Ultraverse Sludge - Swamp Of Souls

[BruceReville]

Anyone have a copy of the zip file for this? I used to have it a lonng time ago, but that computer died and now Steve Gerber's site no longer has it availeable for download. Anyone? Please.

[chisumwomack]

I have the 12 issues of Sludge in CBR format. Don't know if that is what you need or not.

[BruceReville]

I have the 12 issues of Sludge in CBR format. Don't know if that is what you need or not.

Thanks but no. What I am looking for is an unpublished script to Swamp of Souls. It was availeable through Steve Gerber's site for the longest and now its not. I was hoping someone here might have a copy of that file. But Thanks Again.

[Knightt]

I used to have this somewhere. I think it may be on one of my external HDs, I will check.

I do have the entire Ultraverse-verse on .cbr and love the heck outta it.

MAN, I miss the Ultraverse... those were some good times.

[BruceReville]

Yeah I have every issue as well on CD - I love popping it in at times and just reading through a whole run at once - I was thinking of one day cutting n pasting the pages into one big story. That should be a feat.

[Phantom..]

Sludge was what lead me to ultra verse. Never knew about this, still trying to complete other du,s.
I will download the info aswell if it becomes available.

Good luck.

[BruceReville]

Still hoping

[gambleslam]

I am new to this forum, but I like Sludge

Can someone tell me a good way to upload the script/document? Here is the first 20 pages (the whole thing goes over the text limit for one post). But just pasting the text here does not get all the panel layouts and stuff pasted correctly. Thanks.

“Swamp of Souls"
Written by Steve Gerber
November 20, 1995
LEXICON
B/G — Background M/G — Middle ground
C/U — Close-up O/P — Off-panel
D/S — Down shot POV — Point of view
E/S — Establishing shot S/S — Side shot (profile)
F/F — Full-figure shot U/S — Up shot
F/G — Foreground W/A — Wide Angle
L/S — Long shot

PAGE ONE
(1)
LARGE PANEL. Leave room for title and credits in the art and space for indicia at the bottom of the page.
FLASHBACK: One year ago. Moments after page 24 of Sludge #4. New York Harbor. U/S from water level to the mouth of a large (about twelve feet in diameter) sewer pipe extending out of a concrete retaining wall. SLUDGE is standing in the pipe with one arm extended out over the water with his hand wide open. He’s just dropped the dead body of VEFFIR VOON IYAX, the talking alligator toward the water. The body is falling, face-first, directly into our POV. Veff’s tongue is hanging loosely from his limp jaws, and his “neck” is clearly broken.
1 BLURB: One year ago.
2 BLURB: New York Harbor.
3 BLURB: “In my world,” the reptile had growled, “I am the subject of a proverb: ‘No entity meets VEFFIR VOON IYAX more than once.’”
4 BLURB: In Sludge’s case, at least, it proved TRUE.
5 BLURB: After their battle in the sewers, NO ONE would ever meet Veffir Voon Iyax again.
CREDITS: [BOXED; SET IN TYPE]
STEVE GERBER [PENCILLER NAME] [INKER NAME] [COLORIST NAME]
Writer Pencils Inker Color Design
[COLOR TEAM] [YOUR NAME] ROLAND MANN
Interior Colors Letterer Editor
(2)
Inset panel. C/U on Sludge. He spits into the water. Good riddance!
6 SLUDGE: (SLUDGE BURST; BOLD LOWERCASE LETTERING) =sptoooi=
7 SLUDGE: (SLUDGE BALLOON) Give my regrets-- REGARDS-- to the sea orphans.
8 SLUDGE: (SAME) Urchins.
PAGE TWO
(1)
Sludge turns and walks away, back into the sewer pipe.
1 SLUDGE: (SLUDGE BALLOON) After while, alligator...!
2 SLUDGE: (SAME) See you...
3 SLUDGE: (SAME) Damn head.
(2)
Veff’s body in the water, sloshing amid the usual trash: beer cans and assorted waste paper, a bridal veil, some unidentifiable bones, etc. The body is just starting to sink.
4 BLURB: Reduced from fearsome predator to insignificant flotsam, Veffir Voon Iyax drifted out to sea.
(3)
Suddenly, the prow of a boat—something the size of a Coast Guard cutter, not a speedboat—headed out to sea runs right over Veff’s body, breaking its back and ploughing it underwater.
5 BLURB: His final journey would not be peaceful.
(4)
L/S: Underwater. Borne by the churning water, Veff’s body travels under the hull of the ship, toward the stern.
6 BLURB: His REMAINS would suffer the same brutal indifference he accorded his VICTIMS.
(5)
C/U on the ship’s propeller. Veff’s tail catches on the propeller and winds around its stem.
7 BLURB: His BONES would be snapped and ground by the machinery of mere men.
8 BLURB: His FLESH would curb the HUNGER of foragers as savage as himself.
(6)
Rear angle on the ship, sailing out toward the Statue of Liberty, unaware that it’s towing Veff’s body with it.
9 BLURB: And the cruelest blow of all-- in time, he would be FORGOTTEN.
10 BLURB: Even by the one who SLEW him.

PAGE THREE
FULL-PAGE SHOT. PSEUDO-FLASHBACK (actually a Sludge hallucination). Circa fifty years ago. A hi-tone Manhattan nightclub of the 1940’s. On the raised platform stage, Sludge, dressed in white tie and tails, is leading a swing band whose members include LORD PUMPKIN on clarinet, PISTOL on drums, BLOODSTORM on sax, VEFF on trumpet, Whale’s ZOMBIE (Sludge #5) on trombone, and the transformed MISS CHIU at a glistening white grand piano. The white-and-gold music stands in front of each musician are emblazoned with the with the initials “FH” in decorative script. Fronting the band as its singer is EDNA. She’s standing at an old-style microphone (large, circular in shape), dressed in a long, but tight-fitting sequined evening gown provocatively slit up one leg. In F/G, we can see the silhouetted heads of couples dancing to the music.
1 BLURB: FIFTY years ago.
2 BLURB: Somewhere beyond remembering.
3 BLURB: The elegant EDNA, backed by FRANKIE HOAG & HIS 7th AVENUE SEXTET, serenades the after‑theatre crowd.
4 EDNA: (UPPER & LOWER CASE; ITALICS; MUSICAL NOTES; BREAK LINES AS INDICATED, PLEASE, SO THE WORDS SCAN AS SONG LYRICS)

Bie meir bist du sludge,
Please don’t hold a grudge,
Bie meir bist du sludge
Means you’re a shtoonk.
PAGE FOUR
(1)
Closer on Edna, singing. The microphone—which suddenly has facial features: gleaming eyes, slavering jaws, monstrous reptilian fangs—is leaping off its standing, trailing its cord. The effect should be snake-like, with the microphone itself as the snake’s head and the cord as its body.
1 EDNA: (UPPER & LOWER CASE; ITALICS; MUSICAL NOTES; BREAK LINES AS INDICATED, PLEASE, SO THE WORDS SCAN AS SONG LYRICS)

Bie meir bist du sludge,
You smell like molding fudge...
Bie m--
2 EDNA: For the love of mike-- what--?!
(2)
Edna screams and knocks over the microphone stand, as the mike loops its cord around her, pinning her arms to her sides.
3 EDNA: (BURST; DOUBLE-UNDERLINES OPEN FOR COLOR) HOAG-- HELP!!
(3)
Sludge hurls his baton away and charges toward Edna to help.
4 SLUDGE: (SLUDGE BURST) SLOP THE MUSIC--!!
(4)
In the second or two it took Sludge to react, the microphone has wrapped its cord around and around Edna’s entire body. The end of the cord with the microphone is wrapped around Edna’s neck, and is choking the life of out of her. Sludge tries desperately to pull the cord from her body, but it’s no use. She’s dying.
5 SLUDGE: Hang on, baby-- we got every WORM on TAPE--!
6 SLUDGE: Every tapeworm...!
7 SLUDGE: Every WORD on...!
(5)
C/U on Edna, as the last breath is squeezed out of her, and her face turns a lifeless blue.
8 VOICE: (OFF-PANEL) I knew it-- I KNEW it!!
9 VOICE: (OFF-PANEL; BURST) She’s wearin’ a WIRE--!
PAGE FIVE
(1)
FLASHBACK: Two years ago. “Match cut” from Page Five, Panel 5 to Edna’s face (she’s now wearing a different, much more contemporary hairdo) with a human hand around her throat.
1 BLURB: TWO years ago.
2 BLURB: At the corner of Dread and Memory.
3 VOICE: (OFF-PANEL) You said you TRUSTED her, man!
4 INDIAN: (OFF-PANEL) Now, how am I supposed to trust YOU?
(2)
Interior: seedy Manhattan hotel room. Night. Wider shot of Edna and her antagonists. At center of panel, Edna is in the grip of a huge South American Indian type, a brawny Mayan in an Armani suit. Her blouse has been ripped open to reveal her waist encircled by straps of adhesive tape, holding a microphone and battery pack tightly to her body.
The Indian’s other arm is extended past Edna’s head, firing a gun at a Man (Caucasian, about Edna’s age) at left of panel. The bullet is blasting through the Man’s chest.
At right of panel, in B/G, the Indian’s two confederates—also of Mayan descent, but not as well-dressed—are gathering up stacks of money and sealed plastic bags of cocaine, and stuffing them into a couple of attache cases.
5 INDIAN: He’s eatin’ lunch with JESUS, muchacha-- and you--
6 INDIAN: You’re gonna look SO UGLY with your brains blowed out--!
(3)
Angle past the Indian’s head, in F/G, as he turns to look toward the door of the room. It’s swinging wide open as FRANK HOAG, followed by a couple of uniformed cops, bursts in. All three have their guns drawn.
7 HOAG: (DOUBLE BALLOON BORDER; OPEN FOR COLOR) FREEZE!!
(4)
Tight angle on Edna and the Indian. Grinning, he shoves the barrel of his gun into her mouth.
NO COPY
(5)
Tight angle on Hoag. He fires!
NO COPY
(6)
C/U on the Indian. A startled look on his face, as Hoag’s bullet bores a hole right between his eyes.
NO COPY

PAGE SIX
(1)
Exterior: the seedy hotel. Hoag and Edna are coming down the sidewalk, toward our POV. Hoag has his arm around her shoulder, and Edna is wearing his trench coat over her ripped blouse. In B/G, we see an ambulance pulling up and the two uniformed cops shoving the Indian’s confederates into the back seat of a squad car.
1 HOAG: That took STONES, kid. You did good.
2 EDNA: Does that mean you’ll drop the CHARGES against me‑‑ or do I go on PAYING for my mistake FOREVER?
3 HOAG: There’s OTHER ways to pay for your mistake...
4 EDNA: Let me guess. MY place or yours?
(2)
Interior: Edna’s apartment. The bedroom. Edna, wearing very little, is lying in bed, smoking a cigarette and looking indifferent. Hoag, still fully dressed, is standing at the window, his back to her.
5 BLURB: Hers.
6 HOAG: I know it’s corny, but...I’d feel BETTER about this if I thought you LIKED me a little.
7 EDNA: I can TOLERATE you, Hoag. Don’t ask for the moon.
8 EDNA: Anyway, why SHOULD you feel better about USING me?
(3)
Small panel. Close on Hoag, looking back over his shoulder at O/P Edna. There’s a sad, almost childlike smile on his face.
9 HOAG: Damn. When she's right, she’s right...!
(4)
Hoag has turned around to face her. He shrugs. She sits up in bed, looking offended.
10 HOAG: Forget it, Edna. You earned your break. Stay CLEAN, and I won’t bother you again.
11 EDNA: Listen to the high and mighty *SQUEE* COP!
12 EDNA: All of a sudden, I’m not FINE enough for New York’s finest--?!
(5)
Hoag starts for the door. Edna is bounding off the bed to stop him.
13 HOAG: I’m having an attack of CONSCIENCE, that’s all.
14 EDNA: Yeah? Well, I’M having an attack of HORNINESS!
15 EDNA: Happens every time I almost get my HEAD shot off--!
(6)
Tight on Edna and Hoag. He puts up only token resistance, as she grabs his face in her hands and kisses him passionately.
NO COPY
PAGE SEVEN
(1)
Interior: A working class bar, several weeks later. Hoag and Niall Quinn are having a drink. Quinn is needling Hoag about sleeping with his informant and enjoying Hoag’s obvious irritation.
1 BLURB: Mulligan’s Bar. Ninth Avenue.
2 BLURB: Some weeks later.
3 QUINN: Sleeping with your INFORMANT-- christ, you got a SUICIDE WISH, Hoag?
4 QUINN: You know what they’ll DO to you if it comes out at TRIAL?
5 HOAG: We got the TAPE as evidence. It’s not gonna matter.
(2)
Closer on Hoag. Takes a sip from his glass and shoots a sidelong glare at Quinn.
6 HOAG: Besides, we didn’t get involved till the operation was OVER.
7 HOAG: There’s no ETHICS violation.
(3)
Hoag gets up to leave. Quinn continues the ribbing.
8 QUINN: Yeah, right. I mean, how could a little PILLOW TALK influence a witness...?
9 QUINN: Hey, what’s the RUSH? Meeting her for DINNER?
10 HOAG: Shut up and get DRUNK, Quinn.
11 HOAG: You’re BETTER at that than humor.
(4)
Exterior: Edna’s apartment building. Evening. (Give this building some distinctive feature—maybe a large address number over the door—so we’ll recognize it when we see it again on Page 19.) Hoag approaches just as she’s coming out the doors. He’s still ten or so yards away. Leaning against the far side of the stoop from Hoag is a WINO—wool cap, tattered overcoat, shabby pants and shoes—with a bottle dangling casually from one hand. Neither Hoag nor Edna pays any attention to him. She’s waving to Hoag, calling out hello.
12 BLURB: Shortly...
13 HOAG: (THOT) Hell, if I WROTE OUT her testimony for her‑‑ and ADMITTED it-- she’d still be more credible than--
14 EDNA: Frank-- HELLO!
(5)
Closer on Edna and the Wino. As she steps down onto the sidewalk, he whirls and flings the contents of the bottle in her face. She reacts, startled.
15 WINO: Hey, lady-- buy ya a DRINK?
PAGE EIGHT
(1)
Inset panel. perspective shot down the sidewalk. In B/G, the strange guy, seen from back, is already off and running. Hoag has started to run after him, but halts, reacting to a SCREAM from O/P in Edna’s direction.
1 HOAG: Crazy s.o.b.-- why the hell did you--?
2 HOAG: FREEZE, or I’ll--
SFX: (SCREAM) huuuaaaaaa
(2)
LARGE INSET PANEL. Close on Edna. She looks up, still screaming. Her face has been doused with acid, and it’s burning badly.
SFX: (SCREAM) ooohgaaaahhd
(3)
END FLASHBACK: LARGE PANEL. The present. In the sewers. Tight angle on Sludge, sitting up suddenly in the stream of sewage where he’d been sleeping. His eyes are bulging; his mouth is wide open in a bellow of helpless rage. He looks as if he’s awakened from a nightmare in what, for humans, would be a cold sweat. This wasn’t like any of his other hallucinations concerning Edna. He’s just dreamed what actually happened between the two of them!
3 BLURB: Metropolitan Sewer District.
4 BLURB: The present.
5 BLURB: The former Frank Hoag awakes from a nightmare, bellowing in terror and rage.
6 BLURB: He shivers.
7 BLURB: The sewage that encases his human remnants has turned clammy. It clings like cold sweat to the contorted flesh beneath.
PAGE NINE
(1)
Longer shot. Sludge, looking very shaky, knees buckling a little, gets to his feet. He has to lean on the wall of the sewer to support himself. He reacts, glancing back over his shoulder, to a voice from O/P.
1 VOICE: (OFF-PANEL) Finally REMEMBERED, huh?
(2)
He turns around to see the semi-transparent hallucinatory Edna floating in the air above the sewage stream. She’s dressed exactly as we saw her on Pages Seven and Eight, and her face is badly disfigured—burned.
2 EDNA: Ready to remember the REST of it, Hoag?
3 EDNA: How you never CAUGHT the guy...?
4 EDNA: How that CHANGED you...?
5 SLUDGE: No.
(3)
Another angle. Sludge turns, starts to walk away from Edna. She floats through the air after him.
6 EDNA: How you drifted away from your FRIENDS...?
7 EDNA: The CHOICE you made when you found out what my SURGERY would cost...?
8 SLUDGE: NO, DAMMIT--!
(4)
Past the vanishing figure of Edna to Sludge as he tromps away into the sewers.
9 EDNA: You’re changing AGAIN, Hoag. Something’s eating at you from INSIDE.
10 EDNA: Sooner or later, you’ll have to deal with the TRUTH.
11 SLUDGE: Later...
(5)
Perspective shot down the sewer. Sludge has become just a tiny figure in the darkness.
12 SLUDGE: MUCH later...
PAGE TEN
(1)
Exterior: under the Atlantic Ocean. The present. A shark slices through the water. Clamped in the shark’s jaws is the skeletal tail of Veffir Voon Iyax. What’s left of the body—also mostly skeletal, but with ragged patches of alligator skin and meat clinging here and there to the bones—dangles beneath the shark and drags along the ocean bottom as it swims.
1 BLURB: Again, the present.
2 BLURB: Under the Atlantic Ocean.
3 BLURB: The few patches of MEAT left clinging to the remnants of Veffir Voon Iyax provide a SNACK for a passing traveler.
(2)
Longer shot. At left of panel, Thirty or so feet ahead of the shark, a strange, glittering turbulence is forming in the water. The shark is swimming straight toward it.
4 BLURB: On the BRIGHTER SIDE, however...
(3)
The shark attempts to swim through the turbulence, but instead slams into it, snout first. The shark’s jaws open, dropping Veff’s body. (The glittering stuff is an energy field of some kind.)
5 BLURB: The shark’s jaws are destined to be the PENULTIMATE stop on his excursion into indignity.
(4)
As the shark turns tail and swims away, the turbulence takes the form of a breach, like the one we saw in Dr. Lalama’s New York apartment in Sludge #11. Veff’s body drifts toward the breach...
6 BLURB: A force DISTINCT from chance or nature has seen fit, albeit a year too late, to INTERVENE on his behalf...
(5)
...and into it. We should see the lower half of Veff’s body still on the earth side. His head and upper torso have vanished into the breach.
7 BLURB: ...and summon him HOME.


PAGE ELEVEN
(1)
LARGE PANEL. W/A. The other side of the breach. Night. We’re in the same swamp that Sludge, Shelley, and the Bash Brothers visited in Sludge #11! This breach, though, isn’t located in mid-air like the one Dr. Lalama accidentally created. It’s sitting right on the water of the swamp and positioned so that the lip of its bottom touches dry land.
Two ALLIGATOR-MEN of the same race as Veff (we’ll call them HESSSHITES) are pulling his skeletal remains out of the breach onto the shore. A half-dozen other male and female Hessshites stand a little way back on shore, weeping and wailing. Prominent among this group is a character we’ll call AMBROVE UHOK, a priest or medicine man of the tribe. He’s leading the others in a mourning ritual. Standing beside Ambrove Uhok is PAH GORAH, a young female Hessshite, consumed with grief.
Note: While the Hessshites are of the same race as Veffir Voon Iyax, there are two immediately noticeable differences:
(1) They’re smaller—closer to human size. (The size of Veff’s skeleton should make this apparent.)
(2) They wear clothes!
The males: With the exception of Ambrove Uhok, all are dressed in simple robes of coarse, plain cloth, much like Jesus’s apostles. The robes have a slit in back to accommodate their Hessshites’ tails.
Ambrove Uhok: Think of him as Pope Alligator I—a religious figure, not a wizard type. He wears a long, red cassock that reaches down almost to his “ankles” and, on his head, a miter studded with gems. (The cassock, of course, is slit up the back for his tail.) He carries a tall pastoral staff topped with a golden alligator head. The eyes of the alligator head are glittering rubies.
The females: They wear strange little headdresses that suggest a feminine coiffure. They also wear jewelry of a sort—necklaces and bracelets made of bones and animal teeth intermingled with precious metals and gems. On their bodies, they wear sleeveless tunic-type garments made of the same cloth as the males’ robes. The tunics are cinched tight at the waist, and, also like the males’ robes, slit up the back. The Hessshite females do not have long eyelashes, visible mammary glands, or long human-like hair.
Pah Gorah: She’s Hessshite aristocracy and dressed a bit more finely than the other females. She’d be wearing a long gown with flowing scarves of some gauzy material. And, yeah, it’s slit up the back, also. This is a universal feature of Hessshite clothing.
1 BLURB: Moments later, and untold LIGHT YEARS away, others of his kind pull the carcass from this gash in the fabric of space.
2 PAH GORAH: O wise AMBROVE UHOK-- are you CERTAIN this is he?
3 PAH GORAH: I implore you‑‑ say that some ghastly MISTAKE has been made!
4 PAH GORAH: (STAGGERED, LOWERCASE LETTERING) hsssh

(2)
Tight on one of the Pah Gorah and Ambrove Uhok. Pah Gorah is weeping profusely, tears pouring down her snout. Ambrove is placing a consoling hand on her shoulder.
5 AMBROVE: Alas, PAH GORAH, I employed the keenest of my skills to ATTUNE the breach to Iyax’s psychic signature.
6 AMBROVE: (STAGGERED, LOWERCASE LETTERING) hsssh
7 AMBROVE: There can be no error. This WAS Veffir Voon Iyax.
(3)
Close on Pah Gorah, tears still streaming.
8 PAH GORAH: I LOVED him, Uhok‑‑ but had not the COURAGE to follow where he led‑‑
9 PAH GORAH: --to cast aside all trappings of civilization‑‑ and BURST the very bounds of the WORLD!
(4)
Longer shot. Veff’s remains now lie on the muddy ground. Ambrove Uhok stands over them, head bowed.
10 AMBROVE: Few DID, my child.
11 AMBROVE: Perhaps few ever SHALL.
12 AMBROVE: (STAGGERED, LOWERCASE LETTERING) hsssh
13 AMBROVE: Prepare a FUNERAL procession. We must bear our fallen tribesman to the CITY.
PAGES TWELVE & THIRTEEN
(1)
DOUBLE-PAGE SPREAD - NIGHT
In F/G, seen from back, moving solemnly down a grassy slope toward the city, is the funeral procession, led by Ambrove Uhok. Immediately behind him are two Hessshite women carrying torches. Behind them, four men carry a makeshift bier—more like a stretcher, really; woven out of reeds and vines from the swamp—on which rests Veff’s body. Bringing up the rear are the rest of the Hessshites from the swamp, also carrying torches.
Spread out below them, surrounded by swamp foliage on an immense, eerie scale, is THE KINGDOM OF HESSSH.
It’s a walled city on the order of first-century Jerusalem. As ancient cities go, this isn’t a small place—it’s home to perhaps 50-100,000 Hessshites.
The city’s main gate is a massive sculpture of an alligator head with jaws open wide. You have to pass through the alligator’s jaws to enter the city.
Most of the city’s structures are built of mud or stone. There are minarets, domes, spires, multi-story habitations. The city is lit by torches, braziers, and lanterns.
The swamp waters around the city are patrolled by Hessshite troops riding in primitive “swamp buggies.” These are constructed entirely of wood, however, and instead of propellers, though, these have paddle wheels, like the old Mississippi River steamboats. The paddle wheels are turned by energy from a baseball-sized chunk of the star foam seen in various issues of The Strangers. (It looks like chunks of Styrofoam, basically.)
In the sky over the city, there’s air traffic—auto-gyro type craft constructed like ships with wooden hulls and metal girding. The bodies of these craft are cigar-shaped. The pilots and passengers sit in bucket-like seats with their heads and shoulders protruding from the top of the craft. The auto-gyro propellers also utilize the star foam as their power source.
Far in the distance, the swampland turns into forest and then rises into a range of jagged mountains.
There’s no moon, but the sky is thick with stars—enough to provide the light of a full moon on earth. Although the Hessshites don’t know it, they live on the Alderson disc (a.k.a. the Godwheel) in an area of the galaxy where the stars are much more closely clustered.
Take some time with the design of this place. We want it to inspire awe and send a bit of a chill up the reader’s spine—and make it worth the double-page spread.
1 BLURB: Some hours later, at the far end of the swamp, the procession approaches the HATCHING PLACE of Veffir Voon Iyax and the thousand generations that preceded him...
2 BLURB: THE KINGDOM OF HESSSH!
3 BLURB: From the ramparts to the highest towers to the marshy streets, the CRY goes out:
4 BLURB: A noble son of Hesssh has returned, without his life.
(2)
Inset panel. Circular vignette at lower right of Page 13.
Exterior: Looking through a tower window of a large, opulent house—not quite a palace, but definitely the home of a wealthy family. Framed in the window are VEFFIR VOON EEYAX, Iyax’s brother, and his consort, ATUU ITME. They’re looking out over the city, toward the O/P funeral procession. Neither seems particularly unhappy at the sight. In fact, it seems to be all Itme can do to keep from laughing with glee.
Veffir Voon Eeyax: He’s smaller than his brother and has a more “refined” look about him. From the finery he wears—gold-trimmed robes with his family crest, the tail of an alligator, embroidered on them— it’s clear that he’s a very wealthy and prominent Hessshite. Think of him as the alligator equivalent of a Roman senator.
Atuu Itme: What Delilah would have looked like if she’d been born an alligator. Be careful with the design of this character, because we can’t go for the obvious—i.e., big eyelashes, lipstick, etc. Like the other female Hessshites, Itme has to be believable. Give her a jeweled tiara; necklaces; bracelets; rings on her “fingers;” a decoration at the end of her tail—the equivalent of a pierced earring; strings of pearls worn as thongs on her feet. (We won’t be able to see her tail or feet in this shot, of course.) Dress her in something that lends the impression of a sexy human female figure: maybe a flimsy halter that leaves her midriff exposed, a tight skirt slit suggestively up one leg (as well as in back). Most importantly, she should have the body language of a seductress.
5 EEYAX: So it’s TRUE-- Ambrove Uhok found the BODY.
6 EEYAX: My BROTHER is dead.
7 ITME: Heavens. What a tragedy.
8 ITME: (STAGGERED, LOWERCASE LETTERING) hrr-hrr
PAGE FOURTEEN
(1)
Interior: the tower room. Eeyax has turned away from the window and is walking toward the center of the room. He’s not grieving, but he’s troubled. Itme, still near the window, poses provocatively.
1 EEYAX: Be not so quick to REJOICE, Itme. Iyax, not I, was elected HEIR to the HOUSE OF VEFFIR.
2 EEYAX: Without the support of the populace‑‑ including his FOLLOWERS‑‑ I have no CLAIM on our legacy.
3 ITME: Perhaps you should throw off your CLOTHES, like HE did. I wouldn’t mind...!
(2)
Itme, doing her best seductress routine, fairly slithers toward Eeyax. She looks like she’s about to break into the Dance of the Seven Veils. Eeyax regards her with a mixture of desire and frustration. He wants her, but he wishes she’d take this situation a little more seriously.
4 ITME: BACK TO PREDATION!
5 ITME: We’ve lost touch with MOTHER MUD!
6 ITME: Civilization has dulled our SENSES, numbed our INSTINCTS!
7 EEYAX: YOURS appear intact.
(3)
Itme is practically slithering against Eeyax’s body, teasing his snout with her dancing fingers. It’s taking all of Eeyax’s will to control himself.
8 EEYAX: You and I may SNEER at Iyax’s PREDATORI movement, but others DO NOT.
9 EEYAX: And THEY will demand RETRIBUTION for his death.
10 ITME: Naturally‑‑ and that YOU be the one to exact it.
11 ITME: It becomes, therefore, a matter of PERSUASION.
(4)
Close on Eeyax and Itme’s faces. She “kisses” him on the side of the snout.
12 ITME: We must convince them they crave a LEADER‑‑ not another MARTYR.
13 ITME: (STAGGERED, LOWERCASE LETTERING) hrh-hrh
PAGE FIFTEEN
(1)
LARGE PANEL. Exterior: WIDE DOWN ANGLE on a torchlit square in the center of Hesssh. Later, but still night.
In the center of the courtyard, the mud-splattered remains of Veffir Voon Iyax lie in state on a stone bier. Ambrove Uhok stands at the head of the bier. He holds a chalice filled with swamp mud, and he’s chucking handfuls of it onto the body. (Sort of a swampland “ashes to ashes” ritual.) Standing at Iyax’s right hand, are Eeyax and Itme. Eeyax is speaking to the crowd, faking a posture of courage in the face of bereavement. She’s giving him that look of unconditional love that Ronald Reagan always got from Nancy.
Encircling the bier, several steps back from The plaza is filled with mourning Hessshites. Most are just weeping. But some are on their knees, wailing to the heavens. And others, zealots, are flagellating themselves with weird little whips attached to the ends of their tails.
1 BLURB: A short time later...
2 AMBROVE: From mud didst thou arise, to mud thou dost return...!
3 EEYAX: Citizens of Hesssh! I know the THIRST that blisters your gullets-- and the only POTION that can QUENCH it!
4 EEYAX: I beseech you, Ambrove Uhok-- work your DIVINATIONS on my brother’s BONES!
(2)
Angle on Ambrove Uhok, gripping one of Iyax’s ribs with each hand. (He’s handed the chalice of mud to an “altar boy” at his side.) Ambrove Uhok’s eyes are glazed. He’s going into some kind of trance. The Hessshites around him bow their heads reverently.
5 EEYAX: (OFF-PANEL) Show me the FACE of his SLAYER!
6 AMBROVE: Yes...yes...it is here...
7 AMBROVE: Etched deep in the bone...in the scrawl of eternal LOATHING...
(3)
With a sudden yank of both arms, Ambrove Uhok pulls up on Iyax’s ribs, breaking them from the body. As he does so, a misty, semi-transparent image of Sludge rises from Iyax’s remains. The Hessshites around Ambrove Uhok draw back in horror!
8 AMBROVE: (DOUBLE BALLOON BORDER; OPEN FOR COLOR) BEHOLD-- THE ASSASSIN!
(4)
Angle on Eeyax. He raises a fist to the heavens and swears an oath of vengeance.
9 EEYAX: I swear to you, brethren-- I shall CROSS OVER to the realm where Iyax met his end--
10 EEYAX: --and deliver unto you this DEMON, so that all may drink of its BLOOD!

PAGE SIXTEEN
(1)
Perhaps a little too dramatically, Itme throws herself at Eeyax’s feet and clasps her arms around his legs. He turns his head away, as if he doesn’t want to hear what she’s saying.
1 ITME: No! NO! We shall not ALLOW it!
2 ITME: You are the LAST of the House of Veffir! Your obligation is to POSTERITY-- to live, to SPAWN!
(2)
Angle on a thoughtful Ambrove Uhok and several other Hessshites, looking toward O/P Eeyax. Their reaction is less hysterical, but substantially the same.
3 AMBROVE: Atuu Itme is CORRECT, Eeyax. You cannot place yourself at risk. Your clan is as VENERABLE as our kingdom itself.
4 AMBROVE: You must find ANOTHER to undertake the quest.
(3)
Angle over the heads of the crowd to Eeyax. His eyes are downcast, his fists clenched; he’s exhibiting the burden of his station in life, and playing it to the hilt.
5 EEYAX: You cannot DENY me vengeance! I MUST--
6 VOICE: (FREE-FLOATING BALLOON; NO POINTER) No!
7 VOICE: (SAME) Stay!
8 VOICE: (SAME) Your seed--
9 VOICE: (SAME) Your duty--
10 VOICE: (SAME) The pool--
11 VOICE: (SAME) Long live Veffir--
(4)
Small panel. Angle on Eeyax, arms at his sides, head bowed in resignation.
12 EEYAX: You have spoken. I accept your will.
13 EEYAX: (STAGGERED, LOWERCASE LETTERING) hrssh
(5)
Eeyax strikes a dramatic pose, pointing toward the distant mountains.
14 EEYAX: Come the morn, I shall depart for the MOUNTAINS OF MUUT to engage a stalker from among the SMOOTHBODIES.
15 EEYAX: And if necessary, all the RICHES of my house shall be committed to this cause!
(6)
Eeyax and Itme, in F/G, are walking away, arm in arm, from the cheering crowd.
16 EEYAX: Was I CONVINCING, Itme?
17 ITME: Indeed, my love.
18 ITME: But when the time comes, let ME negotiate the PRICE.


PAGE SEVENTEEN
(1)
CUT TO: Next day. W/A. An encampment of the MUUTARS (description to follow) in the Mountains of Muut. It looks like exactly what it is: the aftermath of a biker party! The Muutars are a barbarian motorcycle gang. Their bikes, like the Hessshite swamp buggies and flying machines, are constructed of wood with metal girding, and powered by star foam. (The chunk of star foam could be placed either where the headlight would be, or under the seat, like a gas tank.)
Of those Muutars we can see, most are sprawled on the ground, dead drunk, with their “old ladies” draped over them. The ground is strewn with half-eaten food—pieces of a beast carcass, assorted fruits and berries, etc.—and empty kegs, bottles, pitchers, and goblets.
There’s only one tent. It’s black, trimmed in silver, and the largest and meanest of the bikes is parked at its flap. Like the others, this bike is wooden, but there are metal studs on the wheels and the axles extend out into razor-sharp saw-like instruments. (Think of the villain’s chariot in Ben Hur.)
Eeyax and Itme are landing in one of the Hessshite flying machines. One of the Muutars is looking up at the flying machine through a drunken haze and calling out.
The Muutars: They’re humanoid—hence the designation “smooth­bodies”—but not quite human. Instead of hair, they have floppy vestigial fins on their heads. In the interest of visual variety, we can assume they treat these fins like hair, cutting, shaping, and decorating them. They wear mainly animal hides and cloth, but let’s give them an almost punkish look—rips in odd places, bizarre ornamentation.
1 BLURB: The Mountains of Muut.
2 BLURB: Shortly after sunrise.
3 MUUTAR: PRINCESS DIE! Visitors from the lowland!
(2)
Close on the flap of the black tent. F/F shot of PRINCESS DIE, as she steps out of the tent. She’s looking in the direction of the flying machine and is clearly less than joyous about its arrival.
Princess Die: What we’ve got here is an alien sex-and-death goddess. She’s dressed entirely in black and silver: a short-sleeved chain mail shirt that covers her shoulders and breasts but leaves her midriff bare; a short, black leather skirt that hangs akimbo on her hips; black knee-high boots. On her back she wears the sheath of a long, samurai-style curved sword.
She wears the sheath of a knife strapped to one thigh. Her fingernails are very long and painted silver. She’s cut her fin so that it stands straight up on her head like a comb. The top edge of the comb is serrated.
Two very important notes:
(1) The blades aren’t Princess Die’s primary weapons. Her fingernails are.
(2) She wears this stuff as casually as if she’d bought the outfit off the rack. Her whole manner is calculatedly offhand, nonchalant.
4 PRINCESS DIE: I don’t recall inviting any REPTILES to breakfast.
5 PRINCESS DIE: What dismal wind blows YOU into my morning, Hessshites?
(3)
Eeyax and Itme are already out of the flying machine and on the ground. Itme is holding a little jeweled chest. Princess Die strides toward them.
6 EEYAX: We’ve come to tender a proposition‑‑ a FEE in exchange for doing what you do BEST.
7 PRINCESS DIE: You’re not configured to APPRECIATE what I do BEST, lizard.
8 PRINCESS DIE: But make your offer, anyway.
(4)
Die and Itme stand face to face. There’s a competition going on between them. The prize is dominance of the situation. Itme holds up the chest for Die to see.
9 ITME: Eeyax tells me you pride yourself on your STALKING skills.
10 ITME: He also says there is one treasure of the Veffir clan which you COVET.
11 PRINCESS DIE: No-- which they STOLE.
12 PRINCESS DIE: Surely you don’t expect me to believe it’s in that CHEST--?

PAGE EIGHTEEN
(1)
Close angle on the chest as Itme lifts the hinged lid. Inside, resting on a bed of velvet, is a white, shriveled, mummified heart! Princess Die’s hand is reaching toward the chest.
1 ITME: (OFF-PANEL) See for yourself-- the HEART OF HIMSOMEL!
2 PRINCESS DIE: (OFF-PANEL) You egg-laying IMBECILES! You’ll never leave here ALIVE unless--
(2)
As Die’s hand passes under the cover of the box, a bolt of lightning-like energy courses up her arm and immobilizes her. She screams in pain. Itme smirks.
3 PRINCESS DIE: (BURST) --AAAAAAA
4 ITME: It is WELL-PROTECTED, princess-- by Ambrove Uhok’s most POTENT blessing of preservation.
(3)
Princess Die staggers back a++way from Itme, who calmly closes the chest.
5 ITME: Eeyax will instruct him to REMOVE it, if we reach an agreement-- and you SUCCEED at your task.
6 PRINCESS DIE: And what would THAT be?
(4)
Angle on Itme, with Eeyax standing close behind her.
7 ITME: To cross the barrier between worlds and bring back the ASSASSIN of Veffir Voon Iyax.
8 EEYAX: Think of it. The relic will be yours to BURN.
9 EEYAX: Your GREAT-GREAT-GRANDFATHER can at last go to his rest in the SWAMP OF SOULS.
(5)
Tight on Princess Die. She rubs her shoulder, trying to restore circulation in the arm that took the shock. She regards the O/P Itme and Eeyax with pure contempt.
10 PRINCESS DIE: You’re as LOW as they come, Eeyax.
11 PRINCESS DIE: But you’ve just hired yourself a BOUNTY HUNTER.
PAGE NINETEEN
(1)
Exterior: Edna’s building in New York. The present. Night. Sludge, seen from back, is watching from an alleyway across the street.
1 BLURB: Earth.
2 BLURB: 9:09 p.m.
3 BLURB: (SLUDGE BLURB) Gotta be YEARS...
4 BLURB: (SAME) At least two.
5 BLURB: (SAME) Maybe fifty.
6 BLURB: (SAME) Something like that...
7 BLURB: (SAME) Probably doesn’t even live here anymore.
(2)
From Sludge’s POV: a man in jogging gear enters the building.
8 BLURB: (SLUDGE BLURB) She might, though.
(3)
An elderly woman exits the building.
9 BLURB: 9:21 p.m.
10 BLURB: (SLUDGE BLURB) Gotta be one or the other.
(4)
A pizza delivery guy enters the building as a young couple exits.
11 BLURB: 10:06 p.m.
12 BLURB: (SLUDGE BLURB) Fifty-fifty proposition.
(5)
A man in a business suit goes in.
13 BLURB: 10:44 p.m.
14 BLURB: (SLUDGE BLURB) Maybe two.
(6)
Giving up, Sludge starts to shuffle off into the alley—but the glint of a quarter on the pavement catches his eye.
15 BLURB: 11:17 p.m.
16 BLURB: (SLUDGE BLURB) Maybe not.
17 BLURB: (SAME) Anyway, I’m calling it a QUARTER.
18 BLURB: (SAME) A night.
(7)
C/U on Sludge’s hand as he picks up the quarter.
19 BLURB: (SAME) A quarter.
(8)
Sludge holds the quarter between his thumb and forefinger and thinks about it.
20 BLURB: (SAME) Find a PHONE in a deserted spot and I could call it an EDNA.
21 BLURB: (SAME) What the hell was her NUMBER...?
22 BLURB: (SAME) 2, 2, 50...?


PAGE TWENTY
(1)
Sludge turns back to the building. A woman about Edna’s size, her head covered by a scarf, is walking up the stoop carrying a bag of groceries. Sludge reacts with surprise. He’s sure it’s Edna!
1 BLURB: (SLUDGE BLURB) 25, or...6 to 4...
2 BLURB: (SAME) Never DID have a head for--
3 BLURB: (SAME) Wait! Is that--?
4 BLURB: (SAME) Nah, can’t--
5 BLURB: (SAME) Yeah, CAN-- must be--!
(2)
Without looking where he’s going, Sludge charges out of the alley into the street, calling out to the woman.
6 SLUDGE: (SLUDGE BURST) ENNNNDAA!!
(3)
C/U on Sludge, car headlights shining in his face, as he looks O/P, reacting to:
SFX: SKREEEEET
(4)
LARGE PANEL. Sludge is rammed by a taxicab!
SFX: (LARGE) Pa-krruMMPCH

[BruceReville]

I LOVE YOU!!!!!

Unfortunately there isn't a way to upload files here. To pass it along the only way would be to e-mail the attachment to whomever wanted a copy of it. Seriously I really would appreciate a copy of it as it is the only Ultraverse tale I am missing. I used to have it straight from Gerber's site until my old computer died taking everything with it.

[Knightt]

I LOVE YOU!!!!!

Unfortunately there isn't a way to upload files here. To pass it along the only way would be to e-mail the attachment to whomever wanted a copy of it. Seriously I really would appreciate a copy of it as it is the only Ultraverse tale I am missing. I used to have it straight from Gerber's site until my old computer died taking everything with it.

I am looking into hosting this information, Bruce !!!

[BruceReville]

I LOVE YOU!!!!!

Unfortunately there isn't a way to upload files here. To pass it along the only way would be to e-mail the attachment to whomever wanted a copy of it. Seriously I really would appreciate a copy of it as it is the only Ultraverse tale I am missing. I used to have it straight from Gerber's site until my old computer died taking everything with it.

I am looking into hosting this information, Bruce !!!

[gambleslam]

Okay, I can e-mail anyone who wants a copy of the script, just PM me the e-mails

I sent it to Knightt and I think he is going to host the script somewhere, so if that is the case it probably is not necessary to e-mail though.

[Knightt]

Yessir, I got it just fine... giving it a light read now.

THANKS bro !!!

[BruceReville]

Heroes

[Phantom..]

Will get it from knight, thank you.