why comicbooks might be important

in a semi serious way there is something to be said about media such as comic books and television to anyone interested in narrative storytelling.

the main fact is that the turnaround to publication is so short that the authors are not allowed really much time to navel gaze, to get profound or basically become self indulgent. there is the story, the story, and sometimes some commentary, but mostly just story.

after giving the whole comicification of the movie industry some thought i think that there are two things going on here:

1. hollywood is looking for another short cut to creating franchises. by utilizing the characters and stories from the comicbook scene they have two things - a built in audience (i.e. revenue stream) and a lack of need for any real creative input. as i've said elsewhere, those of us who are fans of a comic story - when put on screen the only thing we care about is if it is true to the original art.

2. inherent market synergy. rather than team up with marvel to create a comic based on their work - use their work and pay them money. you instantly have comics, toys, etc all built around your little franchise.

okay so perhaps that's one idea. no one said that hollywood was known for more than one note symponies - at least not lately anyways.

the funny thing is that marvel is doing exactly the opposite. i think they decided they were getting ripped off by the guys in the suits so they rolled up their sleeves and started producing their own films. some of them direct to dvd - a brilliant idea by the way and some of them slated for the silver screen.

not to be outdone - cable franchises also take part in the action - showtime a few years ago created series based on the french post-apocalyptic comic 'jeremiah' and hbo is slated to produce an animated adaptation of 'preacher' the cult independent graphic novel series.

back in the day, quite a few student film makers i knew studied comics almost as seriously as theye studied godard, truffaut, spielberg, and preminger. i asked one of them and his response was that where else could someone who is interested in visual storytelling get so many examples of narrative directness than this? he made a good point that is still valid today. about a year ago i picked up one of the recent incarnations of the x-men and found a fantastic story that takes place in 30 seconds of 'real time' but took and entire book to tell - detailing an attack by the sentinels upon rachel summers' family.

last but not least is stephen king. a recent visit to his website shows that he has partnered with marvel comics to come up with an 'inspired by' series based on his 'dark tower' series.