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longitudinalwaveme · 1 year

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Comic Script 1 Rogue Spotlight: Reflect On Your Sins

About a month ago, I drew a cover for a hypothetical spotlight issue for Sam Scudder, the first Mirror Master. This post contains a full 22-page script for that issue under the cut. If there’s anyone out there with the time, interest, and comic-drawing ability to illustrate it, I will be thrilled. Hopefully the script is good regardless.

Flash #105.5 Rogue Spotlight: “Reflect On Your Sins”

PAGE 1

PANEL 1: Exterior shot of the Central City History Museum. The museum is a large two-story structure; the architectural style dates to the mid-19th century. It’s surrounded on either side by somewhat more modern buildings as well as by general city infrastructure.

1 Upper Caption: Central City History Museum. 11 PM.

2 Lower Caption: A mirror is a surface that reflects a great deal of the light falling on it. When the surface is smooth; reflections happen in a straight line and a single direction. This is called specular reflection.

3 Lower Caption: The way mirrors reflect light is also dependent on their shape. If the mirror is flat, like the ones you probably have in your bathroom, it’s called a plane mirror—but mirrors can be curved, too.

PANEL 2: Close on the museum. A beam of bright light shoots at the museum’s back door and starts to melt the lock.

SFX: Hiss!

Caption: A mirror that bulges inward is called a concave mirror. They’re used inside flashlights as reflectors in order to concentrate light in a single direction. These reflected rays have a high intensity and can travel long distances before fading away.

PANEL 3: A hand opens the door, allowing for an interior view of the museum.

Caption: And when used to amplify the beam from a laser pistol, concave mirrors can melt through a museum padlock with a minimum of noise and fuss. How’s that for a Flash Fact?

PANEL 4: Pan across various historical artifacts. We’re traveling through the museum alongside the narrator. A museum guard can be seen on the far left of the panel. Caption: Of course, that’s not all that mirrors are useful for. Convex mirrors, which bulge outward, are used in side-view mirrors for cars because they provide a wider field of view than could be provided with the naked eye.

PANEL 4: Close on the museum guard as he’s blinded by a bright burst of light.

Guard: ARRRGH!

Caption: And they’re handy when you don’t want to be snuck up on by a museum’s rent-a-cops. You’d really think that these guys would’ve learned that I’m way above their pay grade by now.

PAGE 2

PANEL 1: Wide shot of the “Tudor England” exhibit. This exhibit is on loan to the Central City History museum and is therefore set apart from the other permanent exhibits.

Caption: But mirrors are never more useful than when they’re filling my pockets with cash.

PANEL 2: Close on a 16th-century Venetian mirror in a display case.

Caption: This mirror here is a real antique. It’s a Venetian hand mirror; one that was once owned by Henry VIII himself. In his day, a medium-sized hand mirror like this cost as much as a naval ship or a country estate—-and given its historical prestige, it’s still worth a pretty penny now.

PANEL 3: A laser beam cuts a precise circle through the front of the glass case surrounding the mirror.

Caption: The museum will pay a regular king's ransom to get this baby back–especially since it’s on loan from England.

PANEL 4: A hand pulls a duplicate mirror out of a green holster.

Caption: Gotta be careful. Don’t want to set off the alarms while I’m swapping the real mirror for this hard-light duplicate.

PANEL 5: The two mirrors are carefully exchanged through the hole in the glass case.

Caption: Steady. Steady.

PANEL 6: Success. A hand slips the real mirror into the holster. Caption: Bingo!

PAGE 3

PANEl 1: Wide shot of the exhibit. This gives us a good view of a number of display cases containing items from the Tudor period of English history. Most notable among them is a large display case that contains a Tudor-style gown.

Caption: Time to make myself scarce. Just need to find a reflective surface big enough for a portal.

PANEL 2: A hand points the Mirror Gun at the display case that’s holding the gown.

Caption: That’ll do.

PANEL 3: A portal opens on the reflective surface of the display case. The portal is semi-transparent and parts of the gown can still be seen through it.

SFX: SWOOSH!

PANEL 4: A green boot disappears through the closing portal as the museum guard from earlier bursts onto the scene.

1 Guard: Stop right there!

2 Mirror Master: No time to stop and reflect, I’m afraid. Maybe some other time.

PANEL 5: The frustrated museum guard is left alone in the exhibit. The portal has vanished–and so has the thief.

1 Guard: How am I gonna explain this one to the museum?

2 Caption: Yes, mirrors certainly are incredible—-

PAGE 4 Full-page splash. There’s a full-body shot of the Mirror Master (Sam Scudder) as he stands in his hideout, surrounded by mirrors of all shapes and sizes. He’s facing a full-body mirror and smirks as he admires his reflection. The other mirrors are smaller and reflect his body from several other angles. He’s also holding the Venetian mirror from the museum in his left hand.

1 Mirror Master: —especially when they’re wielded by me—the Mirror Master! Ha ha ha!

2 Title: Rogue Spotlight: “Reflect On Your Sins”

3 Credits: Longitudinalwaveme: Story TBD: Pencils TBD: Inks TBD: Letterer TBD: Colorist

4 Credits: With thanks to the late great John Broome and Carmine Infantino.

PAGE 5 PANEL 1: Exterior shot of a run-down grocery store; complete with crowded parking lot, misplaced shopping carts, and lots of people, including a crying child and a man in an orange shirt.

1 Caption: Two weeks later.

2 Caption: As glamorous as mirrors can be, however, there’s still a mundane side to them.

3 Crying Child: WAAAHHHH!

PANEL 2: Sam Scudder, in his civilian clothes, moves past the crying child and the child’s frazzled mother. For his physical appearance, reference Flash vol. 1 #109, #126, or #219. He’s sharply but not formally dressed and he has an orange shirt.

1 Caption: Just like there’s a mundane side to being the Mirror Master.

2 Crying Child: I WANNA GO HOME!

3 Mother: SHH!

PANEL 3: Sam, now inside the store, grabs a grocery cart. The cart has seen better days.

Caption: Yes, I do go grocery shopping. Supervillain or not, a guy’s gotta eat.

PANEL 4: Sam walks through the fruit aisle of the grocery store. He’s still pushing the cart and is looking down at the list in his hand.

1 Caption: All right. I need apples, bread, peanut butter, carrots, ham, those delicious Girl Scout cookies, toothpaste, shampoo, conditioner, and four packs of cigarettes. That shouldn’t take too—

2 Voice: Sam? Sam Scudder?

3 Caption: Oh, come on! Not while I’m grocery shopping!

PANEL 5: Sam is turned away from his cart and is facing the source of the voice from the last panel—a professionally-dressed woman with a shopping cart of her own. She’s about the same age as Sam himself and has medium-length, curly black hair and dark skin. Her name is Jennifer Conners—and she’ll be important going forward.

1 Sam: Could be. Who wants to know?

2 Jennifer: Jennifer. Jennifer Conners.

PANEL 6: Close on Sam’s face as he recognizes the new arrival.

1 Sam: Jenny?

2 Caption: Of all the grocery stores in all the world, she just had to walk into mine…

PAGE 6

PANEL 1: Sam and Jennifer are now standing in between the two carts. They’re not quite close enough to touch.

1 Caption: There’s nothing like running into your high school sweetheart in the fruit aisle. Especially when you haven’t seen her in twenty years.

2 Sam: Jenny! It…it’s been a long time.

3 Jennifer: Too long. How are you, Sam?

PANEL 2: Close on Sam as he runs his left hand through his hair.

1 Sam: I’m doing all right. How about you?

2 Caption: Last I heard, Jenny was doing social work in Coast City. What’s she doing back here?

PANEL 3: Close on Jennifer. She’s smiling and relaxed.

Jennifer: I’ve never been better. Coast City is a wonderful place to work, and the California weather is amazing, but I’m a Midwestern girl at heart. It’s nice to finally be back home.

PANEL 4: Medium shot of Jennifer and Sam.

1 Sam: How long are you planning to stay in Central City?

2 Jennifer: Hopefully forever. I’ve been wanting to set up shop in Central City for a long time, and a few months ago, I finally got my chance. I’ve been hired as the head social worker at the community needs center on Morrow Street, and I just finished moving my stuff into my new apartment a few days ago.

PANEL 5: Close on Sam. He’s trying to hide his discomfort.

Sam: Morrow Street?

PANEL 6: Medium shot of Jennifer and Sam. Sam’s body posture has tensed considerably.

1 Jennifer: Yes. My father spent his entire life trying to help the people on Morrow Street. I became a social worker to carry on that mission. I want to help people like your mother. To help kids like us.

2 Sam: You…always did have a big heart.

3 Caption: And on Morrow Street that gets you killed!

PAGE 7

PANEL 1: Flashback to a rundown apartment building. The area around the building is covered in garbage and graffiti. A sign in the left-hand corner tells the reader that the apartment is located on Morrow Street. The art for this panel (and all flashback scenes) should be drawn and colored in a manner that references Golden/Silver Age comic art.

Caption: I should know. I grew up there.

PANEL 2: Close on a framed photograph of a married couple. The man bears a strong resemblance to Sam; the woman is holding a baby in her arms.

1 Caption: My father and mother never had much money, so when my father developed brain cancer, the cost of the treatments wiped out all of their savings. Not that those treatments helped him any. Percival Scudder died when I was seven months old. He left me nothing but his name and my admittedly very handsome face.

2 Caption: A week after he died, mom and I moved into one of the slums on Morrow Street. It was all Mom could afford without the extra income my father had brought in.

PANEL 3: The woman from the photo sits on a couch in a small, very run-down apartment. It’s neat and there’s every evidence that she’s trying to make the place nice, but it’s a losing battle. She’s embroidering a dress and looks very tired. Next to her on the couch is a three-year-old Sam.

Caption: My mother was a seamstress, and a very good one, but there just isn’t that much demand for hand-sewn clothing. Not when factory-made clothes are so much cheaper. So she had to take in work as a laundress and a housekeeper just to make ends meet.

PANEL 4: A six-year-old Sam is sitting on the apartment floor. He’s wearing a cowboy hat and is obviously frightened. A cowboy movie is playing on the small television; the noise is being drowned out by a gunshot that’s coming from a nearby apartment.

SFX: BANG!

Caption: Because she was so busy, Mom couldn’t be home very much—and Morrow Street could be a very scary place for a little boy who was all by himself.

PANEL 5: Sam and his mother hug in the apartment. Both are crying. It’s late in the evening; Sam’s mother has just gotten home from work; the gunshot from panel 4 happened earlier in the same day.

1 Caption: But I always knew that she loved me.

2 Mrs. Scudder: Oh, Sammy, I’m so sorry! I…I should’ve been here!

3 Sam: It’s okay, Mommy. Please don’t cry!

PANEL 6: Sam is doing homework at the table. His mother, though obviously tired, is helping him with a particularly complicated math problem.

1 Caption: No matter how exhausted she was, she was always willing to help me with my school work.

2 Sam: Two hundred forty?

3 Mrs. Scudder: That’s right! I knew you’d be able to solve the problem if you worked at it for long enough! You’ve always been a smart boy.

PANEL 7: Sam and his mother are in a small local store on Morrow Street. A friendly-looking older gentleman in a white apron hands Sam a copy of All-Flash #1 (use the real comic book cover from the 1940s for reference).

1 Caption: And she introduced me to my first great hobby—

2 Mrs. Scudder: Free? Are you sure?

3 Store Owner: Of course, Mrs. Scudder. All children deserve heroes—especially the children in this neighborhood.

4 Sam: Thank you, Mr. Frederickson!

5 Caption: Comic books!

PAGE 8

PANEL 1: Jennifer and Sam are still conversing, but Sam is now putting apples into a bag.

1 Jennifer: –but that’s enough about me. What have you been up to?

2 Caption: Getting lost in old memories about my mom and comic books and poor old Mr. Frederickson. But that’s not what she’s asking about.

PANEL 2: Close on Sam.

Sam: Uh…a museum job?

PANEL 3: Medium shot of Sam and Jennifer. Sam is putting the bag of apples into his cart and trying to look nonchalant.

1 Caption: Smooth, Sam. Real smooth. No way does that sound suspicious.

2 Caption: You see, this? This is why I hate running into people from my old life. I don’t want Jenny Conners to learn that her childhood best friend….is the Mirror Master!

3 Jennifer: I can’t say I’m surprised to learn that you got a job at a museum. You always were one of the brightest kids in our class. Which museum do you work for?

4 Caption: What a lucky break! Okay, I can salvage this—

5 Sam: The Central City History Museum.

PANEL 4: Close on Jennifer.

1 Caption: —even if it does make me feel like a snake.

2 Jennifer: Why, that’s only four blocks away from where I’ll be working! That’s great! Maybe we can meet up for lunch later this week.

PANEL 5: Sam is mentally scrambling as an enthusiastic Jennifer pulls out her phone.

1 Jennifer: What time is your lunch break? My schedule’s open from 1 to 3 PM.

2 Sam: Uh…great! My break’s at 1:30, so that should work out fine. What day’s best for you?

3 Caption: Not like my actual job has a particularly strict schedule, after all.

PANEL 5: Jennifer glances at her phone.

1 Jennifer: Does Wednesday work for you, Sam?

2 Sam: Wednesday would be fine.

PANEL 6: Jennifer turns to walk away. Sam awkwardly waves good-bye.

1 Jennifer: Well, I’d better let you get back to your shopping. It was good to see you, Sam.

2 Sam: It was good to see you too, Jenny.

3 Jennifer: See you Wednesday!

PANEL 7: Close on Sam. He’s bewildered by what he just allowed to happen.

Caption: What have I gotten myself into? Sure, Jenny and I go way back, but still….

PAGE 9

PANEL 1: Flashback to an eight-year-old Sam and his mother meeting an eight-year-old Jenny and her father outside of Sam’s apartment. Jenny’s father is a minister and is wearing a pastor’s collar as a visual shorthand of this fact. Mrs. Scudder is clearly surprised by her new neighbors; the two children wave shyly at one another. Young Sam is now wearing glasses.

Caption: I first met Jennifer Conners when I was eight years old……

1 Reverend Conners: Hello, Mrs. Scudder. I’m Reverend Conners, and this is my daughter, Jennifer. We’re going to be your new next-door neighbors.

2 Mrs. Scudder: Reverend Conners? What’s a prominent minister like you doing in such a Godforsaken place as this?

3 Reverend Conners: Jesus instructed his disciples to care for the most vulnerable members of society. The fact that so many of his ministers today neglect that calling is a grave sin…one which I have been guilty of for far too long. I’m here to ask your forgiveness—and for your advice as to how I can best help your community.

PANEL 2: Close on young Sam and Jenny.

1 Jenny: Hi! My name’s Jenny. What’s your name?

2 Sam: Sam. Sam Scudder. Do you like comic books?

3 Jenny: I do! My favorite hero is Black Canary. Who’s yours?

4 Sam: The Flash! It’s so cool that he lives just across the river from us in Keystone City!

5 Caption: And that was the start of a beautiful friendship.

PANEL 3: Jenny and Sam are sitting together in a somewhat rundown classroom. Other children and the teacher are also in the room; it’s barely controlled chaos.

Caption: We were usually in the same classrooms at school, and we were both very proud of the fact that we got good grades—something that wasn’t common for kids from Morrow Street. Sure, it got us labeled as teacher’s pets, but it also meant that we had a better chance at escaping Morrow Street when we got older—and that was something I was increasingly desperate to do.

PANEL 4: Jenny and Sam pass a number of paramedics who are transporting someone to an ambulance on a stretcher. The person in question has overdosed on drugs that are being sold by the Candy Man’s men. Jenny has tears in her eyes and Sam is close to tears as well.

1 Paramedic: Another overdose. This is the third one this month.

2 Caption: By the time I was nine, I knew that the Candy Man ruled Morrow Street and the surrounding three blocks. Half of the adults on Morrow Street were either on his payroll, hooked on his drugs, or both.

PANEL 5: Jenny and Sam are at Mr. Frederickson’s store. Jenny is wearing a Brownie’s uniform; Sam is in a Cub Scout one. Two thugs are threatening the store owner; the two children are hidden near the comic rack.

1 Caption: And anybody who stood up to the Candy Man’s men…

2 Mr. Frederickson: No! I will not let you sell your poison to people on my property!

3 Thug: Your funeral, old man.

PANEL 6: Mrs. Scudder, Reverend Conners, Sam, and Jenny are in the hospital. Mr. Frederickson is lying in bed with serious injuries. Mrs. Scudder is crying; the two children are too terrified for even that.

Caption:.....ended up paying for it. Mr. Fredrickson, the shopkeeper who gave the neighborhood’s kids free candy and comics, was beaten so badly for not giving the Candy Man’s men free reign in his store that he died three days later.

PAGE 10

PANEL 1: Sam and Jenny are sitting on Sam’s couch, surrounded by Golden Age comics of all sorts. They’re about 14 years old now.

Caption: The older we got, the more I started to wish that Morrow Street would get a super-powered hero like the ones in the Justice Society. The comics Jenny and I read faithfully recorded the ways in which the Atom and Dr. Mid-Nite had saved the Earth from aliens and far-off cities from gangsters and super-villains, and although most of those great heroes had long since retired due to old age, surely there was some hero who would see how much our neighborhood needed saving.

PANEL 2: Jenny and Sam walk past an older teenager who’s selling drugs to kids of about their age. They’re wearing their Girl and Boy Scout uniforms.

Caption: But no hero ever showed up.

PANEL 3: Close on Sam and Jenny.

1 Jenny: Shouldn’t we do something to stop that?

2 Sam: Like what? That kid’s on the Candy Man’s payroll…and we both know what happens to people who stand up to the Candy Man.

3 Jenny: Well, maybe we can’t do anything—but my father probably can.

PANEL 4: Reverend Conners meets with a large group of teenagers, including Sam and Jenny, in the community center.

Caption: No hero except Reverend Conners, that is. With the resources from the community center, and a lot of dedication, he managed to reduce drug usage at our high school by about 40%. He even managed to turn around the lives of over a dozen kids who were selling drugs for the Candy Man! The man was a surrogate father to the whole neighborhood.

PANEL 5: Sam, Mrs. Scudder, Jenny, and Reverend Conners stand in another room at the community center alongside two or three other boys about Sam’s age. Reverend Conners and all of the boys are in Boy Scout uniforms. Reverend Conners is giving Sam his award for becoming an Eagle Scout.

Caption: But he was especially a surrogate father to me. I’m not sure which of us was prouder when I became an Eagle Scout after helping to renovate the elementary school’s playground…

PAGE 11

PANEL 1: Jenny and Sam are both dressed up for a high school dance. Sam and Reverend Conners are shaking hands. Sam and Jenny are now 16; Sam has started wearing contacts and thus will not have his glasses from here on out.

Caption: ….or which of us was more nervous when Jenny and I started dating.

PANEL 2: Sam and Jenny are at the dance. They’re surrounded by other teenagers and both are smiling broadly.

Caption: The next two months were some of the happiest of my life. Jenny and I were head-over-heels for each other in the way only dumb teenagers can be, and I was sure that we were going to go to college together, get married, and then have about a dozen kids.

PANELS 3-5: Sam and Jenny are in the elevator of their apartment building. Both are carrying their papers and books and are animatedly discussing their future. The elevator rises through these three panels.

1 Jenny: I think I’m going to study social work at my dad’s alma mater, Sun City University. What about you, Sam?

2 Sam: I’m thinking that I’ll become a physicist. I mean, I’m the only person in our class who reads the physics textbook for fun, and I’ve aced every test in the class.

3 Jenny: And you’ll be studying at Sun City, right?

4 Sam: Of course! We’re going to be the best students SCU’s ever seen!

5 Caption: I was wrong…

PAGE 12

PANEL 1: Sam and Jenny step into the hallway of their floor. The walls are grimy and the paint is peeling. Reverend Conners is being confronted by one of the Candy Man’s men.

1 Thug: Mr. Monteleone’s had enough of your meddling in his affairs, Reverend…so he’s sent me to make sure that you won’t bother him no more.

2 Reverend Collins: I’m not someone who can be bullied by the Candy Man. You can tell your boss that some of us aren’t willing to lie down and let a murderer run this neighborhood!

PANEL 2: The thug reaches for his gun; Jenny screams.

Jenny: Daddy! Look out!

PANEL 3: Close on Reverend Conners as he realizes that Sam and his daughter are potentially in danger. Reverend Conners: Sam? Jenny?

PANEL 4: While the Reverend is distracted, the thug shoots him. Close on the gun.

SFX: BAM!

1 Sam: Reverend Conners!

2 Jenny: Daddy!

PANEL 5: The Candy Man’s thug flees as Jenny runs to Reverend Conners. He’s lying on the floor, badly injured. Sam grabs the phone and calls 9-1-1.

1 Jenny: Daddy, please be okay!

2 Sam: Please, come quick! Reverend Conner’s been shot!

PANEL 6: Sam, Jenny, Mrs. Scudder, and many others stand by a tombstone that reads “Reverend Conners. Devoted pastor and loving father”. A bouquet of flowers obscures the dates. All the people present are dressed appropriately for a funeral.

Caption: Reverend Conners died of blood loss on his way to the hospital. And when he died, my faith in heroes died with him. His death cemented what life on Morrow Street had been teaching me for years: being a hero would get you killed.

PAGE 13

PANEL 1: Sam, Jenny, Mrs. Scudder, and Jennifer’s aunt are standing in the hallway outside of their apartments. Jenny and Sam are hugging.

1 Caption: Two weeks after the funeral, Jenny moved out to Coast City to live with her aunt.

2 Jenny: Good-bye, Sam. I’ll never forget you!

PANEL 2: Sam is in his bedroom. It’s full of comics as well as a few science textbooks. He angrily rips a poster of the Flash (Jay Garrick) off of the wall.

1 Caption: And I was left to deal with the fallout of those deaths alone.

2 Sam: What good are you?

PANEL 3: Sam’s mother is sitting on the couch. She’s mending a shirt but is obviously not feeling well either physically or mentally. Sam is sitting next to her; he’s just as emotionally distraught but is trying to hide it.

1 Caption: I couldn’t tell my mom about my problems. She was struggling enough just trying to survive on Morrow Street.

2 Mrs. Scudder: Are you sure you’re all right, Sam? You seem tired lately.

3 Sam: I’m fine, Mom. I…I’ve probably just been studying too much.

PANEL 4: Sam is sitting at his desk in a rundown high school classroom. He’s staring at a textbook; everything around him–including the actual text—is a blur. He’s having a panic attack and the art should reflect that.

Caption: And we definitely didn’t have the money for me to see a counselor or anything. Not when we could barely afford the rent.

PANEL 5: Sam is standing on a street corner and lighting up a cigarette.

Caption: So I dealt with the anxiety and the nightmares in the only way that I could think of—

PANEL 6: Sam is at a high school party. The alcohol is flowing freely and he’s pretty clearly drunk.

1 Caption: With nicotine and alcohol.

2 Caption: Was that a stupid idea? Probably. But at least when I was inebriated I could sleep.

PAGE 14

PANEL 1: Sam Scudder is in his apartment and passed out on the couch. He’s got a bottle in his left hand.

Caption: I…don’t remember a lot about my last year or so of high school. Most of the memories are lost in a haze of drinking or being hungover or both.

PANEL 2: Mrs. Scudder and Sam are having an argument in their living room. Mrs. Scudder is crying. 1 Caption: But I do remember that my grades slipped badly—and that mom was devastated when she found out what was going on.

2 Mrs. Scudder: Sam, your teachers say that you’re failing half your classes! You’re a smart boy! Why are you throwing away your future like this?

3 Sam: You don’t understand, Mom! Just leave me alone!

PANEL 3: Sam is sitting in his room; head in hands. His room is strewn with cigarette packs and a few bottles. The textbooks are gone; the comics are still present.

Caption: I didn’t want to hurt mom, but I couldn’t stop. Not when it meant that the nightmares would come back. Not if it meant facing Morrow Street sober.

PANEL 4: Sam walks down a city street with a backpack. He’s holding the photo from page 7 panel 1 in his left hand.

Caption: So I dropped out of school and ran away from home. I figured that if I couldn’t stop drinking, I could at least free Mom of the burden of having to feed and clothe me.

PANEL 5: Sam is sitting at a rundown bar. He’s smoking a cigarette and is surrounded by patrons.

Caption: For a while, I bounced around between odd jobs, as a waiter and a delivery boy and a store clerk—but I was never able to hold one for more than a few months. In trying to chase my nightmares away, I had become a bona fide alcoholic. My life was in a total tailspin—

PANEL 6: Sam Scudder enters his crummy hotel room to find that the place has been totally ransacked. His clothes and comics are strewn all over the place and anything even remotely valuable is gone.

Caption: —one that was capped off when I celebrated my nineteenth birthday by losing every cent I had.

PANEL 7: A dirty Central City alleway. Sam is sitting on the ground and clutching his battered copy of All-Flash #1 in his hand.

Caption: I actually called the police, but nothing came of it. They had bigger concerns than figuring out who stole $600 from an unemployed alcoholic, and so I ended up on the streets. Happy birthday to me!

PAGE 15

PANEL 1: Sam stares at his reflection in a puddle. He’s a total mess.

Caption: As I stared at my reflection that day, I decided that it was time to finally change who I saw in it. I was tired of being powerless. Of being a victim.

PANEL 2: Sam is in the back room of the bar from page 14. He has a small black mask and is holding a gun.

Caption: No hero was going to show up to save me, so I was going to have to save myself…even if it meant playing the villain to do it.

PANEL 3: Sam (still masked) holds up a liquor store with the gun. He’s the only person in the store besides the clerk. His hands are shaking; he’s clearly not the hardened thief he’ll become later.

1 Caption: For my first sensational foray into the world of crime, I decided to hold up a liquor store that everyone on Morrow Street knew as a front for the Candy Man’s operations. After all the crap they’d put me through—after they’d killed Mr. Frederickson and Reverend Conners—I figured they owed me a little peace of mind.

2 Sam: G-give me the money, and n-nobody has to get hurt.

3 Caption: Besides, the Monteleones would never risk calling the police on me, right?

PANEL 4: A busy city street. Sam is being led into a police car by two officers. One is a young Fred Chyre (see Geoff Johns run for reference).

Caption: Wrong. I barely made it two blocks before I got arrested and carted off to jail.

PANEL 5: Mug shots of Sam. His arrest/prison number is 1051959; a reference to the year and issue number where the character first debuted.

Caption: Because I’d never been arrested before, I was sentenced to five years in prison. At nineteen, that seemed like an eternity, and I was scared to death.

PANEL 6: Sam is in one of the prison’s cell blocks. He’s been beaten rather badly but is being rescued from his attacker by a young Leonard Snart (Captain Cold). Snart is two to three years older than Sam (though he appears to be a few years older than even that) and is considerably more muscular.

Caption: But I toughened up fast after Len Snart took me under his wing. Even though he was only a couple years older than me, he was already on his third term behind bars, and he taught me how to survive in prison.

PAGE 16

PANEL 1: Sam is working in the prison’s mirror factory. He’s surrounded by two or three other prisoners and is being watched over by Tyler the foreman. This panel should be a homage to page 3 panel 2 of Flash vol.1 105.

1 Caption: It was about a year into my sentence for robbery when I made my first mirror discovery.

2 Foreman: Scudder, you’re a washout! You’ve ruined this mirror! Here, take it and throw it out!

PANEL 2: Sam goes to the dumpster to throw the mirror away. (Reference page 3 panel 3 of #105).

1 Caption: The mirror factory in the prison was a bore! But as I followed the foreman’s orders….

2 Sam: I must have put some wrong chemical in the silvering of this mirror! Oh well…no skin off my nose! Eh? Wait a second!

PANEL 3: Close on Sam holding the mirror. The mirror shows Tyler’s reflection instead of Sam’s. (#105; page 3 panel 4.)

Sam: Th-this isn’t my face! It’s the face of Tyler’s—the foreman’s!

PANEL 4: Sam is shocked by what he’s seeing. (#105; page 3 panel 5)

Sam: It’s fantastic! As near as I can figure it out, this mirror holds an image—for minutes after something has appeared in it!

PANEL 5: Sam carefully hides the mirror in the prison factory. (#105; page 3 panel 6)

1 Caption: I’d always had a knack for science, so I knew I’d made an important discovery.

2 Sam: I’m not throwing this mirror out! I’ll hide it—examine it later.

PAGE 17

PANEL 1: Sam is now out of prison and back in civilian clothing, works on his scientifically advanced mirror gadgets in his hideout. The hideout is full of mirrors of all sizes.

Caption: As soon as I completed my prison sentence, I immediately started experimenting with mirrors to see what else I could do with them, and stumbled upon a treasure trove of untapped potential. Not only could mirrors be used to capture images, they could create hard-light duplicates, amplify laser beams, power jetpacks, and—most amazingly of all—provide access to an otherworldly dimension that connected every surface on the face of the Earth.

PANEL 2: Close on Sam as he examines one of his mirror guns.

Caption: I had power that I’d never dreamed of—and I determined that I would use it to make myself rich and famous.

1 Sam: Why should I help science or society? What have they ever done for me except put me behind bars?

PANEL 3: Sam stands in his hideout, surrounded by his inventions. He’s now wearing his Mirror Master costume.

1 Caption: The old comics that I’d loved so much as a kid gave me the idea of using an alias and a suitably dramatic costume. While I had learned the hard way that there was no reward in heroism, the JSA definitely understood how to market their powers—and I wanted to show off my powers just as well as they had.

2 Mirror Master: It’s time for the people of Central City to meet the Mirror Master!

PANEL 5: Reference/homage the cover to Flash vol. 1 #146 (the issue where Flash and Mirror Master swap legs).

1 Caption: I wasn’t the first supervillain to bedevil Central City and battle the Flash—my old prison mate Len Snart, who had started calling himself Captain Cold, and Mr. Element both beat me to it—but I was definitely the most stylish!

2 Mirror Master: You’ll never catch up to me, Flash—now that I’ve switched legs with you!

PANEL 6: Homage page 1 of Flash vol. 1 #155. Pied Piper, Top, Mirror Master, Heat Wave, Captain Boomerang, and Captain Cold are surrounding an unconscious Flash with weapons at the ready.

1 Caption: And despite what ol’ Lenny might tell you, I was the one who first suggested that we Rogues should team up to fight the Flash.

2 Captain Boomerang: All together now! Let Flash have it!

PANEL 7: Mirror Master gazes at himself in a mirror appreciatively.

Caption: Being the Mirror Master has given me everything I ever wanted—money, power, fame, and a family to replace the one I had to leave behind. I love being the Mirror Master….

PAGE 18

PANEL 1: Exterior shot of a restaurant; complete with outdoor seating. Sam is sitting at one of these tables.

1 Upper Caption: …so why do I feel so lousy about my career right now?

2 Lower Caption: Broome’s Cafe. Wednesday. 1:30 PM.

PANEL 2: Medium shot of Sam as Jennifer approaches the table. Sam is holding a menu; Jennifer is upset and this is reflected in her body language.

1 Sam: Jenny! Hi!

2 Caption: She looks mad. Why does she look mad?

PANEL 3: Close on Jennifer.

1 Jennifer: So the Mirror Master works part time at the Central City Museum of Natural History, does he?

2 Caption: Oh. That’s why.

PANEL 4: Sam stands up from his chair. An impending sense of doom is dawning upon him.

1 Sam: How…how do you know about that?

PANEL 5: Medium shot of Jennifer and Sam. Jennifer’s arms are crossed over her chest.

1 Jennifer: A group of boys at the community center mentioned that they were going to become Central City’s new Rogues when they got old enough. I wasn’t sure what they were talking about, so I did some research, and it led me to your little secret. When were you planning to tell me that you’re…that you’re a criminal?

2 Sam: Jenny, I’m sorry. I…I just wanted to keep you from getting hurt.

3 Jennifer: And you decided that lying to me about being a thief who’s currently wanted for stealing a museum piece worth ten million was the best way to do that?

PANEL 6: Close on Sam. He’s very embarrassed and more than a little ashamed.

1 Caption: Things would be so much easier if I had the costume right now. At least then I could hide behind the mask.

2 Sam: Jenny, you…I…

PAGE 19

PANEL 1: Medium shot of Sam and Jennifer.

1 Jennifer: Does your poor mother know about what you’ve been up to?

2 Sam: Jenny…please…

3 Jennifer: How could you do this to her? After all she did for you?

PANEL 2: Close on Sam.

1 Sam: I’ve never involved mom in my life as the Mirror Master! Never!

PANEL 3: Long shot of the old friends arguing. Surrounding restaurant patrons are starting to stare.

1 Jennifer: She’s involved just by being your mother! How do you think she feels, having a son who’s either in prison or on the run from the law?

2 Caption: Why did she have to bring mom into this? This is painful enough as it is!

PANEL 4: Medium shot of Sam and Jennifer.

1 Sam: Jenny, you….you don’t understand!

2 Jennifer: What don’t I understand? You’re a criminal—just like the men who make Morrow Street so miserable!

3 Sam: Jenny—

4 Jennifer: If my father could see what’s become of you, he’d roll over in his grave! You’re no better than the man who murdered him!

PANEL 5: Close on Sam. He’s hurt—but also at least partially aware that she has a point.

Sam: It's not like that! I’m not…I don’t kill people! Surely you have to know that I would never do that.

PANEL 6: Close on Jennifer. She’s equally hurt.

Jennifer: I don’t know you at all anymore!

PANEL 7: Wide shot of the two staring at each other. Everything is silent.

PAGE 20

PANEL 1: Close on Jennifer. She has tears in her eyes.

Jennifer: What happened to you, Sam? What happened to the boy who wanted to be a hero?

PANEL 2: Medium shot of Sam and Jennifer. Sam is staring resolutely at the ground.

1 Sam: He died with your father. What good did his heroism do anyone? He died, and Morrow Street is still the same mess it was twenty years ago.

2 Jennifer: Have you ever considered that Morrow Street might not be in such a mess if you had dealt with my father’s death by following in his footsteps instead of wasting your life robbing museums in a silly costume?

PANEL 3: Close on Sam.

Sam: I never could have filled your father’s shoes. I couldn’t even deal with his death! I was having nightmares so bad that I was coming home drunk just to get to sleep, and you think I could have saved a neighborhood? I couldn’t even save myself!

PANEL 4: Close on Jennifer. Her face softens slightly.

Jennifer: Sam…why didn’t you ask for help?

PANEL 5: Medium shot of Sam and Jennifer.

1 Sam: From who? Mom had more than enough problems without me adding mine to the pile, and we didn’t have the money for counseling or anything. I was on my own…and my attempts to save myself only made everything worse. Becoming the Mirror Master was what finally let me take control of my life.

2 Jennifer: But it’s a fantasy life! You’re spending your life playing cops and robbers with a man in long red underwear. You’ve made yourself into this ridiculous comic book supervillain so that you don’t have to face the reality of your life and your choices! You haven’t saved yourself….you’ve trapped yourself in an addiction that’s doing more damage to you as the Candy Man’s drugs ever could!

PANEL 6: Close on Jennifer.

Jennifer: Sam…please. If there’s anything left of the boy who was my best friend in you, stop running away from the real world. Face up to your responsibilities, turn yourself in, serve your time, and create a real life for yourself. One where it’s Sam Scudder who has control….not the Mirror Master.

PANEL 7: Medium shot of Sam and Jennifer.

1 Jennifer: One where you can finally be a hero.

2 Sam: I…I have to go. Good-bye, Jenny.

PAGE 21

PANEL 1: Sam enters the Mirror Realm through a portal. It’s a vast space full of mirrors and lots of visual weirdness. Note that the ground is also reflective. Caption: Turn myself in? I can’t do that! I have a reputation to uphold!

PANEL 2: Sam continues to travel through the Mirror Realm.

Caption: I’m the most famous Rogue in Central City! Jenny….she doesn’t understand.

PANEL 3: More Mirror Realm travel. Feel free to make the panels in the Mirror Realm as disorienting as seems useful for the ambience of the Realm and the emotional mood of the story.

Caption: I’m nothing like the man who shot her father! I don’t shoot civilians! I don’t steal from people with only pennies to their name or beat up old men or sell drugs to kids!

PANEL 4: Medium shot of Sam stumbling over a mirror that reflects Jennifer’s face. She’s crying.

1 Jennifer: How did my best friend end up as Central City’s most wanted criminal?

2 Caption: But I’ve still hurt her…and probably destroyed our friendship.

PANEL 5: Full-body shot of Sam staring at his reflection on the ground. No dialogue.

PANEL 6: Close on Sam’s face.

Caption: I can’t believe I’m doing this….

PAGE 21

Full-page splash. Sam (now in his Mirror Master costume but with the cowl down) is standing in the middle of CCPD HQ. He’s set the Venetian mirror on a desk in front of him and has his hands raised. He’s surrounded by a number of police officers.

1 Police Officer: Why would a dangerous supervillain like you turn himself into police custody?

2 Mirror Master: Let’s just say I ran into someone who caused me to…reflect on my sins.

3 Caption: And let’s face it….no one needs to do that more than the Mirror Master. END

Flash #105.5

Rogue Spotlight:

“Reflect On Your Sins”