SCRIPT TO ART: PAGE 1

For those who are interested in behind-the-scenes stuff and working methods, here's Page 1 of Drowntown - adapted slightly to fit the blog format - followed by Jim's groovy art for the same page:

PAGE 1

1. Close, Leo Noiret, battered and bruised, stares straight at us, raising an eyebrow with weary, seen-and-done-it-all-before nonchalance. Despite his downbeat, down-at-heel appearance and hangdog expression, he still exhibits the cool charm and poise of a Jean Reno or Robert Mitchum.

A half-smoked cigarette droops disdainfully from the corner of his mouth. The last cigarette of a condemned man...

The London skyline is visible in the distant background, though we don't see anything too futuristic for the moment, leaving the full sprawling splendour of the sunken city for the following pages.

TITLES: CHAPTER 1: HARD-LUCK HERO

TIMELINE: LONDON: NOW

BOX: Some people have a face that you'd die for.

BOX: Other people have the kind of face that you'd kill for.

BOX: Me? 

BOX: I've got the kind of face that gets you killed.

2. Slightly High Angle Medium Shot, Noiret, staring up at us, shrugs nonchalantly, the cigarette still drooping from his mouth. He is sinking rapidly into thick, quicksand-like sludge, the surface of which is littered with typical UK debris - discarded fish suppers, a copy of The Sun newspaper, a crushed can of lager, etc.

Up to his hips already, Noiret shows little sign of fear, as if this sort of thing happens to him all the time.

BOX: That's why I'm such a realist and always try to keep my feet planted firmly on the ground, which isn't as easy as it sounds in this city.

NOIRET: GUESS THIS MEANS IT'S TOO LATE TO KISS AND MAKE UP...

3. Low Angle Shot, Noiret, back to us, sinking deeper, stares towards a metallic maintenance pier that rises out of the sludge ahead of him.

Grace Carter, an attractive, but hard-faced & ruthless-looking woman, gazes down at him contemptuously from the pier. Benny and Ray, two big, bulky enforcers with the look of prize-fighters running to fat, flank her protectively.

BOX: Grace Carter was a detective in the Serious Crime Squad that I used to get drunk with in the Stag's Head every now and again.

GRACE: KISS AND MAKE UP? WHAT DO YOU MEAN? DID WE...?

4. Close, Grace, Noiret's POV, outraged and exasperated, aghast at the thought he's just slipped into her head.

BOX: I used to console her about the pointlessness and futility of the job, until she stopped caring and started working both sides.

GRACE: YUCK! THAT JUST MAKES ME WANT TO KILL YOU EVEN MORE!

I can't help grinning every time I see the opening panel. As the writer, it captures Leo Noiret brilliantly. Everything you need to know about his personality - which will be fleshed out over the course of the book - can nevertheless be deduced from that one image. Just one of the benefits of working with a great artist...

DEVELOPMENT SKETCHES

Even when you're creating a fantastic, over-the-top location such as the flooded futuristic London of Drowntown, you still have to make sure it's believable and feels 'real'. 

Here're some of what I think are Jim's earliest development sketches for the hydro-bikes that feature in the book:

 I'd love to own one, though have a sinking feeling that my pilot skills would send me crashing into the side of an aqua-bus.

A FEW REVIEWS...

Drowntown has been out for about 3 weeks now and has (he typed with a sigh of relief) had some pretty good reviews, a few excerpts of which are listed below:

"Morrison quickly fleshes out characters and plot with aplomb while Murray’s gorgeous art ensures this is a thrilling no-holds barred adventure from start to finish…" - Down the Tubes, John Freeman. 

"A super read … Drowntown reaches high and achieves much of it, comedy, adventure, intrigue, entertainment and sumptuous art – I think you’ll be hard-pressed to find anything else quite like it for a while." - Forbidden Planet Blog, Zainab Akhtar. 

"Flooded civilisations have long been a staple of post-apocalyptic fiction. Few have executed their dystopian vision with quite as much panache as Robbie Morrison and Jim Murray do here." - SFX Magazine, Stephen Jewel.

"It’s not the first time noir has been merged with science fiction, but the execution is absolutely first class. Murray’s illustration is simply stunning … [Morrison’s] script is razor-sharp ... Together, Morrison and Murray have created a wonderful piece of cross-genre fiction, an homage to both noir and sci-fi, honing it down to a gritty but beautiful piece of work" - Grovel, Andy Shaw. 

"...breathtakingly illustrated neo-noir ... riffing on Chinatown and a hundred classic noir stories. This is a book to rival the best stories published by 2000AD, the kind of book that comes along once in a generation, often imitated but rarely matched. Buy it." - Starburst Magazine, PM Buchan.

"Jim Murray's gorgeous art is reminiscent in style of a toned-down Simon Bisley, and his attention to detail really brings this grimy, waterlogged world to life." - Henry Northmore The List.

"It is not often during the year that you read a graphic novel that you know will hit the “best of the year” lists in December. Drowntown is one such book – buy it now so you will understand just what they will all be raving about." - Down the Tubes, Jeremy Briggs.