Friday, February 22, 2013

Unknown Soldier - Challenges - J.D. Coughlan

Panel 1: The Unknown Soldier (classic WW2 version) sits at a table with a small light above illuminating him. He seems worried.

UNKNOWN: This... This all seems like something out of a fantasy novel...

Panel 2: Closer on the Soldier. He gestures, indicating something large, but stares off into the distance.

UNKNOWN: It was just supposed to be a routine espionage mission...

UNKNOWN: But when I got into the Nazi base, I saw this... machine.

Panel 3: Again, the Soldier looks off into the distance. His shoulders are shrugged, making him look defeated.

UNKNOWN: They talked about how they were losing the war, how this machine would extend the Third Reich...

UNKNOWN: As they activated it and stepped inside... what else could I do but follow them... Stop them...

Panel 4: The Soldier looks up at someone off-panel.

UNKNOWN: And now I'm here, in this strange place, with no idea what happened to those Nazi officers.

PROF. HALEY (O.P.): Don't worry, soldier...

Panel 5: Wide panel, showing who the Soldier is looking at: The Challengers of the Unknown. They stand proudly, with Prof. Haley prominent, smoking his obligatory scientist pipe.

PROF. HALEY: We have some experience... with the unknown.



  1. Anyone else see Darwyn Cooke in his "New Frontier" vibe drawing this?...
    Here's why I dig completely taps into that early 70's Robert Kanigher vibe, and at the same time that Jack Kirby / Joe Kubert mash-up inspired crazy pseudo-science adventuring...
    Neat-o page, JD!

    1. Thanks! I'll admit, I based this purely on the fact that they both have "unknown" in their names, but the more I thought about it, the more I realised that, as you said, this is something they probably would have done. And for the same flimsy reason too.

  2. Definitely a Silver Age kinda vibe with this one. Nice!

  3. Unexpected direction for the character, but it totally works. This is fun idea played really well on the page. As Dan said it has a great Silver Age vibe to it.

    Also Ray nailed it with the Darwyn Cooke call thats exactly how the page looked when I was reading.

