Issue #3 Working Manuscript V3
- Ext. General Store: Morning
● Peaches and Big Earl are trying to calm down a very excited Dex. After a couple of attempts, Dex quickly collects his thoughts and launches into his recounting of the night before…
- Cut To: The Previous Night (What Dex Saw)
● It’s after midnight and Dex ducks into a dark alley to take part in a game of dice. Little does he know he’s being watched by pair of shadowy figures in a nondescript beige 4-door Crown Victoria (soon to be revealed, these are the two new police characters per Featured Collaboration #4, but let’s hold off on the reveal for a story beat or two so as to build more tension).
â—Ź In the alley, out of view of the sidewalk, a small gathering of the local, small-time criminal underbelly meets to gamble and talk shop. Most of the younger crowd is squatting around the dice game in a circular arrangement, exchanging $20s and and talking trash with every cast of the dice.
● Dex inquires about the new tattooed “young buck” taking part in the dice game. Dex mentions that the young man is clearly gang affiliated and has a chip on his shoulder, all signs that there may be some impending shifts in the balance of power, Back of the Yards.
● Conveniently, at that very moment, the so-called “young buck” is getting involved in a rapidly escalating altercation with another dice player. Threats and indications of violence are made. The young one reaches for his gun. And, at that moment, the two shadowy figures from the Crown Vic step into the alleyway and reveal themselves as Chicago PD. The cops have their guns drawn but the inked gang banger has his heater out too. As the older and wiser elements begin to scatter, the young gang member and those stupid enough to follow his lead quickly turn the whole situation into a gunfight.
● Suddenly… Andre, in his heightened, lion-like form, drops into the scene from the rooftops above. He’s moving too fast for any of the people in the alley to do anything but stand dumbfounded.
● Andre’s heightened senses are able to perceive the trajectory of the bullet from the moment it leaves the barrel of the banger’s gun. With his advanced reflexes, Andre easily avoids the bullet while continuing to advance upon the gangbanger. With the back of his hand, Andre swats the pistol out of the gangbanger’s hand. Reaching with his other hand, Dre grabs the banger by the scruff of his shirt. Andre lifts the gangbanger over his head using just one arm. He scowls at him and body slams him on the pavement.
● The stricken image of Dex in the alley at night transitions to Dex outside the General Store the next morning as he concludes his recounting of the previous evening’s fantastic events to Big Earl and Peaches. The look of fear and shock is still etched upon Dex’s face.
- Cut To: Tamia’s Bedroom
● Close up on Tamia. By the look on her face she is in the last fretful moments of a disturbing dream. While Tamia’s sleeping face winces, we see images of the dream flash before us. They are images plucked straight from the last several panels of issue #1.
â—Ź For the first of many times this issue, Tamia questions her own sanity. She wonders if she is just paranoid or if Wilson is, in fact cheating on her, as she saw in her dream.
- Ext. General Store: The Old Oak Tree at the Intersection Near the School. Tamia walks to school at a hurried pace.
● It’s at this moment, upon approaching the Old Oak Tree, that Tamia happens to cross paths with Andre. Both teenagers are surprised to see each other on the way to school so early. Both appear similarly distressed.
○ “You’re Andre,” Tamia says, “I saw you in my dream.”
○ “Yeah,” is Andre’s simple answer.
○ “Am I going crazy?” Tamia asks.
○ “I don’t know,” answers Andre, “Maybe we both are.”
- Cut To: New City High Rm. 23
â—Ź Andre reveals that he believes that Mr. Castaneda may have some insight into their mysterious dreams. But, for the moment, Room 23 is locked.
● Tamia flags down a passing administrator and asks where Mr. Castaneda is. But the administrator is confused. He doesn’t know of any Mr. Castaneda and New City High, nor is he familiar with the after-school arts program to which Tamia is referring. Room 23 is currently being used as storage for the theater club, the administrator says.
● The door to Room 23 swings open. Inside the room, theater props are stacked high to the ceiling and costumes hang from racks. “No, no, no!” Andre says, growing more impatient and revealing his temper somewhat. Tamia scans the props and sees a small puppet that resembles her fairy form.
● Another costume is the lion-like armor that Andre wears in his heightened form. And, finally, a grinning mask plops to the floor. It’s the spitting image of Mr. Castaneda and he appears to be having a good laugh at Andre’s expense.
● As Andre moves through the crowded halls of New City High, as in issue #2, this presents an opportunity for him to present his narrative observations on the nature of reality and life as a teenager. Mixed into his musings are thought’s about how “reality is a simulation” and doubts about his own sanity. Perhaps sepia-tone panels that call back to the Back of the Yards feature (within the Supplement to Issue 1) are mixed in with images of the high school, drawing unsettling parallels between the state or urban public schools and a 19th-century slaughterhouse.
● Andre sits at a table, pulls out from his backpack a comic issue (Mock Comic: “The Monahans!”) that he plans to begin reading (backstory for this mock comic to be developed as part of Featured Collaboration #7) and his composition notebook, which he opens. He eventually opens to the page that had the card Mr. Castañeda gave to Andre in issue #2.
○ Ah-Ha!”Andre says.
● [Perhaps Mr. Castañeda’s card resembles a Studio Card in some way.]
- Cut to: Tamia, who is having her own doubts about the reality of the “real world”...
â—Ź Tamia is heading to class. Her paranoia manifests as voices that she hears all around her. The voices all seem to be gossiping about her. Many of them are saying things about Wison and his new girlfriend, Natalie, and how Natalie might be pregnant.
â—Ź Tamia clenches her fists and grits her teeth. The gossip she hears becomes more pointed. Now, even the teacher at the front of the class appears to be joining in.
â—Ź Tamia reaches her boiling point. Finally, she lets out a scream.
● Tamia is embarrassed by her classmates’ stares. But she makes a quick recovery -- averting her gaze from those of her staring classmates, Tamia approaches the teacher at the front of the class and asks to whisper something private in his ear:
○ Mr. SoAndSo, I’m on my period. Can I go to the restroom?
â—Ź Now the tables have turned and it is the teacher who is the embarrassed one. Stammering a bit, the teacher excuses Tamia for a bathroom break.
● Meanwhile, Andre is in history class. He’s fidgeting with Mr. Castañeda’s card at his desk.
- Cut To: Tamia, exiting the girls’ room… She hears an off-camera voice calling to her.
â—‹ Tamia?
● Tamia looks in the direction of the beckoning voice. She’s shocked to see Mr. Castañeda.
○ We’ve been looking for you, Tamia say.
○ I know, replies Mr. Castañeda, and I have been looking for you. There is something important that you must do.
● Mr. Castaneda says that he understands that Tamia is very upset by Wilson’s betrayal, but pain and loss are an essential step of transformation. He tells Tamia and she is transforming into something wonderful and marvelous. This may be a good time to indicate Tamia’s fully evolved fairy form by why of a sketch in her notebook.
- Cut To: the wall clock as it strikes 3pm. The bell rings and the hallways of New City High swell with students eager to get on with the rest of their afternoon. But Andre walks a little more slowly than the rest. There is an air of frustration and bewilderment about him as keeps looking at Mr. Castañeda’s action card.
● Tamia approaches Andre in the hallway. She’s trying to get Andre to shut up and come with her--and it’s no easy task getting Andre to be quiet and follow any kind of direction. But Tamia manages well enough.
● Upon entering, Andre sees Room 23 as it appeared in issue #2-the bright and inspiring arts class with Mr. Castañeda standing at the front.
○ “Hello Andre,” Mr. Castañeda says calmly and mysteriously.
● There seems to be a faint glow around Mr. Castañeda’s head. He goes into a brief (but by no means complete) exposition for exactly what has been going on in the last couple of issues:
● This is when Mr. Castañeda showcases some of his own mysterious abilities. He creates a hologram of a scene playing out at that moment in front of Koz’s general store it’s Russell and Draymond being accosted by Wilson, Mookie and the other bullies. Mr. Castañeda explains that Andre must help Russell and Draymond or else their spark of curiosity will be extinguished by the trauma inflicted by the bullies.
● At that moment, Tamia’s cell phone goes off. It’s a text from Wilson. But Andre hears the text as the high-pitched call to action, just like he heard in issue #1. The features of Room 23 begin to resemble those of the moon-like spaceship, as well. Mr. Castañeda gestures to an open window, telling him that the experiences he’s had weren’t a result of “just dreamin’,” they were real. And it’s time for Andre to take a leap of faith.
â—Ź Meanwhile, at the General Store, the bullies are taunting Russell and Draymond, attempting to humiliate them.
â—Ź The Elders watch on, and perhaps Koz is in the mix as well.
● At that very moment, Andre leaps onto the scene. He’s in his regular, teenage form, but he’s moving with lion-like power and speed as he does in his “heightened” mode.
â—Ź Dex looks on stunned. The movements of the boy reminded him of what he saw out on the streets the night before.
â—Ź As in issue #1, Andre quickly dispatches the bullies. They flee in retreat, running right past Tamia, who is just arriving on the scene.
● Let’s give Tamia the final word in this issue. As she stands there amid the small crowd of observers in front of the General Store, she has the faint purple glow of her fully evolved fairy form around her, although nobody but Andre and the boys can see it.
â—‹ Tamia says something poignant about dreams and reality as we fade to black.
Working Manuscript for Back of the Yards, Issue 3
• Lead Collaborators: Len Kody & Jimmy Briseno
• Version 3
• Last Updated August 5, 2025
• To Be Incorporated:
• Featured Collaboration #1 (1 to 2 new characters)
• Featured Collaboration #2 (Introduction of a new Hero’s Journey
• Featured Collaboration #3 (Ongoing review and Studio Notes of this Working Manuscript + Final Production of Issue #2)
• Featured Collaboration #4 (Incorporate two new police characters + dialogue)
• Featured Collaboration #5 (Incorporate places submitted by collaborators into the comic panels –goal is at least 4 to 5 places)
• Featured Collaboration # 6 (Incorporate collaborative input on Dex’s backstory sprinkled throughout the script as a foundation to the criminal underground element – Andre’s soon-to-be foes)
• Featured Collaboration #7 (Incorporate a broad Hero’s Journey of the mock comic – The Monahans, as well as final mock cover illustration)