SCRIPTS  17

THE MIRROR OF LOVE - Compleat Script - by Alan Moore

PAGE 1,
(PANEL) 1.
OKAY, THIS STRIP HAS FIVE PANELS IN EXACTLY THE SAME LAYOUT UPON EACH
PAGE: THERE ARE FOUR HORIZONTAL PANELS DOWN THE LEFT HAND SIDE OF EACH
PAGE AND A TALL VERTICAL ONE DOWN THE RIGHT. SINCE I'VE HAD TO FIT THE
ENTIRE OF KNOWN GAY HISTORY FROM PREHISTORIC TIMES ONWARDS INTO EIGHT PAGES, THERE ARE ABOUT TWO HUNDRED AND TEN WORDS ON EACH PAGE AND SOMERATHER LARGE CAPTIONS. SINCE THERE ARE NO BALLOONS I FIGURE YOU'LL BEABLE TO LAY OUT THE PANELS TO ACCOMODATE THESE. THE HORIZONTAL PANELS ALL RECOUNT SCENES AND EVENTS FROM GAY HISTORY, WHILE THE VERTICAL
PANELS ARE DIFFERENT. USING BEARDSLEY'S HERMAPHRODITE ANGEL FROM HIS PICTURE 'THE MIRROR OF LOVE', WHAT WE DO IS SHOW TWO SUCH FIGURES AGAINST A BLACK BACKGROUND, RENDERED IN SOME FASHION THAT HEIGHTENS THAT SENSE OF PRE-RAPHAELITE CLASSIC SENSIBILITY. THE TWO FIGURES ARE                   (digital art by Jose Villarrubia)
IDENTICAL WINGED ANDROGYNES WITH DUAL GENITALIA AND THEY ARE ALWAYS
POSITIONED ALMOST PERFECTLY SYMMETRICALLY IN THE TALL PANELS SO THAT
THEY MIGHT BE MIRROR IMAGES OF EACH OTHER, EXCEPT IN THE PANELS WHERE
THEY PHYSICALLY INTERLOCK. THE HORIZONTAL HISTORICAL PANELS COULD MAYBE BE DONE WITH A DUOTONE BOARD OR SOMETHING, TO DIFFERENTIATE THEIR RUGGED HISTORY IN FEEL FROM THE ETHEREAL PANELS WITH THE WINGED, ANGELIC HERMAPHRODITES AT PLAY. IMAGINE IT IN A SORT OF E.C. DOCUMENTARY STYLE, ALTHOUGH RENDERED BY ONE OF THEIR MORE EXPERIMENTAL ARTISTS, LIKE KRIGSTEIN OR SOMEBODY. SEE WHAT YOU THINK, ANYWAY, AND I'LL OBVIOUSLY LEAVE THE FINAL STYLISTIC DECISIONS IN YOUR MORE-THAN-CAPABLE HANDS. RIGHT..THIS FIRST PANEL IS A SEA BED SHOT, SHOWING TWO DOLPHINS AT PLAY.
THEY ARE SWOOPING DOWN PLAYFULLY TO GRAZE THE OCEAN'S SANDY BOTTOM
BEFORE SWOOPING UP AGAIN IN A GRACEFUL CURVE. THEY SWIM SO THAT ONE IS
SLIGHTLY BEHIND THE OTHER, BACK TO BELLY ALTHOUGH PERHAPS NOT QUITE
TOUCHING, THEIR BROAD HEADS THROWN BACK AS THEY SWOOP BY WITH THEIR
BELLIES TOWARDS US, A CLOUD OF DISTURBED SEDIMENT BILLOWING UP WHERE
THEY GRAZE THE OCEAN BED. THEY MIGHT BE MATING OR JUST PLAYING... WE
CANNOT BE SURE, BUT ON THEIR FLAT CETACEAN FACES THEY WEAR WIDE INHUMAN
SMILES, ECSTATIC IN THE DEEP-SEA TWILIGHT, SILVER BUBBLES RISING ALL
AROUND.
CAP. : Even preceding landfall, things loved freely once, ignoring gender. Blind desire made pond-slime fish, turned fish to apes with sex, life's glorious engine, churning in the mud.
CAP. : The animals remember: Dolphins still rotate their matings between their own sex and its reverse, their raptures echoing for miles.

PAGE 1.
(PANEL) 2.
NOW WE HAVE A WIDE SCREEN SHOT OF THE FIRST SOCIETY,A HERD OF FEMALES
SLEEPING WITH THEIR YOUNG, THE CREATURES THAT WE SEE HERE ARE HOMINIDS,
AND THE FEMALES THAT WE SEE IN THE FOREGROUND ARE SLEEPING PEACEFULLY
BENEATH THE PREHISTORIC NIGHT SKY, HAIRY ARMS DRAPED CASUALLY ACROSS
EACH OTHER, SLEEPING CHEEKS RESTING AGAINST FURRY FLANKS. ONE OF THE
FEMALES HAS A SMALL AND MONKEY-LIKE CHILD CLASPED SLEEPING TO HER
PENDULOUS BREASTS. AWAY ACROSS THE NIGHT CLEARING, BEYOND THE
IDYLLICALLY DREAMING HERD THAT WE SEE SUGGESTED IN THE F/G WE CAN SEE
THE SLOUCHING, KNUCKLE-DRAGGING FIGURES OF A FEW MALE HOMINIDS, WATCHING WARILY AND SOMEWHAT JEALOUSLY FROM NEAR THE DISTANT TREE LINE, PERHAPS JUST SEEN HERE AS WHITE SILLHOUETTES AGAINST THE JUNGLE DARK.
CAP. : On land the first societies, great herds of she-beasts, raised their young together, without males, whose part in reproduction was unknown.
CAP. : The women licked and groomed each other with men watching, circling, circling round...

(PANEL) 3.
NOW WE ARE UP TO AROUND 3000 B.C, IN ANCIENT SUMER AND THEREABOUTS. IN
THE F/G HERE STANDS A MALE PRIEST, WITH THE ALTAR THAT HE IS STANDING
BEFORE MERCIFULLY OFF PANEL BELOW. THE PRIEST HAS HIS LEATHERY AND
FANATICAL FACE TURNED TOWARDS THE BOILING CLOUDS THAT FILL THE HEAVENS
AND HAS HIS HANDS RAISED TO THE ANGRY- LOOKING SKY, ONE HAS THE FINGERS
STRETCHED, BESEECHING, OUTWARDS. IN THE OTHER HAND HE HOLDS A KNIFE,
BOTH KNIFE AND HAND AND FOREARM RUNNING WITH FRESH BLOOD THAT TRICKLES AND DRIPS. TO THE LEFT OF THE PICTURE, IN THE NEAR B/G, WE SEE A
SCREAMING AND HORRIFIED WOMEN BEING HELD BACK BY A GRIM-FACED ACOLYTE AS SHE VAINLY TRIES TO STRUGGLE FORWARD, REACHING OUT ONE HAND TOWARDS THE GRIM SCENE IN THE F/G. HER TINY-PUPILLED, HORROR-WIDENED EYES ARE FIXED UPON A POINT OFF PANEL JUST BELOW THE LOWER BORDER, OVERHEAD, THE SKY CHURNS DARKLY.
CAP. : In the beginning then, three million years of motherhood.
CAP. : The WORD came LATER, and the word was power, was patriarchy:Firstborn children squirmed on altars of a father God.
CAP. : The Word was LAW: In Sumer, women scorning men had teeth crushed with burned bricks.

(PANEL) 4
NOW JUST A CLOSE UP OF A PAIR OF STRONG AND SUNTANNED CLEARLY-MASCULINE
HANDS, THOSE OF AN ELDERLY MALE, AS THEY ENTER FROM THE LEFT OF THE
FOREGROUND. ONE HAND HOLDS A CRUDE HAMMER, THE OTHER A CRUDE CHISEL, AND THE HANDS ARE PATIENTLY CHIPPING OUT A LIST OF LAWS IN ANCIENT ARAMAIC LATTERING UPON A ROUGH STONE TABLET, CHIPS OF BAKED CLAY SPRAYING THROUGH THE AIR. THE LAWS LOOK SOLID, IRREMOVABLE AND MADE TO LAST.

PAGE 1.
(PANEL) 4. (FROM OVER)
CAP. : Law, once conceived, applied to everything. Leviticus condemned most sexual practice as unclean, including that between two men.
CAP. : This was designed to snub the Canaanites, whose male priests practiced sodomy. Had they been cannibals instead, how different might things be.

(PANEL) 5
NOW THE FIRST PANEL SHOWING THE TWO IDENTICAL HERMAPHRODITE ANGELS.
HERE, ONE OF THEM IS SUNK UPON ONE KNEE AT THE TOP OF THE PICTURE, WINGS
SPREAD BEHIND HIM. HE IS LOOKING DOWNWARDS, ONE HAND REACHING OUT,
WONDERINGLY. BENEATH HIM, UPSIDE DOWN AS IF REFLECTED IN A POOL WE SEE
THE OTHER ANGEL, IN THE SAME POSITION. THEIR HANDS, THOUGH THEY REACH
OUT TOWARDS EACH OTHER, DO NOT YET TOUCH, ALTHOUGH I SHOULD IMAGINE THAT THEIR FEET AND KNEES ARE TOUCHED TOGETHER AT THE POINT WHERE ONE ANGEL JOINS ITS REFLECTION. THERE IS A SLIGHT ECHO OF THE IMAGE OF NARCISSUS ABOUT THE PLACEMENT OF THE FIGURES HERE. THEY EACH HAVE A SOFT AND LOVESTRUCK ENRAPTURED GAZE UPON THEIR FACES, AND I WANT A SORT OF
CLASSIC SENSUALITY ABOUT THE WHOLE FEEL OF THESE PANELS WITH THE NAKED
ANGEL-ANDROGYNES, A SORT OF ETHEREAL EROTICISM THAT NEVER BECOMES TOO
OVERT BUT IS ALWAYS THERE BENEATH THE SURFACE OF THE PICTURES. DOWN AT
THE BOTTOM OF THIS PARTICULAR SHOT THERE SHOULD BE ROOM FOR THE TITLE,
PERHAPS CONTAINED IN A DECORATIVE OVAL FRAME THAT SUITS THE
BEARDSLEYESQUE ART NOUVEAU LINE OF THE FIGURES. BENEATH THIS WE HAVE THE
CREDITS. (INCIDENTALLY, DO YOU KNOW ANYONE OVER THERE WHO'D BE PREPARED
TO LETTER THIS THING? IF NOT, GET BACK TO ME AND WE'LL SORT SOMEONE OUT
ON THIS END..)
CAP. : We gasped upon Devonian beaches, huddled under Neolithic stars, spat blood through powdered teeth staining each other as we kissed.
CAP. : Always we loved. How could we otherwise, when you are so like me, my sweet,but in a different guise?

TITLE : THE MIRROR OF LOVE
CREDITS: Alan Moore, Writer / Steve Bissette and Rick Veitch, Artists

PAGE 2
(PANEL) 1.
NOW WE ARE IN ANCIENT GREECE, UPON SOME CLASSIC PLAZA OF WHITE MARBLE OR WHATEVER WITH SOARING COLUMNS RISING ALL AROUND. WE SEE THREE GREEK MEN IN THE TOGAS OF THE PERIOD, SITTING AROUND A LOW TABLE DRINKING WINE, OR PERHAPS RECLINING MORE LANGUIDLY UPON COUCHES. A BOY OF ABOUT FIFTEEN IS REFILLING THEIR GOBLETS FROM A PITCHER THAT IS HEAVY ENOUGH TO CAUSE HIM TO USE BOTH HANDS TO POUR IT, STRUGGLING WITH ITS WEIGHT AS HE DOES SO.
TWO OF THE DRINKING MEN ARE IGNORING THE BOY, SHARING A JOKE AND BOTH
LAUGHING UPROARIOUSLY, OBLIVIOUS TO HIS PRESENCE. THE THIRD MAN IS
STARING AT THE BOY, A CALM AND AMBIGUOUS EXPRESSION UPON HIS FACE THAT
IS PERHAPS SLIGHTLY QUESTIONING. THE BOY MEETS HIS GAZE, LOOKING UP
ACROSS THE DRIBBLING PITCHER AS HE POURS WITH WIDE, SHY EYES. I DON'T
WANT ANY

PAGE 2.
(PANEL) 1. (FROM OVER)
OF THE MEN SHOWN HERE TO LOOK EFFEMINATE. THE LAUGHING MEN ABSORBED IN
THEIR JOKE IN THE NEAR B/G CAN MAYBE BE A LITTLE PORTLY AND RED-CHEEKED,
THE STIGMATA OF WEALTH, BUT THE GUY IN THE F/G STARING MEANINGFULLY AT
THE SERVING BOY LOOKS AS IF HE WRESTLES A COUPLE OF CRETAN BULLS BEFORE
BREAKFAST. THERE ARE NONE OF THE SHORTHAND SIGNS THAT WE HAVE COME TO
ASSOCIATE WITH GAYNESS VISIBLE AT ALL, SINCE BACK THEN THERE WAS SIMPLY
NO CONCEPT OF HOMOSEXUALITY AS AN IDENTITY OR MODE OF BEHAVIOUR: THERE
WERE JUST INDIVIDUAL ACTS. HERE, THE ADONIC LIKE YOUNG PRINCE IN THE F/G
STARES AT THE SERVING BOY AS THE MEDITERRANEAN SUN BEATS DOWN BLINDINGLY UPON THE WHITE MARBLE OF THEIR SURROUNDINGS.
CAP. : We loved while great mediterranean cultures flourished, their homoerotic urges troubling them not at all.
CAP. : Regarding man-boy love as civilized, the Greeks and Romans made it thus a badge of class and rank within their careful edifice of power.

(PANEL) 2
NOW WE SHOW THE SPARTAN ARMY AT WAR. AT CENTRE PANEL A SPARTAN
FOOTSOLDIER STANDS FACING US AS IF WE WERE SOME ENEMY RUSHING TOWARDS
HIM ACROSS THE MISTY, DUSTY BATTLEFIELD. HE HAS HIS SWORD OR SPEAR
RAISED ANGRILY TO FEND US OFF OR KILL US IF HE CAN AND HIS FACE IS A
MASK OF IMPLACABLE PROTECTIVE FURY, LIKE THE FACE OF A SHE CAT WHOSE
YOUNG ARE THREATENED. IN HIS FREE HAND, CLUTCHED TO HIS BREAST HE
SUPPORTS A YOUNGER, WOUNDED COMRADE WHO PERHAPS HAS AN ARROW IN HIS SIDE OR JUST A SPEAR WOUND. THE YOUNGER MAN HANGS LIMPLY, HELD PROTECTIVELY AGAINST THE ARMOURED CHEST OF HIS COMRADE/LOVER WHO STANDS READY TO DEFEND THE INJURED MAN, WITH ANGRY TEARS RUNNING DOWN HIS WAR-SCORCHED CHEEKS EVEN AS THE MUSCLES RIPPLE LETHALLY IN HIS SWORD ARM. THESE SPARTANS WERE TERRIFYING SONS OF BITCHES WHO WOULD FIGHT TO THE DEATH WITH A FEROCITY THAT LESS EMOTIONALLY MOTIVATED FOES COULDN'T MATCH, SO TRY TO GET OVER THE SAMURAI SAVAGERY OF THE EMOTION IF YOU CAN. BEHIND AND BEYOND THE TWO F/G FIGURES WE SEE OTHER COMBATTANTS STUMBLING AROUND WOUNDED OR GRAPPLING, HAZY GRAY FIGURES SHROUDED BY THE MIST OR THE DUST OF BATTLE. STAINED WITH HIS DYING LOVERS BLOOD THE SPARTAN SOLDIER STARES AT US WITH WHITE HOT EYES, PREPARED TO FIGHT AND DIE.
CAP. : The Spartan army ventured further: Male love was enforced, producing soldiers who'd defend their frontline lovers to the death.
CAP. : Demanding tougher breeds, they exposed infants to the elements, paticularly girls. Perhaps because of this, by the time Rome invaded there were only sixteen Spartans left.

PAGE 2.
(PANEL) 3.
NOW WE ARE UP TO AROUND THREE OR FOUR HUNDRED B.C., WITH A SHOT OF
SAPPHO OF LESBOS, BY ALL ACCOUNTS A STRIKINGLY BEAUTIFUL WOMAN OF THE
PERIOD. AS WE SEE HER HERE SHE IS SITTING WRITING UPON A VERANDAH
OVERLOOKING THE AEGEAN SEA, WITH FLEECE-WHITE CLOUDS ADRIFT UPON A
PICTURE POSTCARD SKY. HAVING BROKEN OFF FROM HER WRITING, THE QUILL LIMP
BETWEEN HER FINGER, SAPPHO BOWS HER HEAD AND RAISES ONE HAND TO HER
EYES, COVERING THEM AS IF TO HIDE HER WEEPING. THE QUILL LIES STILL, THE
POEM REMAINS UNFINISHED ON THE TABLE BEFORE HER. ALL ALONE, THE GREATEST
POET OF HER ERA WEEPS OVER A DEPARTED LOVER WHILE THE STRONG, BRIGHT
SUNLIGHT GLITTERS ON THE WAVES OF THE AEGEAN, BEYOND HER LONELY
VERANDAH, OR WINDOW SEAT IF YOU THINK THAT WOULD LOOK BETTER, GIVING YOU SOME SHADE AND SOLID SHADOW IN THE F/G WITH A SQUARE OF SUNLIT SEA
VISIBLE IN THE B/G THROUGH THE WINDOW. SEE WHAT YOU THINK, AND DO WHAT
YOU THINK'S BEST.
CAP. : Corinth's transvestite troops aside, this usage was unique. We were CREATORS: Homer sought in verse to hug Achilles' shade..
CAP. : ..while on her isle, exquisite Sappho reminisced of myrrh poured on her lover's head; of girls upon soft mats with all they most desired beside them.

(PANEL) 4.
NOW A MORE ABSTRACT SHOT. WE ARE NOW UP TO THE FIRST OR SECOND CENTURY,
STILL IN ROUCHLY THE SAME PART OF THE WORLD, AND ALL WE SEE HERE ARE TWO
MEN OF THE PERIOD WALKING ROUGHLY FROM LEFT TO RIGHT, AS IF WALKING AWAY FROM SOMETHING OFF PANEL OVER ON THE LEFT HAND SIDE. THEY LOOK SAD AND REJECTED, AND ONE MAN HAS AN ARM AROUND HIS FELLOW'S SHOULDER, AS IF TO LEND HIM STRENGTH. A STRONG SOURCE OF LIGHT ISSUES FROM OFF PANEL LEFT, LIGHTING THEM FROM BEHIND AS THEY WALK AWAY FROM IT TOWARDS THE
COMPARATIVE DARKNESS OVER TO THE RIGHT. THE LIGHT ALSO CASTS THE SHADOW
OF A CHRISTIAN CROSS OVER THE TWO MEN AS THEY WALK AWAY, SO THAT THE
BLACK AND ANGULAR SHADOW FALLS SQUARELY ACROSS THEM.
CAP. : Yet this tolerance could not endure the rise of Christianity, which quite ignored Christ's love for outcasts and instead embraced moral severity.
CAP. : Defining sex as base, an obstacle to faith, St. Paul named same-sex love, for the first time, as sin.

(PANEL) 5.
NOW ANOTHER MIRROR OF LOVE VERTICAL PANEL SHOWING THE HERMAPHRODITE
ANGELS. HERE THEY BOTH STAND UPRIGHT, FACING EACH OTHER ACROSS THE
PANEL, BOTH IN THE SAME POSITION, BOTH LOOKING SHY AND WONDERING AS THEY
REACH OUT THEIR HANDS AND PLACE THEIR PALMS TOGETHER, TOUCHING FOR THE
FIRST TIME. THE EFFECT IS SOFT AND ROMANTIC


PAGE 2.
(PANEL) 5. (FROM OVER)
WHILE AT- THE SAME TIME CONTAINING ELEMENTS OF THE SPOOKY CHARM IN THAT
HARPO MARX SCENE WITH THE MIRROR, THE TWO ANGELS PLACING THEIR PALMS
TOGETHER AS IF TOUCHING A MIRROR'S FLAT SURFACE, STANDING THERE AGAINST
THE BLACKNESS WITH THEIR LUXURIANT WINGS FOLDED BEHIND THEM. (THERE'S NO NEED TO BE COY ABOUT THE DUAL CENITALIA EITHER..I FIGURE THAT IT WILL
HAVE THE SAME SORT OF INNOCUOUS AND CLASSICAL AIR TO IT THAT DR. MANHATTAN HAD IN WATCHMEN.
CAP. : Ah, sin. Was THAT its name, that stole a kiss behind the interlocking shields of war? Sin that made Sappho weep and write "I have not had one word from her?
CAP. : With baby-blood upon their hands they saw our love and named it sin.

PAGE 3.
(PANEL)1.
NOW WE JUMP AHEAD TO THE THIRTEENTH CENTURY, IN THE HIGH DARK AGES. THIS
FIRST PANEL IS A GALLOWS SHOT. MY BEST IDEA FOR THE IMAGE WAS TO HAVE
JUST THE FEET OF TWO OR THREE HANGED MEN DANGLING DOWN INTO THE PICTURE FROM ABOVE, UP IN THE F/G, AS IF WE OURSELF WERE STANDING ALMOST UNDER THE GALLOWS. LOOKING BEYOND THIS WE SEE A ROAD WINDING THROUGH THE DISMAL MEDIEVAL LANDSCAPE, WITH PERHAPS A PEASANT AND HIS CART MAKING THEIR WAY ALONG THE ROAD, PAUSING TO LOOK UP AT THE HANGING BODIES DECENDING FROM THE GALLOWS, INVISIBLE TO US SAVE FOR THEIR HORRIBLY DANGLING FEET WITH THIER CLUMPY RAG AND SACKCLOTH FOOT-WRAPPINGS IN THE STEAD OF SHOES. PERHAPS IT IS RAINING, THE PEASANT DRAWING HIS HOOD AND JERKIN TIGHT AGAINST IT AS HE SHIVERS ON THE MUDDY ROAD, LOOKING UP AT THE GALLOWS IN THE FAILING AFTERNOON LIGHT.
CAP. : Thomas Aquinas, by the thirteenth century, had systemized degrees of vice, including copulation with an undue sex.
CAP. : Since in the high Dark Ages such pronouncements were quite readily made law, burnings occurred; beheadings; bodies twisting slowly in the breeze.

PAGE 3.
(PANEL) 2.
OKAY..IN THIS PANEL I'M AFRAID I DON'T HAVE ANY STRONG BACKGROUND
REFERENCE TO GIVE YOU BECAUSE I'M NOT SURE THAT ANY ACCURATE REFERENCE
EVEN EXISTS, SO I SUPPOSE WE'RE JUST GOING TO HAVE TO GO AHEAD AND MAKE
THE WHOLE THING UP. WHAT WE SEE HERE IN THIS SECOND PANEL IS A DETAIL
FROM THE PAPAL PERSECUTION OF THE KNIGHT TEMPLARS. THE PERSECUTION WOULD PROBABLY HAVE BEEN CARRIED OUT, AT LEAST ON A PHYSICAL LEVEL, BY RUGGED LOOKING CRUSADERS, WITH THE FLAT CHAIN MAIL HELMETS AND ARMOUR AND THE WHITE TUNIC WITH THE RED CROSS WORN OVER THE CHAIN MAIL, ALL CARRYING LARGE BROADSWORDS. WHAT THESE NO-NONSENSE GENTLEMEN ARE DOING HERE IS TO RANSACK THE TEMPLE AND MEETING PLACE OF A BRANCH OF THE KNIGHT TEMPLARS, A QUASI MASONIC/ RELIGIOUS/ MYSTICAL ORDER THAT EXISTED AROUND THIS TIME. NOW ACCORDING TO THE RUMOUR AT THE TIME, THE TEMPLARS WERE A BUNCH OF EXCLUSIVELY GAY MEN WHO WORSHIPPED A GOAT WITH TITS NAMED BATHOMET. WITH HINDSIGHT, THIS STARTS TO LOOK MORE AND MORE SUSPICIOUS. IN ALL LIKELIHOOD THEY WEREN'T GAY OR AT LEAST NOT ANY MORE THAN ANYONE ELSE, AND THEY PROBABLY DIDN'T DO MUCH GOAT WORSHIP EITHER, THESE SENSATIONAL CRIMES BEING DREAMED UP BY THE POPE AS A JUSTIFICATION FOR WIPING THE TEMPLARS OF THE FACE OF THE EARTH. THIS WAS DONE TO REPAY A FAVOR THAT THE POPE OWED PHILLIP OF FRANCE, WHO HAD ONCE TAKEN HIS SIDE AGAINST AN ANTI-POPE IN SUCH SORT OF BATTLE OF SUCCESSION. IN THIS PANEL THEN, WE SEE THE INTERIOR OF THE KNIGHT TEMPLAR'S LODGE WHICH IT WOULD PROBABLY BE BEST TO KEEP AS VAGUE AS POSSIBLE, WHILE LOOKING AS IF THE GENERAL DECOR FITTED IN WITH THE TONE OF THE THIRTEENTH OR FOURTEENTH CENTURY.
SINCE THEY SEEM TO HAVE BEEN AT LEAST A MASONIC ORDER, PERHAPS THERE
COULD BE SOME TRAPPINGS VISIBLE ABOUT THE PLACE THAT SUGGEST
FREEMASONRY..SOME OF THE WALLS HAVE DRAPES HANGING ON THEM ON WHICH MAY BE GLIMPSED A SELECTION OF TRADITIONAL MASONIC IMAGES LIKE PYRAMIDS AND DIVIDERS AND STUFF, ALONG WITH MORE CONVENTIONAL IMAGES, SINCE I BELIEVE THE TEMPLARS WERE ORIGINALLY A SORT OF HERETIC OFFSHOOT OF THE
MAINSTREAM CATHOLIC CHURCH. THERE SHOULD PROBABLY BE A CLOTH COVERED
ALTAR WITH MAYBE A CEREMONIAL SWORD AND A SILVER GOBLET ARRANGED UPON IT. ADMITTEDLY, I'M GUESSING ABOUT ALL THIS BUT I DON'T IMAGINE WE'LL
HAVE THAT MANY LATTER DAY KNIGHT TEMPLARS WRITINGIN TO COMPLAIN ABOUT
IT. THE SCENE HERE DEPICTS A BUNCH OF BRUTAL AND TOUGH LOOKING
CRUSADERS BURSTING INTO TEMPLAR HEADQUARTERS AND PUTTING IT BRISKLY AND EFFICENTLY TO THE SWORD AND TO THE TORCH. THE TEMPLARS, SURPRISED IN
THE MIDDLE OF A RITUAL BY THE INCOMING CRUSADERS, ARE DRESSED IN
NONDESCRIPT RELIGIOUS/MASONIC ROBES OFSOME SORT AND ALSO APPEAR TO
BE LARGELY UNARMED. THE CRUSADERS RIP DOWN DRAPES, RUN THE SCREAMING
TEMPLARS THROUGH WITH SWORDS AND TOUCH FIREBRANDS TO THE HANGINGS.
CAP. : Although to hang for sodomy alone was rare, such charges loaned vendettas weight.
CAP. : Knight Templars, charged with sodomy, had instead pressed Phillip of France for debts he couldn't pay. The Pope, owing Phillip in turn, arranged the Templars persecution.
CAP. : Then, as now, our love was used conveniently, as a smear.


(PANEL 3.
NOW WE ARE UP TO THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY AND THE RENAISSANCE, OVER THERE
IN ITALY. IN THIS PANEL WE ARE IN THE FLOWER-DRAPED SQUARE OR COURTYARD
OF A RENAISSANCE VILLA, MAYBE WITH A DECORATIVE FOUNTAIN BUBBLING AND
SPLASHING SOMEWHERE CENTRAL. A YOUNG MAN SITS UPON THE FOUNTAIN'S EDGE
AND LETS HIS HAND TRAIL IDLY THROUGH THE WATER, UNAWARE THAT HE IS
WATCHED. AN OLDER MAN, WHITE HAIRED, STANDS TO ONE SIDE, AND LEANED
AGAINST THE ROSE DRAPED WALLS, WATCHING THE YOUTH SIT BY THE GORGEOUS
FOUNTAIN AS THE SMOKE-GRAY EVENING FALLS, SHADOWS SLIDING ACROSS THE
SURFACE OF THE PROUD AND GLORIOUS RENAAISANCE BUILDINGS FORMING THE
SURROUND, THE CUNNINC ARCHES AND THE INTRICATELY CARVEN STONEWORK,
GLEAMING WHITE AS DUSK DESCENDS.
CAP. : As the Rennaissance blossomed, cities gradually returned, and in their alleys our subculture thrived, a pale, night-blooming flower.

PAGE 3.
(PANEL) 4.
IN THIS PANEL, WE SEE MICHAELANGELO CARVING DAVID, ALTHOUGH WE ONLY SEE
THE ARTST'S HANDS HERE, ENTERING FROM OFF PANEL RIGHT AS IF SUDDENLY
PAUSING IN HIS WORK, MOMENTARILY ENTRANCED BY THE BEAUTY THAT HE IS
LIBERATING FROM THE MARBLE. THE STATUE'S HEAD WITH ITS FAMILIAR
SIGHTLESS EYES AND SOME OF THE UPPER CHEST AND SHOULDER HAVE BEEN
LIBERATED FROM THE ROUGH MARBLE BELOW HERE, AND ENTERING FROM THE LEFT WE SEE MICHAELANGELO'S HANDS AS HE PAUSES, ONE HAND STILL HOLDING THE CHISEL, THE OTHER REACHING OUT TO RUN ONE SUNTANNED, WEATHERBEATEN
FINGER GENTLY DOWN THE STATUE'S COLD STONE CHEEK, TRACING THE JAWLINE,
ENTANCED BY ITS BEAUTY. WE CANNOT SEE MICHAELANGELO'S FACE, BUT ONLY HIS
HANDS. THE BLIND STATUE STARES OUT AT US, CALMLY.
CAP. : Despite Church savagery, an improved social clime once more brought forth our muse.
CAP. : Thus, Michaelangelo gazed heavenwards into a crowded Sistine sky and told his dear Tommaso that though vain malignant hordes attribute what their grosser wills obey, yet should their love; their faith; pure joys afford.

(PANEL) 5
NOW ANOTHER TALL AND CLASSICALLY ROMANTIC PANEL WITH THE ANDROGYNOUS
ANGELS. HERE, THEY HAVE HALF TURNED AWAY FROM EACH OTHER, AS IF ASHAMED
OF WHAT THEY ARE FEELING, EACH RAISING AN IDENTICAL WHITE FOREARM TO
COVER THEIR EYES, EACH WITH THEIR OTHER HAND REACHING BACK BEHIND THEM
EVEN AS THEY HALF-TURN AWAY TO GRASP THE HAND OF THEIR TWIN, FINGERS
ENTWINED DRAMATICALLY AGAINST THE BLACKNESS OF THE CENTRE PANEL.
PERHAPS 'ASHAMED' ISN'T THE MOOD I'M LOOKING FOR, ON SECOND THOUGHTS.
ITS MORE THAT THEY ARE COVERING THEIR FACES TO HIDE THEIR GRIEF.
CAP. : How could he know, upon his palette there, creating Heaven from a Hell of cramped discomfort; chisel trembling on the brink of freeing David's shoulder from chill rock?
CAP. : How could he know what trials the future held, how gross its will?
CAP. : MY love, the vain, malignant hordes are with us, with us still.

PAGE 4.
(PANEL) 1.
NOW WE JUMP TO THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY, AND SHAKESPEARE'S ENGLAND IN THIS
FIRST PANEL. WE ARE ON THE ROUGH WOODEN STAGE OF AN OPEN AIR THEATER OF
THE PERIOD, SOMEWHERE IN THE HEART OF ELIZABETHAN LONDON, A FAIRLY
ROUGH AND SMELLY, LIVED-IN SORT OF PLACE BY ALL ACCOUNTS. IN THE
FOREGROUND, ENTERING FROM OFF PANEL LEFT WE HAVE THE HANDS OF AN ACTOR
PLAYING SHAKESPEARE'S OTHELLO, THE HANDS BLACKED UP WITH GREASEPAINT OR
SOME SUCH PREPARATION. THEY ARE CLASPED AROUND THE THROAT OF ANOTHER
ACTOR, OBVIOUSLY MALE, WHO IS PLAYING DESDEMONA. WE CAN SEE THE TINTED


PAGE 4
(PANEL) 3. (FROM.OVER)
CAP. : Nowhere was this more evident than with the Ladies of Llangollen, women living openly together in eccentric isolation, objects of suspicion, yet also of fascinated awe.
CAP. : Amusing in their tantrums, cherishing the picturesque, they scattered rosebuds round their cottage; banished Wordworth when he slighted it in verse. Without them, History's diminished.

(PANEL) 4
NOW ITS THE NINETEENTH CENTURY, IN AMERICA. (INCIDENTALLY, I THINK I
MADE AN ERA ABOVE. THE LADIES OF LLANGOLLEN ARE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.) WE
ARE IN A BEDROOM, IN THE VERY EARLY HOURS OF MORNING. A CHANGE FOR THE
SAKE OF HISTORICAL ACCURACY HERE-- INSTEAD OF A WOMAN IN THE BED, JUST
SHOW AN AMBIGUOUSLY EMPTY BED, WITH RUMPLED SHEETS. ITS UNCLEAR WHETER
ONE OR TWO PEOPLE HAVE RECENTLY VACATED IT. THE BED IS DRAWN IN DETAIL,
SO ITS EMPTINESS SEEMS TO HOLD AMBIGUOUS SIGNIFICANCE. IN THE FOREGROUND
WE SEE THE HANDS OF A WOMAN WHO IS SITTING UP, SOME FEET FROM THE BED,
AND WRITING A POEM WITH A QUILL PEN, PERHAPS SEATED AT SOME BEDROOM
BEUREAU IF THAT LOOKS GOOD. DEPENDING ON WHAT WE CAN SEE OF THE POEM, IT
IS EMILY DICKINSON'S POEM WHICH BEGINS "Her sweet Weight on my Heart a
Night / Had scarcely deigned to lie - / When, stirring, for Belief's
delight,/ My Bride had slipped away -. SHE IS SITTING IN THE EARLY DAWN
HOURS WRITING IT WITH THE EMPTY BED A FEW FEET AWAY.
CAP. : We grew, but in obscurity. Emily Dickinson described her lover's
breast as fit for pearls, her words unread, her voice unheard 'til she was dead.
CAP. : Avoiding his beloved's gaze lest he betray himself, Fennimore Cooper rued a world that did not give to every love a place.

(PANEL) 5
NOW ANOTHER PANEL WITH THE HERMAPHRODITE ANGELS, VERTICAL AND DARK AND ELEGANT. IN THIS ONE THEY KNEEL FACING EACH OTHER, LIKE KNIGHTS OF THE
GRAIL, EACH ONE REFLECTING THE OTHER'S MOVEMENTS. THEIR HANDS ARE CUPPED TOGETHER AT THE CENTRE OF THE PANEL, AND SEEM TO HOLD SOME SORT OF RADIANT LIGHT CUPPED IN THEM, ITS LIGHT SPILLING UP INTO THEIR FACES AS
THEY GAZE AT IT IN SOFT AND SILENT AWE. PERHAPS IF THE STRONG LIGHT
SOURCE DOESN'T WORK WELL WITH THE CLEAR-LINE BEARDSLEY STYLE YOU COULD
TAKE A TIP FROM MOEBIUS, WHO MANAGES TO LIGHT HIS CHARACTERS WITHOUT
USING HEAVY SHADOW BY SORT OF MAKING THEM INTO TRANSLUCENT LIGHT SOURCES THEMSELVES AND JUST SUGGESTING THE SHADOW WITH A LITTLE FINE NIBBED FEATHERING AROUND THE EDGES. SEE WHAT YOU THINK, ANYWAY, ITS ONLY A SUGGESTION, HERE, THE ANGELS STARE AT THE CELESTIAL RADIANCE CUPPED IN THEIR OUTSTRETCHED HANDS, READY TO SPILL BETWEEN THEIR FINGERS LIKE A
LIQUID RATHER THAN A PURE BALL OF ENERGY.
CAP. : So Shakespeare dipped a quill into his troubled soul, while Eleanor and Sarah fired their servants and nailed poems to the trees. On Emily's pure heart, her lover's weight a night....

PAGE 5.
(PANEL) 1.
NOW WE ARE IN NINETEENTH CENTURY PARIS. WE ARE LOOKING AT MATA HARI, THE
FAMOUS COURTESAN AND SPY, AS SHE RIDES TOWARDS US ACROSS THE NEATLY
CLIPPED LAWNS OF NATALIE BARNEY'S PARIS SALON, THROUGH THE EARLY MORNING DEW. THE HORSE SHE RIDES IS A PURE WHITE ARABIAN STALLION, ADORNED WITH JEWELS. SITTING THERE ASTRIDE IT, MATA HARI HAS PERHAPS A DIAMOND NECKLACE OR DIAMOND TIARA IN HER HAIR, ALONG WITH PERHAPS A JEWELLED CHAIN AROUND HER SLIM WHITE ANKLE. OTHERWISE, SHE IS COMPLETELY NAKED, RIDING PROUDLY THROUGH THE CHILLY MORNING AIR, HER HEAD HELD HIGH, HER RAVEN HAIR FALLING ABOUT HER COLD WHITE SHOULDERS. SHE LOOKS PERFECT, LIKE A GODDESS, LIKE A WOMAN DRAWN BY MUCHA OR AN OPIUM FANTASY.
CAP. : Only within enlightened cultures could we breathe: Natalie Barney's salon scandalized and entertained, where Gertrude Stein took tea and Mata Hari, naked, rode jewelled stallions.
CAP. : Outrageous Natalie, who, spurned by Renee Vivien, delivered herself in a satin coffin to the poet's door, while Paris smiled.

(PANEL) 2.
NOW WE ARE IN GERMANY, MID NINETEENTH CENTURY, IN A LECTURE HALL
SOMEWHERE. WE ARE LOOKING AT THE STAGE, WHERE A GERMAN DOCTOR IN A FROCK COAT IS POINTING TO A HANGING DIAGRAM OF A MALE HUMAN BEING WITH THE ORGANS EXPOSED AND LABELS POINTING TO THE GENITALS AND VARIOUS OTHER PERTINENT BITS. HOLDING HIS LAPEL PORTENTIOUSLY IN ONE HAND, THE GERMAN DOCTOR PROCLAIMS STRIDENTLY IN OUR DIRECTION WHILE POINTING TO VARIOUS ANATOMICAL FEATURES UPON THE CHART WITH A LONG WOODEN POINTER.
CAP. : Elsewhere, In Leipzig, 1869, one K.M. Benkert first referred to "Homosexuality'. England's view that all might be explained by science prompted doctors to declare us merely ill, not friends or sinners after all.
CAP. : The Molly-Houses rattled in the wind. The climate changed.

(PANEL) 3.
NOW A SHOT OF OSCAR WILDE STANDING FACING US IN THE DOCK OF A VICTORIAN
ENGLISH COURTROOM, FLANKED BY POLICEMEN OF THE PERIOD. HE STANDS WITH A
LARGE CARNATION FASTENED EXTRAVAGANTLY AND WITH BRAVADO TO HIS LAPEL,
BUT AS HIS DARK AND HOLLOW EYES LOOK WEARILY UP AT THE OFF PANEL JUDGE
WHO IS PASSING SENTENCE THEY LOOK APPREHSIVE WEARY AND AFRAID. THE
STONE-FACED CONSTABLES TO EITHER SIDE STARE DEAD AHEAD AND DO NOT BLINK.

(PANEL) 3. (FROM OVER)
CAP. : ..as Oscar Wilde learned to his cost, too fond of working lads; of dining with the panthers.
CAP. : His beloved's father, a Marquis, denounced him as a sodomite. Pressing for slander, recklessly, Wilde was exposed, condemned to Reading Gaol then exiled in disgrace.

(PANEL) 4.
NOW A MORE ABSTRACT SHOT AGAIN. AGAINST A WHITE BACKGROUND THAT MIGHT BE AN OVERCAST EUROPEAN SKY WE SEE THE RAISED FISTS OF YOUNG MEN IN
NINETEETH CENTURY CUFFS AND SLEEVES RAISED PROUDLY IN CLENCHED DEFIANCE. THERE ARE ONLY A FEW OF THEM, BUT THEY STAND OUT STRONG AND ANGRY AGAINST THE DULL WHITE SKY.
CAP. : The era closed with Wilde's mauve nineties fading into grey, and yet contained the seeds of something proud, humane:
CAP. : From Germany, before the century's end, came the first protests against laws on sodomy. Emancipation had begun.

(PANEL) 5
NOW ANOTHER MIRROR OF LOVE PANEL. IN THIS ONE THE ANGELS, UPON THEIR
SIMPLE FOUR-LINE FACES, WEAR EXPRESSIONS OF DEFIANT ANGER, STANDING BACK
TO BACK WITH ONE ARM DROPPED TO CLASP THE HAND OF THEIR LOVER STANDING
BEHIND THEM, THEIR WINGS PRESSED TOGETHER. THEIR FREE HANDS ARE RAISED
IN A CLENCH FIST SALUTE, BOTH IDENTICALLY TO PRESERVE THE DECORATIVE
SYMMETRY OF ALL THESE TALL PANEL IMAGES.
CAP. : Such times, born to Tchaikovsky's guns that could not drown

(PANEL) 4.
A VERY GRIM PANEL, THIS ONE. WE ARE IN THE SHOWER BLOCK OF A
CONCENTRATION CAMP, JUST AFTER A GASSING. IN THE FOREGROUND WE CAN SEE
MERCIFULLY LITTLE OF A MOUND OF NAKED HUMAN MEN, ALL PILED ON TOP OF
EACH OTHER AS THE TEXT BELOW DESCRIBES, SHOWN HERE VERY SHADOWY; THE
FULLEST HORROR LEFT TO THE READER'S IMAGINATION. BEYOND THIS PATHETIC
AND TWISTED PILE OF AGONIZED BODIES, LOOKING ACROSS THE ROUGH COLD FLOOR OF THE SQUALID SHOWERBLOCK WHERE COILS OF ZYKLON-B STILL DRIFT WE SEE, FRAMED IN THE DOORWAY, TWO OVERCOATED CONCENTRATION CAMP GUARDS WITH MACHINE GUNS WHO HAVE COME TO SURVEY THEIR HANDIWORK. THEY STARE ACROSS THE ROOM AT US AND THE BODIES, PRESUMABLY CHECKING TO SEE IF ANYTHING IS STILL MOVING. BENEATH THEIR DUM-DUM BULLET-HEADED HELMETS THEY WEAR GASMASKS, THE GLASS COIN EYES STARING AT US CREEPILY HERE FROM THE SHADOWS OF THEIR FACES.
CAP. : In slaughterhouses, labelled with pink triangles, our thousands died.
CAP. : The showers, they say, held bodies piled as if the strong and desperate had climbed on lover's backs to flee the gas, betraying at the last our love, the thing we thought they couldn't take.
Can you imagine? 

CAP. : CAN you?

(PANEL) 5
NOW ANOTHER TALL AND CLASSICALLY ROMANTIC PANEL SHOWING THE
HERMAPHRODITE ANGELS, THIS ONE IN THE MODE OF TRAGEDY, WITH THE
ANDROGYNOUS FIGURES SITTING HUDDLED, LEANING AGAINST EACH OTHER,
SHOULDER TO SHOULDER AND TEAR-STAINED CHEEK TO TEAR- STAINED CHEEK,
THEIR LEGS TRAILING LIMPLY AWAY TO EITHER SIDE AND THEIR WINGS RISING
BEHIND THEM.. THEY HAVE THEIR SLIM AND NAKED ARMS ABOUT EACH OTHER'S
SHOULDERS AND WITH THEIR FREE HANDS THEY STROKE EACH OTHERS
SORROW-DAMPENED CHEEKS, THEIR EYELIDS LOWERED IN TRAGEDY AS THEY COMFORT EACH OTHER WORDLESSLY.
CAP. : Darling, do not weep. 'Twas just a dream, a nightmare gathered on the century's brow, and if it comes again I'll hold you tight 'til dawn, as well as I know how.

PAGE 7.
(PANEL) 1.
NOW WE ARE UP TO FIFTIES AMERICA, AND IN THIS PANEL WE SEE ONE OF THE
GREENWICH VILLAGE BEATNIK COFFEE HOUSES OF THE PERIOD, WITH A POETRY
READING GOING ON. STANDING ALONE AT THE MICROPHONE A YOUNGER ALLEN
GINSBERG, CLEAN SHAVEN BUT WITH UNTIDY SHORTISH HAIR THAT REACHED HIS
EARS AND THICK BLACK RIMMED SPECTACLES UPON HIS THICK-LIPPED FACE, IS
READING ALOUD FROM A PRINTED COPY OF 'HOWL' THE CITY LIGHTS EDITION
WITH THE FAMILIAR BLACK AND WHITE COVER AND THE WORD 'HOWL' IN BIG BLACK LETTERS. SITTING AT TABLES ALL AROUND, WITH BERETS AND BLACK SWEATERS AND ALSO SOME LESS STEREOTYPICAL MODES OF ATTIRE, THE BEATNIKS SIT, ENTRANCED, AND LISTEN.
CAP. : As day broke over Europe, troops returned, some bringing new-found ways of life, to settle on the Barbary coast, in Portsmouth or New York.

PAGE 7.
(PANEL) 1. (FROM OVER)
CAP. : New worlds seemed possible, and Ginsberg howled against a state that called us communists, not satisfied with branding us diseased.

(PANEL) 2
NOW WE HAVE A PICTURE OF ENGLISH PLAYRIGHT JOE ORTON. IT IS THE EARLY
SIXTIES AND HE LEANS AGAINST A THEATRE HOARDING NAMING ONE OF HIS PLAYS,
A DARK SMILE UPON HIS CRUEL AND HANDSOME FACE. AS WITH THE LADIES OF
LLANGOLLEN, ALL YOU NEED TO DO IS TO REFER TO THE PHOTO REFERENCE
ENCLOSED.
CAP. : The Mattachine Society, America's first group for homosexual men, was formed in 1950, followed by the female-oriented Daughters Of Bilitis.
CAP. : Meanwhile, England saw campaigns for homosexual rights, while Orton wrote of dark young men with new and dangerous moralities. 

(PANEL) 3
IF IT WORKS, WHAT I'D REALLY LIKE TO HAVE HERE IS A XEROX COPY OF THE
FRONT COVER OF THE SGT. PEPPER ALBUM, SOMETHING WHICH EVERYONE
ASSOCIATES WITH 1967, THE YEAR THAT THIS PANEL REFERS TO. WE SEE THE
FAMILIAR GROUP OF ASSORTED NOTABLES, BUT ALL THE GAY AND THE BISEXUAL
FACES PRESENT HAVE BEEN RINGED WITH ROUGH WHITE CIRCLES. THESE INCLUDE
OSCAR WILDE, LAWRENCE OF ARABIA, DA VINCI, JAMES DEAN AND MARLENE
DEITRICH AND ALEISTER CROWLEY..MAYBE MALCOLM MUGGERIDGE AND A COUPLE OF OTHERS AS WELL. I'LL HAVE TO CHECK AND GET BACK TO YOU ON THIS ONE.
ANYWAY, IF IT WORKS THAT'S WHAT WE SEE HERE: THE SGT. PEPPER SLEEVE WITH
ITS GAY FACES CIRCLED CONSPICUOUSLY.
CAP. : In 1967, Britain legalized the sexual act between consenting adult males, while gradually across America, states came to modify their laws.
CAP. : Though still harrassed we were yet jubilant, the first rung in our climb achieved. We splashed in Hockney's pools and danced to Brian Epstein's band.

(PANEL) 4
NOW A SCENE FROM THE STONEWALL RIOT IN GREENWICH VILLAGE, SUMMER 1969.
LIKE BLACK AND WHITE NEWSREEL FOOTAGE WE SEE THE DARK-UNIFORMED COPS
CAND THE LIGHTLY DRESSED GAYS BATTLING WITH TRASHCAN LIDS AND TRUNCHEONS THROUGH THE CLOUDS OF RIOT GAS THAT ROLL THROUGH THE POLICE HEADLIGHT-LIT GREENWICH VILLAGE STREETS, AMONGST THE BLAZING GARBAGE CANS, SET ALIGHT BY THE RIOTERS. THE GAYS ARE FURIOUSLY ANGRY, FIGHTING BACK WITH INCREDIBLE FORCE AGAINST THE INVADING COPS.
CAP. : On friday, June the 27th, 1969, routine police raids on the Stonewall bar in Greenwich Village sparked the riots from which Gay Liberation sprang.
CAP. : Did Judy Garland's death or did five thousand years of history propel us through the streets and with our angerfire the night?

(PANEL) 5
NOW WE SEE THE TWO ANGELS AGAIN, THIS TIME IN AN EXUBERANT STATE, THOUGH
STILL

PAGE 7.
(PANEL) 5. (FROM OVER)
ADHERING TO THE PRE-SET SYMMETRY OF THEIR DESIGN. HERE, THEY CIRCLE
ABOUT EACH OTHER LIKE QUOTATION MARKS, ONE WITH THE HEAD UPWARDS,
LEANING ROUND TOWARDS THE RIGHT AS HE STARTS TO FOLLOW THE ELLIPTICAL
PATH THAT THEIR TWO BODIES FORM, WHILE THE OTHER'S HEAD IS DOWNWARDS,
STARTING TO SWOOP AROUND TOWARDS THE LEFT AS THEY CIRCLE LIKE GODLFISH
OR SWALLOWS, BOTH IN EXACTLY THE SAME POSITION BUT DIFFERENT WAYS UP.
THERE IS SOME VAGUE AND SUBLIMINAL SUGGESTION OF SOIXANTE NEUF PRESENT
HERE ALSO, BUT IN A SUBLIMATED WAY, PERHAPS WITH EACH OF THE ANGELS
REACHING OUT ONE SLENDER HAND TO STROKE ACROSS THE SMOOTH LEG OF THE
OTHER ANGEL. WITH THE PLAIN BLACK BACKGROUND WE CANNOT TELL IF THEY ARE
IN FACT CIRCLING UPRIGHT IN BLACK WATER OR BLACK SPACE, OR IF INSTEAD
WE'RE LOOKING DOWN UPON THEM AS THEY LIE UPON A MATT BLACK FLOOR, IF
THAT GIVES YOU ANY MORE CLUE AS TO HOW TO ARRANGE THEIR POSITIONING
HERE.
CAP. : Remember running in between the blazing trashcans holding hands, laughing above the sirens, unafraid and pure?
CAP. : We knew that freedom could be won; that nothing could prevent it. We were sure, my love.
CAP. : We were so SURE.

PAGE 8.
(PANEL) 1.
THIS LAST PAGE OPENS WITH A SIMPLE SHOT, MOSTLY BLACK. IN THE CENTRE
THERE IS AN ILLUMINATED CIRCLE, AS SEEN DOWN THE BARREL OF A
MICROSCOPE. IN THE CIRCLE SOMETHING SHIFTS AND WRIGGLES AND CONTRACTS
AND PULSES. IN A PREPARED CULTURE OF BLOOD CORPUSCLES, WHAT MAY BE THE
BIGGEST KILLER OF AN ALREADY LETHAL CENTURY SQUIRMS ITS WAY TOWARDS
ANOTHER CELL, ABSORBING IT AND CHANGING IT, EVEN TO ITS D.N.A. CORE
ITSELF.
CAP. : That was before the virus.
CAP. : AIDS changed everything. Though first affecting heterosexuals, who comprise nine-tenths of those afflicted thus worldwide, the Church and press spoke of Gay plague, and we, so close to being recognized as fully human were, instead, transformed to medieval bogeymen.

(PANEL) 2.
NOW A MONTAGE PANEL SHOWING A COLLECTION OF ANGRY AUTHORITARIAN FACES, ALL OF THEM DECLAIMING IN MORAL ANGER, THEIR MOUTHS OPEN AND TEETH SHOWING. THEY INCLUDE THATCHER, REAGAN, A COUPLE OF CHOICE
FUNDAMENTALIST PREACHERS AND PERHAPS THE POPE ALL IN DIFFERENT SIZES,
ALL PROCALIMING THEIR ABHORRENCE OF HOMOSEXUALITY.
CAP. : A human tragedy thus licensed human bigotry.
CAP. : Policeman claimed to speak for God, describing persons having AIDS as swilling

PAGE 8.
(PANEL) 2. (FROM OVER)
SAME CAP. : in a self-made cesspit, while Councillor Brownhills, a conservative, recalled an earlier final solution, offering to "Gas the queers".
CAP. : ..and Margaret Thatcher praised their forthrightness.

(PANEL) 3.
NOW, AGAIN, WE USE THE XEROX OF THE SGT. PEPPER SLEEVE, EXCEPT THAT THIS
TIME, INSTEAD OF ALL THE GAY FACES BEING RINGED, THEY ARE INSTEAD
CRUDELY CROSSED OUT, AS IF OBLITERATED FROM HISTORY FOREVER.
CAP. : She let a clause pass into law that her chief minister for Local Government described as being aimed at banishing all trace of homosexuality : The act itself, all gay relationships, even the abstract concept would be gone, a word torn from the dictionary.

(PANEL) 4
IN THIS PANEL, WE SHOW THE UNCERTAIN FUTURE OF GAY CULTURE WORLDWIDE. I
THINK THE MOST PERFECT IMAGE WOULD BE AN EXACT SWIPE FROM M.G.M.'S
WIZARD OF OZ, WITH DOROTHY, THE TIN MAN, THE COWARDLY LION AND TOTO
SKIPPING OFF TOGETHER, ARM IN ARM, AWAY FROM US ALONG A ROAD OF YELLOW
BRICK TOWARDS THE GLEAMING DISTANT SPIRES OF OZ. I THINK ITS OPTIMISTIC,
SAD AND POIGNANT WHICH JUST ABOUT SAYS ALL I WANT TO HERE.
CAP. : Shall we be scapegoats as they used the Templars, Canaanites and Jews, or will AIDS force abandonement of prejudice; of furtive silence over sex, to save their very lives?
CAP..: As we approach the future, will Utopia's spires hove into view,
or Death-camp Chimney stacks? 

CAP. : My love, I wish I knew.

(PANEL) 5
IN THIS LAST PANEL WITH THE ANGELS WE GET THE IMAGE THAT I'VE BEEN
HOLDING BACK ON, WHICH IS THAT OF THE TWO FIGURES PRESSED PASSIONATELY
TOGETHER, BREAST TO BREAST, LIPS CLAMPED TIGHT UPON EACH OTHER AS THEY
KISS, THEIR ARMS ENTWINED ABOUT EACH OTHER AND THEIR LEGS BOTH WITH ONE
KNEE RAISED, THREADING BETWEEN THE LEGS OF THE OTHER, BOTH WITH ONE LEG
HANGING STRAIGHT DOWN LIKE A PENDULUM, PERFECTLY SYMMETRICAL WITH THEIR ANGEL WINGS SPREAD MAJESTICALLY BEHIND THEM, A SINGLE FEATHER FLUTTERING DOWN TOWARDS THE DARKNESS AT THE BOTTOM OF THE PANEL, DISLODGED BY THEIR PASSION AS THEY KISS. INSTEAD OF THE END, I WONDER IF WE COULD HAVE A LITTLE REPRODUCTION OF THE BLEEDING HEART PART OF DAVE'S EXCELLENT MAD LOVE LOGO, DOWN THERE IN THE BOTTOM RIGHT. THIS FINAL PANEL SHOULD BE ECSTATIC, SENSUAL AND EXUBERANT, THE TRIUMPH OF PASSION.
CAP. : While life endures we'll love, and afterwards, if what they say is true, I'll be refused a Heaven crammed with Popes; policemen; fundamentalists, and burn instead, quite happily, with Sappho, Michaelangelo and you, my love.
CAP. : I'd burn throughout Eternity with you.