From Screen To Page: The TV Shows And Movies That Are Becoming Comics

Joss Whedon is one of the greatest television writers that ever worked for the big Networks. He's also one of the greatest writers to pen mainstream superhero titles for the big two comics publishers. No surprise, then, that his Buffy 'Season 8' comic book series is proving successful - in just about every sense of the word.

And it may prove to be setting a new paradigm.

Talking to The Toronto Star, Rob Thomas has let on that DC Comics want to publish a 'Season Four' of Veronica Mars. The Buffy model must have been in mind - there's a common conception, anyway, that Mars is the new Buffy (but if that were entirely true, surely it'd swap networks for a few more seasons before heading to print?)

Looking at Rich Johnston's Lying in the Gutters yesterday, I saw a piece of art created for a proposed Reanimator comic book. House of Reanimator has had some famous trouble in finding funding, so maybe the route to the printed page has been similar here also - a makedo or an attention spinner when the cash for a screen hasn't been forthcoming.

What's more, there's the prospect of Virgin Comics producing a series of graphic novels (at the very least) based upon unproduced Terry Gilliam projects. Oh... and more Star Trek: Original Series... and the countless projects that have already happened in synch with still ongoing series, from Alias to 24 to CSI.

All in all, it looks like comicbooks are becoming a kind of Limbo for rejected film and TV projects. And let's face it, that's what these projects are: rejects. Buffy Season 8 on TV: rejected. Veronica Mars Season 4: rejected. More Reanimator: rejected. The Defective Detective, Time Bandits 2, The Minotaur: rejected, rejected, rejected.

The potential audience for a comic book is massive, but any realistic projection is not. Has any given issue of Buffy Season 8 been read by anything like the number of people who saw any given episode of the TV show? Of course not. So, the die-hards amongst the numbers, the web-savvy, forum trawling, Browncoat wearing, comic-friendly geekcore, they're going to prove big enough a potential audience base to give comics a shot.

When comics make the transition to the big screen, more often than not there's a kind of smoothing down - which is not necessarily to say a dumbing down. It seems like the geekcore are more open to the idiosyncratic (say, a big purple man with a funny helmet instead of a cosmic cloud of black and grey dirt) and even, it seems to me at least, they expect, want, and sometimes plead for this kind of wild, abandoned fantasy. As such, going from TV to comics, I think, might afford some previously off-limits 'craziness' to occur. Veronica Mars Season 4 might just go into some uncharted territory, push its own limits a little more readily, be less concerned with wide audience expectations and just play into the hands of the geekcore more.

So, perhaps, in a parallel universe Slither wasn't a movie but a comic book, Snakes on a Plane was a comic book, Death Proof and Planet Terror were comic books, Serenity was a comic book and they each did very, very well. They'd each be seen as far greater successes.

But I don't like that universe so much. I like the one where they are all movies just fine thankyou - most of them are very fine films indeed. I can cope with them being not that popular - in fact, I'd expect some of them to be downright unpopular - but I wouldn't want them to stop being films and get forced into a comic book just so they'd be less of a commercial viability.

But, on the other hand, I'm glad that comics have helped people like Greg Pak get attention where their films didn't.

Virgin One

Richard Branson's Virgin Media are perceived to several disadvantages in comparison to their rivals in UK pay TV, Robert Murdoch's Sky. Not least of these are Sky's own channels - Sky One, Sky Two, Sky Buckle My Shoe, etc;

Now, though, Virgin are to launch a direct rival, a channel that will only be available through their service. As well as mixing shows that are also screened on other pay channels (these include Living who are the only folk to show Veronica Mars in the UK), the big idea with Virgin 1 is that it will include user generated content.

Imagine a YouTube that streamed all day, that you couldn't surf, that you couldn't send to friends as a link, or embed in your own site. That's a YouTube that shouldn't make it out of the delivery room with breath still in its lungs. Sadly, that's what Virgin seem to be offering for a big chunk of their lead channel programming.

Ooops. They need to put this right. They need to spend - secure some solid exclusives and run them first. It wouldn't have been hard to outbid Sci-Fi for the UK first run of Heroes, I'm sure.

Movie Minesweeper - The This Is Certainly A Job But I Don't Get Paid Edition

- Terry Brooks' Shannara books are headed to the big screen, in some form or another.

- Herc at AintItCool is trying to save Veronica Mars. Lend your support.

- The IESB report that D J Caruso is the first choice director for Wolverine, with Len Wiseman in backup. If you don't recall, I reviewed the Wolverine script and had almost nothing good to say about it at all.

- Fred Wolf is to direct the previously mentioned (somewhere on film ick, I'm sure, but I can't find the link) comedy in which Anna Faris plays an ex-Playboy bunny girl. If memory serves this was possibly going to be a TV series at some point...? I like Farris, a lot, but I wish she got better roles.

- The 50th Spoleta Festival is to honour Terry Gilliam, Andy Garcia and Paul Mazursky. At least it will, if it goes ahead...

- A Thundercats origin story has been optioned by Warners, with an eye to making a movie and merchandising the life out of it. The screenwriter, Paul Sopocy, hadn't sold a script before.

- A remake of Dressed to Kill is heading straight to DVD. Does anybody hold out any hope at all?

- Leandro Sanchez' Bitter Grapes is to star Julio Cedillo, Jacob Vargas and Laura Harring. Set on both sides of the US-Mexico border, the film is a family saga.

- Joel Hopkins, director of Jump Tomorrow, is back: this time, Emma Thompson and Dustin Hoffman are with him for the romantic drama Last Chance Harvey. The script was apparently written with the pair of actors in mind - but will that mean roles to type, or deliberately going against expectation?

- The official site for the Halloween rehash is now online. Like the theme remix?

- Disney are gearing up for a treasure hunt film. Simple concept: adults get together again to hunt for treasure they sought as kids. Could have been a Goonies sequel, and in a way, I suppose, it is. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the film has no title yet but they've used the word Golden in quotes in the article title for a reason, I'm sure. Golden Years? Or just plain Golden? We'll know soon enough, I'm sure.

- Aki Kaurismaki, Bent Hamer and Dagur Kari are to collaborate on a feature, each directing a third. Twitch have a few more details.

- IGN are premiering the Shoot 'Em Up trailer. What do you reckon?

- In the midst of a sprawling blog update, Richard Stanley has announced that Imago Mortis is now in production.

- Peter O'Toole is to play Pope Paul III in The Tudors.

- A William M. Gaines biopic is in the offing. I think Joe Dante would be a good choice for director, perhaps John Landis. Joel Eisenberg is writing the script, telling the story of "an anti-establishment group of comic book creators, led by a reluctant Gaines, as they produce their controversial yet hugely popular line of comic books like Tales from the Crypt, which later led Gaines to face Senate subcommittee hearings over accusations of perpetuating juvenile delinquency".

- Allocine have mutliple My Blueberry Nights trailers for you to choose from.

- Walden are to make a comedy about a slacker running for mayor and "unexpectedly" winning the role. The scriptwriters come from Surf's Up, the director from Malcolm in the Middle and Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants.

Movie Minesweeper - The So Many Deletions Edition

Disney have removed the Enchanted trailer from the internet. Sooner or later, however, they'll put it back... and I'll be watching them. In the meantime, more movie minesweeping.

- Another strange deletion. At the blog of Daniel Lee, editor, a post relating to the Iron Man trailer today vanished into thin air. What did it say? Let me share: I start to say "Joe Carnahan!" but am interrupted when he says "Hi, I'm Joe" and extends his hand. I shake his hand and he asks me if I'm working on Iron Man. I tell him I am... and he asks if he can see what I'm working on. Joe Carnahan asks me if he can see the piece I'm cutting. I say "absolutely" and play my teaser for him. It's still in rough shape at this point, but he seems to dig it.

- Sacha Baron Cohen has already begun the filming of Bruno in LA. He appears to be ambushing the World Trade Week, and has a new hairstyle.

- Jay Roach is making a comedy that is, reportedly, a little bit similar to Vertigo. And I don't mean High Anxiety.

- Michael Patrick King is to direct the Sex and the City fillum.

- Sam Neill is the latest cast member to join Daybreakers. I liked Undead rather a lot. You?

- Mike Mills new video for Blonde Redhead's Top Ranking is online, starring Miranda July. Download it directly.

- As promised earlier, Michel Gondry's new video for Paul McCartney's Dance Tonight is now online too, starring Mackenzie Crook, Natalie Portman, some laundry and a mandolin. A nicer quality version most be forthcoming, this YouTube encode is hardly acceptable. There's also a nice behind the scenes clip at Dazed and Confused.

- A dozen writers have formed the 1.3.9 co-op, a group of writers who will set about penning pet projects for thespians. So, let's suppose for example, Al Pacino really wanted to play Gonzo in a live action, non-puppet Muppet movie, he'd get one of these guys and they'd draw him up a screenplay. What is this going to mean in reality? Lots of ego boosts hitting the page but never making it to the screen?

- Our Lady of Victory is a based-on-true-events underdog yarn about women's basketball and it is going to star David Boreanaz and Carla Gugino.

- Beowulf is to screen at Venice - in 3D. I think that's a genuine wow moment in the making and I wish I could be be there. Other films tipped to screen include Ken Loach's These Times, Ang Lee's Lust, Caution, Todd Haynes' I'm Not There, PT Andersons There Will Be Blood and Jiang Wen's The Sun Also Rises. Two and a half out of six 'aint bad.

- Mike Myers' Walter Mitty is being scripted by Jay Kogen, a Simpsons scribe.

- A walk-on role in Terminator 4 is to be auctioned off tonight.

- In the UK? Win a pair of tickets to a screening of Stardust... and a Q&A; with Neil Gaiman afterwards.

- What does the word Pingu mean to you?

- You can download a Lost game for your suitably equipped iPod. If you wish.

- Radical Publishing is another one of these comics/Hollywood two-headed calves, like that Virgin set up recently launched with Shekhar Kapur. Destined to fail?

- Reuters have listed the films Warner Bros. are restoring to 4k resolution.

- Was a pilot filmed for the alternate Veronica Mars? The one where she's in the FBI? TVSquad seem to think so - and they've run a full synopsis of it. Somebody please find me a copy!

- BBC Films are undergoing something of a rejig.

I'm off to find more links to trailers Disney don't want you to see (for some reason).

Movie Minesweeper - Too Much Clutter That Needs Binning Edition

This is a very big update, and there should be something for everyone...

- Lionsgate are to release Michael Moore's Sicko across the states on June 29th. That's the same day as Die Hard 4.0 and Ratatouille.

- The Film Agency for Wales are to fund Wyndham Price's Abraham's Point, Justin Kerrigan's I Know You and Caradog James' Blonde. They're also lining up Seperado!, a documentary about Super Furry Gruff Rhys' solo-tour of South America that struck me as more appealing than the fiction films put together.

- The premiere of Ocean's 13 is set to raise cash for the Not on Our Watch charity, which supports relief efforts in Darfur.

- La Vie en Rose is the opener for this year's Sydney Film Festival, Day Watch will be the closer.

- People have some preview shots from High School Musical 2.

- Hilary Swank is to be beset by Vampires in Fangland.

- Uri Geller has tried to remove an expose of his pathetic charlatanism from YouTube, but the plan has backfired, and now he's being sued. Good. He's a cynical conman and he might make a good example if this blows up big enough.

- Another Die Hard 4.0 featurette has been certificated for DVD - this time, a 40 minute look back at the first film.

- George Lucas has dissed Spider-Man 3 to Fox News. Silly man - he never directed a film that was a half as well made as Spider-Man 3, for all its faults.

- No more Warner Bros. talker screenings in Canada. Apparently, this is because the Canucks are big time pirates. Let's see if this tactic actually has any effect.

- Five films from CalArts students are now online, and are well worth your time.

- Besides The Jetsons, Robert Rodriguez is also considering a film version of Land of the Lost with Will Ferrell. What an utterly unappetising pair of prospects. I hope he finds something better to do than become a studio hack.

- Deborah Kaplan and Harry Elfont are scripting Sisters of Mercy as a Will Smith vehicle. Yep - I'm looking forward to Made of Honor, have Can't Hardly Wait on DVD, and I'd buy Josie and the Pussycats if I saw it cheap enough. Sue me.

- Peter and Michael Spierig's Daybreakers is finally moving ahead: Ethan Hawke has signed to star.

- Roger Langridge is working on a Muppets strip for Disney Adventures magazine. Roger and I once had work published in the same comic, I believe.

- The Veronica Mars 2.0 show seems to be a go, after all.

What's Up With Veronica Mars?

So, Veronica Mars is either a) cancelled, b) not cancelled and going ahead as planned or c) going ahead with a new format, jumping the story forward a few years and placing Veronica in the FBI.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, it's c) and Rob Thomas, the series creator, is filming a trailer to pitch the new format to the network.

E! Online have retracted their earlier Veronica Mars is Cancelled! story and run a What's Up with Veronica Mars? sort of story instead. Seemed like a good idea, so... I thought I'd... er... borrow it. They went for a 1), 2), 3) format, I plumped for a), b), c) and shook the order up a bit.

Talking of a), b), c)... I can see either a) or c) being the correct answer - depending on the quality of the trailer - but I'd guess that b) is now out of the picture.

Veronica Mars was never picked up by any of the major channels here in the UK and was relegated to bad time slots on a crummy cable and satellite minor-player. We're stilling waiting for the DVDs too. I was only able to see two episodes, but they were certainly very good.