BATMAN: BRIGHT CITY P1-3 (A Spec Script)

The following are the first three pages of the first script I ever wrote for DC Comics, a standalone 20-page future story called “BRIGHT CITY”. Never designed for publication, it was more just to show them that I understood the mythology and the characters and their weight. Plus I wanted a challenge.



It’s got a LOT of issues, but i’m still really happy with it, so here are the first three pages.

Page One

1.1 - We see a futuristic cityscape at night, teaming with light. Gotham still has its iconic red skies, but the new buildings jutting into the sky are white and silver and vaguely luminescent. We see the rooftops and balconies of the buildings teaming with gardens. Rich Ivy climbs down the bright white skyscrapers, evoking a vision of paradise. It doesn’t seem unkempt, it seems to be overflowing with life. Blimps team the sky, projecting holographic advertisements the size of buildings. Mind you, these light displays don’t evoke Las Vegas, they seem more in line with a 1950s Americana sensibility (Perhaps we see a romantic young couple enjoying a Coca-Cola). This isn’t a sleazy town, it’s idyllic, utopian vision of Gotham unlike anything we’ve seen from the city before. A place more in line with Apple design aesthetics and the film Minority Report than a gothic Art Deco nightmare.

CAPTION: Gotham City CAPTION: 2046 CAPTION (DICK): You can’t say the city hasn’t changed. It has.

1.2 - We see people walking down the streets. Gotham has become a city of electric hovercars that run a good 20 feet in the air, following magnetized tracks that run alongside buildings. Beneath the cars, the streets are a pedestrian haven, with benches and small trees that run through the center of what once would have been a road. We see an elevated platform labelled taxi stand, where people are lined up and orderly. Store windows and signs are made entirely from smart glass, which are alive with information displays. (Along the lines of this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Cf7IL_eZ38)

CAPTION (D): The streets are clean. The people, happy. CAPTION (D): I think we even beat Metropolis in a national standard-of-living poll. Never thought I’d see that day.

1.3 - We see old Wayne Tower with its strange spires and observatory-styled upper floors. It’s now dwarfed by tall white towers. Their brightness leaves Wayne Tower virtually silhouetted, a clear remnant of an older city.

CAPTION (D): When Mayor Creed christened Gotham “The Bright City” some twenty years back, I laughed in his face. CAPTION (D): This was the birthplace of the Joker. The place where mobsters were more well-liked than the politicians, and usually half as corrupt. Where the crime-rate was triple the national average.

1.4 - We see in the midst of a park, a blend of environmental power sources like solar panels along walkways, miniature wind turbines, and open fields. A futurist’s take on Central Park. At the heart of this section of the park is a statue of BATMAN. People aren’t gathering around it in awe, it’s simply a part of the scene and it has been for decades (along the lines of the iconic Superman statue in Metropolis).

CAPTION (D): This was the home of Batman’s never-ending war on crime. Where the only good men wore masks and capes and fought madmen on rooftops in an attempt to save the very soul of Gotham. CAPTION (D): A city of perpetual darkness.

1.5 - We see the lights of the city reflected in a man’s glasses, in extreme close-up.

CAPTION (D): To look at Gotham today, you’d think all that was some strange nightmare. And to think there’s a part of me that still misses it…

Page 2

2.1 - This first panel takes up half of the page. We’re on the rooftop of the GCPD with the bright lights of Gotham City at night all around. The way DICK GRAYSON stands there, he’s the spitting image of Jim Gordon, only without the mustache. Most of his hair has gone gray, but it’s more of a dark, salt and pepper gray as opposed to pure white. He’s looking out at the city. His city. He looks tired, and vaguely disheveled.

CAPTION (D): They called me Robin, then Nightwing. These days they call me Commissioner.

CAPTION (D): My name is Dick Grayson. It’s been 27 years since I traded my tights for a badge, and I can’t deny that I’ve played a large part in building this new Gotham City.

2.2 - DICK walks over and examines a large shape on a pedestal, covered with a tarp.

CAPTION (D): The GCPD was once the most corrupt police force in the country. Under my watch it’s become one of the cleanest. CAPTION (D): Batman uprooted every foothold crime had in Gotham, chasing villain after villain out of the city. We’re the ones who have kept them from coming back.

2.3 - He pulls off the tarp to reveal the BAT-SIGNAL, old and dusty, covered with cobwebs. A remnant of a city that doesn’t exist anymore.

CAPTION (D): The fact of the matter is, this city doesn’t need a Batman anymore. It has us. CAPTION (D): Like I said. You can’t say things haven’t changed in Gotham.

Page 3

3.1 - The door to the roof bursts open, DICK turns, surprised, tarp still in hand.

CAPTION (D): But some things never change… OFFICER: Commissioner Grayson! There’s been a breakout from Arkham!

3.2 - DICK being led down the stairs by the uniformed officer. They pass a friendly looking 30-year-old man with red hair, JAMES GORDON GRAYSON.

JAMES: I can take him from here. OFFICER: Yes, sir, Lieutenant Grayson.

3.3 - The two men, father and son, walking down the hall and smiling conspiratorially.

JAMES (whispering): Getting some fresh air, or just wondering if you could still jump to the next rooftop?

DICK (whispering): It was never just a jump. That’s what the grappling hook was for.

JAMES: Wait… Before we go in…

3.4 - JAMES looks worried. DICK a little confused and exasperated.

JAMES: Dad, you’re not going to like this.

DICK: This is the first breakout since Arkham moved to the new facilities 15 years ago. Of course I’m not going to like this.

JAMES: It’s more than that…

3.5 - JAMES GRAYSON, serious with an edge of compassion, as he presses a button on his wristband.