Screen 1
ONE:
The JUDGE is thoroughly agitated, now. PAYNE is watching DRAKE, curious.
DRAKE and DRUM both have their attention on the Judge.
1. D’ARRABAS: What do you—he had a key but you didn’t take it?
2. D’ARRABAS: Where is it? What happened to it?
TWO:
DRAKE considering, maybe squinting a bit. Thinking on this.
3. DRAKE: You sent Drum and myself to apprehend a fugitive by the name of
Elmer Johns.
4. DRAKE: A man wanted for theft, brawling, cheating at cards, and taking
affection from another man’s wife.
5. DRAKE: No mention was made of a key that should cost a man his life.
THREE:
Almost stet, DRAKE a little more steely, here.
6. DRAKE: There something I should know about this key you’re talking
about?
Screen 2
ONE:
Beat. PAYNE, the JUDGE, DRAKE, and DRUM. The JUDGE is looking to PAYNE. PAYNE is watching DRAKE. DRAKE and DRUM waiting.
NO COPY.
TWO:
Angle on PAYNE, removing a cigarillo from within his coat, preparing it. He’s calm, even mildly amused, his attention on the item in his hand.
1. PAYNE: Idle speculation, Marshal. I assure you.
2. PAYNE: And nothing you should concern yourselves with.
Screen 3
ONE:
New angle, maybe between Drake and Drum?
The JUDGE is looking at PAYNE, silently at a loss. PAYNE is glancing to the JUDGE while still, ostensibly, focused on preparing his smoke.
1. PAYNE: Modeste, these men have had a hard journey.
2. PAYNE: Surely you needn’t detain them here further?
3. D’ARRABAS: No…
TWO:
On the JUDGE, oddly defeated, as he speaks to DRAKE.
4. D’ARRABAS: …of course not.
5. D’ARRABAS: You may go, Marshal.
THREE:
Angle, past PAYNE, as DRAKE and DRUM head out the door.
NO COPY.
“Nothing you should concern yourself with” Which of course means Drake should be very very concerned about the key. And he is. *goosebumps*
I love the expression on Drum’s face in that last panel.
Modeste rocks quite the moustache.
Wonderful expressions, and I want to know more about this key 🙂
It’s kind of pitiful how the judge doesn’t even hide his subservience to Payne. I’m loving the story so far. 🙂
There’s actually a line coming up in a couple of screens that refers to that. It’s probably my favorite line of dialogue I’ve given to any character in a very long time….
Does Drum wear a bowler or a pork pie hat? It’s hard to tell from the angles it’s usually shown at.
Drum wears a battered bowler.
I like Drum’s perpetual smile and the gavel on Modeste’s desk. What is the golden looking pot on the floor, by the desk in front of Payne? A funky waste basket, a giant ash tray…a pee pot?
The story is really swelling with suspense and mystery now, I can’t wait for it all to burst.
I believe the pot is a spittoon / cuspidor. A receptacle to spit into, usually needed in places where chewing tobacco is common.
Gah! Rick already replied below more thoroughly … should have scrolled farther.
That, James, is a brass cuspidor, more commonly known as a spittoon. Back in the day, when men, and some women , chewed tobacco or dipped snuff, the cuspidor was a recepticle in which one would spit their overflow. They were commonly found in saloons, men’s clubs, barber shops, anywhere men would gather. It was considered sanitary for it’s time. Better than spitting on the floor. One of the most menial jobs of the time was to be the person who cleaned the cuspidors. They were commonly known as “swampers”.
That is worse than pee pot…but great attention to detail!
As beautiful as the statuette of Lady Justice is on the judge’s desk, shouldn’t it be visible in panel one? It appears to stand right at the corner of that blotter pad, so Payne shouldn’t be blocking it from the perspective of that first panel.
How do you determine which words to cast in boldface? It seems somewhat random. If I (mentally) stress boldfaced words while reading the comic, it comes off as if the speaker is having cramps.
Somewhat randomly, I confess. I’ve always had a reasonably good ear for dialogue, and a horrible ear for emphasis, honestly. I tend to bold those words that are key to me, rather than the words that I imagine are stressed in speech.