Trendspotting - Graphic Novels & Urban Fantasy

Urban Fantasy Graphic Novels

In case you haven’t noticed, the Urban Fantasy genre is being inundated with comic book adaptations. For those in the know, these ‘comic books’ are respectfully known as ‘graphic novels’ and there are a ton of them coming out in 2010/11.

So, why all the adaptations? Well, for starts there has been a successful precedent set by Stephenie Meyer (surprise, surprise).

In March this year Stephenie Meyer released a graphic adaptation of the first book in the ‘Twilight’ saga, and it sold like hotcakes. It was pretty much a guarantee that any new book released by Meyer would have a receptive audience – but the Twilight graphic novel broke so many unprecedented comic-book records. The graphic novel's first printing was reported to be of 350,000 copies, which, according to USA Today, was believed to be the largest first printing for a graphic novel in the U.S. market. Yen Press announced that the graphic novel sold 66,000 copies in its first week, which it claimed was a record for U.S. sales of a graphic novel in its first week. And as of June 10, 2010, the Twilight graphic novel was at #1 on the New York Times best-seller list for hardcover graphic books.

Meyer’s success aside, graphic novels are an author-friendly adaptation. Movie and TV adaptations will often be written by screenwriters, and in fact once the author sells the rights to their work they have little control over the filming process. Graphic novels, by contrast, require a much higher amount of author-participation. Writers like Kim Harrison have blogged extensively on their adaptation work, and in Harrison’s case she has written every panel of her comic book. Diana Gabaldon likewise blogged quite a bit on her close work with Hoang Nguyen when it came to the picture representations of her beloved characters and tweaking her story.

Then there’s the fact that the Urban Fantasy genre is quite comic-book friendly. Most comics are fantasy/scifi based – so UF books are not such a stretch for the medium. Especially when Urban Fantasy books already have such strong visuals associated with them. Daniel Dos Santos’ gorgeous ‘Mercy Thompson’ covers are instantly recognizable and a benchmark of the UF genre.

Canon

When authors release a graphic novel adaptation of their established book series, they are often very explicit on whether or not the adaptation is ‘canon’. Canon refers to whether or not material referring to a fictional universe is ‘official’.

For instance, fanfiction is not canon – what EdwardsBabe1 writes about the novel ‘Eclipse’ is not officially accepted material of the ‘Twilight’ saga. Though the term canon, with regard to literature, is defined only as the body of work written by a particular author, or on a particular subject, it has since been altered by popular culture to define various levels of how "official" a work is. Most graphic novel adaptations are considered to be canon, but not impacting of the book series.

For example, Patricia Briggs 2009 graphic novel ‘Homecoming’ was a prequel to the events of the first book in the Mercy Thompson series, ‘Mooncalled’. ‘Homecoming’ was the story of Mercy’s first days in the Tri-Cities area, her first meeting of Adam, Stefan and Siebold Adelbertsmiter. Patricia Briggs wrote the story of ‘Homecoming’, and it is officially the prequel to the Mercy series - it is ‘canon’. But it is not imperative that fans of the ‘Mercy Thompson’ books read ‘Homecoming’ to understand the series.

One book blogger's opinion...

I am personally loving all of these graphic adaptations. I’m Australian, so the whole comic-book phenomenon is sort of over my head... but I loved the Mercy Thompson graphic novel, ‘Homecoming’, and was an instant convert to the medium. In many cases I feel more comfortable with my favourite books being graphically adapted rather than cinematically adapted. So much can be lost in Film/TV – but I feel that author’s have more control over graphic novel adaptations, and the fact that most authors are the ones writing the graphic novel means that none of the book flavour is lost in translation.

I have my fingers crossed for a graphic novel adaptation of JR Ward’s ‘Black Dagger Brotherhood’ series - it’d be great to see the boys in all their muscled, leather-clad glory.

Urban Fantasy Graphic Novel adaptations, a list:

Stephenie Meyer

'Twilight' Vol 1.
Illustrated by Young Kim

Avaliable Now

.

Patricia Briggs

Mercy Thompson 'Homecoming' story by Patricia Briggs and David Lawrence with illustrations by Francis Tsai and Amelia Woo, and cover art by Daniel Dos Santos.

Avaliable Now

'Alpha & Omega' Cry Wolf: Volume 1
story by Patricia Briggs and David Lawrence with illustrations by Jordan Gunderson and cover by Brett Booth

Avaliable Now

Charlaine Harris
'Grave Sight' Harper Connelly #1

Coming Soon

Melissa Marr

'Wicked Lovely: Desert Tales' Vol 1 & 2
Story by Melissa Marr, illustrations by Xian Nu Studio

Avaliable Now

Richelle Mead

'Vampire Academy' a graphic novel
Adapted by Leigh Dragoon, illustrated by Emma Vieceli

Coming August 18th 2011

Cassandra Clare

'Mortal Instruments'
art by Nicole Virella

Coming Soon

Laurell K Hamilton

'Anita Blake' series
Authors: Laurell K Hamilton, Stacie Ritchie, Jess Ruffner-Booth, Brett Booth. Art by Ron Lim.

Avaliable Now

Jim Butcher

'The Dresden Files' series
Authors: Jim Butcher, Mark Powers and Ardian Syaf

Avaliable Now

Kelley Armstrong

'Bitten' - Women of the Otherworld #1

FREE online graphic novella

'Black Magic Sanction' Hollows #8 by Kim HARRISON

From the BLURB:

Rachel Morgan has fought and hunted vampires, werewolves, banshees, demons, and other supernatural dangers as both witch and bounty hunter--and lived to tell the tale. But she's never faced off against her own kind . . . until now. Denounced and shunned for dealing with demons and black magic, her best hope is life imprisonment--at worst, a forced lobotomy and genetic slavery. Only her enemies are strong enough to help her win her freedom, but trust comes hard when it hinges on the unscrupulous tycoon Trent Kalamack, the demon Algaliarept, and an ex-boyfriend turned thief.

This is the 8th book in Kim Harrison’s popular ‘Rachel Morgan; The Hollows’ series.

I waited for this book for a year. After ‘White Witch, Black Curse’ I was absolutely desperate for the next instalment, because it finished on such a cliff hanger. In book #7, Rachel found herself shunned by the Witch community and ex-communicated because of her demon dabbling. Rachel was at an all-time low, and I was eager to find out how she would deal with this new catastrophe. But I’m sad to say that having now read book #8, I’m a tad disappointed.

I got to the end of ‘Black Magic Sanction’ and I honestly couldn’t tell you what has changed for Rachel. Whereas in past books the final page has left Rachel with demon marks, student to a demon teacher, killer of a vampire master, and reunited with her biological father… ‘Black Magic Sanction’ finished on a whimper, rather than a bang.

My first big complaint has to do with the introduction of yet another male love interest for Rachel, in the form of ghost Pierce.

Pierce first appeared in a ‘Hollows’ short story in the 2007 anthology ‘Holidays are Hell’. The short story was a ‘Hollows’ prequel called “Two Ghosts for Sister Rachel”, and featured an 18-year-old Rachel Morgan, her brother Robbie and a deceased Coven witch turned ghost, Pierce. I really liked that short story, and admittedly Pierce and Rachel had quite a bit of sparkage in just that little anthology.

But I feel bad for all those ‘Hollows’ fans who have not read that short story, and for whom Pierce’s sudden appearance at the end of ‘White Witch, Black Curse’ was a total WTF? moment. It doesn’t help all those in-the-dark fans that in ‘Black Magic Sanction’ Rachel constantly refers to Pierce as her ‘girlhood crush’. I can only imagine there are quite a few confused readers out there wondering if they’ve skipped a book in the series.

“It’s not what you are, but who you are,” Pierce said, and when he stood as well, I started edging into the hall. “I saw you when you had just tipped the scales to womanhood, and I can tell you that you’re much the same in your mind now as you were then.”

“And what is that?” I asked from within the dark hallway.

Pierce was silent until he stopped right before me, his face showing an unreadable emotion. “You’re firm in will, pure in intent, strong in magic. But now it’s tempered with wisdom, and you’re more beautiful and brilliant yet.” I went to turn away, and he pulled me back. “You are shades of gray swirling, balancing needs and desires,” he added, watching me. “You are good, Rachel. No matter what your choices lead you to, you will remain such.”

I don’t mind Pierce on the whole. I like that he is Victorian-minded and a very otherworldly gentleman – his speeches are great to read (“I swan”) and he proves very useful over the course of ‘Black Magic Sanction’. But I refuse to get invested in his character. Kisten was the only male love interest of Rachel’s that I liked, and I think he will be her last *serious* boyfriend.

I couldn’t help but resent Pierce because eight books in I desperately want Rachel and Ivy’s relationship to evolve beyond the ‘platonic’.

That brings me to my second annoyance…

Kim Harrison’s ‘The Hollows’ series is in a class all its own in the world of Urban Fantasy. Her series has amazing scope; they are truly epic and grand-scale. Harrison is one of the ‘big poombah’ writers of the UF genre and I absolutely adore her writing.

One of the reasons Harrison stands out in this ever-popular genre is because she isn’t afraid to take chances in her series. She kills off characters, she turns bad guys good and vice versa - and maybe best of all, she has her fans eager for an unconventional F/F pairing between Rachel and Ivy.

‘Hollows’ fans have patiently waited for things to progress between the vampire and the witch – they’ve read through Ivy admitting her love for Rachel, Rachel adamantly maintaining her heterosexuality and carrying on meaningless relationships with throw-away men (Marshal!) and we’ve been titillated by girl on girl scenes as they ‘explore their boundaries’. But eight books in and ‘Black Magic Sanction’ feels like one giant step back in any possible HEA for Ivy and Rachel.

‘Black Magic Sanction’ has Ivy in a new relationship with FIB officer, Glenn. And a possible ménage relationship with a new character called Darryl (who neither Rachel nor readers have been introduced to). Meanwhile Rachel is denying her growing feelings for Pierce…

It certainly feels like Harrison is going over old territory and not giving readers anything new. Harrison is contracted for 12 books (possibly 13 if her contract gets extended) in the series – and fair enough if she doesn’t want to write a HEA between Ivy and Rachel with 4 books still to go. But when she writes such distance between Ivy and Rachel, and doesn’t include any scenes of them being alone together – it just feels like she’s leaving those two characters and their relationship to stagnate and frustrate readers.

And that brings me to my third complaint.

Ivy and Jenks didn’t play a big enough role in this book. Rachel, Ivy and Jenks and their unconventional but steadfast friendship is the main reason I keep coming back to this series. I love their little Triumvirate and any scenes of the three of them. But those ‘threesome’ scenes are far and few between in ‘Black Magic Sanction’. Pierce hogs the spotlight with Rachel, and it feels like there is a growing chasm between Rachel and Ivy/Jenks.

Basically my biggest complaints are to do with the emotional character ARC’s in Harrison’s series. But I can’t fault the nuts and bolts of Harrison’s writing. She navigates her way around action scenes as though she’s writing for the big screen – and reading them gets your adrenaline pumping.

While I wasn’t thrilled with the progress of the emotional relationships, Harrison has very cleverly added a new layer of mystery to Rachel’s relationship with demon, Al and elf, Trent. Harrison has definitely increased the intrigue of those two men, and is setting up for some very interesting future plot lines….

** SPOILERS **

‘Black Magic Sanction’ also includes a very sad character death. No doubt many fans will have predicted this passing, but it still won’t prepare you for the impact of the scene. I bawled my eyes out.

** END SPOILERS **

All in all, I wasn’t impressed by ‘Black Magic Sanction’, and this was probably my least favourite book in the series (and I’m including the one in which Kisten dies! So that is saying something). Not enough happened, Ivy and Rachel’s ‘will they or won’t they’ began to grate and I didn’t get a big enough Jenks fix.

2/5

Urban Fantasy MOVIE adaptations

With the release of the new Twilight trailer for 'Eclipse' I got to thinking about how much the Urban Fantasy genre has blown up. There are so many great movie/TV/graphic novel adaptations going on - the genre is really branching out into different forms of New Media. So I thought I'd do a little post updating you on what's coming, what's cancelled and possible future endeavors.... Enjoy!

Melissa Marr:

It was announced last year that the first book in Melissa Marr’s ‘Wicked Lovely’ series would be coming to the big screen.

Many in Hollywood believe Marr’s project was chosen to compete against the adaptation of Aprilynne Pike’s book ‘Wings’, which has confirmed Miley Cyrus for the lead. Both books are aimed at the YA audience. Both are about fairies, which is tipped to be the ‘next big thing’ after vampires for 2011.

‘Wings’ will be made by Disney, and is being produced by the same team who made ‘Twilight’ (Marty Bowen and Wyck Godfrey). ‘Wicked Lovely’ has no cast as yet, but is being adapted by Universal Pictures. Both have a tentative 2011 release date – and I wouldn’t be surprised if they went head-to-head to battle it out at the box office.

Patricia Briggs:

In 2008 the ‘Mercy Thompson’ books were optioned to 50 Canon Entertainment. 50 Canon created TV show ‘Huff’, but they’ve also done movies such as ‘Four Weddings and a Funeral’. It’s unclear whether the ‘Mercy’ series was optioned with the intent of turning them into movies or a TV show.

Since 2008 nothing has come of the contract. It might just have been a case of 50 Canon hedging their bets. At the time ‘True Blood’ (adaptation of Charlaine Harris’s ‘Sookie Stackhouse’ series) hadn’t hit our TV screens, so maybe they bought the ‘Mercy’ rights and then waited to see how ‘True Blood’ fared.

Since the HBO success, 50 Canon may have decided not to compete against such a high-rating show, or they could be waiting to see how audiences respond to the werewolf storyline of season 3….

Also at the time of the contract, Briggs’s comic book adaptation of her series hadn’t hit shelves. ‘Homecoming’, the first ‘Mercy’ comic by Dabel Brothers, came out last year to an underwhelming fan response. This could have impacted 50 Canon’s decision to adapt, but it’s highly doubtful.

The contract between Briggs and 50 Canon was rumoured to be in the six figures (if, or when, they decide to adapt). So regardless of whether or not the adaptation gets a green light this was a huge coup for Briggs professionally.

I, personally, think that the ‘Mercy Thompson’ books would make a great TV show… but at the same time I feel very precious about the series and would want it to be done *just* right.

Laurell K. Hamilton:

Last year Hamilton announced on her blog (with much ego-stroking) that her ‘Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter’ series was being bought to the small screen by IFC (independent film channel).

I was actually really excited for ‘Guilty Pleasures’ (the first book in the Anita Blake series) to be adapted. Hamilton’s first books in the series were great (it all went downhill around about ‘Narcissus in Chains’) and I think they would have made for a really entertaining mini-movie.

Unfortunately the deal with IFC fell through, rather disastrously.

Ms. Hamilton told fans about the no-go ‘Anita’ movie back in November 2009. She posted this rather quizzical statement on her blog: “It has been frustrating watching other shows in the genre I pioneered go on the air while we didn’t, but in the end I believe most things happen for a reason. I would rather have no television show than a bad one.”

Fans have been left to speculate about this cryptic blog post. It’s pretty obvious that there was some sort of creative difference going on between Hamilton and IFC.

And her reference to ‘other shows’ being made from adaptations – she can only mean Charlaine Harris’s ‘True Blood’. Maybe it stuck in Ms. Hamilton’s craw that Ms. Harris got HBO while she was stuck with IFC? Who knows? All we know for sure is that an adaptation of vintage Anita Blake is probably never going to happen now. If Hamilton was ‘difficult’ to work with, chances are other movie production companies will follow in IFC’s footsteps and not touch her.

Hollywood’s a big damn pond, and authors are small fish – especially when the Urban Fantasy genre has blown-up and there are plenty of possibilities for adaptation.

Charlaine Harris:

Ms. Harris has said in numerous interviews that she was quite surprised that, of all her books, it was ‘Sookie Stackhouse’ that was made into a TV show. She always thought that ‘Harper Connelly’ was more screen-friendly, and a more likely choice for adaptation.

Well since 2008 ‘True Blood’ has been going from strength to strength, and has regained HBO’s status as the premier network (not since ‘The Sopranos’ have ratings been so high). So it’s no wonder that people are sniffing around Harris’s other work.

It was recently announced that Harris’s ‘Harper Connelly’ series was being adapted into a graphic novel. ‘Dynamite Entertainment’ bought the rights to the 4-book series – which is about a young woman who can ‘sense’ the dead and see the last moments of a deceased’s life.

There’s no release date as yet, but it’s likely the graphic novel will come out late 2010, or early 2011.

This might just be the first step before turning the ‘Harper Connelly’ books into a movie or TV show. No doubt the media will be abuzz over this adaptation, purely because of Charlaine Harris’s recent fame with ‘True Blood’ and the ‘Sookie’ books being a staple of the New York Times Bestseller’s list. If the comic book gets enough hype, I wouldn’t be surprised if a production network snaps up the movie/TV rights.

I, for one, would love to see a big/small screen adaptation of this series. All of Charlaine Harris’s series’ are great, and deserve as much attention as ‘Sookie Stackhouse’ – but I have a particularly soft spot for the brilliant ‘Harper Connelly’.

Kelley Armstrong:

Back in 2004 Armstrong’s ‘Bitten’ was sold to Warner. Bros and several screenplay drafts were written. Angelina Jolie was even rumoured to star.

Since then the contract has run out and Warner. Bros decided not to renew. That means another production company could try and buy the movie rights, but Ms. Armstrong has advised fans not to hold their breath.

Bummer.

Maggie Stiefvater:

September last year Ms. Stiefvater broke the happy news on her livejournal.

Her ‘Wolves of Mercy Falls’ trilogy has been picked up for movie adaptation. It’s being made by ‘Unique Features’.

No news yet about casting or release dates – but I think the movie will be a sure thing. Werewolves are so hot right now; the YA/tween audience cannot get enough of Taylor Lautner.

‘Shiver’ will be like a “what if Jacob got Bella in the end?” to satisfy all those who weren’t in the ‘Team Edward’ camp.

‘Shiver’ is a gorgeous book and absolutely deserving of this happy news!

Kim Harrison:

In July 2009 Kim Harrison announced that her series 'The Hollows' was going to be adapted into a Graphic Novel by Del Ray. Ms. Harrison is actually writing the script herself, so expect plenty of that snappy dialogue and dry wit that we've come to love.

The novel will be told from Ivy's POV (*squee!*) and is set around the time of her 'Hollows' novella in 'Dates From Hell'. And Kisten is still alive (*SQUEE!*).

The 8th 'Rachel Morgan' book was released this month (to much success, of course) and the Graphic Novel is tentatively scheduled for a fall 2010 release (could possibly turn into a 2011 release though). The artist is Pedro Maia and Ms. Harrison has posted some (very rough) sketches on her blog.

The graphic novel looks and sounds great so far. I especially like the idea of it being told from Ivy's POV - hopefully we'll learn a lot more about the 'behind the scenes' of the vampires and their politics. And I think it will be great to get into Ivy's psyche and maybe discover when her feelings for Rachel changed.

I think the 'Rachel Morgan' series is one of the best Urban Fantasies out there. Hands down. Brilliant. But I think a movie/TV adaptation would be very hard, if not impossible to accomplish. The world is so intricate and there's so much back story... I don't know that such a screen adaptation would be possible. But a graphic novel is just the right kind of new media for Ms. Harrison. It allows her to work closely on script and visualize her 'Hollows' world without constraint. Fantastic!