Mr. Seek Jekyll and Hyde comic

This is a project I did about 6 months back as a gift. It's far far far from completed... I was adapting the novel Jekyll and Hyde to a comic, with a few slight additions, seeing as I like Utterson so very much XD.

Top is character designs, then we have the title page, then two mostly finished pages, then two rough draft piece-of-crap pages. If you're curious about the speech bubbles I'll be posting the whole script as I have it, below. Note that it goes a lot longer than the drawn version @.@;;

______________________________

Utterson:
1: Due to my nature, I am a man burdened to be a holder of many secrets. For my friends, I saddle this burden and do my best to aide them with what advice I can offer. But my prominent virtue remains in being a patient ear, unbound by pretense.


2: Of all the tales I have shouldered, there is only one that holds me so tightly, so truly possesses me, that its echoes will forever haunt every recess of my mind. It sleeps in my memories…


3: …like a dormant beast.


4: However, I should not refer to it as a beast at rest. It’s awake. It’s alive. And I feel it hungry to consume all my energies until I find out all I can about the story. I’m the story’s sole heir and I’ve gathered all I can to fill my knowledge gaps. Even when I know all I can know, I want more. Is this mere curiosity…? Or envy…? All I can say for certain is that it has shaken the very foundation of my quiet life.


5: And what it has taught me, what it might teach you, is to beware of the beast lurking in us all…

~~~

Enfield:
6: *point at door* Did you ever point out that door?
Utterson:
7: *show door as he speaks* Once, perhaps.
8: My dear cousin Enfield, a gentleman with whom I often share company, served to truly arouse my insatiable curiosity. It was only chance that these pieces happened to fall into my lap.
Enfield:
9: *apprehensive* It is connected in my mind with a very odd story.
Utterson:
10: *curious face* Indeed? What was that?
Enfield:
11: *face shot* Well it was this way…

~~

Enfield walking.

Far out view of corner.

Hyde and a little girl nearing each other unknowingly.

They slam into each other at the corner


Then Hyde walks over her. Girl crying out.
Narration Enfield:
12 “It sounds like nothing well I tell you, but it was hellish to see.”


Enfield shouts.
13: “Ah! Halt sir!”


Hurries to collar Hyde.
Narration Enfield:
14: “He wasn’t like a man; it was like some damned Juggernaut.”


Return with Hyde in check.


Girl surrounded by sympathetic faces. Young boy, adult male, teen girl, mom.


Hyde gives Enfield a haunting glare.
Narration Enfield:
15: “He was perfectly calm and made no resistance. He only gave me one look, one so ugly that it made me sweat...”

~~

Enfield:
16: The girl wasn’t truly injured, though we sent for a doctor anyway. That would have been the end of it, but there was one curious circumstance. We had all taken to loathing the gentleman on first sight. But that seemed only natural.
Utterson:
17: Of course.
Enfield:
18: But the peculiar thing is, that even the doctor we’d summoned, a very detached and professional fellow, you know the sort, well even HE seemed to shake with a terrible urge to kill the gentleman.
19: I swear to you, anyone that looks at him would be filled with that hatred, even those not easily taken by emotion.
Utterson:
20: Peculiar indeed…
Enfield:
21: Killing being out of the question, we did the next best thing.

~~

Edward face, blank and cold.
Enfield Narration:
22: We threatened a scandal on his reputation.
Family: (23-27)
My sister! - We’ll take this to the papers! – We’ll run your name into the ground! – Your friends will all abandon you! - For this poor child your name will reek all across London!


Edward:
28: If you choose to put a price on this accident, I am naturally helpless.
29: No gentleman wishes to make a scene. Name your figure.

~~

Enfield:
30: We talked him up to 100 pounds. He was clearly unhappy to pay so dearly, but he knew he had little choice. And to get the money, where did he lead us? Straight to that door.
31: He had a key, went in, and soon returned with 10 pounds and a signed cheque for the rest.

~~

Edward:
32: Take your money then. (scowl)


Father looking shocked, hold the bills.
Father:
33: Such a respectable man paying for your mischief making?
Enfield Narration:
34: The figure was stiff, but the signature, if it was not forged, was good for much more than that.


Enfield yelling, Edward looking unaffected and annoyed.
Enfield:
35: This is ridiculous! No man in real life can walk into some cellar door at 4 in the morning and return so quickly with another man’s signature for almost 100 pounds!
Edward:
36: (sneer) Set your mind at ease. I will stay with you till the banks open and cash the cheque with my own hands.


Group sits in Enfield’s home. (Doc, En, Father, Edward)
Enfield Narration:
37: The doctor, the girl’s father, our friend and myself, we all waited in my chambers.


Zoom on “Henry Jekyll” signature.
Enfield Narration:
38: Though I dare not say his name, the cheque was genuine.
~~

Utterson with very stern face, Enfield looking saddened.
Utterson:
39: Tsk.
Enfield:
40: I agree. A bad story indeed… He was a creature most foul, and the signer, not only a well-known gentleman, is one of your close friends who is often doing good.
41: Blackmail! The whole address stinks of blackmail as I pass it now.


Enfield, looking a bit dismal and wistful. Utterson gently curious.
Enfield:
42: Though it still leaves questions in my mind.
Utterson:
43: And you don’t know if the man of your story lives there?


Enfield hangs his head.
Enfield:
44: No… I noticed his address. He lives in some square or another.
Utterson:
45: And you’ve never asked him about this door?


Enfield with a lifted finger
Enfield:
46: No, sir, I have a policy to avoid questions.
47: The more strange it looks, the less I ask.


Utterson, nods with closed eyes. Enfield looking a bit sheepish.
Utterson:
48: It’s a very wise policy.
Enfield:
49: Nevertheless, I have studied the place myself. It’s scarcely a house. There are no other doors, and no one goes in and out but the gentleman from my adventure. Even so, the chimney is smoking, someone must live there… Though I might be wrong, the roofs are so close here.


Utterson lifts a finger, Enfield hesitant.
Utterson:
50: I know I should follow your policy, but there’s something I want to ask, sir. I must ask the name of the man who walked over the child.
Enfield:
51: Well… I can’t see what harm it would do. His name was Hyde.


Utterson, pensive, and Enfield in silence for one panel.


Utterson chimes in, Enfield looking accusing and shocked.
Utterson:
52: You’re sure he used a key?
Enfield:
53: John…!


Utterson looking off to the side. Enfield looking sullen and hurt.
Utterson:
54: Yes I know, Richard. It must seem strange. But your tale hits home. I need not ask the name of the other party if all you’ve told me is true.
Enfield:
55: You might have warned me… But I have told you exactly. He does have a key, he even used it only a week ago.


Another panel of silence. Enfield looking annoyed and Utterson sighing.


Enfield looking sad and bitter.
Enfield:
56: Another lesson to say nothing.


The pair shake, Enfield sad, Utterson blank.
Enfield:
57: I am ashamed of my loose tongue. Let us make a bargain to never speak of this again.
Utterson:
58: With all my heart, I shake hands on that, Richard.
~~


Utterson at home, his narration panels follow his pictures.


Sitting eating food.
Utterson Narration:
59: That night as I ate, I tried to forget the story.


Utterson holding an envelope by a candle
Utterson Narration:
60: But the wheels had been set in motion many weeks before. The name Hyde had disturbed me before and knowing this terrible story renewed my fears.


The envelope in his hands says: Dr. Henry Jekyll’s Will
61: His name had darkened my mind for its presence in the will of my close friend. I knew when my cousin had spoken of the sponsor of Hyde’s late night mischief, I knew in my heart that it was Jekyll.


A zoom on Henry’s signature, much like in the earlier panel.
62: His will stated that in the case of his death or disappearance for more than three months, his entire estate was to pass effortlessly to his “friend and benefactor Edward Hyde.” Not only as a lawyer, but more so as a dear friend of Henry and a lover of order, this will was a disgrace to me.


Utterson stands before a door, narration box above:
63: I needed to know more about this Hyde. My curiosity had seized hold. Who this man clothed in such vile attributes? I went to my friend, Dr. Lanyon, if any one knows, it would be him.


Lanyon takes both of Utterson’s hands, receiving him warmly. Box below.
Lanyon:
64: John! It’s always so good to see you.
Utterson narration:
65: We were once school mates together, the three of us, myself, Lanyon, and Jekyll. We were, long ago, inseparable friends.


Both sitting by a fire in fine chairs talking pleasantly.
Utterson:
66: I suppose Lanyon, that you and I must be the oldest friends of Henry Jekyll.
Lanyon:
67: Hah, I do wish we were all younger, but I suppose we are. What of that? I don’t see him often.


Utterson looking surprised.
Utterson:
68: Really? I thought you were close…


Lanyon looks a bit upset, eyes a bit narrowed.
Lanyon:
69: We were… but it’s been 10 years since Henry Jekyll became much too fanciful for me. I still look out for him for old time’s sake, but I see very little of him. He’s gone wrong long ago. His unscientific balderdash would have broken even the tightest friendship.


Silent Utterson, with a straight face.
Utterson narration:
70: At that time his spirit comforted me. I thought that they must have disagreed on some matter of science. Though I didn’t care much for the field myself, I was almost glad to see his passion.


Utterson, after the pause, facing Lanyon looking a bit confused.
Utterson:
71: Have you ever heard of a protégée of his? A.. Mr. Hyde?
Lanyon:
72: Hyde? No… I’ve never heard of him.


Dark square.
Utterson narration:
73: That was all I gathered from Lanyon that night. And when I returned home, though I tried to sleep, I was much too troubled. All night, toiling with questions besieging my mind.


Utterson face up in bed, both eyes open wide.
Utterson Narration:
74: I couldn’t sleep as pictures churned through my thoughts, a man, who would trod carelessly over a child, even as she screamed in pain.


Dark shape over the shoulders of a cowering Henry.
75: And I saw, to my horror, this faceless monster, looming over dear Harry’s bedside, demanding money at all hours of the night, it left me haunted indeed.


Dark shape from last panel with gleaming eyes, box below.
Utterson Narration:
76: Even as he haunted me, I could not see his face. The curiosity gnawed upon me I knew then I could not rest until I saw his face. If he was Mr. Hyde, I would henceforth be, Mr. Seek.