📘 Lovecraft Country: Return to Arkham – Issue 1

Written by Shannon Appelcline
Art & Lettering by Saffronrage Solutions
Published by Christopher Allen / Dyvers Hands Productions, LLC
First published: 2005
Second Edition: 2026

© 2005 Dyvers Hands Productions, LLC, licensed CC-BY-SA.
This work is licensed Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

This script is part of the Lovecraft Country series and may not be used for commercial purposes without permission from the rights holder.

Lovecraft Country™ is a trademark of Dyvers Hands Productions, LLC.

🗂️ Issue Overview

Title: Return to Arkham
Series: Lovecraft Country
Arc: Arkham by Night
Arc Placement: Prequel to ‘Whitechapel’ arc
Issue: 1 of 6
Continuity Date: Summer 1933
Setting: Arkham, Massachusetts during the Great Depression
Main Character: Seth Fletcher
Synopsis: Seth Fletcher arrives in Arkham to search for his missing brother Carlton. The town’s outward normalcy hides academic intrigue, lingering trauma from a Moroccan expedition, and the eerie symbols of the Yellow Sign.

📝 Script Notes

🎨 ARTIST: Arkham by Night is designed as a regular comic book. Initially for online distribution but eventually printed—artwork must be high-resolution (600dpi black & white at standard comic-book size).

🎨 ARTIST: The general style of Lovecraft Country should be realistic and historical. Not super-hero artwork, nor particularly stylized—though the artwork should be slightly dark and gloomy.

🌫️ ATMOSPHERE: The comic is set in summer 1933. Artwork can be gloomy, dark, and dangerous, but not horrific except in rare occasions. We have secrets in the shadows, not deep ones and star spawn.

🎭 COSTUME: All clothes must be appropriate for 1933 Depression era.

🌆 BACKGROUND: Buildings, automobiles, and other items need to be historically accurate for 1933.

📄 Page One

🔲 PANEL LAYOUT: Full-page splash panel with space for credits and issue title “Welcome to Arkham”.

🖼️ PANEL ONE

🎨 ARTIST: Closeup on desk. Journal open to first page with text matching captions. Left foreground: framed photograph of Carlton (18 years old, hair slicked back, period suit and tie) lying flat.

🎨 ARTIST: Carlton is tall and striking with slender, almost delicate build. Short very fair blond hair, lightly tanned skin, bright blue eyes, average nose, soft mouth.

📦 PROP: Newspaper clippings on desk (may be partially obscured): “Nation must Prevent Hunger and Cold” with photo of bread line at St. Peter’s Mission; “Hitler Named German Chancellor” with Hitler in suit; “NRA Promises National Recovery” with FDR drawing.

🎙️ CAPTION (SETH):
It was June 17, 1933 when I first came to Arkham, Massachusetts.
🎙️ CAPTION (SETH):
We were deep in the Depression, while across the ocean Europe faced its own horrors.
🎙️ CAPTION (SETH):
But at home a new president offered a new deal.
🎙️ CAPTION (SETH):
And I came to Arkham looking for my brother, Carlton Fletcher.

📄 Page Two

🔲 PANEL LAYOUT: Three panels across top row, one large panel below.

🖼️ PANEL ONE

🎨 ARTIST: Tight shot on single large suitcase being placed on train platform, black hand holding handle.

🎙️ CAPTION (SETH):
When I arrived, I at once saw that Arkham was a small town.

🖼️ PANEL TWO

🎨 ARTIST: Pull back to show more platform. Black porter offers partial bow near suitcase. Seth Fletcher may be visible to the side.

🎨 ARTIST: Seth looks like his brother but more lanky and delicate. Dirty blonde hair (darker than Carlton’s). Age 18.

🎙️ CAPTION (SETH):
A polite town.
🗣️ PORTER (BALLOON):
Your bags, sir.

🖼️ PANEL THREE

🎨 ARTIST: Pull back to show whole empty platform. Train has departed. Heavy wooden doors with “Arkham” in bronze lettering. Door windows may frame vista glimpse.

🎙️ CAPTION (SETH):
A quiet town.

🖼️ PANEL FOUR

🎨 ARTIST: Seth outside train station, panoramic view from behind. Suitcase beside him. Across street: old Arkham houses with gables, gambrels, and turrets.

🌆 BACKGROUND: Houses should appear architecturally odd and Gothic.

🎙️ CAPTION (SETH):
But it was not until I emerged onto the streets of Arkham proper that I saw that it was a ghost town too.
🎙️ CAPTION (SETH):
I finally understood how my brother could have been lost here.

📄 Page Three

🔲 PANEL LAYOUT: Six-panel page. Long panels top and bottom, two middle tiers with two uneven panels each.

🖼️ PANEL ONE

🎨 ARTIST: Same street, normal perspective. Handsome Ford Deuce or appropriate period car at station. Seth leaning into car.

📦 PROP: Period-appropriate automobile (circa 1933).

📎 REFERENCE: Ford Deuce example: http://www.roadsters.com/deuce/

🗣️ SETH (BALLOON):
Miskatonic University please.

🖼️ PANEL TWO

🌀 FLASHBACK: First of four flashback panels. Differentiate with altered border or grayed colors.

🎨 ARTIST: Young Carlton (age 16) holding print of crude cave drawing—hunter facing snake with spear. Young Seth (age 6) on floor drawing with chalk.

🎙️ CAPTION (SETH):
I barely knew my brother.

🖼️ PANEL THREE

🌀 FLASHBACK: Carlton (age 18) in magnificent New England home entryway. Suitcase beside him. Parents and Seth bidding farewell.

🎨 ARTIST: Parents in mid-forties, epitome of New England breeding—respectable and proper. Seth now age 8.

🌆 BACKGROUND: Wealthy New England home interior.

🎙️ CAPTION (SETH):
He left for college when I was too young for us to be friends. For Miskatonic University.

🖼️ PANEL FOUR

🌀 FLASHBACK: Carlton’s mother holding paper, right hand to forehead in grief. Seth (age 12) stands nearby observing.

🎙️ CAPTION (SETH):
When he disappeared, four years later, I was still young. My parents simply said he was gone.

🖼️ PANEL FIVE

🌀 FLASHBACK: Tight shot—mother’s legs, floor, paper drifting down.

🎙️ CAPTION (SETH):
Gone.

🖼️ PANEL SIX

🎨 ARTIST: Back to present day. Taxi at administration building of Miskatonic University.

🎙️ CAPTION (SETH):
Now I was ready to learn the real answers.
🗣️ TAXI DRIVER (BALLOON):
Here’s Miskatonic, lad.

📄 Page Four

🔲 PANEL LAYOUT: Panel one runs down left side. Panels two and three form tier. Panels four, five, and six each own tier.

🖼️ PANEL ONE

🎨 ARTIST: Seth on steps to administration building entrance. Huge double doors with “Miskatonic University” carved in granite above. Four-foot deep archway. Professor directory box visible on left.

🌆 BACKGROUND: Chalk graffiti nearby: “Act as if nothing is wrong.”

🎙️ CAPTION (SETH):
I had very little to go on, just two professors’ names that Carlton had mentioned in a letter.

🖼️ PANEL TWO

🎨 ARTIST: Tight on Seth’s finger tracing professor list. Visible names: “Newbury, Christian … LA 142”, “Newland, Richard … SH 513”, “Peaslee, Wingate … SH 609”. Finger pointing at Newland.

🎙️ CAPTION (SETH):
Professor Richard Newland.

🖼️ PANEL THREE

🎨 ARTIST: Still tight on finger, now at H section. Visible: “Gilman, Frederick … ME 102”, “Harding, Julian … “ (room number missing), “Henry, Joseph … LA 151”. Finger at Harding.

🎙️ CAPTION (SETH):
And Professor Julian Harding.

🖼️ PANEL FOUR

🎨 ARTIST: Inside Newland’s outer office. Large clean desk with manual typewriter. Older, tired woman behind desk. Inner office door ajar behind her.

🌆 BACKGROUND: Frosted door window shows “513” stenciled outside.

📦 PROP: Seth still carrying suitcase.

🎙️ CAPTION (SETH):
I decided to approach Professor Newland first.
🗣️ SETH (BALLOON):
Pardon. I’d like to speak with Professor Newland.

🖼️ PANEL FIVE

🎨 ARTIST: Secretary and Seth both look startled at inner office door.

🎙️ CAPTION (SETH):
I was to be disappointed.
🗣️ NEWLAND (OFF-PANEL, SHOUT):
Damned cemeteries!

🖼️ PANEL SIX

🎨 ARTIST: Secretary turns back to Seth, hands primly folded.

🗣️ SECRETARY (BALLOON):
I’m sorry, but Dr. Newland is very busy right now.

📄 Page Five

🔲 PANEL LAYOUT: Three panels. Top tier with two panels (same height as page four top tier). Third large panel fills rest of page.

🖼️ PANEL ONE

🎨 ARTIST: Secretary looking distractedly at inner door while Seth speaks.

🗣️ SETH (BALLOON):
I understand. I guess I can come back later.
🗣️ NEWLAND (OFF-PANEL):
Cemeteries.

🖼️ PANEL TWO

🎨 ARTIST: Secretary’s attention returns to Seth, but clearly distracted.

🗣️ SETH (BALLOON):
But do you know where I could find Professor Harding? His office isn’t listed in the directory.
🗣️ SECRETARY (BALLOON):
Oh, dear. Dr. Harding? I’m sorry, but he’s not here.

🖼️ PANEL THREE

🎨 ARTIST: Wide shot of Arkham Sanitarium—fierce-looking structure, as outré as any in Arkham.

🌆 BACKGROUND: Stone wall and gates front the premises. Sign reading “Arkham Sanitarium” visible.

🗣️ SECRETARY (OFF-PANEL):
He’s at the Sanitarium.

📄 Page Six

🔲 PANEL LAYOUT: Four tiers, first three panels in tier one. Layouts become more organic and ragged from here, reflecting descent into Arkham.

🎨 ARTIST: Panel layouts should become increasingly irregular to reflect psychological tension.

🖼️ PANEL ONE

🎨 ARTIST: Seth at hotel counter. Girl behind it. “Hotel Miskatonic” plaque on counter.

🌆 BACKGROUND: Art Deco style throughout hotel. Relatively new and well-kept.

🎙️ CAPTION (SETH):
After that, I knew I’d need a room.
🗣️ GIRL (BALLOON):
Five dollars for the night, sir.

🖼️ PANEL TWO

🎨 ARTIST: Small hotel room. Seth’s suitcase open on bed with neatly packed clothes. Framed picture on top. Seth stands over bed, tired.

🌆 BACKGROUND: Room contains bed, desk (same as page one but bare), and chair. Neat, clean, but sterile.

🖼️ PANEL THREE

🎨 ARTIST: Tight shot of Seth’s upper body holding framed picture—same photo of Carlton from page one.

🎙️ CAPTION (SETH):
I decided I’d be in Arkham for a while.

🖼️ PANEL FOUR

🎨 ARTIST: Seth at another desk, facing middle-aged nurse surrounded by paperwork.

🎙️ CAPTION (SETH):
And then I was off to the Sanitarium.
🗣️ SETH (BALLOON):
I’m here to see Professor Harding.
🗣️ NURSE (BALLOON):
Are you a relative?

🖼️ PANEL FIVE

🎨 ARTIST: Seth stands thinking while nurse looks on.

🎙️ CAPTION (SETH):
It seemed an entirely natural thing to do.

🖼️ PANEL SIX

🎨 ARTIST: Seth scratches behind head, looking sheepish. Nurse still looks on, unblinking.

🗣️ SETH (BALLOON):
Yes.

📄 Page Seven

🔲 PANEL LAYOUT: Long panel down gutter. Right side: panels two and three form tier, then four, then five, then six and seven form last tier.

🖼️ PANEL ONE

🎨 ARTIST: Seth follows nurse down long hallway with doors on both sides. Seth looks uncomfortable.

🌫️ ATMOSPHERE: Voices drift from behind doors, creating unsettling cacophony.

🗣️ VOICE (OFF-PANEL, WHISPER):
In the walls. They live in the walls. In the walls.
🗣️ VOICE (OFF-PANEL, WHISPER):
By my word, do not attend the theatre, Mr. President.
🗣️ VOICE (OFF-PANEL, WHISPER):
Cthulhu fthagn.
🗣️ VOICE (OFF-PANEL, WHISPER):
Nothing is wrong. Nothing is wrong.
🗣️ VOICE (OFF-PANEL, WHISPER):
Nevanus. It was she.

🖼️ PANEL TWO

🎨 ARTIST: At last door. Nurse fitting key in lock.

🗣️ NURSE (BALLOON):
Here we are.
🗣️ VOICE (OFF-PANEL, WHISPER):
And the snakes, the snakes.

🖼️ PANEL THREE

🎨 ARTIST: Door open. Professor Harding against cement wall in straitjacket, hair wild.

🎨 ARTIST: Dr. Harding is tall, handsome man with short black hair, piercing blue eyes, fair skin.

🎭 COSTUME: Hospital-issued straitjacket, disheveled appearance.

🗣️ NURSE (BALLOON):
I’ll be back in ten minutes.
🗣️ HARDING (BALLOON):
Carlton, is that you?

🖼️ PANEL FOUR

🎨 ARTIST: Seth rushes up next to Harding. He’s kneeling down next to the man.

🎙️ CAPTION (SETH):
When I met Harding I knew at once that he held the answers I needed.
🗣️ SETH (BALLOON):
No, I’m his brother Seth. But my brother, you knew my brother.

🖼️ PANEL FIVE

🎨 ARTIST: Dr. Harding slowly rises up, pushing himself upright against the wall.

🗣️ HARDING (BALLOON):
It was the expedition. The Moroccan expedition.

🖼️ PANEL SIX

🎨 ARTIST: We’re now tight in on Harding and notice that his straight jacket ties have come free, and his arms are now loosely lying to his sides.

🗣️ HARDING (BALLOON):
The oasis and the temple. He was in the Phoenician Temple, so far inland. Odd, don’t you think?

🖼️ PANEL SEVEN

🎨 ARTIST: And now he’s raising his hands up above his head.

🎙️ CAPTION (SETH):
And he seemed ready to tell them all.
🗣️ HARDING (BALLOON):
I’ll tell you about him and about Nevanus and her snakes.

📄 Page Eight

🔲 PANEL LAYOUT: Full page panel.

🖼️ PANEL ONE

🎨 ARTIST: A hallucinatory picture. Harding, looking a decade younger and much better kempt stands in the desert, his hand raised up above his head, just like we saw him in the last panel. Two snakes are coiled around him, like the snakes on the caduceus. He has one of their heads grasped in each of his hands. Behind him there is an oasis, with palm trees, and beyond that an opening into a dune, flanked by two columns. We cannot see the cavernous depths beyond.

🎙️ CAPTION (SETH):
Unfortunately, he was utterly insane.

📄 Page Nine

🔲 PANEL LAYOUT: Panel running down the gutter, then a set of tiers to the right: two by itself, then three, then four and five as taller panels, next to each other.

🖼️ PANEL ONE

🎨 ARTIST: Seth is standing on the sidewalk looking up at the Miskatonic University Science Hall. It’s now dark outside, with a moon over the top of the Hall. There’s only one light on in the hall, on the fifth floor. There’s some chalked graffiti on this building too: “Go Badgers!” and “Act as If”.

🎙️ CAPTION (SETH):
Which left me only one option.

🖼️ PANEL TWO

🎨 ARTIST: We’re back in Newland’s office, last seen on page four. This time the outer office is empty & dark. There’s a cover over the typewriter, but otherwise things are much the same. From the inner office comes a light. Seth is peering in from the outer door.

🎙️ CAPTION (SETH):
Professor Richard Newland.
🗣️ SETH (BALLOON):
Professor Newland?

🖼️ PANEL THREE

🎨 ARTIST: A view of the inner office, framed by the doorway, which Seth is now standing in. This office is a mess, with paper piled everywhere and bookshelves crammed into every corner, each with books set in at every possible angle. There are also a few odd tribal masks hanging from the walls and a framed photograph of Professor Newland, looking about five years younger, standing in front of a pyramid.

🎨 ARTIST: Professor Newland is at his desk, crouched over a paper that he’s writing. Prof. Newland is an athletic man of average height with thick sandy brown hair, intelligent brown eyes and tanned, somewhat lined, skin. He favors tweed over formal suits. He wears glasses, and has a habit of taking them off and gesturing with them when lecturing.

🗣️ SETH (BALLOON):
Professor Newland?

🖼️ PANEL FOUR

🎨 ARTIST: Tighter on Newland, who’s looking up now.

🗣️ NEWLAND (BALLOON):
Eh?

🖼️ PANEL FIVE

🎨 ARTIST: Now Newland has taken off his glasses and started gesturing with them.

🗣️ NEWLAND (BALLOON):
Oh, there you are, I’ve been waiting for you Mr. Nixon.

📄 Page Ten

🔲 PANEL LAYOUT: A clean set of three tiers, the last the largest.

🖼️ PANEL ONE

🎨 ARTIST: Seth has taken a step back from the desk as Newland continues to lecture.

🎙️ CAPTION (SETH):
After the strangeness of the day, I wasn’t surprised when I was faced with another case of mistaken identity.
🗣️ NEWLAND (BALLOON):
I need a few things done, son. Get me the Pango-Pango invoices. They’re down in the basement.

🖼️ PANEL TWO

🎨 ARTIST: Pull back a bit, so that we see more of the room, and our two characters look a little smaller.

🎙️ CAPTION (SETH):
I decided to play along to win some favor from the Professor.
🗣️ NEWLAND (BALLOON):
And my mail. There should be a listing of new books in the restricted collection.

🖼️ PANEL THREE

🎨 ARTIST: Pulled all the way back to show the whole room. Our characters should now look small, the professor’s small desk top just illuminating a tiny sphere.

🎙️ CAPTION (SETH):
I didn’t know what I was getting into.
🗣️ NEWLAND (BALLOON):
Oh, and two handfuls of dirt from the cemetery.
🗣️ SETH (BALLOON):
The cemetery?

📄 Page Eleven

🔲 PANEL LAYOUT: A long panel down the left, then a set of tiers to the right of that. The second panel is the largest. Three and four are next to each other on a tier.

🖼️ PANEL ONE

🎨 ARTIST: Seth is descending down a spiral staircase which is poorly lit.

🎙️ CAPTION (SETH):
But nonetheless, I played along.

🖼️ PANEL TWO

🎨 ARTIST: A large overview of the basement, with Seth looking very small within. There’s all kinds of weird and arcane things here. Lab equipment, statuary from many lost cultures, such as the Incans, the Aztec, the Polynesians, and the Egyptians. Books stacked haphazardly here and there.

🎙️ CAPTION (SETH):
The basement in the Science Hall was … impressive.

🖼️ PANEL THREE

🎨 ARTIST: A close up of Seth’s hands, paging through a pile of invoices. He’s just revealed one that’s labeled “Date: 1931, From: Pango Pango Expedition, To: Richard Newland” with an itemization of items after it (“1 stone head, 3 wooden masks, 1 rectangular stone, 1 knife of uncertain origin”). These items don’t have to be entirely visible (or visible at all for that matter).

🎙️ CAPTION (SETH):
I managed to find the invoice Professor Newland was looking for.

🖼️ PANEL FOUR

🎨 ARTIST: Same view, but this time he’s flipped a few more pages and we see a new invoice that reads “Date: 1928, From: Sahara Desert Expedition, To: 2372 Blake Street, Arkham, Massachusetts” and below that only “1 wooden box”.

🎙️ CAPTION (SETH):
And something more.

🖼️ PANEL FIVE

🎨 ARTIST: Pulled back a bit, we now see Seth in a small pool of light in the basement. He’s holding the paper, staring at it.

🎙️ CAPTION (SETH):
It was an item shipped back from the Moroccan expedition that Harding had mentioned.
🎙️ CAPTION (SETH):
The year that my brother had disappeared.

📄 Page Twelve

🔲 PANEL LAYOUT: Two panels in the first tier, then a wide third panel, followed by a wide and large fourth panel.

🖼️ PANEL ONE

🎨 ARTIST: Seth is back in Newland’s office, handing over the invoice and a couple of pieces of mail.

🗣️ SETH (BALLOON):
Here’s these, Sir. The invoice and some mail.
🗣️ SETH (BALLOON):
Now you really want me to go to the graveyard?

🖼️ PANEL TWO

🎨 ARTIST: Newland is still crouched over his work, not even looking up at Seth.

🗣️ NEWLAND (BALLOON):
Of course. Shoo, shoo.

🖼️ PANEL THREE

🎨 ARTIST: A shot of the empty street outside the Science Hall, with Seth looking small on it. We probably have some mist on the street by this time.

🎙️ CAPTION (SETH):
By the time I headed out to the graveyard, the fog was starting to come in off the Miskatonic. The streets were empty and I had to walk.

🖼️ PANEL FOUR

🎨 ARTIST: Seth approaching the cemetery, looking tired. We see an elegant metal arched entrance, and beyond that the cemetery, full of headstones, angels, and crypts.

📄 Page Thirteen

🔲 PANEL LAYOUT: Panel running down the left, then three tiers: first panel two in a tier, then panel three and four in a tier, then, largest, panel five in the last tier, with six either to the right or an inset.

🖼️ PANEL ONE

🎨 ARTIST: Seth picking his way up a path in the graveyard, heading toward a couple of tombstones on the top of a small rise. Around him, the graveyard is a bit more ramshackle than was obvious from the street.

🎙️ CAPTION (SETH):
There’s a certain loneliness about a graveyard at night.

🖼️ PANEL TWO

🎨 ARTIST: Seth has now approached a grave that reads “Alfred Langresen, 1790-1821”. He’s leaning down to scoop a handful of dirt.

🎙️ CAPTION (SETH):
Yet you still feel that it must be inhabited by monsters.

🖼️ PANEL THREE

🎨 ARTIST: Suddenly we see a monstrous ghoul’s head rearing up over the back of the tombstone. It’s goblin-like, with canine features: long, sharp teeth and a bristling of hair over the face. Seth is jumping back in shock.

🎙️ CAPTION (SETH):
And Arkham Cemetery was.

🖼️ PANEL FOUR

🎨 ARTIST: The exact same view, but this time we see the truth: it’s not really a ghoul, but rather a student wearing a cheap, homemade mask.

🎙️ CAPTION (SETH):
It contained the worst sort of monster.

🖼️ PANEL FIVE

🎨 ARTIST: A large view of Arkham cemetery. Seth is still standing at the grave and we see a group of three students, dressed in proper school uniforms, one of them still wearing the “ghoul” mask running away toward the entrance. The one with the mask is still waving his hands over his head to look scary.

🎙️ CAPTION (SETH):
Students.

🖼️ PANEL SIX

🎨 ARTIST: Seth is now kneeling on the grave, shoving handfuls of dirts into the pocket of his jacket.

📄 Page Fourteen

🔲 PANEL LAYOUT: Five tiers, first two panels in one tier, then each other panel making up its own tier.

🖼️ PANEL ONE

🎨 ARTIST: Back in Professor Newland’s office. He’s now slumped over his desk, deep in sleep. Seth is just inside the door.

🎙️ CAPTION (SETH):
Upon returning to Newland’s office for the third time, I was determined to have my answers at last.
🗣️ SETH (BALLOON):
Professor? I’m back.

🖼️ PANEL TWO

🎨 ARTIST: Seth is now placing the two handfuls of dirt on a corner of the desk that he’s cleared. Newland is just waking up and adjusting his glasses.

🗣️ SETH (BALLOON):
Here’s the dirt, sir.
🗣️ NEWLAND (BALLOON):
Ah, cemeteries. Thank you, Mr. Nixon.

🖼️ PANEL THREE

🎨 ARTIST: A long panel, showing the width of the office and Seth and Newland within. Again, emphasize the darkness, and the small pocket of light.

🗣️ SETH (BALLOON):
I’m not really Nixon, you know.

🖼️ PANEL FOUR

🎨 ARTIST: Same shot, Newland and Seth staring at each other.

🖼️ PANEL FIVE

🎨 ARTIST: Same shot.

🗣️ NEWLAND (BALLOON):
I know.
🗣️ NEWLAND (BALLOON):
You’re Carlton’s brother aren’t you?
🗣️ NEWLAND (BALLOON):
Your brother, he died in Morocco. At the tomb. He was very brave.

🖼️ PANEL SIX

🎨 ARTIST: Same shot, but now Seth is still standing stunned as Newland watches on with empathy.

🎙️ CAPTION (SETH):
And Newland gave them to me.
🗣️ NEWLAND (BALLOON):
I … he was very brave. Go home, Mr. Fletcher.

📄 Page Fifteen

🔲 PANEL LAYOUT: Panels one through three are in a tier, then four and five are their own tiers. Panel six is the last tier, larger than the others, with panel seven as an inset.

🖼️ PANEL ONE

🎨 ARTIST: Tighter shot of Seth still standing in Newland’s office, still looking stunned.

🎙️ CAPTION (SETH):
What do you do when your world ends?

🖼️ PANEL TWO

🌀 FLASHBACK: Same as page 14, panel 5, except this is a tighter shot of Newland, while he was talking to Seth.

🗣️ NEWLAND (BALLOON):
Your brother, he died in Morocco.

🖼️ PANEL THREE

🎨 ARTIST: Seth turning and walking out of Newland’s office.

🎙️ CAPTION (SETH):
What do you do when your hope crumbles?

🖼️ PANEL FOUR

🎨 ARTIST: Seth in the stairwell that we last saw on page 11, panel 1.

🎙️ CAPTION (SETH):
You stop and you die.

🖼️ PANEL FIVE

🎨 ARTIST: Seth walking down the stairs again, a new determination on his face.

🎙️ CAPTION (SETH):
Or you keep moving.

🖼️ PANEL SIX

🎨 ARTIST: Seth is now back in front of the science building. Here we see a close up of him unfolding the Moroccan Expedition invoice that he found on page 11, panel 4. It’s important that the address (2372 Blake) be visible.

🎙️ CAPTION (SETH):
I choose to move.

🖼️ PANEL SEVEN

🎨 ARTIST: Seth still holding the unfolded paper up in front of him is now standing in front of a dark, mysterious house with turrets and gables growing from it like cancerous tumors. It’s old and worn down. The windows are partially boarded up. The house number, 2372, should be visible in elegant though tarnished metal numbers.

🎙️ CAPTION (SETH):
I choose to find new hope.

📄 Page Sixteen

🔲 PANEL LAYOUT: Panel one is a tall panel running down the left of the page. Two and three are each their own tier, then four and five form a tier.

🖼️ PANEL ONE

🎨 ARTIST: Seth has opened the door, which is lit only from the street outside. We see an elegant entryway with archways leading off into large rooms. The elegant wooden floor of the entry way is stained deeply while cracks run up and down the walls.

🎨 ARTIST: Just to the side of the door is a table, with an unlit candle and a plate of matches upon it.

🎙️ CAPTION (SETH):
I went to 2372 Blake Street, the address on the invoice, because it was the only connection I still had to the past, to that summer in 1928.
🗣️ SETH (BALLOON):
Hello?

🖼️ PANEL TWO

🎨 ARTIST: Seth looking into a sitting room. The chairs and couches are covered with sheets that are discolored. There’s a coffee table near one of the couches that seems to have rotted in two. Seth is now holding the candle from the previous page, which he has lit.

🎙️ CAPTION (SETH):
The house was utterly abandoned, and looked like it had been for decades.

🖼️ PANEL THREE

🎨 ARTIST: Seth standing in a kitchen. The cabinets are all open and the shelves are bare. A butcher knife sticks up from one of the counters, where it’s been deeply embedded.

🎙️ CAPTION (SETH):
And yet a package had been sent here just five years before.

🖼️ PANEL FOUR

🎨 ARTIST: Seth is now looking in a closet, which has a few lady’s shoes scattered around the bottom and a shelf up at the top. Seth is trying to hold up his candle in his right hand to see what’s on the shelf. Just vaguely we can make out two rat-like eyes up there. We should also be able to see his left hand hand, palm up; he’s probably reaching up toward the shelf with it. There’s nothing marked on his palm (which is relevant for reasons we’ll see on the next page).

🎙️ CAPTION (SETH):
I continued to search for clues, but there were none.

🖼️ PANEL FIVE

🎨 ARTIST: The panel is now entirely black, except for the faint glint of eyes and of teeth where we saw just the eyes a moment before.

🎙️ CAPTION (SETH):
And then there was nothing.

📄 Page Seventeen

🔲 PANEL LAYOUT: Four tiers: panel one by itself, two and three in a tier, four by itself, five forming a tier with six as an inset.

🖼️ PANEL ONE

🎨 ARTIST: Seth is now in the woods. He hand is raised exactly as it was in page 16/panel 4, but now there’s a dagger in his hand where before he was holding up a candle. It’s still night out and he’s lit by a bonfire. Standing just behind him is a dark shape. This is the first of several dreamlike panels. Perhaps use a similar style to the hallucination on page 8.

🎙️ CAPTION (SETH):
There was no sense of transition. One moment I was in the house.
🗣️ WITCH (BALLOON):
Do it, boy.

🖼️ PANEL TWO

🎨 ARTIST: We now have a better view of the witch peering at Seth who is still holding that dagger up. There’s some type of rat on her shoulder with a vaguely human face.

🎙️ CAPTION (SETH):
The next I was elsewhere.
🗣️ WITCH (BALLOON):
Do it now.

🖼️ PANEL THREE

🎨 ARTIST: We now see Seth plunging his dagger down into his left palm.

🎙️ CAPTION (SETH):
And my body was no longer my own.

🖼️ PANEL FOUR

🎨 ARTIST: And he’s starting to carve out the first arc of what we’ll eventually recognize as a Yellow Sign. (Ask for reference.) This is the last dreamlike panel.

🗣️ SETH (SHOUT):
Agh!!

🖼️ PANEL FIVE

🎨 ARTIST: We’re now back in the house, with a much wider shot of Seth standing in a room, looking into a closet, as per page 16/panel 4. He’s still holding that candle up, but it’s entirely melted down and gone out. There’s nothing in the closet any more, other than those shoes that we saw at the bottom.

🎨 ARTIST: The dawn light is streaming into the room from the window. Wooden slats block some of the light, but the tattered curtains don’t.

🎨 ARTIST: We can barely make out that something is on Seth’s left palm.

🎙️ CAPTION (SETH):
And then it was dawn. And everything was as it had been.

🖼️ PANEL SIX

🎨 ARTIST: A closeup of Seth’s left hand. There’s a tattoo of a yellow sign there.

🎙️ CAPTION (SETH):
And everything was changed.

📄 Page Eighteen

🔲 PANEL LAYOUT: A tall panel down the side, then three tiers: panel two in a tier, then three and four together, then five by itself, which is the largest.

🖼️ PANEL ONE

🎨 ARTIST: Seth, looking very tired, stumbles out of the deserted house.

🖼️ PANEL TWO

🎨 ARTIST: Seth flags down a taxi on the street.

🎙️ CAPTION (SETH):
The horrors of the night were done.

🖼️ PANEL THREE

🎨 ARTIST: Seth exits at a tall building, identified by sign as “The Hotel Miskatonic”. The tall, Art Deco “Hotel Miskatonic” has a vertical illuminated (not neon) sign, with “Hotel” across the top, and “Miskatonic” in bigger letters down to the marquee (the awning over the actual entrance).

🖼️ PANEL FOUR

🎨 ARTIST: Seth opens the door to his room, and we see a letter lying just inside the door, marked “Seth Fletcher”.

🎙️ CAPTION (SETH):
But one last surprise waited for me in my hotel room.

🖼️ PANEL FIVE

🎨 ARTIST: Seth collapsed on his bed, reading the letter. We can see “Dear Mr. Fletcher, We have heard of your inquiries. We regret to inform you that your brother, Carlton Fletcher, was accidentally drowned on his way to Morocco in the Summer of 1928. With Regrets, The Regents, Miskatonic University.”

📄 Page Nineteen

🔲 PANEL LAYOUT: First three panels forming a single tier. Fourth panel taking up most of the page. Fifth panel an inset to the fourth.

🖼️ PANEL ONE

🎨 ARTIST: A tight shot of Seth’s legs, lying against the bed. The paper is slowly drifting down toward the floor. (This is a reflection of page 3/panel 5).

🎙️ CAPTION (SETH):
The regents’ letter contradicted everything else I had learned that night.

🖼️ PANEL TWO

🌀 FLASHBACK: Newland at his desk, looking very tired, finally revealing the truth to Seth. (Page 14, Panel 5).

🎙️ CAPTION (SETH):
But it was simple.
🗣️ NEWLAND (BALLOON):
Your brother, he died in Morocco. At the tomb.

🖼️ PANEL THREE

🌀 FLASHBACK: Harding, in his asylum cell, straight jacked partially freed and arms at his side (see page 7/panel 6).

🎙️ CAPTION (SETH):
It was sane.
🗣️ HARDING (BALLOON):
He was in the Phoenician Temple, so far inland.

🖼️ PANEL FOUR

🎨 ARTIST: We’re back to Seth lying on the bed, now staring at his left hand with fascination.

🎙️ CAPTION (SETH):
And so I was forced to make a choice.
🎙️ CAPTION (SETH):
I could go home, accepting that my brother’s death was a simple tragedy.
🎙️ CAPTION (SETH):
Or, I could decide that there was something stranger going on in Arkham.

🖼️ PANEL FIVE

🎨 ARTIST: Another closeup of his hand, and the Yellow Sign there.

🎙️ CAPTION (SETH):
There was no real choice.

📄 Page Twenty

🔲 PANEL LAYOUT: Full-page panel.

🖼️ PANEL ONE

🎨 ARTIST: Same picture as on page one, but we’re now pulled way back. We can see that Seth is writing at a desk in an elegant looking dorm room. He has a simple twin bed off to one side, a bookbag near the chair, and a couple of shelves with books arrayed neatly on them. High in the molding on one of the walls is an embossed “Miskatonic University” seal.

🎙️ CAPTION (SETH):
On August 19, 1933 I enrolled as a Freshman at Miskatonic University.