This week's panel suggested by Travis W. Howard, Tod Caviness and jeffjohns

..And a full life it is too.

Boy, this is a hard section! Good luck with next week's. (Oy.)

As always, suggestions are listed in the order they were received. Thanks for playing and please join us again next Sunday!

--Scott
Sunday 08/29/1999

Whoo! Carl...Whoo!

• Bungee carl lands on top of dead carls grave: "Path-X Carl, meet Path-Y Carl." Bungee Carl: Glad that wasn't...well....was me.
• carl wakes up (stay with me) Carl: Oh thank god, all a dream, wait a minute, dammit I've turned Anime!!!
• Angel Carl appears floating on a cloud Carl: Aw crap...I oughtta call Daisy
• Angel Carl appears on cloud Carl: Boy I was WAY off with that whole buddah thing!
• Bob Dole in bed Dole: Oh thank god it was all a dream, oh wait, never mind I really do have ED.
• Carl in hell half naked Satan: Get ready to squeal like a pig!
• Carl in hell half naked Hitler: What, did you drink and drive too?
• Bette Middler is singing while carl is convulsing on the floor Carl: Dammit! I've died and gone to hell!
• SMACK! Carl lands in a chair on the dating game Carl: Hey wait a minute! How on earth....aw screw it, this is pretty cool.
• Carl's funeral: Priest: Here we join, AGAIN! for our dear redeparted Carl.

  School sucks! Why must I go!!! I am learned enough to be a post hole digger!

Slurpee_E

• Carl in front of a dark background: "I am a robot."

taylor

• Carl bumps his head on the pearly gates. You see his dad in the background looking concerned.

Tod Caviness

You've GOT to be kidding ...

• Carl is in space/heaven. The bungee cord/metaphorical umbilical tie to his past life breaks away as Carl floats off, thinking: "Gosh ... so peaceful ..."
• Carl floats in space, losing air. The image from the above 'RIP' panel appears in a thought bubble over his head. Carl: "Wow - my whole life is flashing before my eyes ..."
• The bungee cord extends into heaven, as Carl extends his hand to the dead Carl from Section 3 (There ARE twins, as I recall). Bungee Carl: "Quick, take my hand! It's not too late!" - or something.
• From Carl's viewpoint we see his vision narrowing into a tunnel with a bright light at the end. There's a vague face in the light. Carl: "Wow ... who can that be?"

  Between these tangled panels and the recent back issues of The Invisibles I've been reading, my brain deserves whatever it's getting ...

Douglass Barre (Age 29)

Note the age increment, at long last. Good to see you at the con, Scott, even if my cunning plans to parlay your largesse towards my writerly gain went unfulfilled... Curse you, Red Baron! Still, there's no better writing opportunity for your dollar than Carl, so...

• CARL is standing on a cloud, angels in the background. The gate in front of him is labelled "HEAVEN." CARL: "Someone want to get out here and EXPLAIN this??"

  One of these days, Scott, I'll get ya to draw God.

Drew Hart-Shea

Hi Scott! Unfortunately I haven't been able to contribute for a while (due to lack of internet access), but I'm very happy to be back!

• As he floats through space Carl loosens the bungee cord from around his neck and says: "Phew! That's better.....What the hey? There's air up here after all..?"
• Close up of Carl's face, with radiant light shining upon it. Carl says: "Oh my! Angels!"

Santiago Casares

• Carl's dad turn out to be an angel, and is holding him in the middle of clouds (saving him from outer space, and conecting it with the we're both death panels). Carl says: "You... you're an angel!"

Markus Gerwinski

Hiho fellow Carls! Hiho Scott!

My Web site of narrative arts has finally opened! It's still far away from being complete, but I hope the stuff already to be seen there is sufficiently interesting to be worth a look. You're warmly invited to surf in... and, by the way, to correct my English, if you want. ;-)

• Carl in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by stars, other impressions from outer space and fading tombstones. Carl: "Dad! Daddy! Where are you?!"
• Carl in Earth orbit, together with his father. With a confused look, Carl says: "How did I get here?!"
• Carl on the cemetry, gazing at a row of tombstones: "R.I.P Carl" - "R.I.P. Dad" - "R.I.P. Mom" - "R.I.P. Daisy"... It has become dark, and bats are all flying around. With a confused look, Carl says: "How did I get here?!"
• Close-up of Carl's face, surrounded by stars and "Oh... pretty"-tangles. Thought balloon: "No! Not... lose conscience... not... now...!"
• Close-up of Carl's face, looking rather angrily. Carl: "Damn! I was going to kill myself! What more can go wrong?!"

TimmyC

Say, about the title Re-Inventing Comics, am I mistaken or was there a line in Understanding Comics about how a new generation would re-invent comics or something of the like?

• Carl, now in space, is abducted by aliens (OR he sees a bright light coming from the spaceship).
• Carl realizes that he bounced so high that gravity no longer applies!
• Carl is rescued by a moon lady strangely resembling Daisy. (If he is abducted or something, this could be used in a later panel)
• Carl sees the moon and happilly says, "So this is where moonshine comes from!"
• Carl says, "So you really can scream in space!"

  He he haw! Cute, eh?

[Here's the full quote from the end of Understanding Comics, Chapter One: "Our attempts to define comics are an ongoing process which won't end anytime soon. A new generation will no doubt reject whatever this one finally decides to accept and try once more to re-invent comics. And so they should. Here's to the great debate!" --Scott]

Catt Jan Roxxanne

• Carl is standing blankly into the void, his body is aging rapidly and is deteriorating in to the stars and planets behind him. As he reaches for a rotted peice of rope (simalar to the bungee cord) he mutters one last thing under his slowly fading breath, "How in the hell did this happen?"
  

Jon Delorey

• Carl ends up bungeeing to heaven.
• Carls bungee returns him to the ocean.
• Carl arrives in heaven (enter: Thor)
• Bungee leaves Carl at the "stairway to heaven"
• Carl's bungee returns him to hell....

  I must be stuck on some sort of theological thing here. I'd better pick up a good comic and wait till it passes.

Michael Avolio

• Close-up of a worried-looking Carl, with stars behind him. CARL (THINKING): What should I do?
• It's been too long since I've used this suggestion: all of a sudden, Scott McCloud appears! (Perhaps with some witty dialogue?)
• As a complete non-sequitor (we haven't had any of those yet, ya know), Teddy Roosevelt's face on Mount Rushmore bursts into flames.
• CARL: Dizzy... so dizzy...
• CAPTION: Later... Carl lies in a hospital bed with Dad standing beside him. DAD: You alright, Carl? CARL: Huh? Who're you? ...First rule in the writer's handbook: Amnesia ALWAYS works. ;)
• Carl falls to the ground unconcious.
• CARL: Why me???

  Just out of curiousity, would you prefer to be e-mailed specific questions and comments, or is it better for us to put them here? Or does it not matter?

[Either's fine (bearing in mind that I can't personally answer every email) but at least with Carl you know I'll get to it within the week. --Scott]

Michael Avolio

Oops! One more...

• Carl wakes up with bandage on his head and neck. Close-up of Carl, who says, "Where am I?" or something equally typical (maybe "Who? Where? Hey, what year is this?")

  I'd also like to cast a vote for anything Sky or Winter might say... that is if they find time in their busy schedules to contribute this week. ;)

[Sky and Winter's busy schedules actually took them to Oregon and back this week with Mommy and Grammy so they weren't online. Maybe next time --Scott]

Nat "Eisner Loser" Gertler

• Close up on Carl (thus avoiding the question of where he is) "I want to LIVE! Episode 2 is less than three years away!"
• A big question mark in the background, with text in front of it: "Is this the end of our ninble hero? Tune in next time and find out!"

  After this is done, I want to use all the panels to play 5 Card Carl!

Jonathan L. Miller

Hi Scott, Ivy and brood. :-)

• Carl: Oh no! I can't die this way! (no idea for the visual, sorry. It does tie the stories together sorta. Sorry, I'm pretty tired today.)

  All right, so I won a few panels ago, but didn't post a site. How about this one: http://j-tull.com Site of my favorite band, Jethro Tull, whose new album was released today! woo-hoo!

Travis Pelkie

I'm back, so now there will be 2, count 'em, 2 Travises posting.

• Carl in outer space, losing consciousness, thinkng, "Well, this isn't good"
• "meanwhile": we see Kevin Eastman saying to himself "Hmm, that McCloud guy's doing neat computer comics, lets close down the Words and Pictures Museum and go all digital!"
• Carl rebounds on the bungee cord, into Dis, and meets up with Ty Templeton's Stig (from Stig's Inferno)
• Carl's bungee cord causes him to bump his head on the gravestone from the panel above, further confusing people as to how to read Carl.

  That's all for now. You may have figured out that I was at the Words and Pictures Museum in Northampton, mass, for part of my vacation. Even though the museum itself is closed, the store's open til sep 17 with massive discounts. And silly me, I didn't get the first 2 Zot! books or UC, or the Taboo Especial with your 24 hour comic. Still kicking myself, although I got the Gnatrat book. See ya next week. Ahh, back to school!

Kevin Pease

• Extreme perspective shot showing the bridge in the foreground, and a very long bungee cord weaving up into the distance, with Carl at the end. The cord is slack, indicating that Carl is falling again. Carl is probably screaming "Aaaaa!" or suchlike. Ah, but how does this tie into the above panel, you may ask? On the bridge is a sign: "OWL CREEK BRIDGE."

  I think I've made a pretty clever literary reference here, if I may say so. While the implication is that Carl is awakening from a dream, there is definitely no "Whew!" factor involved, and it's not a non-sequitur.

dan wheeler

owchie! this one is hard.

• close-up of a confused look on carl's face. carl's dad's voice echos: But so are you... so are you... so are you. carl: my dad's voice. but it's so far away.
• carl's dad: carl! just face it! you're dead!
• carl finds himself in the presence of a gigantic white man with a white beard and long flowing white robes seating on a white marble throne who says: carl! what your father said is right. you're dead! carl: oh my god... GOD??!!??
• carl: oh well, i guess i'm dead. and so what at least i won't have to hear my FUCKING mother lecture me on drinking & driving again! That drives me up a fucking wall!

Rosa Clements

• Death comes along and says, "Carl, I think it's time you came with me"
• There's a baby Carl floating in space with a big monlith in the background saying, "Carl, 2001"
• Carl's Mum appears out of nowhere and says, "Face it Carl, you're dead. We're ALL dead"
• Carl says, "Oh no! Now the only person who can save me is my friend Bill, who comes from an alien planet technologically far superior to our own!"

howard schiller

• Carl is still flinging up and is now in a group of clouds... (could it be heaven) maybe the bungee cord loops to make a halo (creating the link between the two panels) and carl is obvoiously saying "Whah! Where am I?". Also you could throw some angels flying around in the clouds.

Gerry

I'm tempted to suggest "Whew! It was all a dream." even though it's expressly forbidden here, b/c it seems the only way to reconcile these two threads. Maybe it would be ok if Carl's bedroom was on fire when he wakes up there?

• The only other thing I can think of is "Daisy/The Winged Carl/Carl's Mom/A Time Travelling Carl From The Future swoops in to save Carl, just in time."

  All I can say is "please use The Time Travelling Carl from the Future" in some capacity.

Peter S.

Seeing as how Carl is dead, but should be alive a few panels down....

• Scene: the cloudy gates of heaven. There St. Peter says, "Well, maybe we'll give you one more chance." Carl is shown flailing just after reaching the top of a trajectory. (He was rocketing upwards, but now is headed back down.)
• Carl is on a table with electrodes attached to him. Wacky pseudo-German mad scientist is there, possibly shown flipping a switch, says "Und now ve bring Carl back to the vorld of the living!", or more briefly "Back to life!"
• Carl shown holding his head in exaperation, exclaiming "Oh no! I've become a zombie!"

  I guess any transition from the previous panels is going to be abrupt.

Travis W. Howard

• Enter: Death, complete with robe and scythe [Death]: Someone call me? Am I late?
• [Carl]: Guess I'd better finish this then.. [pulls out a bottle of beer]
• [Carl facing the reader, somewhat annoyed, breaking the 4th wall] You've GOT to be kidding me, right?!
• [Enter Superguy] [Superguy]: Never fear, I'm here! Uh, to save you?
• [Tombstone reading] R.I.P. ????? Carl [Caption reading] Tune in next week.. same Bat-time, same bat-channel..
• [Caption reading] Carl's life flashes before his eyes.. [Various mini pics all depicting the same pic, that of Carl drinking a beer]
• [Enter Daisy, shocked] Hi Carl.. Oh my god!
• [Caption reading: The Adventures of Undead Carl!] [Picture is of a typical zombie like Carl with X's over his eyes, and tongue sticking out]
• [Carl hits himself in the forehead] WOW! I could've had a V8!
• [Panel showing a skull and crossbones] [Caption] Insert Obligatory Death Scene Here. (tm) (c)

  Hi Scott! Any thoughts/etc on the Image situation with Larry Marder and Jim Valentino? Heard anything?

[ I sat around with Larry and Jim all weekend at San Diego and I didn't even know about the change. These guys know how to keep a secret. --Scott]

James Brophy

• Carl's face on a background of light shining our behind him. He says "...and Death like sleep, dreams over me"

  How can you not use that one?

David

• carl's head swells up like a balloon in space.

jeffjohns

First of all, I'd like to say what an incredible honor it is to have my suggestion chosen, above all other suggestions. I realize that this signifies not only that Scott felt that my brainchild was the most beatiful and of the most literary merit, but also that he (and Ivy) approve of me as a person. This is Scott's way of saying, "Hey, you...You're one of my favorite people. You are Somebody. You can make Something of yourself. You deserve recognition." Fantastic and humbling. To realize that, were we currently part of another culture, I would most likely be Scott's first choice for an arranged marriage to Sky, as well as the person who sharpens all of his pencils for him, and fetches bagels at comicons. I'd like to thank my mother, and all of those other little people who helped me to get where I am today. I'd also like to thank Betty Crocker, Jack T. Chick, and of course, Al Gore, for inventing the Internet. And for all of you, who now dream of being me, remember--I was there once too. Keep trying. Keep buying Wizard for all the intellectual insights. I have faith in you, as Scott had faith in me. Remember, it's always darkest before the dawn. Excelsior.

• Carl's life flashes before his eyes. How to do this visually? I don't know.
• Carl Screams. Word Balloon from off panel: "There's noone to hear you scream, Carl."Carl: Is there beer in heaven?
• Carl: Why's everything getting so dark. Carl blacks out.
• Carl, cliking his heels together: There's no place like home, there's no place like home.
• Carl: Is there beer in heaven?

  Just so you know, I am now listing this under "Published Works" on my resume. Script: Jeff Johns Art: Scott McCloud

[Psst! Don't anyone tell Jeff he's just won again. He might spontaneously combust. --Scott]

Doug Waldron

• Carl bounces up into heaven (he pokes up through clouds or something). Carl: "Great, now what?"
• Carl wakes up. Carl: "Whew! It was all a... not a dream exactly - more like a drug induced hallucination."
• Carl wakes up on an examination table in an alien spacecraft. Carl: "Noooo! Quit implanting false memories of my own death!"
• Carl's Dad, a nightmarish figure, fills the sky. Dad: "Not even in the cold of space can you escape me, Carl!" Carl: "Noooo!"
• Carl's Dad: "Ha! Just kidding, Carl-my-boy!" Carl: "What? I really spaced out there for a minute."
• Scott McCloud sits at his computer. Scott: "Noooo! This is all too confusing. What was I thinking?"

Morgan Doninger

Now this is a bit of a Gordian Knot. Well let's try...

• Carl turns into the Starchild from 2001: A Space Odyssey.
• A close up of Carl's terrified eyes with the word"NOOOOOOO!!!!!" underneath.
• Carl hurls through a wavy multi-colored other-verse. (I just want to see the wavy colors for this one.).

  Two please. Firstly, Scott, if you didn't know, Moxy's latest album "Thornhill" is out, and it is pretty good. Very catchy melodies this time around though, so be prepared to have 'em rolling around your head for days if you do partake. Secondly, I and I do mean this in a playful way, but, I think that the confusion to the title "Reinventing Comics" is because, reinventing is not really a word. By the strictest definition you can't "re" invent something. To invent something is to bring forth that which does not exist. You can't "re" bring forth something that is already there. You can reconsider an invention, rework or redo it, even recreate it in another medium, but you can'r reinvent it. Well there goes my suggestions...

[You're right about the word "reinventing," Morgan, but as much as I loathe many such neologisms, the commonly understood meaning of "reinvent " -- to return to first principles and completely rethink and rebuild something from the ground up -- was the best way to describe what I had in mind for the new book. That said, I still think anyone improperly using "impact" as a verb should be burned at the stake. --Scott]

Patric Lewandowski

this is tricky... I've spent the better part of the week trying to ignore the challenge of this panel...

• carl in a blank area. "Huh. I'm dead. Is this all there is?"
• carl meets the grim reaper Reaper: "Carl, I've come for you..." Carl: "Uh, okay."
• Carl in a suit.. Carl: "Submitted for your approval, one Carl. His life, ended abruptly. Such are things in... the Choose Your Own Zone."

  dang.. these sucked.

Matt Latterell

hey its me one more time

• Meanwhile on Jerry Springer: Springer title: Transvestite Vampires Who Left their Children!

  that was me one more time

patric lewandowski

after chatting with matt latterell.. I'm putting in another one....

• carl sublets his soul...

Leslie Crate

• Carl should encounter some fiendish Lovecraftian creature, hangin out in the outer reaches of space. I suggest the Feaster from Beyond the Stars. It's a tentacly toad guy who drinks blood. Either panel, this guy ought to show up. The Feaster says "Io!Io!Ftagum!" (check a Weird Tales - he would say that)

Jimmy

OOh! This one's a toughy.

• Carl's head in a halo (which suggests both his death and/or surprise at the revelationof Section 3); Voice, off panel (Dad? God?): Carl you are dead. In fact you have already died many times in the mind of the readers of this strip" (or something shorter)(ooh, check out the reflexivity of the the panel; the comic character aware of himself as a comic character; let's submit this one to the Comics Journal).
• Caption: ...But thanks to the miracle of reincarnation... Baby carl (maybe in the hospital, in the arms of mom, with dad w/ camcorder): huh?!
• Caption: ...But thanks to the miracle of science... :Carl in a (cliche) stasis tank, hooked up to various machines, breathing through a tube (Weapon X style): huh?!
• Caption:...But thanks to the miracle of cryogenics...: Carl frozen in a block, in between Walt Disney and Austin Powers
• Kid from "the sixth sense" sees Carl in his bedroom: I can see dead people!

  Scott, have you ever been to the L.A. Sci Fi and Comic Book Convention. I went because I couldn't go to San Diego. It should really be called the Action Figure and Porn convention; no comics. A scary place. Did you see Run Lola Run. Much like CYOC, it explores the different paths life can take.

[Nope, I haven't been to the con you mentioned, pretty much for the reasons you described. (I'm in comics for the comics.) And yes, I *LOVED* Run Lola Run!! Required viewing for all Carl fans! --Scott]