Monday, February 26, 2007

There have been a few more stories come out of the New York Comicon. This one, again from Newsarama, covers the Dark Horse panel.

>Atkins then asked the audience, “Who likes extreme violence?” When the reaction was not up to his expectations, he deadpanned, “Don’t be so shy; everyone here wanted to raise their hands.” <

Or maybe they didn't want to raise their hands. Maybe the audience isn't as thirsty for violence as publishers assume. Afterall, it's getting old at this point even for fans who once thought it daring.

Also, consider that a lot of people probably came to this panel for news on Star Wars and Buffy comics. Neither of those properties offer much "extreme violence". Yes, they have sword fights and martial arts and monsters, but only a few instances of violence that i'd think of as "extreme". It was a big deal when Vader chopped Luke's hand off b/c all the violence up to that point had been fairly unrealistic. Ditto with the few times that Buffy or one of her friends got significantly injured. Most of the violence on that show resulted in vampires turning to dust, which is very fanciful.

>He then told readers about MPD Psycho, a manga series that is so violent and so extreme that nothing anyone has ever seen will compare. He added that the series is highly requested, but “none of the other publishers would touch it.” It is a compelling story that people need to read, with lots of blood and gore, he concluded.<

Maybe there are readers out there who are excited or intrigued by that, but to me it sounds boring. Whether it's been "highly requested" i can't say, b/c i don't follow Japanese comics that closely.

>Allie announced that Joss Whedon and Bret Matthews are writing, and Will Conrad penciling, a new Serenity comic series. The [snip] series will debut in “probably September or October.” It takes place early in the series, before the movie, so “everyone is still alive.”<

That could be good. Firefly was much stronger as a TV series than a movie. It's biggest appeal was the characters, and character-driven stories are antithetical to Big Action Movies. Comics, however, are well suited to that type of storytelling, since the pacing is very flexible, and the financial pressure to make things big and blockbustery isn't there.