference of lobby. No clerk at the registration desk at the rear of the lobby. Girl walking towards the round table in the center of the lobby, lifting the basket to place it on the table.
No dialogue
Panel 4: INT: Looking towards entrance from inside the lobby. Basket in foreground. We can see there’s a newborn baby in the basket with a note pinned to the blanket. In background, girl is fleeing the lobby. We never see her face, only her blond hair flying out behind her as she runs out towards the entrance doors.
NOTE: PLEASE GIVE MY BABY A BETTER LIFE THAN I CAN

Page 3: 4 Panels: 1 and 2 across the top of page, panel 1 is a third of the top of page and Panel 2 is two thirds. 3 and 4 side by side, bottom two thirds of page.
Panel 1: INT: The view from directly in front of the registration desk. Two clerks are coming through the entrance behind the desk, one male, the other female, wearing hotel uniforms.
MALE CLERK: Well, I’m glad we got that taken care of!
FEMALE: Yeah, thanks for your help. I couldn’t have done it alone.
MALE: No sweat.
Panel 2: INT: Long shot from side of lobby, registration desk on right side of panel and the table with the basket on the left, emphasizing the distance between the desk and the table in the center of the lobby.
The lobby is dim with a cone of light shining down from the ceiling illuminating the basket on the table, the other light source is on the registration desk. FEMALE is pointing at the basket and has one word balloon.
FEMALE: Bobby, what’s that?
Panel 3: INT: Bobby is standing next to the basket. He has one word balloon.
BOBBY: There’s a note, Sarah. Call the boss.
Panel 4: INT: POV: Sarah is speaking into the phone. She has one word balloon.
SARAH: Mr. Savage, could you please come to the lobby?

Page 4: 4 Panels, quarter page each.
Panel 1: INT: POV: From in front of Frank Savage’s desk. He’s looking down at some paperwork. There’s a nameplate at the front edge of the desk that says “Frank Savage” and underneath, “Night Manager” in the same Old English font as the sign on the top of the building, black background with white letters. He’s holding the phone. He’s about 40 and bald with black hair barely covering his ears (it’s the 60’s) with a round face that says he’s a little pudgy. He’s wearing a wide black tie over a gray shirt, sleeves rolled up to the elbows over coarse black haired forearms. He’s also got a thick, well groomed moustache barely curling around the sides of his mouth. There’s a black jacket on a hanger behind his desk. Frank has one word balloon.
FRANK: Okay, I’ll be right there.
Panel 2: INT: Frank enters behind desk from the same door that Sarah and Bobby entered in Page 3, Panel 1. He’s wearing a black suit jacket. He’s short, a little taller than Sarah and several inches shorter than Bobby. Frank has one word balloon.
FRANK: I’m here, what’s up?
Panel 3: INT: Half body shot of Sarah, she’s pointing towards the lobby. She has one word balloon.
SARAH: Over there.
Panel 4: INT: POV from Frank looking across the lobby at Bobby standing next to the basket.
No dialogue

End of first installment for string.

Page 5:
Panel 1: INT: Frank, Bobby, and Sarah are standing by the basket. Frank is holding the note. Frank has one large word balloon.
FRANK: I can’t wait to hear how somebody could just waltz in here and leave a baby at the internationally famous, five-star, Drake Hotel, and neither of you saw anything!
Panel 2: INT: Closeup of Sarah and Bobby. She has one word balloon, so does Bobby.
SARAH: It’s my fault, Mr. Savage. I asked Bobby to help me with those boxes. We were only away from the desk for a couple of minutes and we left the door open so we could hear if anybody came to the desk.
BOBBY: And when we came out, there it was.
Panel 3: INT: Closeup of Frank. He is angry and has one word balloon.
FRANK: IT? Bobby, this is a child! A small human being, not an IT!
Panel 4: INT: Bobby, looking embarrassed. He has one word balloon
BOBBY: I’m sorry Mr. Savage. I didn’t mean…
Panel 4: Frank, still angry, has two word balloons.
FRANK: Forget it.
FRANK: Sarah, get Mike from Security down here. We’re going to need his police contacts to keep this under wraps. Wouldn’t do for this to get out. A baby! At The Drake!

More to come. Thanks for reading…

Be Well,

Chuck