War as Peace.
Fun, lighthearted, bare minimum of violence, no casualties. A world ill-prepared for a serious attack.
Mutant as Soldier.
Mutated human has to fight humans, deals with identity as former homo sapien. Sides are drawn. Mutant War.
Religion/Military.
War scene gone bad. Civilians collateral damage. Enemy information. Storm enemy stronghold. Plant bomb, destruction from within. Penetrating the spiralling depths. Uniting mankind with best soldiers of fractured world against common enemy. Third larger threat always unites two opposing forces. Differences help us see the similarities, but there must always be something other.
Desperate times show the worst of humanity. Reversed. The best of humanity in bad times. Religious tome, computer code. Age of machines down to age of bronze. Society moving backwards, downwards. Underground vs outerspace. Innerspace vs overground. Outerground vs underspace. Innerground vs overspace.
Princess/Revolutionary
Female spirit vs Masculine form
Feminine ruled Monarchy
Female leading men into battle against Mother
Males dominated by female, male children banished, used as slaves.
Mulan. Dressing in male form to battle.
***
Princess Revolutionary
The Princess, eager to have a child, has her son taken from her upon its birth. She is heartbroken and begins to hate her mother, the Queen. Her life is idyllic, filled with Unicorns and Lush Gardens spanning miles. Her every whim is catered to, and all wars are ended, fighting settled by the Queen's all knowing decisions.
The Princess one day hears word of her son, it seems he is in her father's care beyond the city. She plans an escape and gets to the outside, where life is grimy and difficult, survival depending on men working together to build a life. Over generations they have learned to work together, helping one another through kindness and empathy.
Once there she learns of her past, and reuinted with her son is happy amongst the men, although she is still looked upon disfavorably, her loyalty constantly in question. She chops her hair, and learns to fight, becoming a leader for the men against her mother.
Page 1
Panel 1
Big clunky, worn boots trudge through the mud and muck. Barbed wire wrapped around shattered wood posts line the panel.
N: The edge of the land of Men.
Panel 2
A group of soldiers legs from behind, following the main set of boots. There is a hint of weapons hanging into the panel. Wide shot showing a bit more of the landscape. It is harsh and wild. Thornbushes, gnarled dead trees, roots torn up from the muddy earth.
N: It is no place for anyone to be.
Panel 3
Half length side shot, the male soldiers from just below their eyeline to mid-thigh. We see a few different men wearing bullet bandoliers, smoking cigars, sporting beard stubble, sharpening knives,loading machine guns, etc.
N: It is a fierce landscape, neither fit for man...
Panel 4
Behind shot of the leader, whose boots we saw in the first panel. She has short, cropped hair, haphazardly cut, with muck and patches and sewn up sections on her badass, slightly too big jacket. We get just a hint of the side of her face as she glances over her shoulder back at the men. We want to think she's a man but maybe just guess the twist here. Beyond her we see a hint of green, grassy hills with lush flowers and gigantic trees.
N: Nor woman.
PR: This is it men.
Panel 5
We get a side shot just below eyeline again, but we see more of this leader. Her hands run along the side of a black steed. We see the horse's mane and neck, but just a hint of its head.
N: At least that is what my mother told me.
PR: Thank you for meeting me here girl.
PR: It's been far too long.
Page 2
Panel 1
Small wide panel, the leader is leaping up onto the horse and we see the soldiers in the background more clearly now. They're all grim and ready to fight. Behind them lies the dirty, downtrodden dwellings of their displaced masculinity. Stone buildings sitting atop mud in the background, nothing but dirt and dead trees.
N: Now I know the dreams of my youth were tainted.
PR: Prepare yourselves.
Panel 2
Large panel. The leader is revealed as a young girl in a torn dress wearing a battered leather jacket and combat boots, sitting atop a black unicorn, rearing back, ready to do battle. The men behind her roar, raising their weapons to the sky.
N: Now I know the truth, that my Mother must pay.
PR: The Queen must fall!
Page 3
Panel 1
From behind, bird's eye view of them charging across the green hills, past perfect apple trees, with bluebirds in them. The mud is being tracked from the bottom of the panel, slicing the scene in half. The soldiers all run behind the princess on her black steed. In the distance is a Disney-esque castle.
N: The facade of purity and elegance...
Panel 2
Pretty boy soldiers come, pageboy haircuts, eunuchs in fancy tights with thin rapier like swords. They seem nervous and startled but rushing to defend the kingdom.
N: The lies my mother uses to control her subjects...
Panel 3
Wideshot. The soldiers all fire upon the pageboys who are gunned down horrifically. The Princess charges through their ranks without breaking her stride. The Black Unicorn slicing upwards cutting a pageboy from its path.
N: I must bring this house of cards down.
Page 4
Panel 1
A green hedge maze surrounds the castle. It's twisted and labrythine, but looks somehow bright and green, only threatening upon a deeper inspection. The Princess and troops rush towards it.
N:
Panel 2
Forward shot of the Princess urging a few men forward, they carry flamethrowers.
Panel 3
The Flamethrowers scorch the maze, setting it completely ablaze.
Panel 4
The Princess charges through the ashes and smoldering bushes. Her men follow behind her carving a path with machetes.
Page 5
Panel 1
The Princess and crew all burst out of the flaming hedges towards us as various cartoony characters run and flee screaming away from them towards us.
Panel 2
The Princess gives a moments pause as she rides across the cobblestones watching the men dismember the non-threatening funny animals, dwarves, etc. They're gunned down, knifed, torched, all dying in x's over their eyes cartoony dramatics.
Panel 3
The Princess rides into the main square where there's a drawbridge being hoisted up, and she waves the men onward as she speeds off towards the castle.
Panel 4
The Princess stares upwards at the looming castle. It's bright and colorful but so menacing from this angle.
Page 6
Panel 1
The Princess throws her hand towards the drawbridge and archers and crossbowmen fire arrows with explosives towards the large wooden gate that is nearly closed.
Panel 2
The arrows all stick into the wood and explode it into pieces just revealing through the smoke and debris the golden palace beyond.
Panel 3
The Pricess and unicorn leap through the hole as her men all begin to toss a homemade bridge across the moat. We see the cartoon crocodiles that are snapping at her from the water as they men fire on them.
Panel 4
The Princess pulls back on the reigns and the unicorn raises up on its hindlegs. Behind her we see the men chopping at the wood and just beginning to clambor through.
Page 7
Panel 1
A giant white and silver scaled dragon emerges, bright and menacing. The Princess and Unicorn seem tiny in the foreground. Blue flames trickle out its mouth and nostrils.
Panel 2
The Princess speeds off to the side as blue flames torch the men climbing through. She has just barely ducked it.
Panel 3
The Princess races around the edge of the courtyard as flames begin to filling the area.
Panel 4
The Princess turns sharply and charges towards us.
Page 8
Panel 1
The Black unicorn, slightly ablaze, has skewerd the dragon in its chest as it leaps upwards at it. The dragon throws its head back spouting flames upwards. The Princess holds on for dear life, looking angry and saddened at her steed's sacrifice. Silver blood erupts from the wound.
Panel 2
The Princess rises up from the stone floor, her steed dying behind her, the men trying to climb through the flames in the background, silver blood splashed around, with the dragon's tail curled around her and the unicorn's body.
Panel 3
The Princess walks along the dying dragon's body and spies what she has come for just beyond it. We can just see it's a sword in a stone.
Panel 4
The Princess grips the blade as light shimmers forth as she pulls it out.
***
King Arthur's daughter. Queen rules the kingdom in king's absence. Father banished, left for dead in outside realm. He wasn't able to come back and make things right, so he gave her his blessing to do it.
