When Brian and I heard Watchmen would be made into a movie (a movie we haevn't seen yet and won't see until Tuesday, so keep your spoilers to yourself, people), we were an equal mix of giddy joy and dread. I'm having the same reaction to this news (courtesy of Rich over at Glyphs) that Beacon is planning to adapt Octavia Butler's novel Kindred as a graphic novel. My first reaction is "woohoo!" Any new Octavia Butler material is always a good thing and the news that the executor of her estate wants to adapt all her work means their could be new work for years to come. My second thought, though, is that of all her work, Kindred is the least likely to yield an interesting graphic novel. Maybe I'm biased because it's my least favorite of her books. But an adaptation needs to be more than a simple transcription and that means the story needs some depth and complexity. There needs to be more story to tell. I'm not sure that's the case with Kindred. The Parable series and the Xenogenesis series seem to me better candidates for this kind of adaptation.
4 comments:
Although I have a love/hate relationship with Kindred, I was also really glad to see that it is being adapted for comics. Someone out there is noticing that there is a market for this kind of storytelling in graphic narrative form!
BTW - can't wait to hear what you think of Watchmen!
Ok -- I also would rank Kindred low on my Octavia Butler book list -- but maybe that is good for this project -- get all the kinks out and then turn to the really good books. And does this mean there might be some potential unfinished work of hers that we will be able to read???
Claudia's right. Of Octavia's work, Kindred is the least interesting choice. However, Kindred is in many college curriculum, so I can see why the choice makes the most sense for the mainstream.
That said, I'd much rather see Wildseed. If X-Men writer Chris Claremont hadn't 'borrowed' so much from her work over the title's formative years, people would think that this would be the freshest thing in comics.
Also, is it just me or would the shorts in Bloodchild be PERFECT for a one shot anthology-style GN? Just saying...
I would more like to see the Patternmaster series, Xenogenesis or the Parable works as graphic novels. Hell, I have thought of drawing and writing some dojinshi based on Ms. Butlers works myself.
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