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The UKFF Comics n Graphic Novels thread


Famous Mortimer

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Even putting aside the violence for a second, in the land where there's a war over the teaching of evolution in schools, once the religious right got wind of it, Preacher would be the most protested against thing of all time. That's not to say it won't ever happen, but if it does, expect a lot of small-minded, quick to react people to implode.

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As awesome as HBO have been about not shirking from very, very grisly displays of violence, we're talking -

 

Starr wiping the arse of a mentally retarded cannibal, then shooting him in the head.

 

A lightly roasted Odin Quincannon making love to a giant statue made of meat, then being shot in the head.

 

A goth committing suicide by impaling herself through the mouth on a sword stuck up her boyfriend's arse.

 

Jody pulling a two by four out of his cheek after two nails have gone through his face.

 

Which are the most extreme examples I can think of, not to mention the hundreds of jaws, eyes, ears and groins shot to fragments during the arc, not to mention the extreme God-bashing content, a hundred times worse than anything ever filmed before and a thousand times as bad as innocent stuff that got attacked and, in some cases withdrawn, like Jerry Springer The Opera and God, The Devil and Bob.

 

If it ever gets made, it'll be many, many years from now, or as an animated series that'll never be shown on TV. I don't see the big value in translating it to screen anyway, it makes a fine comic.

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Ennis' run on Hellblazer is great, all the way through. Especially when Steve Dillon moves onto art after Dangerous Habits.If you like the Green Arrow, then the best run on the character ever is definately Mike Grell's. Longbow Hunters is the only collected edition, I think, but it's all worth reading.

Found it a bit too mean-spirited, actually - I'd go as far as to say that there's NEVER been a good run on Green Arrow, he's much better as a counterpoint to other heroes in a team book.Warren Ellis is a weird one to me - can be great (Transmet is very good, and powers has it's place), but when he's 'reimagining' Marvel Characters (granted, I've only read Nextwave and New Universal), he is butt... B-U-T-T. After I read New Universal I mentioned it to a Marvel freelancer I know, and he apologised. :laugh: .Y'know what I like? I like The Goon.
Well, Grell is nothing if not mean spirited. He made a mature and deeply drawn character out of a ridiculous concept that had becomce a cliche, and I find a lot of it very readable. Nextwave is hilarious and not intended to be taken seriously, anyway. The reimagined Nick Fury is so much more entertaining than the super spy currently wandering around the Marvel Universe. You know, I've never read New Universal ever...Ellis himself always says he's only on Marvel or DC books to pay the bills and never sticks around long on characters he doesn't own.The Goon is brilliant, Eric Powell writes good comic. Now, that's somethig that would make an awesome TV show but would never get made...
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I just didn't care for Nextwave at all - I know it's not to be taken seriously, I wouldn't think Elvis Headed burger firing MODOKs fit into the mainstream Marvel Universe - just didn't do it for me, it's like he just took a random bunch of characters and, well... did some stuff with them. I guess that's partly the point, but just didn't work for me at all. I think Transmetropolitan is the story he had to tell, and the rest of his work doesn't measure up.Yes, The Goon would be awesome, TV or movie - I could see Ron Perlman as the Goon, who would play Frankie? I could see Steve Buscemi, but might be a bit too easy - I also like Tim Blake Nelson in that role, for some reason.

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The Goon is brilliant, Eric Powell writes good comic. Now, that's somethig that would make an awesome TV show but would never get made...

A David Fincher produced CG movie is in pre-production.The violence is a huge part of Preacher, and Ennis obviously has a big stiffy for bodyparts being shot off, but I think in a post-Saw world, especially on the channel that produced Oz, it could sneak into the world without too much fuss. Never, ever on a commercial network though.The religious angle though, which could never be altered via rewrites or suggestive camera angles without destroying the entire story, will definitely always be the roadblock in stopping an adaptation. Not only the threats of protest and such, but it'll take a studio head or heads that feel they could broadcast it as is, which is what looks like the problem was this time, a switching of bosses at HBO. Forget about them being accepting of it, it'll almost take a "fuck 'em" mindset to begin with, because anyone in charge of that will know the sort of trouble it'll bring, so even going into production will be like a warning shot across the bows of the kooky religious right. It seems like the people in power usually have quite strong beliefs, or are connected to people who do, so it'll take a brave network head who won't mind explaining at dinner parties or rounds of golf why they happily supported such a piece of heretical filth.
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The Goon is brilliant, Eric Powell writes good comic. Now, that's somethig that would make an awesome TV show but would never get made...

A David Fincher produced CG movie is in pre-production.The violence is a huge part of Preacher, and Ennis obviously has a big stiffy for bodyparts being shot off, but I think in a post-Saw world, especially on the channel that produced Oz, it could sneak into the world without too much fuss. Never, ever on a commercial network though.The religious angle though, which could never be altered via rewrites or suggestive camera angles without destroying the entire story, will definitely always be the roadblock in stopping an adaptation. Not only the threats of protest and such, but it'll take a studio head or heads that feel they could broadcast it as is, which is what looks like the problem was this time, a switching of bosses at HBO. Forget about them being accepting of it, it'll almost take a "fuck 'em" mindset to begin with, because anyone in charge of that will know the sort of trouble it'll bring, so even going into production will be like a warning shot across the bows of the kooky religious right. It seems like the people in power usually have quite strong beliefs, or are connected to people who do, so it'll take a brave network head who won't mind explaining at dinner parties or rounds of golf why they happily supported such a piece of heretical filth.
I'm intrigued, what paticular religious aspect do you think would cause so much trouble? I think we've come a long way from the days of The Last Temptation in terms of bravery in this area on the part of TV/film producers.
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The fact that they present God as a despicable, pathetic ego-maniac with little respect for the value of human life would probably be the biggest thing.If Christians went beserk over the Springer opera where Jesus says he might be a little bit gay then fuck knows how people would react to a TV show where God actually gets murdered.

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I'm intrigued, what paticular religious aspect do you think would cause so much trouble? I think we've come a long way from the days of The Last Temptation in terms of bravery in this area on the part of TV/film producers.

The use of God as an actual character for one. Outside of Starr, he's the series antagonist and does a lot of shitty, cowardly things. People get skittish when God, heaven or angels are portrayed onscreen, unless it's in a lighthearted or positive way, and Jesse's whole quest is to track him down and tell him to go fuck himself. The fact that God, by being in the story, is associated with all the other stuff that goes on would be enough to stir up a bunch of controversy. "GOD, GUNS AND BLOWN OFF COCKS!"Remember that it doesn't even need to be informed, logical, well thought out objections, and it almost certainly wouldn't be. At some point, someone will hear vague rumblings of what the story is about and they'll be all over it, like they were over Jerry Springer: The Opera, and Marilyn "live animal sacrifices at every show, honest" Manson, talking about how disgusting and immoral it is, but admitting that they've not read a single page. The ending probably wouldn't go down too well either.
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Warren Ellis is a weird one to me - can be great (Transmet is very good, and powers has it's place), but when he's 'reimagining' Marvel Characters (granted, I've only read Nextwave and New Universal), he is butt... B-U-T-T.

"Nextwave" is absolutely awesome. It's hardly a re-imagining, it's a pisstake of a bunch of proper Marvel characters with the former Captain Marvel woman. And a very funny pisstake it is too.
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During one of my daydreams of how awesome a Preacher series if done right would be I tried to work out how they would do the seasons. The guy doing it said he thought one episode per issue with a collection being a season each. I don't see how that could of worked so I figured the best way would be to do it like this.Season 1: The whole Gone To Texas story. The season ends with the All In The Family story. I would re-write it so while Jesse and Tulip are with Granny, Cassidy is off in New Orleans meeting the other vampire and Les Infants Du Sang.Season 2: Starts with the Hunters story in San Francisco then moves onto the Proud Americans storyline. This probably wouldn't take the whole 12 episode per season that HBO do so the final 3 episodes would be Cassidy's backstory on the Empire State Building for one episode and the final two episodes being the Saint Of Killers epic story.Season 3: Starts off with the whole Dixie Fried story (one episode would end on the cliffhanger of Arseface threatening Jesse with a gun and the following episode would be his story from Ancient History taking up a whole episode). When they leave New Orleans it would go on to One Man's War as a one hour special. The remaining episodes would make up War In The Sun. Season 4: The final and maybe a 16 episode season instead of HBO's usual 12. Firstly we would have the Salvation book. Two seperate episodes set aside for Jesse's hallucinations(like The Sopranos did but, y'know, good) and the second Vietnam story. Then the All Hell's A Coming story. I'd merge Tulip's backstory with Jesse traveling across America in a single episode. Then ofcourse the final run of The Alamo.I'd leave out The Good Ol' Boys and Tall In The Saddle stories as while they are fun they serve no real purpose. I would also probably write a bigger part for Amy.So that's how I'd do it. Yes I am a geek for thinking that much into it, I know.

Edited by LaGoosh
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I have been reading The Watchmen, and its quite good thus far. The only things that have annoyed me are some of the inbetween chapter "excerpts" and the Black Freighter stuff being mixed in with the current story which makes it hard for yours truly to follow along.

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The Goon is brilliant, Eric Powell writes good comic. Now, that's somethig that would make an awesome TV show but would never get made...

A David Fincher produced CG movie is in pre-production.The violence is a huge part of Preacher, and Ennis obviously has a big stiffy for bodyparts being shot off, but I think in a post-Saw world, especially on the channel that produced Oz, it could sneak into the world without too much fuss. Never, ever on a commercial network though.
I'm intrigued, what paticular religious aspect do you think would cause so much trouble? I think we've come a long way from the days of The Last Temptation in terms of bravery in this area on the part of TV/film producers.
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The series was originally commissioned by BBC Three in the UK, but was dropped from scheduling without a screening in the wake of protests from Roman Catholics.

wikiNot only is it a cartoon but it was in the uk, and we are a lot more liberal than the US. We have a long way to go.I havnt read preacher, but the fact that God is shown visually and he is a bit of a bastard tells me that it'll be almost impossible to make.

I have been reading The Watchmen, and its quite good thus far. The only things that have annoyed me are some of the inbetween chapter "excerpts" and the Black Freighter stuff being mixed in with the current story which makes it hard for yours truly to follow along.

I finished Watchmen two weeks ago and The Black Frieghter stuff annoyed me too. It hurt my tiny mind.
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Another thing I had glossed over but would definitely cause HUGE riots and trouble if they made a Preacher TV series is when Jesse literally spits in God's face. If you stop and think of a TV show doing that...it's fucking insane. Really really fucking insane. HBO gets away with alot of crazy shit but I don't know how they could get away with that.

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I should probably have included "God bites Custer's eye clear from its socket" as one of the more extreme bits of violence, and yeah, that, and the ending, would make the Jerry Springer protests look like nothing.Personally, the Black Freighter stuff, the way it ties into the main narrative and the parts of the future plot it mirrors make it one of my favourite parts of Watchmen. The Gibbons art on those sequences is amazing as well. A lot of the additional information between chapters is just to flesh out the world of the book a bit more, but clues to the book's mysteries are dropped in there as well.

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