Story_
5 Issue story arc (Graphic Novel Vol 1)
22 pages per Issue
ISSUE 1 - OUTLINE
22 pages
_"The hand you're dealt"
SCENE 1 - Cold Open - A bank heist, the 5 robbers are all fully covered in masks, and we don’t get to see who they really are. They make it off with the money, but one of them kills a cop in the process. (Think The Dark Knight opening scene, or the heist from The Town)
SCENE 2 - Introduce Clint and his Bot partner, BC318 in their squad car at a robotic drive through getting food. They see a holographic ad that switches to breaking news, where they learn that the cop who was shot during yesterday’s bank robbery died of his wounds and Clint knows the cop - “that’s terrible, I was in the academy with him - he’s got a wife and two kids...” Speaking of which, BC318 reminds Clint that he has his son this weekend. “Yeah his mom is dropping him off at 5pm tonight.”
SCENE 3 - Introduce Clint’s son, Malcolm, who is sitting by himself on a stoop outside of (Clint’s) apartment building, with an overnight bag next to him. He has on a Barracudas RAMGØD t-shirt. He’s watching a holographic projection from his Orb (modern day smartphone). It’s “The RAMGØD FINALS! Who will win THE BELT and claim the title of World Champion?...” - We meet the commissioner (Markos Madsen) who is the one introducing the event, its two teams and their key players. The Raiders versus the Barracudas. We learn the rules briefly for this event, which state that the team must select three of its 4 players to compete, one for each HEAT...
SCENE 4 - We now cut to the actual event/Game. In the Finals it’s all three HEATs in a single back-to-back relay (Combat, Race, Climb). We watch the entire high-octane game playout. The teams are neck and neck, but the Barracudas ultimately lose.
SCENE 5 - Cut back to Malcolm watching on his orb from the stoop. Malcolm is really pissed as he is a die-hard Barracudas fan. He yells in frustration -- just as he does this, Clint’s squad car pulls up, and Clint sees his son sitting outside his apartment. Inside the squad car, BC points out that his son appears to be early. Clint gets out of the car. “Yeah nice to see you too, son.” Malcolm approaches the squad car, walking past his dad, and leans in to the driver side window. He seems more interested in talking to BC than he does his own dad. He points out that BC seems to have some new part. This establishes to the audience that Malcolm is clearly tech savvy and interested in robotics. After a little back and forth between BC and Malcolm, Clint interrupts their conversation, and takes Malcolm inside to his apartment as BC drives off.
SCENE 6 - We cut to the Barracudas’ team bus, as they are leaving the stadium post game - the confetti and fireworks going off in the background to celebrate the Raider’s winning the championship. The 5 team members of the Barracudas are frustrated (and banged up) as they argue over why they didn’t win. REMMER calls out ELSA for not being on her game. To which Elsa calls out Remmer for killing a cop the night before, which threw her off her game - because that’s “not how we roll, man!” We now learn that the Barracudas were the robbers from the opening scene, and that they are supposed to have some code of conduct, which includes no killing.
ISSUE 2 - Snap Shot
22 pages
_“Second chances don’t come often”
Clint and Malcolm spending time together, we learn about Clint’s past (as a former pro athlete and what went wrong costing him his career), and see their rocky relationship.We learn that the Barracudas are a crowd-funded team (not corporate sponsored), which is how they are able to laudner the money they steal, filtering it through the crowd-sourced platform.
While Clint and Malcolm are out getting food together, they witness a crime in progress, and Clint (who is off duty) leaves Malcolm to go after the perpetrator. Malcolm records the entire pursuit on his Orb, and the video goes viral.
Introduce Safeway, and their CEO Declan Holloway. We learn that he has inherited the company from his late father and is looking to take the company in new directions, which the Board pushes back on heavily. Declan is ultimately voted down, but we’ll soon see that won’t stop him.
The RAMGØD league rules are changing for next season, and all teams are now required to have 5 players, instead of 4. Wood, who is the reigning MVP on a bad team is now a Free Agent, and the sports journalists speculate that he would be a good fit for the Barracudas, and could be the missing piece for them to win The Belt. The Barracudas meet to discuss who to bring on as their 5th member (per new league rules), and Remmer wants to bring on Wood, but Kirin has another suggestion. Having seen the viral video of this cop who appears to be extremely athletic and ballsy, Kirin thinks he could be a potential “fit” in their crew. The group thinks it’s a bad idea because he’s “a fucking cop,” but Kirin is confident that he can turn him. Plus it will add to the fun.
We finally get to meet Malcolm’s mom, Desire, as she comes to grab Malcolm early - she’s pissed about Clint putting her son in danger, and berates him for being a deadbeat dad and a has-been, and threatens that she’s going to need to make their visits supervised going forward. We see that Desire has remarried to a rich guy, the complete opposite of Clint.
Clint, who is at home alone, processing his frustration and what Desire said, suddenly hears a knock on his door. It’s Elsa, who explains that the team saw his video, and wants to invite him to “try out” for the Barracudas.
We finally get to meet Malcolm’s mom, Desire, as she comes to grab Malcolm early - she’s pissed about Clint putting her son in danger, and berates him for being a deadbeat dad and a has-been, and threatens that she’s going to need to make their visits supervised going forward. We see that Desire has remarried to a rich guy, the complete opposite of Clint.
Clint, who is at home alone, processing his frustration and what Desire said, suddenly hears a knock on his door. It’s Elsa, who explains that the team saw his video, and wants to invite him to “try out” for the Barracudas.
ISSUE 3 - Snap Shot
22 pages
_“Initiation”
Clint tells Malcolm that he has been invited to try out for the Barracudas, and Malcolm loses his shit in excitement. This is the first time Clint has ever impressed his son, which just motivates him further.
Tryouts - Clint shows up to the training facility for his tryout. He’s not the only one there, as the Barracudas have invited several other athletes to participate. Clint outperforms the other athletes, and is offered the 6th and final spot on the roster of the Barracudas. In order to join the team, he must quit the police force, and thus give up his pension. It’s a huge risk, but one he decides to take.
After being previously voted down by the Board, Declan goes behind their back and does some shady deal to move the company in the direction he feels is best, regardless of the consequences.
As Clint is pretty unfamiliar with the game, he needs to dedicate himself entirely to training and learning how to play the game. He spends the rest of this issue getting integrated into the crew as they train with him. Malcolm begins to spend more time with his Dad, as he’s becoming his biggest cheerleader, and is interested in the engineering side of the sport. Elsa and Clint seem to have some developing chemistry. Montage scene of Clint training and getting better.
The Barracudas invite Clint (without Malcolm) to join them on a special outing, as the initiation of his training. To his shock, he finds himself participating in a heist. Before he can potentially sabotage it, Kirin tells Clint that if he doesn’t participate, they’ll kill Malcolm, and they show Clint a live video of Malcolm at their place. Clint has no choice but to participate in the crime.
Following the heist, they bring Clint back to their place to see his son, and Clint realizes that Malcolm was invited to hangout there (not kidnapped), and is completely unaware that he was in any danger (or that his dad just committed armed robbery). Malcolm is so in love with this new version of his dad, that Clint is really torn over what he should do. Does he do what’s right, and turn them (and himself) over to authorities, or embrace his new criminal identity and second chance at sports stardom?
We finally get to meet Malcolm’s mom, Desire, as she comes to grab Malcolm early - she’s pissed about Clint putting her son in danger, and berates him for being a deadbeat dad and a has-been, and threatens that she’s going to need to make their visits supervised going forward. We see that Desire has remarried to a rich guy, the complete opposite of Clint.
Clint, who is at home alone, processing his frustration and what Desire said, suddenly hears a knock on his door. It’s Elsa, who explains that the team saw his video, and wants to invite him to “try out” for the Barracudas.
ISSUE 4 - Snap Shot
22 pages
_“In for a Penny, in for a pound”
Cold open - New RAMGØD Season commences. Clint is in his first game. He almost fucks up at first, but manages to rebound and wins his HEAT.
The relationship between Malcolm and Clint continues to grow. Malcolm has also grown fairly close with the team, and has been learning Engineering from Trux.
BC318 has been checking in on his former partner and Malcolm, and seems to be developing a personality - very unusual for a Bot Cop. Malcolm reveals that he made some tweaks to BC’s programming (taking what he learned from Trux). Clint’s whole former precinct has jumped on their former colleague’s bandwagon, as they delight in the fact that a former officer of theirs is now a burgeoning star player in RAMGØD.We see that Wood has joined the reigning champions, the Raiders as their 5th member.
Wood beats Kirin in their head to head HEAT. Elsa suggests that maybe Clint should run as the top seed, sparking a potential rivalry within the team.
Elsa and Clint’s relationship continues to develop, as they finally hook up.
The Barracudas are planning another heist, this time they tell Clint ahead of time. He’s already been complicit in one heist, and they’ve made it clear to him that he’s now on the hook for anything and everything else that they’ve done illegally. Clint reluctantly gives in and agrees. In for a penny, in for a pound.
During the heist, something goes wrong, and it turns into a violent shootout. Trux gets shot. They manage to escape, but Trux dies on the way home.
We finally get to meet Malcolm’s mom, Desire, as she comes to grab Malcolm early - she’s pissed about Clint putting her son in danger, and berates him for being a deadbeat dad and a has-been, and threatens that she’s going to need to make their visits supervised going forward. We see that Desire has remarried to a rich guy, the complete opposite of Clint.
Clint, who is at home alone, processing his frustration and what Desire said, suddenly hears a knock on his door. It’s Elsa, who explains that the team saw his video, and wants to invite him to “try out” for the Barracudas.
ISSUE 5 - Snap Shot
22 pages
_“Change Game”
With no one able to repair Vex and the team’s tech, Kirin recruits Malcolm to be their new engineer - but they don’t tell him Trux›s cause of death (as Malcolm is still in the dark on all of this).
Clint, now seeing that he is slowly pulling his own son into his mess, realizes it’s only a matter of time before he becomes complicit too. Clint needs to do something about it. It’s the Playoffs - Malcolm is now the new lead engineer, gaining notoriety amidst the league for being an emerging star on the tech side. The same two teams make it to the finals, the perfect rematch. The Raiders (with Wood) against the Barracudas (with Clint).One final big heist is being planned before the Finals (Just like last season as seen in issue 1#).
The Heist - During the heist, the Barracudas walk into a trap, the police already knew about it, BC318 is there. Remmer refuses to surrender and gets shot and dies. Kirin destroys BC318, and manages to get away. But Elsa, Clint, and Vex are arrested. We learn that Clint had gone to BC and told him about everything and they laid the trap for them - making sure that BC knew that Malcolm is innocent and he must be protected. Clint knew full well that he would be arrested and charged for his previous actions, but didn’t care, he chose to do what was right. The Barracudas see that their newest teammate sold them (and himself) out. And now they’re all going to jail (except for Kirin who got away).
The last scene is Clint in an interrogation room, where the cops explain that a special agent wishes to speak with him. They leave the room, and in walks the agent... It’s Wood. He has been working undercover for a while, but on a much larger case that involved heavy corruption and criminal activity within The Games. He wants Clint’s help, and offers him a deal that will allow him to potentially avoid serving time, if he agrees to work with him.
END Vol 1.
We finally get to meet Malcolm’s mom, Desire, as she comes to grab Malcolm early - she’s pissed about Clint putting her son in danger, and berates him for being a deadbeat dad and a has-been, and threatens that she’s going to need to make their visits supervised going forward. We see that Desire has remarried to a rich guy, the complete opposite of Clint.
Clint, who is at home alone, processing his frustration and what Desire said, suddenly hears a knock on his door. It’s Elsa, who explains that the team saw his video, and wants to invite him to “try out” for the Barracudas.
SEASON 2/ GN Vol 2
This season is all about the corruption in Safeway and its ties to the Games. Wood and Clint become partners as they look to expose the corruption. Declan Holloway is the main antagonist. We also introduce a host of new characters. Higher stakes, slimmer odds, more dangerous games.