I am going to have two main characters in my comic. One will be a rebellious little kid, male, who is always getting into trouble for various reasons, and the other will be a female superhero who is both an enemy and a friend to the child. The superhero saves the kid from all sorts of disastrous situations to do with general health and safety, the kind of thing that threatens the 7-11 year olds of today.
Introduction
Luke is a rebellious kid who is aged 10 that always gets into trouble in school and out.
X is the female superhero that helps Luke out of trouble.
The relationship between these two is a love hate relationship, in the sense that although Luke is grateful to be helped out of trouble, he is a typical pre-teen who doesn’t want to be lectured and he feels that he doesn’t need protection from X.
X is exasperated by Luke as she gives him advice and he never seems to stay out of trouble.
Typical Storyline
Luke is eating school dinners, but he always picks to eat junk food. This day for lunch he has chosen to eat a chocolate bar, coke and some chips with loads of salt. X is watching from afar (she is invisible to other students) and is shaking her head, but she doesn’t do anything because she knows Luke will not follow her advice.
I feel that this might not be that interesting to the target age group so I have decided to add in some action.
When Luke has finished eating, his stomach starts to grumble and out comes a monster, made of all the junk food that he has eaten that day. Luke is lying on the floor in some pain but he is more aghast at the fact that a monster has come out of his stomach. X becomes visible to the other kids at this moment – when there’s trouble around. X was busy doing her nails behind the can machine but she looks up at this moment, brandishing her nail file. The monster is walking around terrorizing the kids, trying to attack Luke. The monster trashes the canteen area, ripping up the tables and then starts on the dinner ladies. Whilst he is facing the other way, X jumps on his back and bites off pieces of the monster and spits them out. The monster feels this and turns around, and X falls off his shoulders onto the floor. Just when it looks like it’s all over, Luke kicks the monster over and X is finally able to attack him with her gun – shooting carrots!
This is where I need to establish a new equilibrium.
We cut to after the action, after the dinner ladies have cleared up all the mess and the kids seem to have recovered from the shock. We see X and Luke walking off together. X is thanking him for helping her, but warning him not to eat junk food again – she warned him that it was bad for him. Luke thinks that he knows it all and tells her that he would be fine without her to look after him. X looks smug, because she knows that he can’t.
Narrative Structure
Equilibrium – This is the introduction. This is where characters are introduced and the scene is like an everyday situation.
Agent – This is the change. This is where the introduction of the bad character happens.
Disruption – This is the clash between the agent and the equilibrium – often good and bad. This is where the main action happens, possibly a fight.
New Equilibrium – Restoration of calm.
