{"id":2591,"date":"2017-02-07T11:25:00","date_gmt":"2017-02-07T19:25:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.comic-con.org\/toucan\/?p=2591"},"modified":"2024-01-09T11:28:17","modified_gmt":"2024-01-09T19:28:17","slug":"maggies-world-048-no-but-i-read-the-comic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.comic-con.org\/toucan\/maggies-world-048-no-but-i-read-the-comic\/","title":{"rendered":"Maggie\u2019s World 048: No, But I Read the Comic"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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MAGGIE’S WORLD BY MAGGIE THOMPSON<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maggie\u2019s World 048: No, But I Read the Comic<\/h1>\n\n\n
Maggie Thompson<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Conversation years ago: \u201cHave you read the novel?\u201d \u201cNo, but I saw the movie.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For some of us, though, it was: \u201cNo, but I read the comic book.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I actually read Gilberton\u2019s Classics Illustrated<\/em> line because I wanted to know more about the novels that I wasn\u2019t old enough to find easy reading. (There\u2019s a tradition that the line was primarily used by high-school students who copied \u201cwhat was in the yellow boxes\u201d to do their book reports. I was just curious about what happened in \u201cClassics.\u201d (The Cloister and the Hearth<\/em>? Really? A classic? Well, OK, but I think there\u2019s a reason it didn\u2019t get a bunch of reprints. I sure didn\u2019t follow it up in later years, when I began to seek out the original novels for entertainment.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Whether you read the novel or saw the movie or neither,\u00a0Ben-Hur<\/em>\u00a0was adapted into newsstand issues in the late 1950s.\u00a0Dell Four Color<\/em>\u00a0#1052 was the licensed movie adaptation, and it was drawn by Russ Manning. \u00a9 2017 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.\u00a0Classics Illustrated\u00a0<\/em>#147 was an adaptation of the novel, and it was drawn by Joe Orlando. \u00a9 2017 Papercutz<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In fact, when we were limited to consuming what was actually in our local theaters that weekend, it was the comic book adaptation that let us revisit something we had seen and liked the month before. Hey, now and then, it even allowed a glimpse into both novel and movie versions. (For example, Lew Wallace\u2019s 1880 story Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ<\/em> even received two comics adaptations around the time of the Charlton Heston extravaganza.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Spinning-Off Stories<\/strong><\/h6>\n\n\n\n

There was another bonus. Sometimes, the world of the novels or movies was rich enough to be the foundation for entirely new stories. I seldom saw Donald Duck cartoons in theaters, but I read and reread many tales featuring the variety of citizens of Duckburg\u2014including a rich blend of new inhabitants. (Thanks, Carl Barks!)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Heck, Walt Disney\u2019s Scamp was on view\u2014without lines or even a name\u2014in a tiny clip at the end of Lady and the Tramp<\/em>. Nevertheless, he appeared in spin-off newspaper strips from 1955 to 1988. And Dell gave him his own series, starting with Four Color<\/em> #703 in 1956, with art by the masterful Al Hubbard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Dell used to be the champ of licensed comics adaptations. It told a variety of new stories based on Edgar Rice Burroughs\u2019 Tarzan character (albeit the Lex Barker version of the films).\u00a0Tarzan<\/em>\u00a0#2 (March-April 1948) \u00a9 2017 Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc. Among recent licenses held by Dark Horse was the world of the\u00a0Star Wars<\/em>\u00a0films.\u00a0Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic<\/em>\u00a0#8 (August 2006) \u00a9 2017 Lucasfilm Ltd.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

While perhaps the most numerous of early spin-offs were those connected to Disney\u2019s screen entertainments, other movie-connected worlds (some with predecessors in novels and short stories) saw their own fresh stories doled out month after month on newsstands. Fawcett provided titles involving Hopalong Cassidy and Lash LaRue, Dell brought us The Lone Ranger, Zorro, Tarzan \u2026 the list from the Golden Age goes on and on, and spin-offs continue to this day, with such publishers as Dark Horse, IDW, Dynamite, and BOOM! Studios continuing to provide new ongoing series based on media favorites.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I Realized While Writing This \u2026<\/strong><\/h6>\n\n\n\n

In the early 1990s, Innovation\u2019s David Campiti invited me to try providing a fresh story to fit into the world of the revamped Dark Shadows<\/em>. Gold Key had released a series based on the TV show that ran from 1966 to 1971; the comics started in March 1969, with the first issue featuring a photo of Jonathan Frid as Barnabas Collins, and lasted till 1976.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When Dan Curtis revived the show for 1991, Innovation got the license to tell new stories set in that world\u2014with likenesses of the new TV performers, including Ben Cross as Barnabas. There were other guidelines: all the stories had to be set in the 10-week period during which Barnabas was undergoing treatment to cure his vampirism. So we could forget about suspense as far as the fates of series characters were concerned, and their depictions had to be faithful to the series. And so on. All of which made me realize that many other licensed comics must also follow restrictions when they tell spin-off tales.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And that was another of my instructions: whereas there are budget and other limitations on TV productions, comics can go nuts over what they show, the number of settings they involve, and so on. (Footnote: A bonus of my own came in Dan Curtis\u2019 1996 TV feature Trilogy of Terror II<\/em>. In the \u201cHe Who Kills\u201d episode, a museum security guard is reading one of my issues and saying something like, \u201cI love this stuff!\u201d Yay me!)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Your buddies have seen the TV series. Have they read the (original) comics?\u00a0Showcase<\/em>\u00a0#25 (March-April 1960) was the second outing for Rip Hunter, who became a focal character in\u00a0Legends of Tomorrow<\/em>. \u00a9 2017 DC Comics\u00a0Hero for Hire<\/em>\u00a0#2 (August 1972) gave Luke Cage a costume. \u00a9 2017 Marvel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
And Now<\/strong><\/h6>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYes,\u201d comics devotees tell movie viewers, \u201cyou\u2019ve seen Nicholas Hammond as Spider-Man, Tobey Maguire as Spider-Man, Andrew Garfield as Spider-Man, and Tom Holland as Spider-Man. But to understand the character, you need to read Amazing Adult Fantasy<\/em> #15. Or Ultimate Spider-Man<\/em>. Or Spider-Man 2099<\/em>.\u201d Or, \u201cRiverdale<\/em>? Let me suggest you check out the new series from Archie. In the meantime, you know, there are changes from decades ago that you might like to know about.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because, these days, it\u2019s suddenly the comic books that provide the original source material, and students of the \u201cauthentic\u201d lore scramble to stay up to date, as new issues hit the shops every month. On which side of the \u201cCivil War\u201d will the Marvel heroes fight? What\u2019s going to happen to Logan? Comics readers keep track and verify the fidelity of what they see on the big screen, because we know what happened to Ego, the Living Planet. And we met Steve Trevor long ago. And some of us even know how many versions of Lex Luthor have been foe or ally over the years\u2014and the need to establish which Captain Marvel we\u2019re talking about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Heck, how many of your friends have already come to you, searching for the fidelity of last year\u2019s entertainments on big and small screens? Some things seem to remain consistent from the Golden and Silver Ages, while others don\u2019t. As Uncle Ben\u2019s advice to Peter has now been established, \u201cWith great power comes great responsibility.\u201d And we act as the responsible historians, sitting respectfully quiet during the entertainment and then providing background to those who ask, once it\u2019s over. (And restraining ourselves from quibbling to those who don\u2019t ask.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And, now and then, we can revert to earlier days by pulling out an issue of Classics Illustrated<\/em> to remind ourselves how it differs from the original work. (My favorite: #89, Crime and Punishment<\/em>, which closes with, \u201cBecause of space limitations, we regretfully omitted some of the original characters and sub-plots of this brilliantly written novel.\u201d Among the omissions: Dostoyevsky\u2019s heroine and the point he wrote the book to make.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In any case, it\u2019s not too early to remind your friends already intrigued by the world of comics: Free Comic Book Day is coming in May. Just a thought.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Maggie\u2019s World by Maggie Thompson appears the first Tuesday of every month here on<\/em> Toucan!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Written by<\/p>\n\n\n

Maggie Thompson<\/div>\n\n\n

Published<\/p>\n\n\n