Post-Traumatic Tech Disorder

After taking a leap back to the Hyborian Age of Conan, Mongoose Publishing looks like they’re leaping back to the future to capture the totalitarian world of Starship Troopers. With other adaptations like Babylon 5 and Judge Dredd to bolster their reputation in the field of licensed RPGs, it seems they should be able to handle this sci-fi property. But there’s a bit of a difference from those other licensed properties…this one also includes graphic novels.

Now, this UK publisher’s no stranger to the graphic novel game, but they’re also not a major player in that field. This could be a good opportunity for them though…Heinlein has a big following, which is probably hungry for more stuff even after the Starship Troopers movie. Heck, Hollywood still thinks there’s potential in this particular Heinlein property with Starship Troopers 2 in post-production and sporting a possible 2004 release date. All that press and sci-fi fandom sets things up nicely for Mongoose…all they really need to do is get a high quality product out there to take full advantage of it. Should be interesting to see how it turns out.

From Da H’wood Report-thang:

Marvel Enterprises has met with Pixar and nearly every producer about translating more of its comic book characters into filmed entertainment, said Marvel vice chairman Peter Cuneo on Tuesday. Cuneo, speaking at Emerald Asset Management’s 11th annual Groundhog Day Investment Forum in Philadelphia, said Marvel and Pixar have something in common in terms of their track records in film. “Pixar has an incredible record”, said Cuneo, referring to the company’s five blockbusters in five tries in partnership with The Walt Disney Co. “We’re seven for seven right now,” Cuneo said, referring to movies including “Hulk” and “Spider-Man” made in partnership with various studios. “As long as we continue to make good films, we’ll be successful. It has nothing to do with the genre wearing out.”

I can picture it now…(Fantastic) Four Story…Finding Namor…A Hulk’s Life…Mutants, Inc

I do like Cuneo’s little comment there, “It has nothing to do with the genre wearing out.” It almost feels like a comment handed out from some corporate investor relations committee to throw into statements here-and-there to curb any investor worries. “Hurry! They’re milking the genre dry. We need to jump ship before the stock goes sub-30s!” Sorry, the genre’s been milked, curdled, and made into a lovely cottage cheese to serve to the middle-aged crowd looking to fit into those jeans they wore in high school. But why worry about it…a genre is as strong as its characters and its storytellers. A good character will draw a crowd no matter what. And a good story is a good story–people will generally buy into a good story regardless of genre. They know this…they have the characters, and they have the money to hire the storytellers. So, why toss in a theorized confidence-building comment that could easily backfire and introduce a thought into a nervous investor’s mind that the genre actually could wear out?

One of the forces behind the upcoming Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow–production designer, Kevin Conran–was interviewed as part of CHUD‘s visit to the movie’s set. As the one-man team responsible for all of the artwork for the design of the movie…from robots to costumes to environment. He’s also a big comic book fan, and if there’s a studio/publisher out there interested in putting together a proposal to option the comic book adaptation rights, I think it might meet with some interest (as long as Kevin doesn’t have to draw it).

Q: Are you going to do a book like The Art of Sky Captain? Or how about a comic adaptation?

Kevin: Like I said, I love comics and I think it would be a lot of fun, but I personally have no desire whatsoever to draw a comic book of this thing.

You can check out the two-part set visit here and here.

Title: Shazam!
Logline: A mild-mannered young man becomes Captain Marvel, the world’s mightiest mortal, when he says the magic word “Shazam!”
Writers: Joel Cohen and Alec Sokolow
To be adapted from DC Comic’s 1970’s comic book. William Goldman was previously working on the script in March 2003. Michael Uslan will executive produce. First set up in December 2002.

Hmmm…to go from William Goldman (Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, The Princess Bride, Misery, Maverick, A Few Good Men, and lots more) to the writing duo that made up about one-third of the writing team on Toy Story and also worked together on Money Talks, Cheaper by the Dozen, and the upcoming Garfield movie. No offense to Cohen and Sokolow–they’ve proven they can get the job done, but I was really eager to see what Goldman could do with this character. I’ll wait to see what they do with it, but for now, that eagerness has faded a little. But it won’t completely fade…I spent too many hours in front of the TV watching Shazam! and Isis as a kid. I wonder if they ever considered turning that Isis cartoon into a movie? I know there was a movie sale based on the French novel, “La Revanche d’Isis,” but it’s not really the same.