CBR: Where The Hell Am I - Jan 19, 2011

[Predator]

Mark Millar was a comic book writing pro long before Kick-Ass and Wanted turned blockbuster. He's written maybe 200 comics scripts? Roughly 4,400 pages of script.

Furthermore, he's one of the top 2 highest quality comics writers of the last decade. If he wants to play around creating original characters, that directors from the genius Vaughan, to Tony Scott are dying to work with, that's a testament to the quality level of his idea making and writing skills. (Of course for Kick-Ass, all he had to do was write my biography )

So it's a coincidence that Millar is out pitching his comic ideas (Kick-Ass, Nemesis, and Superior) to studios before the first issue even hits stands?

[the goddamn batman]

And I think this attitude of Aronofsky's validates Aaron's; Aronofsky clearly views comic readers as an unimportant audience. He doesn't care if we don't read it, he just wants it to exist so he can make a movie about it. That's not exactly a sign of faith in the art form as anything other than a stepping stone to get what he wants.

Actually, Darren digs comics. When the original production of The Fountain fell apart, he decided to make it into a comic because, A) he likes comics and B) it would only require one person to make it happen. He went out and got the incredibly talented Kent Williams of all people to paint it. Darren knows his shit if he sought out Kent.

It seems that you're, perhaps too busy taking offense to see what he's saying. He's saying that HOLLYWOOD don't care if the comic sells well, just that if it exists in a currently trendy medium, they're more likely to consider it.

Obviously Darren doesn't intensely follow monthly comic books. I'm sure being a busy film maker factors in to that. But he's definitely stated his enjoyment of and respect for the medium.

[Pyramid]

Wow, another article where Aaron complains about someone he likes.

[-=VNV=-]

And please don't cry inside! You have enormous strength and you should see it as your mission to use your gift to impart good advice onto others. Everyone has to start somewhere.

best of luck,

Michael

Michael, Thanks so much for you concern over Jason Aaron's feelings!
I think Jason Aaron is going to be just fine, seeing as he is one of the most engaging comic writers out there today, the writer of the ongoing Wolverine comic, and I believe also one of Marvel's Architects.
I am highly doubtful a milquetoast, patronizing indignation from a kid's first board post will elicit anything from him other than pity for your ignorance.

[zeno99]

Mark Millar was a comic book writing pro long before Kick-Ass and Wanted turned blockbuster. He's written maybe 200 comics scripts? Roughly 4,400 pages of script.

Furthermore, he's one of the top 2 highest quality comics writers of the last decade. If he wants to play around creating original characters, that directors from the genius Vaughan, to Tony Scott are dying to work with, that's a testament to the quality level of his idea making and writing skills. (Of course for Kick-Ass, all he had to do was write my biography )

Mark Millar is one of the top two comics writers of the decade? Are you serious? I got a good laugh out of that, thank you.

[jediracer]

Furthermore, he's one of the top 2 highest quality comics writers of the last decade.

Holy subjective statement, Batman!

Jason Aaron's statements in this article actually echo some things I said myself over at the bendis boards about a year ago. About how comic fans are 'being used' by creators who care more about making a movie than making comics. Everyone there pretty much told me to go to hell.

[Ramage]

I'm all for talented people coming in and making comics. I like new ideas and visions. I am sure the marketplace will settle whether it is viable or entertaining.

Comics are a cloistered community. Who says that the only people who can make comics are the ones who have already making comics or are emershed in the comics community. Outsiders, who've never picked up a comic book ,might make some interesting.

[diablo7]

Mark Millar is one of the top two comics writers of the decade? Are you serious? I got a good laugh out of that, thank you.

I think it was announced on bleedingcool.

[Mladen]

If they need that mangaka Kenichi Sonoda is the right man for the job. He does those very well in Gunsmith Cats.

Damn, you beat me to it. But yeah, the Japanese do a mean car chase. Initial D being an obvious example.

Comics are a cloistered community. Who says that the only people who can make comics are the ones who have already making comics or are emershed in the comics community. Outsiders, who've never picked up a comic book ,might make some interesting.

Absolutely spot on. But I do think Jason's point may have had more to do with the fact that most newcomers to writing comics have never read a comic... Which would be the same as attempting to write a film without having ever seen one.

[diablo7]

Damn, you beat me to it. But yeah, the Japanese do a mean car chase. Initial D being an obvious example.




Absolutely spot on. But I do think Jason's point may have had more to do with the fact that most newcomers to writing comics have never read a comic... Which would be the same as attempting to write a film without having ever seen one.

Sometimes I feel there are writers writing comics that have either never read a comic before or just read watchmen and dkr . Way too much decompression and padding of stories.

[scottybee]

Not sure if it fully came out in this discussion, but aspiring screenwriters are being advised by agents, managers, and consultants to turn their screenplays into graphic novels simply in order to sell them. There are a few reasons given for this advice:

1) The current crop of studio execs grew up on comics and are more comfortable reading comics than scripts

2) Comic art allows execs to visualize a movie better than just words on a page

3) There is a tremendous fear of original material in Hollywood these days. If a movie is based on any kind of pre-existing material (even a comic that only sold 500 copies), it is viewed as "safer" and more acceptable

These screenwriters have no interest in making a good comic. It is simply viewed as a disposable selling tool.

Sad but true.

SB

[Tenacious_AA]

Do what you Love...

In either industry ....there are a lot of good stories that don't get publish or Produced.

AND I would say that comics are the cheapest of the two to produce yourself.

So I can see where screen writers would look to comics as a way to get noticed.

It doesn't mean that it will work.

BUT if someone is a great screen writer I can see him being about to write a pretty decent comic book.

Also I don't mind adaptations to comics...Star Wars and Star Trek and Buffy and ....so so many others have gone on to comics as a outlet, or a addition to the TV or Movie...and if the writer is good, it can be good as well.

AND with any art form there are those who think...they are good...and we all can live a learn.

[hyakprods]

As a screenwriter who recently published his first comic--a comic which began as a screenplay--there were a few things that bothered me about Aaron's article. I'm a huge fan of Scalped and for the most part, I agree with Aaron's statements, but I have a few qualms. The truth is only a tiny fraction of screenplays ever get made. There are more good unproduced screenplays than there are hairs in Alan Moore's beard. A screenwriter has three choices:

1. come to terms with the fact that most of what you spend weeks, months or even years on will never see the light of day
2. ritual seppuku
3. tell your story any damn way you can

It is on the merits of Option #3 that Aaron and I disagree. I also find the practice of making comics just to launch film properties to be anathema. One of my first jobs in comics was writing for a company that did exclusively that, but I needed the money and I got some experience. In the end, the company folded and the comics were never published, so I suppose there is some poetic justice in that respect. However, I feel that Aaron is making unfair assumptions about the intentions of screenwriters seeking to turn their scripts into comics.

Ides of Blood (my comic) started as a screenplay (actually, the original idea was to do Ides as a comic but the aforementioned comic company of ill repute passed on the project--thank God). The entire reason Ides became a comic in the first place was because DC's film division wanted to try and reverse engineer it into a movie--exactly the kind of medium-hopping malfeasance Aaron is warning us against. Yet I do not consider Ides of Blood to be included among the projects that would cause Jason Aaron's innards to shed tears. Why not?

Because I didn't write Ides of Blood the comic to make it into a movie. I wrote it to be the best damn comic I could make it. When the decision was made to make the comic, I started over from scratch, never once looking at the screenplay. I changed numerous elements from plot to character to setpieces and completely reinvented the story for the comic medium. Do I want a movie to be made out of Ides? Uh, yeah. Do I want to write it? You bet I do. But that's all icing on the cake. All I want is to tell my story. And that is exactly what comics allowed me to do--a gift for which I am deeply grateful.

Aaron goes on to say: "We don’t need comics that are hanging out at our party only because they couldn’t get an invite to the much cooler shindig down the street. We don’t need comics that would rather be something else."

On the surface, Aaron's reasoning here seems to make sense, but the more I thought about it, the more Aaron's treatment of a comic's secret screenplay origin as something akin to a back-alley abortion in the '50s creates a slippery slope towards anti-adaptationism (I invented a word!). If you follow his statement to its logical extreme, then screenplays should not be made into comics because a story can only be intended for one medium. It's as if a writer must choose which caste his story should enter into at birth and once that caste is chosen--to change one's mind is somehow disingenuous.

So I guess novels shouldn't be made into comics, either. That's bad news for Orson Scott Card's Ender Series, Philip K. Dick's Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? and George R.R. Martin's Fevre Dream. Someone should have told Stephen King that The Dark Tower, The Stand and The Talisman aren't allowed. Right, you say, but the difference is those stories were already successful novels before being turned into comics. That's exactly why I'd rather read the originals. I would rather see a dozen unpublished screenplays turned into comics rather than a dozen rehashed adaptations of stories that already exist in other mediums.

I quite enjoy and agree with Aaron's 10 tips to screenwriters looking to turn their screenplays into comics--save for one to which I take exception: "Have you already said in interviews that you’re bringing this story to comics because you couldn’t get it off the ground as a movie? If so, then know that we are likely already biased against you. Nobody likes being told they were your second or third choice for a prom date. At least have the decency to lie to our faces."

Guilty as charged. Sorry, but I'm not going to lie about the origin of my story just because I'm afraid it might piss you off. Aaron acts as if there is an unbreachable us vs. them mentality between comics and movies. Like it's some kind of personal attack to want to write a VISUAL story for a VISUAL medium. It's not personal. If you can't handle that your girlfriend went out with other guys before you, maybe you should just stay in your room and read more comics.

This brings me to my main point. A writer's loyalty is not to the medium but to his story. The medium is nothing but a hypodermic needle for injecting awesomeness into the brain. Aaron wants to read comics that want to be comics. I want to read stories that want to exist. I'm with Aronofsky on this one--a story is made to be told. I don't give a damn if the comic I'm reading started as a screenplay, a novel, a haiku or a tattoo on a syphilitic hobo's back.

In the end, there's only one question that should concern the reader--was the comic written with integrity?

I don't know how you determine the answer to that question, but whatever criteria you choose to decide if a comic is worthy of merit, I don't think that the fact that it started out life as a screenplay should automatically disqualify it.

[Jason Aaron]

I'm with Aronofsky on this one--a story is made to be told. I don't give a damn if the comic I'm reading started as a screenplay, a novel, a haiku or a tattoo on a syphilitic hobo's back. In the end, there's only one question that should concern the reader--was the comic written with integrity?

I don't know how you determine the answer to that question, but whatever criteria you choose to decide if a comic is worthy of merit, I don't think that the fact that it started out life as a screenplay should automatically disqualify it.

I most definitely agree. Well said. Especially the bit about the syphilitic hobo.

And no, I'm certainly not against adaptations. You can do a good comic based on anything, if the love is there for the medium.

What annoys me is just when someone would obviously prefer to see their story take life as a film but haven't been able to sell it as such, so they decide instead to make a comic of it purely to try and turn back around and get the attention of Hollywood, not because they have any actual love of comics. Those are comics made as pitch-aids or marketing tools. Not comics made for the love of comics. Again, in my opinion, just not part of the recipe for making good comics.

Doesn't sound like that's the case at all with your series. I wish you luck with it.

[DarthCommenter]

11. Read this column:

http://www.comicbookresources.com/?p...ticle&id=28471