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Underground > Film, TV & Theatre >

Vertigo Cartoon Serials anyone?

00:14 / 07.11.07

I had a vision. I hope they can do serial cartoons of the Invisibles or Doom Patrol or Sandman! And the list goes on for anime versions of European artistic writers. Maybe some Computerized animes or cartoons. How cool would that be? With live action Battle Angel by James Cameron and hopfully possibly keep my fingers crossed Akira and Robotech and Voltron and Transformers 2 and 3 on the go it would be equally cool if they could do something like serialized cartoons on MTV liquid tv 2 or something like the Maxx but with Grant Morrison's work or Neil Gaiman's or Alan Moore's or Warren Ellis' or Garth Ennis'.

00:34 / 07.11.07

YYYYYYYYYYEEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!1!OBI-WAN!!

Shiny: Well Over Thirty

04:18 / 07.11.07

Yes this would be great, obviously. Doesn't seem all that likely of course, but what with the ever rising popularity of mature Anime in the west, I suppose that one day those in a position to get this sort of thing made might catch on.

06:41 / 07.11.07

Wow - film and TV (and Theatre) has moved on from talking about things that haven't finished being made to things that haven't even planned on being made....

Not sure how workable an idea of a host of creator controlled/owned projects being shown on one show would be though.

Maybe a bit more info would make this thread work? Who would you like seen done, what artists/styles would work/which stories adapt themselves to the format most obviously?

Shiny: Well Over Thirty

08:45 / 07.11.07

Not sure how workable an idea of a host of creator controlled/owned projects being shown on one show would be though.

I think this is where the suggestion of using Vertigo stufff is interesting - since there is an awful lot of Vertigo stuff, especially the early stuff that's actually owned by DC, and therefore by Warner Brothers. It's not that unfeasible that Warners could if they choose to do so develop something along these lines of licence it out to others who would. As to who'd develop it, my inclination would be say I'd like these things farmed out to japanese studios such as Gainax and Bones. But the thing that is quite nice about the idea is that Vertigo have a big pile of excellent stuff that could possibly be used to kickstart something more like Anime actually produced in and by the west. As such the people who could do it aren't famous yet, and so it's hard to name them.

But basically agreed this is a light thread, being simply a 'wouldn't it be nice if' kinda thing. Still, yes it would be nice.

13:52 / 07.11.07

One of the main issues you'd come up against is the differences in the approach to storytelling. Many American comics aren't set up as self-contained stories, they run and run for as long as they're going to make money. While there's room for great story telling in that, what I'd really like is for someone to come along and take these properties to make a decent overarching story out of them, one with a definite beginning, middle and end.

I think the property I'd most like to see this done with is X-Men. It's very much like the comics version of a master without a masterpiece, and having been thoroughly addicted to Bleach for over a year now there are clear signs in that property of exactly how this business should be handled (although not everything is cross-transferrable). There needs to be an overarching story, one with a beginning, middle and end, a story that takes place over maybe a couple of hundred episodes with a very clear idea regarding what it's about. All the elements, characters and themes have been knocking about for years but rarely have they ever been allowed to be taken to their logical conclusion, because creators don't want to see it conclude.

I think that's the issue with many of people's favourite comics properties. They don't conclude. Part of the reason that anime storytelling is often so satisfying is that many series begin with a finite length in mind and are very well planned in advance, and that doesn't fit so well with what seems to be the Western (or maybe just American) mindset to flog the horse until it's well and truly dead.

Shiny: Well Over Thirty

14:15 / 07.11.07

See this again is why Vertigo books would be good. A lot of Vertigo's best stuff has been reasonably self contained, from short mini-series to 50-75 issue epics a lot of it does have defined beginnings, middles and ends, which makes it a particularly good prospect, even the stuff that sort of pootles around a bit aimlessly in places whilst still being brilliant like say Shade usually come to satisfying ends and could potentially be cleaned up and streamlined in the process of producing an animated script.

The same is weirdly true of Rom: Spaceknight - which is something I'd actually love to see animated. Actually Rom is something I can imagine working fantastically animated - it has several major plot shifts, with genuine change and character progression. And imagine animated Dire Wraiths in all their horribleness. I suppose the rights issues with Rom make this basically impossible, but I freely admit I'm a little bit odd about Rom, so I can dream.

STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK

17:27 / 07.11.07

what I'd really like is for someone to come along and take these properties to make a decent overarching story out of them, one with a definite beginning, middle and end

Fuck yeah Seaking. A definite end point is, for me, all-important. I can't be arsed with loads of cool stuff that isn't actually going anywhere. What I want is something that knows where it's going, but won't let on to me where that is, and will take a very entertaining and circuitous route to get there. I want shit that ACTUALLY FINISHES.

Look at (to cross media for a minute here, unless Roy Thomas' adaptation counts) the Ring Cycle. It's powerful. It's FUCKING powerful. Indeed, its power level is more than 9000. But a lot of that power comes from knowing that Gotterdammerung is THE END. Everything else plays out in the shadow of that coming future.

(This is why I have serious ontological issues with the third season of Millennium, which by season two had become one of the best TV shows ever made. Season two ends with... well, basically, THE END. Armageddon. Apocalypse*. The third season can only feel somewhat limp in comparison.)

*the last episode of Millennium's second series is a two-parter. Put together, they are actually one of my favourite movies ever.

00:47 / 08.11.07

I think it would work great as mini series or maxi series for something as long as Sandman or the Invisibles. Something like Watchmen might work as a six hour movie. Watching V for Vendetta left me hungry for more of the original graphic novels depth and alot of the references which made V for Vendetta great was lost in the translation process. It would be great if Zach Snyder would make an extended cut leaving everything he ever wanted in a movie, and then releasing both versions to the wider audience and have them decide which edition was better. Everyone agrees that the Lord of the Rings extended cuts were better than the theatrical cuts but look how much the extended cuts made at the box office. Warner would have alot of balls if they released both editions and have the audience decide which was better. I think preacher was opted for an HBO series live action but I think animation for older audiences might be equally great like Heavy Metal!!! Or maybe not. Some stuff would work great live action and some would work great like animation. Alan Moores Swamp Thing might make a great Tales from the crypt type serial or sandman as well or they might work great as animation. Gainax is the studio that did bubblegum crisis didn't they? They might be interested in a European type Sandman OVAs all 75 done in the original artists style and so forth. The same with Swamp Thing and Animal Man and Doom Patrol and the Invisibles or We3 and the list goes on and on because there is a wealth of material that isn't limited to big budgets in an animated world. Everyone likes CGI graphics but I get kind of burn out if the graphics look terrible when they could have just used prostethics look at Constantine for example. Bummer!!!! Major Bummer!!!! At least they could have kept Hellblazer the original title. Constantine could have been better but it was sort of a let down to Vertigo fans......