Thursday, 26 October 2017

More On Graphic Fiction

After a reference to a universally known comic strip character (see here), we next find the name of a major manga series, Lone Wolf And Cub. (The Desert And The Blade, Chapter Fourteen, p. 291) Maybe prose sf authors have become more inclined to recognize the contribution of graphic fiction? Niven and Pournelle quote from Alan Moore's Watchmen at the beginning of Burning Tower.

We have previously speculated about possible adaptations of Poul Anderson's works into the sequential art story telling medium. See:

The Graphic Poul Anderson?
The Graphic Poul Anderson II

- and also, of course, the Comics Appreciation blog, here.

7 comments:

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

Two of the books written or co-authored by Poul Anderson are so profusely illustrated they come close to being "graphic" books or mangas. I mean A STONE IN HEAVEN, and THE DEMON OF SCATTERY (with Mildred Downey Broxon as the co-author. And the illustrations for Anderson/Dickson's EARTHMAN'S BURDEN and HOKAS! also comes to mind.

Sean

paulshackley2017@gmail.com said...

Sean,
These could easily be adapted as comic strips or animations.
Paul.

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

I am not sure I would approve of any of Anderson's books being turned into animations, because they would look too "cartoonish" for my taste. And I would expect any animations of non humans to be esp. prone to that!

I did think some of the illustrations for the Ace Books edition of A STONE IN HEAVEN could have been eliminated with no loss to the book. But I liked how the artist had plainly READ the book first BEFORE he began drawing, with the result that I saw accurate and plausible depictions of Flandry and other characters in the book. Including even the non humans!

Sean

paulshackley2017@gmail.com said...

Sean,
Nowadays, live actors can interact with realistic aliens, orcs etc done by CGI.
Paul.

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

Except I'm not happy with how Peter Jackson DEPICTS orcs in his LOTR and HOBBIT movies. His orcs simply don't match how Tolkien describes them in both his books and letters.

How I hope someone makes Middle Earth movies FAITHFUL to what Tolkien actually wrote!

Sean

paulshackley2017@gmail.com said...

Sean,
Still, Merseians, Ythrians, Wodenites, Cynthians etc COULD be done exactly right. The only redeeming feature of the John Carter film was that it got the green Martians and their supporting animals right.
Paul.

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

Granted, IF the producer/director faithfully followed what Anderson wrote. And I simply couldn't bring myself to watch all of the truly awful JOHN CARTER movie, so I did not closely observe the green Martians of the film.

Sean