Our hero returns!
Welcome back fellow comic book lovers!
After a short hiatus, your faithful servant Panelhopper has returned, filled to the brim with thoughts about the Industry.
This week, let us cast an eye over the recurring villian which has menaced the world comics for the last twenty years or so: Adaptation.
On paper of course, the marriage of comic books and films is a fantastic idea which delivers maxium payout for minimal effort. Between them, Marvel and DC have a backcatalogue of literally thousands of characters each one coming complete with clearly defined sense of morality, cut and dryed heroes, and long estabilshed iconography and, most importantly of all, a loyal fanbase. All of this means that at least half the work usually put into the pre-production of a summer blockbuster has already been done and all that remains for the studio to do is throw the idea out in to the open sea of eager directors and starving screenwriters that is Hollywood and wait. Simple.
Or perhaps not...
Since Hollywood first truly uncovered the vein of celluiod gold that is the world of comics ten years ago, we the viewing public have either had our eyeballs graced or assulted by Hollywood's attemps to turn our favourite childhood heroes into cash. Some, like The Dark Knight or Ironman have proven that it is possible for hollywood to create something that is both pleasing to the fans as well as truly accessable to wider audiences.
Yet, for every Ironman, there is a Ghostrider and for every Dark Knight, a League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. It seems that, nine times out of ten, when granted the power to create a truly great movie, Hollywood will go rogue.
If this problem where a universal one, I could probably be content. I could go to the cinema and watch yet another terrible adaptation knowing, deep down, that it was just another fact of life. The sad fact however, is that it is not...
On the other side of the planet in Japan, it seems that manga remains free from the curse of the adaption. I was recently introduced to Masashi Kishimoto's manga series, Naruto and, although I knew I was definately not a member of its target audience, I decided to give it a closer look. I purchased the first three volumes and was pleasantly suprised by what I found. It was by no means the greatest manga I had ever read, but it was a pleasant waste of time. With my curiousity thus peaked, I decided to check out the anime series to see how well the series faired in crossing over to animation. to my surprise I found that, aside from a slight change in pace, the manga and the anime directly correspond with each other, with the first three episodes being word for word the same as the first three volumes.
Yet somehow, even in the the golden age of the 1990's, the same cannot be said of the cartoons based upon american comics. Every time a new Spiderman or X-Men show comes along, I find that central premise of the story has once again been altered, almost to the point where it is recognisable from it's original source matieral. Why? For money...
Now, don't get me wrong, I do understand that some changes in adaptations are entirely neccessary, Films like Watchmen and The Lord of The Rings are living proof of that. I also think that film studios and animators in america could learn alot from their Japanese counterparts: Be Involved with the source materail and its creators. If you come across something you like and want to be involved with creating something new around it, then do that, it's what millions of Fanficiton writers do every day. But please, don't suck it dry...
Until next time, comic lovers
Panelhopper
After a short hiatus, your faithful servant Panelhopper has returned, filled to the brim with thoughts about the Industry.
This week, let us cast an eye over the recurring villian which has menaced the world comics for the last twenty years or so: Adaptation.
On paper of course, the marriage of comic books and films is a fantastic idea which delivers maxium payout for minimal effort. Between them, Marvel and DC have a backcatalogue of literally thousands of characters each one coming complete with clearly defined sense of morality, cut and dryed heroes, and long estabilshed iconography and, most importantly of all, a loyal fanbase. All of this means that at least half the work usually put into the pre-production of a summer blockbuster has already been done and all that remains for the studio to do is throw the idea out in to the open sea of eager directors and starving screenwriters that is Hollywood and wait. Simple.
Or perhaps not...
Since Hollywood first truly uncovered the vein of celluiod gold that is the world of comics ten years ago, we the viewing public have either had our eyeballs graced or assulted by Hollywood's attemps to turn our favourite childhood heroes into cash. Some, like The Dark Knight or Ironman have proven that it is possible for hollywood to create something that is both pleasing to the fans as well as truly accessable to wider audiences.
Yet, for every Ironman, there is a Ghostrider and for every Dark Knight, a League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. It seems that, nine times out of ten, when granted the power to create a truly great movie, Hollywood will go rogue.
If this problem where a universal one, I could probably be content. I could go to the cinema and watch yet another terrible adaptation knowing, deep down, that it was just another fact of life. The sad fact however, is that it is not...
On the other side of the planet in Japan, it seems that manga remains free from the curse of the adaption. I was recently introduced to Masashi Kishimoto's manga series, Naruto and, although I knew I was definately not a member of its target audience, I decided to give it a closer look. I purchased the first three volumes and was pleasantly suprised by what I found. It was by no means the greatest manga I had ever read, but it was a pleasant waste of time. With my curiousity thus peaked, I decided to check out the anime series to see how well the series faired in crossing over to animation. to my surprise I found that, aside from a slight change in pace, the manga and the anime directly correspond with each other, with the first three episodes being word for word the same as the first three volumes.
Yet somehow, even in the the golden age of the 1990's, the same cannot be said of the cartoons based upon american comics. Every time a new Spiderman or X-Men show comes along, I find that central premise of the story has once again been altered, almost to the point where it is recognisable from it's original source matieral. Why? For money...
Now, don't get me wrong, I do understand that some changes in adaptations are entirely neccessary, Films like Watchmen and The Lord of The Rings are living proof of that. I also think that film studios and animators in america could learn alot from their Japanese counterparts: Be Involved with the source materail and its creators. If you come across something you like and want to be involved with creating something new around it, then do that, it's what millions of Fanficiton writers do every day. But please, don't suck it dry...
Until next time, comic lovers
Panelhopper
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