About the comic

[easol.livejournal.com]

I've been eagerly anticipating the Stephen King prequel comic "Gunslinger Born" (there aren't a lot of comic stores in my vicinity), and when I was reading up on it, I saw that it was originally meant to debut almost a year before it did.

So I was wondering, for those of you with more knowledge of this sort of thing than I, do you think that LKH was sorta jumping on the bandwagon with the "Guilty Pleasures" comic? She's shown a willingness to jump on popular bandwagons before (IE, calling her main character a "Vampire Hunter", etc).

Or am I miles off, and it's just a coincidence that this came out half a year after the ORIGINAL release date of the Gunslinger comics? (Note: this may be the case, just because I don't have the faintest idea how long it takes to make a poor comic book)

I've also been wondering about the comic's sales. Usually her book sales are good if brief, but LKH and Co. have been pretty desperate for cover quotes, and they've been pimping it pretty hard. Has it done badly, well, or neither terribly nor wonderfully?

Comments

[pith]

I haven't been following the comic much. At first, it seemed to be doing annoyingly well: the first two or three issues were reprinted due to demand. But I haven't heard of any reprints since.

To be fair, 1-6 were collected in hardcover, not just softcover TPB... but they also threw in "bonus features", probably to encourage/entice more people to buy it.

And the "limited edition" Jean-Claude prints? The comic stores I frequent had hundreds left well after the release date, and were practically begging people to take them.

From the little I've heard, it seems like the hype is dying down. I've noticed a lot of people at my main comic store are dropping it from their files. Or, as my comic store owner said after reading issue #1, "I'm offended on behalf of women, and I'm not even a woman!" (Badly worded on his part, but he had good intentions.)

[tsubaki-ny.livejournal.com]

LOL! I think he worded it just fine! ^________^

[longtail.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I was begged for MONTHS afterwards to take one of the Jean Claude prints...or two...or more!

Thankfully I did find homes for all of the ones I was begged to take. *L*

[ladymuttly1.livejournal.com]

circular file?

[vlredreign.livejournal.com]

I didn't even know about the Gunslinger comics, and I'm a huge fan of that series. Seems that there are 7 total, and the 7th is now available. I would say that LKH is jumping on the bandwagon, yes. Hell, Anne Rice beat her to it, there's a copy of The Vampire Lestat that's a graphic novel that cam eout years ago, I have it.

[jadelioness.livejournal.com]

I've got all 7 of the Dark Tower comics, and they are fantastic. I highly recommend them. The artist does a wonderful job of capturing the feel of the books.

Where I buy my comics, they also sell used books, and they advertise in the book section for authors who have had their work turned into comics. L.K. Hamilton and Stephen King were the only ones I recognized, but there were a handful of others. LKH does seem to be the newest of the lot though.

[frabjously.livejournal.com]

It might have been because LKH couldn't get any to produce a movie/TV show.

[vmisery.livejournal.com]

There seems to be a huge trend toward comic versions of fiction. I think it's mostly the same company that's doing Guilty Pleasures...they're also doing comic versions of stuff by Raymond Feist and Orson Scott Card. I find it a little disturbing, honestly. While there is something kind of cool seeing characters in the flesh, as it were (or in the ink, really), are they running out of ideas that fast that they have to adapt novels?

[eldestmuse.livejournal.com]

Think of it this way.

What was the last movie you saw that wasn't --

1) based on a true story
2) based on a comic book
3) based on a book
4) a sequel
5) a remake
6) a children's tale
7) 2+ of the above
(etc).

[tehuti.livejournal.com]

The Illusionist was based on the Prestige. :-P

[eldestmuse.livejournal.com]

The Illusionist - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Based loosely on Steven Millhauser's story "Eisenheim the Illusionist", The Illusionist tells the story of Eisenheim (Norton), a magician in ...

so says google.

[easol.livejournal.com]

I preferred the prestige, but I'm a bit of a fangirl where Christian Bale is concerned. ;)

[easol.livejournal.com]

Paris Je T'aime. :) Although that's more a series of movies...

Although movies have NEVER had original ideas. One of the studios used to have some poor guy who went rifling through the old silent movies to find new ones.

And I blieve the Illusionist was based on a Steven Millhause story.

[brandiweed.livejournal.com]

Um... Wild Zero?

[kitsu.livejournal.com]

Grindhouse?

[tsubaki-ny.livejournal.com]

I can't really call any "they all die one by one" or zombie movie (except for "Shaun of the Dead," but parody gets a free pass) original at this point. And the concept was based on how cheap theaters did business in the early 70s.

[easol.livejournal.com]

You should check out this new Canadian indie "Fido." It looks pretty original for a zombie flick.

[vlredreign.livejournal.com]

Dawson's 20 Load Weekend.

O.o

You asked!!! :D

[vmisery.livejournal.com]

Well, true. But we expect it from Hollywood, I guess it's more disappointing when it comes from a genre that (usually) I associate with creativity.

[easol.livejournal.com]

I think, honestly, the comic trend is half money from devoted fans, half catering to people who don't want to pore through things like background info, character-based dialogue or description.

NOTE: I am not saying that good graphic novels don't have that, like Neil Gaiman's Sandman collection. It's just that I find that literary adaptations tend to.

[ohakubi.livejournal.com]

Personally I just think people realized that there's gold in them thar funny pages, and novel adaptations are one of the quicker ways to get 'em. It may not draw in as many readers as the book, but it's a wider audience (people who read the book and want to see how the comic does things, people who didn't read the book but &c and comics fans looking for something new). At least in theory.

[sevariusjr.livejournal.com]

I'm a huge comic book fan, and AFAIK, this is something Marvel's really decided to push heavily. As you mentioned, they're doing (or have done) adaptions of Raymond Feist's first novel in the Riftwar saga ("Magician") as well as Orson Scott Card's "Wyrms". There's been an adaption of Card's Alvin Maker novel "Red Prophet" as well, and Marvel has even recently begun to do adaptions of classic novels, in particular "Treasure Island", "Last of the Mohicans", and "Man in the Iron Mask". And, of course.....Anita. And more importantly, Gunslinger. The line is called "Marvel Illustrated."

I don't think this is LKH being a bandwagoner. Marvel has just tried to create more of a market for its product (in a day and age where comics are probably selling as one of their lowest points ever) by branching out to people who ordinarily wouldn't be buying comics. And, I suppose, it's worked on some level, because the Anita book is sadly a hit, and trust me, it's NOT because ordinary comic fans are hot for it.

[vmisery.livejournal.com]

Yeah, as a long-time comic collector, I found the AB comic...unimpressive to say the least.

Then again, I've been disillusioned with Marvel for quite a while now.

[shadwing.livejournal.com]

Absolute Editions as far as I know are DC's domain, and its usually a larger format than standard comic size. I dont know if Marvel (who is backing Dabel Bros.) has an similar format available.

[shadwing.livejournal.com]

Yeah compared to the sales numbers of the 'big guns' in DC and Marvel plus 'Buffy Season 8' most of the inital hype has died down and now you just have the diehards buying the books.

LKH's goal was to get women into the comic shops when a) we are already there and b) 90% laugh like hyenas at 'Guilty Pleasures' then move on to better books.

[nimnix.livejournal.com]

Wait, one of her goals was actually to "get women into comic shops"?
I mean yeah she thinks her so-called comic did that, but I didn't realize it was one of the reasons for making such a laughable nightmare.

[nimnix.livejournal.com]

Wow, that's just...
My head hurts.

[auryanne.livejournal.com]

I don't know, but seeing an ad for LKH's comic in my "Gunslinger Born" made me a sad, sad panda.

I'm a huge fan of the series (Dark Tower, not LKH!) and really enjoyed the comics, for what it's worth. And in the last issue they announce another series coming in February, not sure what that one is based on, though.

[ladymuttly1.livejournal.com]

I thought that LKH jumped on the comic book bandwagon to please Jon and give him some form of artistic employment.

[easol.livejournal.com]

I'm not clear exactly on how he supposedly contributed, aside from "yes man."