Message Board Blues

[Mk13]

:A Newman original Durham Red or Devlyn Waugh story would be much more interesting than a Necronauts rewrite.

I remember reading Alan Grant's Batman:Knightfall novel, which was well-written but utterly redundant.

My feeling is that direct adaptations of comics are even more pointless than movie adaptations - they're taking something designed for a visual medium and padding it out to fit the novel format.

Far better to create an original story for the characters...

Personally, I'd kill for a Neal Stephenson written Sin-Dex or A Kim Newman written, well, most things really.

[GordonR]

Yeah, I've never really understood the point of novelisations myself.

Re. a Sin-Dex novel, I think Dan Abnett would be the perfect choice.  He's already written a whole bunch of Games Workshop novels (and pretty good some of them are too, transcending the wargame origins of the material) and story of the required length and necessary characterisation depth of a novel would lift the characters out of the one-off joke story rut that they seem to have slipped into in the comic these days.

[O Lucky Stevie!]

speaking of novelisations, what is the general concensus on terry bisson's book of the stallone film?

i'm an immense fan of bisson's own work (his 'bears discover fire' anthology is a great place to begin, but i remember not being very taken with the movie novelisation at the time i read it (though there is a great shower scene... oh, read the thing & find out for yourself). possibly this might have a lot to do with the material he was having to work with (despite reading toothy since 77 i still haven't actually seen the film), or maybe i was just cranky that instead of writing a brand new, original bisson book he was having to pay the bills.

hmmm, your thoughts chaps & chapettes,

steven lenfant terrible

[O Lucky Stevie!]

of course, that should read "consensus", not "concensus" (going a bit lewis carroll there, most probably due the mental concussion that the current electoral debnate here in oz is imposing upon this island continent).

cheers,
steven

[Roger Simian]

I'd be interested to see aspects of the 2000ad universe that we don't get to see in the comics.  Eg a collection of wild Hunter S Thomson / New Journalism style reports from the Dredd world: 'Fear And loathing In Mega-City One' or 'Fear And Loathing In The Cursed Earth' etcetera.  Have you never wondered how the Gonzo hack writers would have reported from the front-lines of Dredd's universe?      

Or a book of erotic short stories by established writers like Alan Grant, John Wagner etcetera mixed in with newer writers.  Novels can cover all kinds of areas that does come across well or you're not ALLOWED to show in a kid's comic.  The one-off SEX issue of 2000AD (prog 1066) got away with it 'cause it wasn't for sale to children.  

There's a long tradition of SF writers like Samual R Delaney.

I think these are the ideas writers could really get their teeth into and they wouldn't have to spend half a year writing them cause they'd be short stories.

[Roger Simian]

Haha.  I should have reread that before I posted it.  It's full of errors.  Ooops.

[W. R. Logan]

>Precisely the reason he didn[backslash]'t write one the last time around, as I understand it.
>Shame, really ...
>Cheers
>Jim

John didn't write one of the original Dredd novels, although he was offered the gig because they didn't pay enough.

John has been thinking of writing an original novel but as yet hasn't come up with anything, but when he does it won't be Dredd as John wants all the royalties for himself.

La Placa Rifa,
W. R. Logan.

Link: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/theclassof79" target="_blank">The Class Of '79

[Thread Zero]

Logan,

No disrespect to John Wagner, but sometimes I get the impression he sounds a bit greedy.

I read that he and Alan wanted mega bucks to write a Dredd film screenplay.

Is this true?

If it is, it is a shame because a more mature approach by them may have resulted in a a better screenplay than the one we got!

Likewise, as Dredd is now owned by Rebellion, why should Wagner expect to receive all the royalties?

Wagner is a truly great comic writer when he is on form but you have to be reasonable.


scojo

[W. R. Logan]

>No disrespect to John Wagner, but sometimes I get the impression he sounds a bit greedy.
>I read that he and Alan wanted mega bucks to write a Dredd film screenplay.
>Is this true?

I don't think it's been stated anywhere that Alan & John wanted Mega bucks for their screenplay treatment, they just wanted paying for the time they spent writing it. Writing is their living not a hobby, so if they're writing they are working and want paying for doing such.

>If it is, it is a shame because a more mature approach by them may have resulted in a better screenplay than the one we got!

Then simply a more mature approach from the filmmakers would have ensured that they at least got to read Alan & John?s treatment.

>Likewise, as Dredd is now owned by Rebellion, why should Wagner expect to receive all the royalties?

You're referring to my post about John wanting to write a novel and get all the royalties? Simply John Wagner is a writer, if he spends time writing he wants to make money from it, so John will write a non Dredd novel and then the royalties are his. This isn't greedy it sounds like common sense. As well as I get on with John he doesn't sit down each week to write Dredd stories for the likes of me, he writes them because he's a writer, and writes to make a living.

>Wagner is a truly great comic writer when he is on form but you have to be reasonable.

Reasonable, I believe he is. But I'm sure you'll tell me otherwise.

La PLaca Rifa,
W. R. Logan.

[Matt]

I've got to speak up for Mr. Wagner on this one Scojo. I work as a motion graphics designer for video & television & know how it feels for someone to take a piece of your work and reuse it time after time with little or no reward for the original creator. I know how it feels to see a project you've slaved over given to someone else to do with as they will, with no regard to the original idea & ethos behind the creation. OK, so that's a part of my job. That's what I get paid to do at the end of the day. But it can be open to abuse by employers. I think in the early days of 2Kad a lot of creators were shafted by Fleetway, with no regard to intellectual copyright or royalties.

[Thread Zero]

Logan, do youlike me?
Sometimes I get the impression our first date wasn't so good!

I have a quote here from Alan Grant. Published in SFX around the time the film was released. Must of been the June, July or August issue. The year 1995. I Only possess the individual pages not the whole mag.

"If I remember correctly, we were asked to work on ideas for the movie script. We worked night and day on it. Around six weeks later we were sure we had cracked it. It was only when money was mentioned that things started to go awry."

That is a real quote from an interview Alan gave to Matt Bielby and/or a fellow journalist.

So it seemed there was a dispute over the amount he and John should be paid for any screenplay they wrote.

As to how much they wanted, I guess only John and Alan know that. Maybe you could ask John.

Re John's Dredd novels, you miss my point.
John cannot expect to get full royalties from each sale of a Dredd novel because he does not own the character.
It is a simple matter of ownership. Fact of law.
He owns Button Man with Arthur Ranson so he would expect a greater percentage of the royalties if he sold any Button Man novel.

scojo

[Thread Zero]

Matt,
I understand what you are saying.

But if Logan is correct, it is absurd for John to expect full royalties from each and every Dredd novel (he writes) sold.

Rebellion or any publishing house would not accept such a demand.

That is my point.

If you own the character then fair enough.
But John does not own Dredd or his world.

So he has to bite the bullet and expect to be paid less.

scojo

[W. R. Logan]

>Logan, do you like me?
>Sometimes I get the impression our first date wasn?t so good!

To like or dislike that is the question.
Can't say that I'm arsed either way, I have genuine friends on the message board and newsgroup, there are people I have got to know, people who post to me because of ?79, and others that I put up with because they frequent those forums.

>I have a quote here from Alan Grant. Published in SFX around the time the film was released. Must of been the June, July or August issue. The year 1995. I Only possess the individual pages not the whole mag.

I have that particular issue but won't go and dig it out, as the time it'll take will mean my Beck?s will have gotten warm.

>[backslash]"If I remember correctly, we were asked to work on ideas for the movie script. We worked night and day on it. Around six weeks later we were sure we had cracked it. It was only when money was mentioned that things started to go awry."

The quote is about right.

>That is a real quote from an interview Alan gave to Matt Bielby and/or a fellow journalist.
>So it seemed there was a dispute over the amount he and John should be paid for any screenplay they wrote.
>As to how much they wanted, I guess only John and Alan know that. Maybe you could ask John.

I won't bother John for such trivia and we never discuss money. The simple answer is whatever Alan & John wanted was more than the $0 they were offered.

>Re John?s Dredd novels, you miss my point.
>John cannot expect to get full royalties from each sale of a Dredd novel because he does not own the character.
>It is a simple matter of ownership. Fact of law.
>He owns Button Man with Arthur Ranson so he would expect a greater percentage of the royalties if he sold any Button Man novel.

Maybe I didn't put my point across very well and the first Beck?s of the day has already addled my few remaining brain cells.
John doesn't want to write a Dredd novel, full stop. This isn't because that he would share royalties but because he simply doesn't want to do it.
When John writes his novel, he will write something and because it isn't Dredd will get all the royalties.
John is a writer and doesn't just write Dredd and wants to do other things as well.
Man cannot live on Dredd alone.

La Placa Rifa,
W. R. Logan.