In his dreams Alan Donald is a multi-award winning
writer of comic books, animation, theme park shows and rides, children’s books,
novels, television, internet animation and more.
In real life Alan writes this column,
which has been described as
more than a lifestyle than a
weekly column. He used to write
SBC's All The Rage.
Hello again, Alan Donald here. Welcome to the third issue of The Final Draft! Don't panic if you've missed any issues they are only a click away (see the archive at the side). Go and have a look if you've got the time as there's some great stuff there from the likes of Joe Quesada, Peter David, Chris Weston and more as well as articles on the fantastically kinky Dogwitch, the wonderfully original Teenagers from Mars and the epic heart pumping Sigil.
Now all that's out of the way I'd better shut up and let you read the bloody thing hadn't I?
This Week
Let's see what's caught my interest in this week's comicbook news.
The headline: THE ADVENTURES OF LUTHER ARKWRIGHT AWARD-WINNING GRAPHIC NOVEL IN NEW FILM DEAL
The history: This is Bryan Talbot's baby and it collected a few Eagle awards along the way.
Personally: A very cool title that didn't have the recognition it deserved, until now.
The story: I'll hand you over to KouKou productions:
KouKou Productions, a Melbourne-based film production company, today announced plans to develop the award-winning British graphic novel, The Adventures of Luther Arkwright as a feature length film.
“The Adventures of Luther Arkwright is a stunning, quasi-futuristic graphic novel that deserves the big-screen treatment,” says Sophie Patrick, Producer, KouKou Productions.
“It’s an intricate adventure story that spans multiple universes, combing the best elements of science fiction, action movies and historical drama,” explains Sophie.
Most of the action in The Adventures of Luther Arkwright takes place on one of many alternate parallels, where psychically gifted agents Luther Arkwright and Rose Wylde are sent to investigate a cosmic conspiracy that threatens to destroy the very fabric of the multiverse.
“Luther and Rose are not your typical action heroes and Luther Arkwright isnąt going to be your typical ‘buddy’ action movie,” says Sophie Patrick. “They are complex and fascinating characters, with unique abilities, but who arenąt afraid of using deadly force when the fate of the multiverse is at stake!”
The Adventures of Luther Arkwright was created by celebrated British writer-artist Bryan Talbot. First published as a nine-issue comic, the series won the prestigious Eagle Awards for ‘Best New Comic’ and ‘Favourite Character’, before being published in America by Dark Horse comics, where it became a best-seller.
Melbourne-based comic book writer and artist Bruce Mutard has been commissioned to write the screenplay adaptation. Bruce's writing credits include the forthcoming graphic novel The Bunker which will be released by Image Publishing in America later this year, as well as humorous strips for international comics such as DEE VEE (Australia) and Small Press Expo (USA).
Sophie Patrick, together with her husband Kevin Patrick, is also the publisher of the popular vintage Australian superhero comic The Panther.
KouKou Productions predicts that production of Luther Arkwright will commence in 2004.
For further information, please contact Sophie Patrick at sophie@koukouproductions.com
Opinion: What can I say? This is good news for Bryan and the industry we can only hope that it's done faithfully. Good luck Bryan.
(I had hoped to bring you an interview with Mr Talbot but I'm afraid the poor chap was swamped, hopefully I'll have it for you next time)
The Headline: Various - X2 Premieres
The History: What do you want? The sequel to the X-Men is ready for release and the stars have all seen it. The first film was a huge success and all involved in this one are even more pumped up about it.
Personally: I hate waiting for sequels and now that it's here I just know I won't be able to get a babysitter organised for a time when my wife and I are both free and can afford a trip to the cinema.
The Story: It's always fascinating to see how non-comic media report on our little world. It's also interesting to look at how the same news is reported in the UK and US.
In the UK, the BBC focuses on the world premiere of the movie in London.
In the US, CBS focuses on an interview with Patrick Stewart.
The BBC takes great pains to point out that Sir Ian McKellen is gay and retells a couple of humourous anecdotes about how scenes with Hugh Jackman were distracting but that he could work opposite Halle Berry without a problem and of how he and Alan Cummings went off to a nudist beach together during filming.
CBS points out that Patrick Stewart is bald.
The BBC rehashed Stewart's 'the first film was one long trailer comment'.
CBS doesn't.
CBS points out that Stewart is a Shakesperian trained actor.
Opinion: Slow news week when I've gotta do something like this.
New Boy, Old Boy, Publisher, Retailer and Hack
Five very different people from different parts of the comicbook industry, with different experiences and ideas on the industry come together to answer your questions. Jock, the New Boy just breaking through internationally; Peter David, the Old Boy, he's been there and done that, a comicbook superstar; Evil Rick Shea, the Retailer, he's on the front line pushing comics, listening to fans; Joe Quesada, the Publisher, he's the Daddy at Marvel; and Craig Lemon, the Hack, SBC's second-in-command, he edits loads of columns and runs one of the most respected review sections in the industry.
This week’s question to the panel is simple:
"Do rumour columns such as 'All The Rage' and 'Lying in the Gutter' do anything positive for the comicbook industry?"
New Boy: "No, I think you need more gossip- maybe a 'style through the years' column which could focus on Neil Gaiman's changing hairstyles, or a 'are they/ aren't they?' section speculating on various industry romances...or maybe coverage of get togethers and parties, detailing what each attendee wore, compiling a list of creators favourite designers.
Only then, I think, would you be properly appealing to the lowest common denominator, broadening mass appeal for the industry no end."
Old Boy: "Yes. It gives pros something to read to see if they're mentioned, and be relieved they're not there, and then be annoyed that they're overlooked."
Retailer: "I think they do quite a lot of good. Not all of it may be exactly what a comic book company may want you to hear, but as a fan and retailer, I've learned quite a lot of positive info from both columns. Usually, they give creators a chance to comment on or deny a story, speeding up the flow of information and that's usually a good thing. Some of the gossip is quite wild that other columns might not "soil" themselves by talking about it. Some creators' crazy escapades are more entertaining than their comics. If you follow Marvel's hype, any publicity is good publicity, right?
Rumor columns are normally done without any real bias or sway towards a certain company or creator. Anyone is a target. Early info is quite informative and helps us more appropriately estimate demand for an upcoming "secret storyline" that we wouldn't be able to get reorders on. If we get a press release about Warren Ellis via DC, it will clearly have a DC bias and won't tell you about his Image, Avatar or other work. ATR or LITG will let you know what he'll be working on six months from now for any company!"
- Check out the supplement at the bottom of the column to read more from Rick.
Publisher: Unfortunately Mr Quesada was far too busy running Marvel Comics to be able to respond this week. Let's see, run Marvel or comment to a web column...good choice I think.
Hack: "When used to root out information about forthcoming projects in an unbiased fashion, then yes. When used to further the ego of the column's writer, or to promote products the column's writer has been, shall we say, "persuaded" to promote, or to report made-up nonsense under the guise of "which creator did x", or to waffle on endlessly about trivial crap, then no.
Unfortunately the prevailing content in almost all recent [name deleted...naughty boy Mr Lemon] columns has been the latter."
If you have a question you'd like the panel to answer then email me on AlanWJDonald@aol.com.
Cool Sites
This is an infrequent feature where I look at the cool websites you've sent into me. Email me on AlanWJDonald@aol.com with your suggestions.
This site does exactly what it says on the tin, bunch of photos of women and you vote whether you think they are female or shemale. Tranvestisim, Transexualism and Democracy, what more do you want?
This plays YMCA in Japanese (I think) with dancing skeletons (in tribute to Ray Harryhausen)...Skeletor and a few friends drop in, very camp and very funny. No tranvestisism this time but definite homosexual overtones combined with an 80's cartoon legend...thus this is cool.
More 80's action. A random text generator that seems to be stuck in the era of Wham and the A-Team.
Check 'em out and get back to me.
Noticeboard
From the biggest comicon to a signing in a shop the size of a postage stamp by the guy who edits a self published magazine on wanking printed on toilet paper, we'll promote them all. All you have to do is email me to let me know. The noticeboard will be here every week to promote your events.
A few things are pinned to the noticeboard this week so I'll get right on down to it:
"TWO DAY SHOW!! FRIDAY MAY 2ND ( 12-7P ) SATURDAY MAY 3RD (10A-6P) BACK AT THE ST.PAUL CHURCH AUD 59TH AND 9TH AVE. / COLUMBUS NYC Jim Steranko Guest Of Honor bigapplecon@earthlink.net Tickets Tickets are only $7.00!! All kids under 12 admitted FREE!!"
"Located within the heart of the beautiful city of Toronto, the Canadian National Expo family of conventions provide quality guests, fun and exciting events, and a convenient convergence of the best retailers from both sides of the border. From its humble beginnings, each convention has dedicated itself to providing a professional experience by giving fans insight into the behind-the-scenes, inner workings of the Comic, Science Fiction and Anime industries. Corporate sponsors, workshops and sneak previews are the staples that hold together our tightly knit family.
Enjoy the sights and great cuisine that Toronto has to offer, along with the quality entertainment of our Comic Book, Science Fiction and Anime conventions. Some of our past guests include Adam and Joe Kubert, Dreamwave Productions, Jeri Ryan, William Shatner, Kevin Smith, Yumi Touma, Mika Akitaka, and Kia Asamiya.
Head Office E-mail info@hobbystar.com Phone 416-761-1760 Fax 416-761-1751 Mailing Address Hobby Star Marketing 4 Varsity Rd. Toronto, ON M6S 4N4 Canada"
"Chesterfield (St. Louis Area) on April 26th West suburban St. Louis ComicCon at the Hampton Inn and Suites 5 McBride and Son Center Drive (Boone's Crossing - Exit 17 off of I-64 / Hwy 40) Hours are from 10 Am to 4 PM Admission is $1, but mention Wizard or bring a printout of this page & you get in FREE! Lots of cool comics, videos and toys from dealers, some who aren't at other area conventions! For info call Alan @ 309 657-1599"
Tulsa Comicon 2003
Comics Convention May 3 & 4, 2003 Broken Arrow, Oklahoma
Time: Saturday ~ 9am - 5pm Sunday ~ Noon - 5pm Location: Holiday Inn South Admission: $3.00 per person"
"Shawnee, KS May 17 (West Kansas City suburbs) Park Lanes Family Fun Center 7701 Renner Rd.Shawnee, KS (I-435 & Midland Drive)
10:00 am to 4:00 pm
Comics: Silver Age to modern
Plus toys, videos & DVDs, movie memorabilia and tons more!
Follow Renner Rd. to the Park Lanes. Facility will be on the left"
Remember I need you to be sending in your announcements, signings, events and such like to pin up on the Board. Meanwhile you should check out last week's Notice Board as many of the announcements on there will still be current.
Ok, that's about it then. I'll bid you adieu until next time.
TTFN - Alan Donald signing off from the chaos of moving home (who puts up 8 layers of wallpaper and over 11 layers of gloss? For goodness sake...2 weeks work and 2 more to go before we can even bloody move in!). Don't just disappear, I've got a bonus article under the legal bumf for your delight and amusement.
The Final Draft, its contents, its style and the concept in general are the intellectual property of Alan Donald. All contributions remain the property of the contributors who have given Alan Donald permission to use them in this format. The views expressed herein by contributors are theirs alone and not necessarily those of SBC nor the columnist. Conversely the views expressed by the columnist are not necessarily shared by the contributors, SBC or even the columnist himself.
A little extra I wanted to share with you. Every week Evil Rick writes for www.brokenfrontier.com, here's this weeks column for your delectation:
Store Front 13: Free Comic Book Day
I've got a secret. Most of you already know it, but most of your friends might not. It's a big one. Are you ready? Comic books are amazing. That's it. Why is that a secret? I wish I knew, but I don't want it to be a secret anymore. Let's make sure everyone else knows what we've already figured out. Comic books have a greater diversity and unbelievable potential like nothing else we've ever seen. Luckily we have a chance to spread the word right now.
It's that time of year. With Free Comic Book Day right around the corner on Saturday, May 3, I've been busier than ever trying to make sure we do everything we possibly can to get the word out. There will be at least one story in the newspaper already set up. I'm going to give it a last minute push with local TV stations and radio as well. I've set up promotions with just about any business that I can think of and the response has been much more enthusiastic than I thought it would be.
The first phase was to work with businesses that we may share possible clientele with. The big score was the big local movie theater. The manager there is incredibly cool and was instrumental in making sure our Daredevil movie promotion went over pretty well. He's great about handing out coupons good for two free comics at our store on May 3. With FCBD, we've increased our efforts exponentially, and it should help our business grow as well as make new contacts in our community. After the X-Men 2 connection around which FCBD is based, we tried to promote at local bookstores. Most of the smaller shops we've called were very receptive to the idea. With the exception of CinemaWorld, we haven't had a lot of luck with bigger businesses. Most chain stores haven't been very responsive to a promotion like this. It's too bad, but I guess they look at it like this: If they put out my coupons, how can they turn down the next few people to ask and so on? No big deal. I'm happy establishing more personal relationships with other small but growing businesses in my area. A handful of chain stores were pretty cool about it including Krispy Kreme, Jiffy Lube and Baskin Robbins, who apparently have their own X-Men tie-in with a new X-Men Sundae.
My first impulse was to work with bookstores, libraries and similar venues, but we ended up hitting up restaurants, barber shops, dentist offices, you name it. No reason I shouldn't include potential new customers from unexpected sources. Most places were really helpful and I'll be sure to help them promote their businesses when the opportunity presents itself. I am surprised how enthusiastic other businesses have been about FCBD.
The only thing that bothered me today was an older woman who sort of scoffed at the ideas of using comic books to promote reading amongst children. I told her that I won all the spelling bees and aced all the vocabulary and grammar tests because I was so excited about reading comics as a child. However, she didn't seem to think comic books had any actual merit. I gave her (and every other business) a few samples of what we were going to be giving away, and although that was the lowpoint of the day for me, hopefully she will still give away the coupons so that others can decide whether they want their kids to put down the video games or turn off the TV long enough to read a comic book or two. Maybe that will lead them to her idea of "real reading". Just more proof that this incredible industry has a long way to go before it sees the respect it deserves.
Once again, we're working with local libraries to promote reading among children. We're also sponsoring an art class focusing on comic books this summer at the library. It doesn't hurt that my fiancé's mother is a head librarian and has been incredibly cool about all sorts of cross-promotion. We're going to have big discounts on kid-friendly comics for the entire month of May to encourage parents buying their kids something to read. We're trying anything we can think of to get new customers in our store and we're really working towards getting a whole new generation of comic readers out there. I don't even mind if they get tired of comics and move on to novels, as long as kids are reading something. I'm sure that doesn't sound like me, and I would love it if the whole world looked forward to comics the way that we do, but I just want people to read more, even if it's not comic books. A well-read individual is generally more creative, intelligent, and well-rounded than someone who only reads when they are forced to.
I've always believed comics should be enjoyed by all ages. Although there are tons of books in my store that I wouldn't sell to children, there are also tons that I think all ages should read. It's very rare when I can't find something to pique and keep someone's interest. It's just a matter of knowing their likes and dislikes and showing them all the great options that are available to them that they can't find in any other form of entertainment.
Overall, it was a great experience the last few days interacting with other business owners to help us build our business and encourage children reading at the same time. I've got quite a few more days of prepping to get everything ready to go for Free Comic Book Day. We're giving out 8000 coupons (!) and hoping that leads to at least 1000 new faces. Even if few of them come back after grabbing their freebies, it will still be a success. We are going to give away thousands of free comics and whatever we have left over is going to libraries or other places we can donate them to get them in new readers' hands.
I have to get up disturbingly early tomorrow to hand out more coupons and samples to all sorts of businesses. I hope I am greeted with the same success ratio I had today where almost all the businesses were interested. If I give out all these coupons soon enough, I'll probably make up a few thousand more. Over 70% of our sales are comics and graphic novels and I want that percentage to continue to rise.
I know what some of you are thinking, Free Comic Book Day means a great deal of free comics for you. Please don't think like that. Some readers don't get the point of FCBD. It's not a bonus to our already existing customers, who I already give breaks and occasional free comics to. It's set up to show all the new readers all the great stuff this industry has to offer. Think about it. If we get a whole new batch of readers to help comic sales continue to rise, it means your favorite book on the edge of cancellation may find that little boost, which might be enough to increase its lifespan and save it from the harsh ax of cancellation. If there are more people buying comics and coming into your favorite local shop regularly, that means that the store will be able to support carrying a better selection of comics. That leads to publishers being able to take a chance on publishing a more diverse and experimental line of comics hoping to appeal to a new comic reader who might be interested in something that they couldn't find in the industry just a few years ago. How many more "30 Day of Night" type of books are stuck in someone's head because a company didn't think it might find enough of an audience to publish it? Let's work towards a better industry by making sure these "free comics" are incentive to someone new to jump into comics instead of just grabbing that reprint of Ultimate X-Men # 1 that we all have the original of anyway?
On top of that, this year's batch of books was certainly more diverse than last years and I'm certainly appreciative of that. However, this year also was a lot more expensive. Your average free comic cost a retailer about a quarter each. Some are as high as $.40, ouch! It may not sound like much, but we've spent almost $1000 on all the books we plan to give away. Just like your weekly checkout, it piles up really fast. So I beg you to please make sure you're only grabbing books you have a sincere interest in if you really think you may come back to purchase more of those comics. Please make sure that Archie, Batman Adventures, Transformers Armada, Ultimate X-Men, Uncle Scrooge, or any of the rest make it into the hands of new readers. If you do pick any of these up, please give them to someone who has never read a comic book when you're done. Pass along the fun. Do tell your friends about your local comic shop and FCBD, but please do it for the right reasons to continue to support and help to increase interest in this wonderful industry of ours. It's time to let the secret out.
