PAUL AXEL

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PANEL ONE: WIDE SHOT. WE LOOK OUT OVER A VAST AND COLD FOREST. THIS IS THE TAIGA OF EASTERN SIBERIA. THE SUN IS BEGINNING TO SET, CASTING LONG SHADOWS ACROSS THE TREES. IT IS BEAUTIFUL, IN A VERY STARK WAY.

 

1 CAP: It was April, 1928. 

 

2 CAP: We had been in Eastern Siberia for almost a month. On the hunt for a myth.

 

PANEL TWO: SHOT OF A CLEARING. IN THAT CLEARING, WE CAN SEE A SMALL CAMPFIRE WITH THREE TENTS AROUND IT. SIX FIGURES ARE SITTING AROUND THAT FIRE.

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1 CAP: I was assigned because my family is from Siberia, so they assumed I knew how to survive out here.

 

PANEL THREE: WE ARE CLOSER IN, AND WE CAN SEE THE SIX SITTING AROUND THE FIRE. TWO ARE WOMEN. THEY, AND TWO OTHER MEN ARE DRESSED IN THE UNIFORMS AND OVERCOATS OF THE RED ARMY. ONE MAN IS DRESSED IN THE LEATHERS OF A MEMBER OF THE KOMISSARIAT (POLITICAL OFFICERS). THE LAST MAN IS CLEARLY A CIVILIAN. NO DIALOGUE

 

PANEL FOUR: THE YOUNGER MALE SOLDIER IS SPEAKING EXCITEDLY. THERE’S A LOOK OF AWE ON HIS FACE. THIS SOLDIER IS YULI SEDOVSKY, THE FRESHEST RECRUIT.

 

1 YULI: Will you ever write a sequel to Red Star, Doctor Bogdanov? I’ve waited so long!

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2 CAP: Yuli was an admirer of the man. Liked his science fiction stories. Men from Mars, and all that.

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PANEL FIVE: THE CIVILIAN, A BEARDED MAN IN HIS FIFTIES, IS LOOKING AT YULI APPRECIATIVELY. THIS IS ALEXANDER BOGDANOV. THE MAN IN LEATHER, SEATED NEXT TO ALEXANDER, IS EVGENY DENISOV, A LOW-RANKING POLITICAL OFFICER ASSIGNED TO KEEP BOGDANOV IN LINE. HE GIVES BOGDANOV THE SIDE-EYE.

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1 ALEXANDER: Well, young Sedovsky, I happen to have a poem --

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2 EVGENY: Tovarich Bogdanov will have a sequel if the PARTY deems it proper.

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PANEL SIX: BOGDANOV GIVES THE STINK EYE TO DENISOV. NO DIALOGUE.