CounterConspiracy Comics: Psycho Killer

Issue #1

“Reflections in the Dark”

PANEL 1 – SPLASH PAGE

Aerial shot of a bombed out war zone. There is a high pile of rubble in the center from a STONE FORTRESS laid to waste. Still burning trees and scorched earth surround it. The wreckage of war machines and bodies dot the hellish landscape (JEEP(S), TANK, HELICOPTER(S), HARRIER JET).

PANEL 2

View of the pile of rubble from above. Parts of it are on fire. Smoke rises towards the reader.

CAPTION (PSYCHO KILLER):

And so it ends.

PANEL 3

Black on gray drawing depicting PSYCHO KILLER buried under rubble; large stones and building debris crushing and lacerating his body.

PSYCHO KILLER (THOUGHT):

A good death.

PANEL 4

Wavy lines of black and white running horizontally.

CAPTION (PSYCHO KILLER):

And a fitting end…

PANEL 5

Scientists stand in front of a small baby suspended in liquid inside a large glass tank. One is holding a clipboard, the other is injecting the glowing green contents of a syringe into an IV bag. The baby has tubes running into its nose, arm (IV) and belly (where an umbilical cord would be). There are other tanks with babies in the background. A computer screen shows a graphic of a DNA strand with lines coming off sections of the strand going to text.

COMPUTER SCREEN:

-Highlander

-Comanche

-Zulu

-Mongol

-Viking

-Samoan

CAPTION (PSYCHO KILLER):

…for a genetically engineered test tube baby…

PANEL 6

A young boy (YOUNG PSYCHO KILLER) wearing military fatigues and a helmet crawling under concertina wire through deep mud holding a rifle. Soldiers and scientists observe in the background.

CAPTION (PSYCHO KILLER):

..trained from birth to be a living weapon

PANEL 7 – HALF PAGE

A soldier (TEENAGE PSYCHO KILLER) firing a machine gun towards the reader. The panel is split vertically into 3 equal parts The first part has a city in the background and the soldier is ten years old. The second is the jungle and the soldier is a little older (13). The third is a desert and the soldier is older(18).

CAPTION (PSYCHO KILLER):

..assigned to special operations, and deployed to every hot spot on the planet from the age of ten.

PANEL 8

Overhead view of a 25 year old PSYCHO KILLER laying wounded on a bombed-out urban battlefield surrounded by other dead and wounded soldiers dressed in the same uniform.

CAPTION (PSYCHO KILLER):

Pain and death, my closest relatives.

PANEL 9

A 25 year old PSYCHO KILLER lays strapped to a stainless steel table in an operating room surrounded by doctors, nurses, and scientists in various stages of triage and treatment. Eyes wide, mouth open in a scream, face awash with shock and anguish. Body riddled with bullet holes; skin charred black from severe burns. His right leg is gone at the knee. His left arm gone from the elbow. On one side of the room, a group of scientists wheels a large contraption with screens, a pump, and tanks containing a glowing green liquid and marked with a bio-hazard sticker towards him.

SOUND (PSYCHO KILLER):

AHHHHH!!!

CAPTION (PSYCHO KILLER):

It surprised everyone that I survived the battle at Skullroka.

PANEL 10

Larger PSYCHO KILLER sits on a table in a lab wearing nothing but briefs being examined by scientists. His skin is now gray and rough and covered with large pale green welts were bullet holes used to be. Eyes cold and lifeless. Long black hair flows to his shoulders.

CAPTION (PSYCHO KILLER):
Hell.. I was surprised I survived the treatments they used to save me.

PANEL 11

PSYCHO KILLER gray with green scars and long black hair strapped to a steel chair. Two scientists sit attaching a prosthetic leg made out of a strange alien material. It is shiny, black, and metallic and it has strands of pale green light running through it. Another scientist is checking his new prosthetic arm made of the same.

CAPTION (PSYCHO KILLER):

Then came the modifications.

PANEL 12 – SPLASH PAGE

PSYCHO KILLER battling a squad of soldiers in front of a MILITARY INSTALLATION. He is in full black battle gear and even larger than usual and holding a small car above his head. His uniform is torn at the shoulders and thighs where his enlarged muscles have burst through the material. His face is covered by a BALLISTIC MASK featuring a blank expression. Eyes blank and lifeless (MONSTER MODE). Bodies of fallen adversaries lay in horrific final poses all around him.

CAPTION (PSYCHO KILLER):

And the unexpected side effects…

My overseers celebrated as I became a vicious indestructible monster happy to annihilate on command.

PANEL 13

MONSTER MODE PSYCHO KILLER wearing a trench coat and BALLISTIC MASK holding a large knife walking through the rain towards an office building.

CAPTION (PSYCHO KILLER):

And so came 10 long years in the abyss. The black ops years. When I had no regard for my life, or anyone else’s.
A merciless psychotic monster dropped behind enemy lines and given free reign to terrify and annihilate.

PANEL 14

PSYCHO KILLER in MONSTER MODE and covered in blood holding a large combat knife looming over two small children. A small boy (4 years old) and a girl (7 years old). The girl is smiling and presenting PSYCHO KILLER with a small flower.

CAPTION (PSYCHO KILLER):

Then one night, an innocent’s act of love brought me back.

PANEL 15

PSYCHO KILLER in street clothes sitting on a hill in the grass next to a women in round glasses (Therapist: CINDY FRAZIER) watching children play (CINDY’S KIDS) on a playground below in the late afternoon sun.

CAPTION (PSYCHO KILLER):

Cindy helped me understand that children soothed the savage beast because they spoke to my sad and lonely inner child.

A child that had never seen the light of day. A child that had never known love.

Together, we learned to use that knowledge to control the monster.

PANEL 16

PSYCHO KILLER sitting on a MOTORCYCLE in the street watching a WOMAN carry groceries from a car to a suburban home.

CAPTION (PSYCHO KILLER):

No longer suited for black ops, I was assigned to a new team with a new mandate.

Not all of the organizations experiments were as successful or as compliant as myself.

PANEL 17

PSYCHO KILLER in monster mode holding a large GROTESQUE version of the WOMAN  in a bear hug from behind. 4 large tentacles protrude from under her skirt.

CAPTION (PSYCHO KILLER):

So who better to track and terminate rogue homicidal experimental weapons than a fellow monster?

PANEL 18

PSYCHO KILLER standing in a field, long hair blowing in the wind, next to a female commanding officer (LYDIA THORN) as an unconscious GROTESQUE is loaded into a black HELICOPTER.

CAPTION (PSYCHO KILLER):

Those were the hunter days. When I was given my first taste of autonomy and the call sign PSYCHO KILLER.

PANEL 19

PSYCHO KILLER sitting with CINDY at a table in the park playing chess. PSYCHO KILLER is smiling and CINDY is laughing.

CAPTION (PSYCHO KILLER):

Saving lives was a welcome change.

Cindy and I became friends.

For the first time, I felt like a real person.

Those were the happiest years of my life.

PANEL 20

PSYCHO KILLER standing in front of a military tribunal in dress uniform (all black, chest covered in medals, hair pulled back into a pony tail under a black beret with the CANDELABRA insignia).

CAPTION (PSYCHO KILLER):

After 10 years hunting, I was ready to step away.

I knew it was a long shot, but after 35 years of active duty I was tired. I wanted to try to live a normal life.

I requested retirement and it was granted.

PANEL 21

PSYCHO KILLER standing in the center of a backyard retirement party (CINDY’S HOUSE) smiling and laughing as he plays with children (CINDY’S DAUGHTERS & SON) that run and play all around him. String lights hang over picnic tables filled with assorted foods and decorations. CINDY’S husband looks on smiling while standing over a grill full of burgers and hot dogs. CINDY is stepping out of the backdoor of the house with a tray holding a pitcher of lemonade and glasses full of ice.

CAPTION (PSYCHO KILLER):

In that moment I was happy! I’d forgiven and accepted myself and I was optimistic about the future.

But, I was being naïve. There is only one type of retirement for top secret experimental weapons.

PANEL 22

PSYCHO KILLER wearing a white t-shirt and jeans ready for action and looking apprehensive in front of CINDY’S HOME that has a huge hole where the front door used to be. It is early morning. His motorcycle sits idling in the yard.

CAPTION (PSYCHO KILLER):

The very next day, my beautiful dream ended.

PANEL 23

PSYCHO KILLER standing in CINDY’s ransacked den holding a piece of paper.

CAPTION (PSYCHO KILLER):

The setup was glaring and unoriginal. Supposedly an enemy I knew to be dead, took Cindy and her family and was offering to trade their lives for mine.

An obvious trap with my best friend and her family for bait.

My old bosses’ idea of a retirement party.

PANEL 24

PSYCHO KILLER in full battle gear falling out of a small plane high in the air (DROPPING IN). The ground far below is heavily wooded around a large open area holding a STONE FORT. The area is rural and isolated. A beautiful sunset behind a large bank of clouds ,that includes an active thunderhead, fills the horizon.

CAPTION (PSYCHO KILLER):

An honorable last mission.

Save my friends.

Let the monster do some good.

PANEL 25

A bruised, dirty, and disheveled CINDY sitting in the back of a MILITARY JEEP, that is driving away holding her YOUNG DAUGHTER(7). Her OLDER DAUGHTER(12) sits next to her. Her HUSBAND is driving and her SON (15) sits in the passenger seat. CINDY is crying and has her hand up waving goodbye. Her daughters are also waving and crying.

CAPTION (PSYCHO KILLER):

I got them out.

PANEL 26

PSYCHO KILLER in MONSTER MODE sporting heavy battle damage holding his hand up in a goodbye wave. Behind him in the background a huge slimy purple TENTACLE MONSTER with long snail eyes and a huge black mouth full of razor sharp teeth fills the sky.

CAPTION (PSYCHO KILLER):

I saved my friends.

PANEL 27

Heavily injured (tattered uniform, broken mask, exposed muscle and bones, covered in blood, etc.) PSYCHO KILLER running towards a hole in the ground (a stairwell leading to the basement levels of the base). The TENTACLE MONSTER lays dead, a huge steel beam sticks out of its mouth in the background.

SOUND (AIR SIREN):

UUUUUUUUUuuuuuuWWWWUUUUUuuuuWWW!!

SOUND IN THE SKY (FALLING BOMB WHISTLING):

WWWSHHEEEEEEE!

CAPTION (PSYCHO KILLER):

And I went out with a bang!

PANEL 28

Black on gray (no light) drawing depicting a heavily injured and completely still PSYCHO KILLER buried under rubble.

THOUGHT (PSYCHO KILLER):

A fitting end indeed.

CAPTION:

The End?!!

Written by Will Kilpatrick

Psycho Killer created by Will Kilpatrick

Copyright 2023 Psycho Killer. Owned by Counterconspiracy Comics. All rights reserved. No portion or elements of this project may be reproduced or transmitted, in any form or means, 
without the express written permission of Counterconspiracy Comics LLC.