Karma 1 1/2: The Prequel to Beantown

A few years ago, I had the privilege to work with my good friend and Director Tim Norman on one of his first films (we were still in high school at the time). It was a gritty, dark, almost noirish story that pitted the big crime families in Boston against one another in a ballet of bullets called “Beantown.” I was the executive producer on the film (Whatever that means...IMDB it. I dare you. Go ahead, I can wait.) while at the same time, I cut my teeth with Phtoshop (I had no idea what I was doing, but I really did learn a lot from that experience.) doing some of the posters for the film and the eventual DVD cover. As a compliment piece to that movie, I thought it would be fun for me to try my hand at drawing a comic book which would act a semi sort of prequel to the film (as this is where my interests lied at the time before I discovered illustration and viz-dev). This was very much intended to be a companion piece opposite to the movie but have similar themes and level of grit. This was to be like Robert Rodriguez to “Beantown’s” Tarantino.  The first thing I wanted to attempt was to not hold back on what I was going to put on the page. Being a very small film on a pocket change budget, “Beantown” was in some ways limited by what was possible. All that was limiting the comic was my imagination and at my drawing skills at the time. After emailing back and forth with Norman, he finally came up with the germ that would finally be the main story for the book. “Have the Winter Hill gang square off against the Chinese triads or yakuza” was his thought and that is what I went with. 

As time went by, the movie got finished and the comic book got away from me as I went on to other things. As I fell into the world of the book more and more things kept popping up in my mind that I wanted to include or I thought would be interesting or humorous. I was working on this (unknown to me at the time) in the “Stan Lee Method,” where I an artist was given a plot and it was up to him to break it down and get from the beginning to the end. As a result of the narrative was not completely solid in my mind and I began to wander with it, putting more and more stuff that I wanted in it. What is the result of this are 26 pages of varying degrees of completion. As you will notice near the beginning and the end, the line work is more finished and in the middle things are still relatively loose or very basically blocked in shapes. This was supposed to be part of a two book collection (which, if I included all the ground I wanted to cover would have probably been 40 pages each) which is where the title “Karma 1 ½ Part One” comes from. The work is old and some of the choices I made are kind of wince worthy to me, and some of the penciling is pretty “interesting” but that is part of learning, you look back and you always see things that you wish you could change. They are included here on my blog as a peek of what could have been and for all of the “Beantown” fans. I promised myself that if one day the movie gets the Criterion treatment I will go back and finish the pencils, and ink and color it. I still might try doing a page in color just for fun. We’ll see. Fingers crossed.

What is included below is a brief summary based on my own recollections of the story and some very basic notes I jotted down at the time. This was done mainly so you may be able to follow along. I also plan on including annotations on certain pages to point some things out or to make reference to other things I feel are noteworthy.  Hope you enjoy. Be warned, some of it is pretty ridiculous.

Karma 1 ½: The Prequel to “Beantown”

Our story starts in the Chinatown neighborhood located in Boston, Massachusetts. During one of the worst rainstorms the city has seen in decades we find Winter Hill affiliates Sean MacDoogle and Stormin being violently beaten and tortured in the top floor meat curing room of a Yakuza owned Chinese restaurant (yeah, I know.). They are hung by chains in both their hands and feet and are being grilled by none other than Xao Che Zung the Yakuza leader, and two of his men. A mid the beating Xao raises a pinky-less hand and the violence immediately stops. Gripping gold plated and intricately adorned berretta in one hand, Xao beings to apologize for such drastic measures but expresses his deep need for the rather large and expansive shipment of weapons that are being stored the next street over, in one of his warehouses non the less but are heavily booby trapped. Xao has received word that Winter Hill was hired to pick up this shipment and deliver it to a buyer outside of the country by means of a cargo ship leaving this very day. Xao, wishes to know the deactivation codes for the booby traps and procure this shipment for an interested investor of his own.  Stormin spits out a large wad of phlegm and blood and says that they were both hired to pick up that shipment and the only way a dirty dishonorable half breed like Xao would ever get those codes would be to shatter open his skull and sift through the jelly of his brain to find it.  With such an abrasive remark, one of Xao’s men snaps and without permission of his master elbows Stormin right in the face dislodging an already very loose and very cracked tooth.

Without saying a word Xao raised his berretta and fires one precise shot through the back of his henchmen’s head and kicks his body out the adjacent window with one smooth controlled motion. The body tumbles to the ground and smashes in a heap as the gentle patter of rain beings to soak the corpse. This is Xao’s part of the city and he knows such actions will not be reported by any of Chinatown’s residents or supposed authorities. Xao sighs and mentions the importance of obedience and discipline and continues on as if he just pulled a hair off of his garb. He then goes on to state that this will be the final time he asks to know the code to deactivate the traps and gain access to the Winter Hill’s shipment.

Unknown to both Xao, MacDoogle, and Stormin is that they are being watched-and watched most carefully. Standing across the street, on an adjacent roof in the pouring rain and not minding a thing for it, was master marksman and Leon family affiliate Sal Scorpino. He peers very carefully with binoculars at the unfolding events and begins to unpack components from a large case by his feet and snaps them together. Back inside the restaurant with a mouth full of blood and a rattled jaw, Stormin once again utters a poetic string of vulgarities at Xao and finally tells him that he is never getting that code. Xao finally, after hours of this, begins to crack at the seams and almost faster than a blink has jammed the still hot muzzle of his berretta into the soft flesh under Stormin’s chin clacking his mouth shut.  At the same time Scorpio has finally emptied the contents of his case and has constructed a custom made lightweight all weather MRPG launcher and is waiting for a confirmation go ahead on his walkie talkie. On the other end of the line is Nick Leone, second in command of the entire Leon crime family who tells him to take the shot. In the background his brother and current head of the family, Sergio “The Director” Leone waits impatiently with a Cuban cigar in his hand wanting to go over the final business of the day. Back in the Chinese restaurant Xao now looks at MacDoogle and tells him that he has until he gets to the count of three to give him those codes that his associate is unwilling to provide or he is going to put a bullet through Stormin’s head and then make him suffer more pain then he has ever experienced in his life before the final end comes. Across the street Scorpino is told once he gets Xao in his sights to take the shot.

At the same time climbing the building next to where Scorpino is standing, and alarmed by the gunshot and subsequent disposal of a corpse out the window of the Chinese restaurant is Martin “Mackie” McGuiness. He was supposed to meet Stormin and MacDoogle around this time to start the job and deliver the shipment. But being alarmed and knowing who owns that restaurant, he decided to climb up and get a better look just in case Xao got wind of what was going on in his part of town and this thing went belly up. Just as Scorpino was getting a final bead on Xao, Sergio was sitting down with Nick to get guarantees on the hit he put out on Zhung would be done deal. Nick with a smirk on his face and a wave of his hand guarantees his brother that by the end of the day it will all be a memory. At that same moment Scorpino was clicking the safety off of his weapon and Zhung had just counted to three-Mackie was just scrambling the fire escape and wriggled his way to the top of the building he was climbing. In an instant, with a surge of adrenaline Mackie recognized Scorpino taking aim more than a building down, and he reached behind his back for his gun and took a shot at him through the torrential rain that weighed him down and stung his eyes.

The bullet went wild and instead of hitting Scorpino directly, struck his MRPG launcher sending it spiraling off of its mark just as its trigger was pulled. A micro rocket propelled grenade was designed specifically for close quarters urban pacificatioh. To travel a predetermined distance and then detonate creating a very controlled explosion with high overpressure and terminal concussive shockwave damage. If this rocket had entered the Chinese restaurant window where Zhung was, and gone off as planned- everyone inside would have been dead and shredded to hamburger. Literally popped from the inside out.

The rocket however, veered violently to the left by a few degrees and contacted the side of the restaurant instead. At that exact moment Sergio strikes a match and takes a deep drag on his cigar in a congratulatory gesture and tells his little brother good work for a job well done.

The third floor of the Chinese restaurant tore off to one side and its occupants were violently expelled out the other end through the window. Stormin, MacDoogle and Zhung smashed through mortar and wood and stone and glass and found themselves engulfed in a cloud of dust, asbestos, and torn meat reeling through the open air. Chains ripped from support beams, ears ringing, and limbs flailing. The last thing any of them remember before blacking out was crashing through the roof of the much desired storage unit housing Stormin and MacDoogles weapons shipment. The said items housed in the back of a non-descript semi truck.

During all of this chaos Sergio was leaning back in his chair and asking if he had received a confirmation call from Scorpino yet. Cracking his knuckles Nick Leone guaranteed his older brother that there is no need to worry as Scorpino has never missed a shot or failed a mark (this time of course being the exception to the rule). Taking a long drag off his cigar Sergio closed his eyes and said that they should move on to the new business matters of the day. At that very moment Scorpino aimed his MRPG in the direction of Mackie, the one man who has ever thrown off one of his shots and fired-blowing Mackie off of his feet. Inside the storage unit, Stormin and MacDoogle were just coming to. Puking, popping limbs back into sockets and picking glass out of their bodies, MacDoogle asked if Stormin was ok and received a thumb up mid throw up from the Irishman. Gaining a sense of his surroundings, and realizing that they had not in fact been blown to bits by their booby trap, MacDoogle asked Stormin why this was the case? Reluctantly Stormin confessed to not having enough explosives for the job so for most of the traps, the dynamite was actually sawed and painted broom handles. A miracle really that they didn’t set off one of the real bombs anyway. MacDoogle then asked which ones were the real ones, by which Stormin replied with a shoulder shrug. Both men then went on into a cursing match trying to outdo the other as both sides spouted at each other their frustrations and anger. This ended abruptly when they heard motion in the building like the sound of someone trying to crawl around under scrap metal and loose timber. Realizing it was Zhung, who was now the worse for wear; Stormin stopped right in front of him and told him now that it was his turn to count to three. Immediately Stormin kicked Zhung in the face as hard as he could and with a loud crack the Yakuza leader flopped out on the ground. Stormin then spit a huge, salty, yellow wad of phlegm out of his mouth with splattered and dribbled down the back of Zhung’s head. Fluffing out the dust from his hat and putting back on his head Stormin muttered with a rattled jaw -“Three.” 
MacDoogle looked up through the wet hole in the ceiling they had just fallen through and knew that what just happened would probably get someone’s attention. In the now imploded wreckage of the third floor, Zhung’s second henchman with the last bit of strength that he had left before a bloody gurgle silenced him forever sent out a mass text to all of the shadow army of Yakuza in Chinatown and the surrounding parts of Boston with one word on it-Miyagi. This was code for all of them to gather at Zhung’s restaurant and be prepared to go to war. Inside the storage unit, MacDoogle heard static on the Semi trucks CV radio and recognized the voice on the other end belonged to Mackie (trying to get in contact on a predetermined secure line). Picking up the receiver MacDoogle and Mackie began a conversation that filled each other in on their whereabouts and the events that had just transpired. Mackie told MacDoogle that he was now under fire by Scorpino and was going to see if he could find a way to meet up with them later. MacDoogle warned Mackie that there was a good chance Zhung’s goons were going to show up soon and in numbers and that he had better get out of Chinatown as soon as he could and try to meet them at the Docks. All around them Yakuza foot soldiers were climbing up fire escapes and taking positions on rooftops and between alleyways and behind dumpsters, popping cocaine and shooting up steroids, loading and shouldering weapons and donning facemasks emblazon with Zhung’s own patch bearing his moniker, the pouncing cobra. Laser sights and cross hairs, all carefully, patiently aimed at the locked storage unit Stormin and MacDoogle now found themselves in-outmanned, and unarmed.

Stormin, being of a practical, wreckless, and survivalist mindset knew there was only one thing left for them to if they were going to get out of there alive with any hope of delivering this shipment. Tearing a fake bomb off the back of the truck and opening the semitrailer’s doors Stormin began to reach in, unlock and open every carefully stacked container of their supposed shipment-dropping their contents on the floor. At the same time on the other side of town Nick was going over a file describing for his older brother the contents of this said shipment that they were planning on intercepting from the Winter Hill gang once they were out in the open and Scorpino could take control of the truck, under the noise and chaos created by the assassination of yakuza leader Xao Che Zhung. Automatic and semi automatic weapons of every shape and size, explosives, body armor, antique firearms, and a rather large and expensive collection of Russian vodka amongst many, many other armaments of various shapes and sizes were all to be found in this multimillion dollar weapons cache. Sergio could only dream of the money he and his family was going to make from this deal once those weapons hit the streets and found buyers. Little did he know that most of them now were unpacked and fully loaded at the feet of Stormin and MacDoogle. MacDoogle choosing to drive, picked up a shotgun, ammo, and bottles of vodka and headed toward the front of the semi, entered the cabin and clicked in the cigarette lighter, he didn’t know what for, but he had a feeling he might need it later for some impromptu and very, very, expensive Molotov cocktails.

Stormin was on the back of the semitrailer sticking a lucky match stick in his mouth and looking introspectively at some old battered photos of his family he always kept with him. Deep in ponderous thought that was only, finally interrupted by MacDoogle yelling at him wanting to know if he was ready to go. Gently putting the photos gently back in his sweater pocket and picking up an M79 grenade launcher, Stormin toasted to himself and to the heavens by uttering “Here’s to better days.”

Outside there was only tense stillness. Dozens of foot soldiers stood alert and attentive to any motion from the storage unit straining their ears and eyes through the oppressive downpour and almost deafening sound of the rain pattering all around them magnified by the now quiet of these back streets and alleyways. Slowly and quietly, several of Zhung’s troops crept carefully toward the storage unit, guns in hand and safety’s off, hoping to get a better listen on what was going on inside, if anything.  As they neared the large rusting industrial storage unit door, they heard a pop and a wheeze as something whizzed through the air, drawing very quickly toward them.

The large metallic door blew off its hinges taking chunks of cinder block with it, enveloped in a huge explosive ball of fire and dust as disembodied limbs and torsos flew through the air reigning down on Zhung’s anxious and startled foot soldiers. Amid the dust cloud rumbled out the semi truck tearing out of the storage unit at full speed, engine and tires screaming, cylinders red hot. Stormin and MacDoogle bruised, bleeding, broken, and numb, clutched their weapons, eyes and minds razor focused on the next few miles realizing that the worst-was yet to come.

To be continued…?

If you look close at that clothesline hanging out in the first panel, you will see a superman shirt. Just an inside joke, because at the time those were pretty much all I wore.

That mural behind Zhung says "Godzilla" in Japanese.

This whole conversation was supposed to be originally done in a sort of code. Both MacDoogle and Mackie were going to talk to one another like they are discussing an order of Mexican food, just in case the line was bugged.

I just thought the bibs both characters start out with was a funny visual element. All around them the world is coming down at their feet and they have these stupid lobster or baby bibs on for some reason. Stormin takes his off but I though MacDoogle would just leave it on. They have them on from the begining. Why? Maybe they were eating at Zhung's restaurant before?

This moment with Stormin looking at old family photos is something I borrowed from the actual film. I liked the idea so much and it helped add depth to this character. It was also just a nice quiet moment before he blows the front door off of the storage unit.

"Here's to better days" is line given by a character in the film right before the final blood drenched shootout. I forget exactly who says it but he is alone and pours himself a drink and does this small toast to himself. Once again, just sort of echoing the movie. It is here also if you look you will see a caption box with what looks like two rivets in it. What was intended to be peppered throughout the story's complete length is the Lord's prayer, broken up over the story until the last page.

And there you go. What followed after this was a violent bullet drenched high speed chase through the pouring rain with Yakuza and police in hot pursuit. There was going to be Mackie on a four wheeler jumping on rooftops, strung out foot soldiers in a smartcar pumping one too many tanks of nitrous into their engine, hitting the injector button and blowing themselves up, Stormin emptying two Thompson machine guns out the back of the semi into yakuza on crotch rockets, Scorpino shooting the trigger fingers off of dozens of foot soldiers out the top of a moving car, Stormin getting into a bare knuckle brawl with a sumo wrestler in, on top of, and around the semi trailer, and finally an ending that well........the ending I think I will keep a secret for now.