A short comic script based on Sanction by
Dylan Vasiloff

Page Count: 6
Submitted for Mad Cave Studios Talent Search 2025

As snow falls on Leningrad before the New Year, a burdened but relentless detective takes his dog for a walk and stumbles into a miracle.

PAGE ONE (TEN PANELS)

PANEL 1: Interior, in the study of a Leningrad apartment, early evening. Cozy but cluttered. DETECTIVE BORIS DIMITROVICH (late 30s, weary, greying) pores over a file at his desk. BORIS is visibly frustrated.

1. LOC BANNER: Leningrad, USSR.
2. DATE BANNER: December 29.

PANEL 2: We get to take a look at the case file from BORIS’ point of view. Black and white images of ANNA, a child of around ten years old, of her school, and the area she was last seen, very near to BORIS’ own home.

3. CAPTION: Anna Abramovich was reported missing after having last been seen leaving school, presumably on her way home, just yesterday.

PANEL 3: More pictures, those of her parents, but this time from a slightly different perspective. Now we can also see BORIS, and the anguished look on his face.

4. CAPTION: Her father, a man I have known since we were children, looked at me with a helplessness in his eyes that will not leave me.

PANEL 4: Finally, the last bit of evidence. A hair barrette with a sort of ornate design, something obviously handcrafted. Unique. All that was left of her at the scene. It is taped down to the file.

5. CAPTION: I can scarcely imagine the depth of the pain he is feeling. It is haunting me.

PANEL 5: From the next room, SOFIA, the wife of BORIS DIMITROVICH, is sitting on the sofa, knitting. Her feet are up, and they are bare. The dog, MALCHIK, some type of cross between a Bloodhound and a Beagle, has his scruffy head in her lap. BORYA is a nickname for BORIS.

6. SOFIA: Borya, they’ll be out of bread soon!

7. SOFIA: And don’t forget Malchik needs a walk.

PANEL 6: BORIS DIMITROVICH has his thumb and index finger on his forehead at his desk, feeling the emotional pressure of the case weighing on him.

8. CAPTION: I will not rest until I bring that little girl home.

PANEL 7: SOFIA appears at the door of BORIS’ study.

9. SOFIA: Borya, are you okay? Please milyy, don’t think of that now. You know better than to bring these things home with you.
10. SOFIA: Best to take some air, no? Maybe it will help.

PANEL 8: SOFIA embraces BORIS even as he sits at his desk. BORIS leaves the file open on the desk. 

11. BORIS: A wife knows best. You’re right.

12. SOFIA: And if you see any mandarins at Nikolai’s stall, pick some up, will you?

PANEL 9: They stand and he kisses her on the forehead.
13. BORIS: Oh, da? Something sweet for someone sweet?

PANEL 10: BORIS shares a laugh with his wife as he stands, their embrace continues. MALCHIK the dog has his paws and face up on BORIS’ desk, sniffing at evidence. We can see the barrette by the dog’s nose. He has picked up a scent.

14. SOFIA: Boris, don’t tease me!

15. BORIS: Look who’s joined us! Okay, I’ll be back soon then. Bread, mandarins, and maybe a small treat for Malchik – if he’s good.

SFX: sniff sniff

PAGE TWO (FIVE PANELS)

PANEL 1: BORIS and MALCHIK are leaving the seven-storey Stalinka, a quite beautiful Stalin-era building. It is snowy and cold, and they are dressed warmly. Even MALCHIK is wearing a scarf. The streets are well lit. These are not like the much more modern (for the time) ‘Soviet style’ Khruschevka, built during the presidency of Nikita Khrushchev some two decades earlier. This Stalinka is much more western European in appearance, have a look. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stalinka)

1. CAPTION: I am so blessed to have Sofia. If it wasn’t for that wife of mine, I would be as grey in the face as I am getting on the head.

PANEL 2: BORIS and MALCHIK make their way down the road, MALCHIK ahead of BORIS. There are Christmas decorations hanging from the streetlights along the road. 

Let us use Kanonerskaya Street as a reference; there are quite a lot of Stalinka buildings here, and this will take us right to the Griboyedov Canal and the centre of Leningrad, so that we can see some sights with BORIS and his furry friend.

2. CAPTION: Still though, it feels so close. What am I missing? 

PANEL 3: I think it could be cool and interesting to do a few very similar sequential panels here of BORIS and MALCHIK walking along, under the streetlights, with flashes of Leningrad around them. Along the canal and so on, toward the very centre. Here, MALCHIK is sniffing around a tree.

3. CAPTION: What we know is that she was on her way home from school, the same path she always takes. She was on her own. Not unusual.
4. BORIS: Come on, Malchik.

PANEL 4: And here, MALCHIK has his nose down and is pulling ahead. 

5. CAPTION: We found the barrette from her hair where we believe she was taken. The side of the road towards home. Right here, where I am standing now.
6. BORIS: Malchik, not so fast!

PANEL 5: And here, MALCHIK is greeted by a LITTLE GIRL who is with her mother: just like the little girl BORIS is searching for. 

7. CAPTION: Someone must have offered her a ride, and she accepted. Or worse, she was pulled in. But for no one to have come forward? Perhaps it was someone she recognized.
8. LITTLE GIRL: So sweet!
9. BORIS: Be gentle Malchik!

PAGE THREE (EIGHT PANELS)

PANEL 1: The detective greets an old shopkeeper, NIKOLAI, sweeping snow from the front step of a small grocery store – a Russian magazin. 

1. BORIS: Evening, Nikolai.
2. NIKOLAI: Hm! If you came for bread, don’t forget milk. Sofia will have your head if you return home without the milk. And butter! What is bread without butter?
3. CAPTION: But who? The parents have suggested nothing. And I know her father. He could never have done this. So what then? 

PANEL 2: There is a pile of groceries on the counter next to the cash register that Boris is trying to pay for – the shopkeeper’s haranguing has persuaded him. Malchik has his paws up on the counter too, looking for a treat.

4. NIKOLAI: And what, you would return home without eggs? I will charge you for a dozen and you can pick them up on the way out, da?
5. BORIS: Better if I just leave you a New Years bonus!
6. NIKOLAI: On your salary? Heh!

PANEL 3: BORIS realizes he has forgotten something. NIKOLAI feeds a treat to MALCHIK at the counter.

7. BORIS: Nikolai, do you have any mandarins? My wife asked for mandarins.
8. NIKOLAI: Sure, sure, but they’ll cost you.

PANEL 4: BORIS holds a paper bag of groceries in one arm and MALCHIK’s leash in the other. MALCHIK is leading again, head down, sniffing, searching, this time along a darker road. BORIS is distracted by his thoughts.

9. CAPTION: And to think, if I go home with this on my shoulders? If I try to spend the weekend with my wife knowing that there are parents out there relying on me to find their daughter? 

PANEL 5: Further down this darker street, and now BORIS has noticed he is being led. They stop.

10. BORIS: Malchik, where are we going? Home is the other way. What are you chasing after this time?

PANEL 6: And on Malchik goes, pulling. We can show some resistance on the leash, and BORIS giving in, distracted once more by his thoughts.

11. CAPTION: How can I rest while they suffer? 
12. CAPTION: How can I face myself if I just ignore this now? Sorry Abramovich, she is gone. No. 

SFX: sniff sniff

PANEL 7: BORIS clues in, sudden realization on his face that MALCHIK has caught a scent.

13. BORIS: Malchik, what is it boy? 

PANEL 8: A wide panel across the bottom of the page. We want to get a sense of this place. A more rundown, unwelcoming, dark place. Something bad is here. MALCHIK is sniffing ahead, and pulling BORIS towards an alley.

SFX: sniff sniff

PAGE FOUR (FIVE PANELS)

PANEL 1: They stand at the mouth of the alley. A lamppost casts a menacing light down directly onto them. MALCHIK is sniffing furiously at the base of the lamppost. 

1. BORIS: Malchik, what is it? 
2. CAPTION: Once in a while, in a job like mine, you just need a bit of luck. Something to go your way. Something to point you in the right direction.

PANEL 2: BORIS inspects the base of the lamppost, and we see another of the barrettes in his hand, just like the one from the case file. Both MALCHIK and BORIS have a look of shock on their faces.

3. CAPTION: It can’t be. He has the scent! He must have picked it up off the barrette at home!

PANEL 3: BORIS springs into action, running down the dark street with MALCHIK ahead, following the scent, under the light of the lampposts.

4. BORIS: Good boy Malchik, good boy!
5. MALCHIK: Ruff!

PANEL 4: MALCHIK continues to pull.

6. CAPTION: Sometimes you need a miracle. I need one. Little Anna Abramovich needs one. Her mother and father need one, maybe most of all.

PANEL 5: Big wide panel. The warehouse. There is a truck parked alongside it. A light is on inside. BORIS and MALCHIK look small next to it, like it is looming over them.

7. MALCHIK: Ruff! Ruff!
8. BORIS: In here Malchik? You’re sure?

PAGE FIVE (EIGHT PANELS)

PANEL 1: BORIS approaches the double doors of the warehouse. He presses his ear close to the door. He still has his left arm around the big paper bag of groceries.

1. CAPTION: It can’t be. Is that crying I hear? My heart is pounding. My ears are ringing. She’s in there.
2. MALCHIK: Ruff!
3. BORIS: Quiet Malchik, quiet now.

PANEL 2: A series of small panels here, to show us BORIS’ quick movements. BORIS places the groceries on the ground.

PANEL 3: He steps back from the door. 

PANEL 4: MALCHIK looks on.

PANEL 5: BORIS charges at the door.

PANEL 6: We see the double doors kicked in.
SFX: CRACK

PANEL 7: Little ANNA ABRAMOVICH is sitting on the floor of an empty warehouse, unhurt, crying.

PANEL 8: MALCHIK comforts ANNA. She puts her arms around the dog’s neck. BORIS crouches to her height. ANNA is in shock. She doesn’t speak.

4. BORIS: It’s okay Anna, I’m with the police. You’re safe now.

PAGE SIX (SIX PANELS)

Panel 1: BORIS is back at the apartment later that night. The groceries are on the kitchen counter. A kettle is steaming. MALCHIK is curled up on the rug by the sofa.

1. CAPTION: The truck outside the warehouse belonged to one Grigoriy Astaryan, a foreigner. Smirnoff and two patrol officers arrived on the scene minutes after I called it in from a phone booth at the end of the road. 
2. CAPTION: They arrested him at his apartment, and they’re processing him down at the station now. I’m sure I’ll get the full story on Monday morning. 

PANEL 2: BORIS is sitting at the kitchen table with SOFIA, who is peeling a mandarin. She is smiling at him.

3. CAPTION: Smirnoff couldn’t believe I found her just like that, like a miracle. I told him it wasn’t me, it was the dog. He only laughed.
4. SOFIA: Borya, you are a good man, you know?
5. BORIS: Where did that come from?

PANEL 3: MALCHIK has approached the table looking for a snack. SOFIA’s mouth is full of mandarin. BORIS sips his tea.

6. CAPTION: I will never forget the haunting look in Abramovich’s eyes when he reported his daughter missing.
7. SOFIA: A good man does not forget the mandarins for his wife at New Year.
8. BORIS: Well, a good wife deserves them. Anyway, Nikolai took nearly a hundred rubles off me.

PANEL 4: SOFIA hands a treat to MALCHIK, and BORIS pats his head.

9. CAPTION: At least I can rest easy knowing his family are all back together again.
10. SOFIA: Boris! You gave that old kook how much?!
11. BORIS: Sofia, please! You know how sly that old man is!

PANEL 5: BORIS and SOFIA laugh at each other, and MALCHIK smiles too.

12. BORIS: Let’s have a happy New Year, da?
13. SOFIA: We already are.

PANEL 6: From the perspective of the outside of their large living room window as we zoom out and away from this story. We look in at this happy little family of BORIS, SOFIA and MALCHIK.

14. CAPTION: It is moments like these that make all the heartache of this job worth it. Moments where the good guys win. Where everything really turns out okay in the end. Happy New Year.

END