Originals versus franchises...which are better?

Fysh

I'm getting kind of bored at the moment, since the unruly beast that is the "what are you reading now" thread is the only one that shows regular interesting discussion, so I figure'd I'd throw this out for you all...

What do you reckon of comics that become comics having started somewhere else (i.e. franchises)? Are they any better than comics that start out as comics, are they worse? I'm talking general opinions here - I personally tend towards a "judge each case" approach, but I'm curious to see what more mainstream-oriented readers make of them (because, you know, I'm so alternative )

Recently, we've got Avatar announcing that they're doing comic versions of Friday the 13th (how apt that I saw this in store for the first time today), Nightmare on Elm Street and Texas Chainsaw Massacre. IDW has been pumping out videogame, television and even book franchise adaptations over the last few months - CSI, Silent Hill, Richard Matheson's "I am Legend" and "Hell House". G.I.Joe, Transformers and Thundercats all have comics incarnations. And I'm sure there's loads more, only I'm feeling lazy about naming them.

My general opinion is that, like most franchises, there's the risk of things being dumbed down in an attempt to create a new cash cow - the Castlevania comic captures little of the atmosphere present in the games and, frankly, is too blah to be worth reading, regardless of its source material. The Hell House adaptation, on the other hand, is a good comic so far, since it has strong source material that carries well into a comics form. I'm wary because a good writer will find ways to reinvent a franchise and keep it fresh and interesting, but adding the extra hoops of "not upsetting the franchise owners" and "not alienating existing franchise fans" to the existing difficulties faced by a comic creator does not strike me as a way of creating original and interesting comics.

Of course, sufficient cynicism about the direct market model can make you think that similar hoops apply to those creating original comics, but I live in hope...

Thoughts?

simu

Nah, I don't see anything good coming out of franchises. You might get some readable results but you'll never get anything truly groundbreaking.

Gambler

Hmmm, to be honest I've yet to see a good comic come out of a franchise.

I'll have a think about it but so far anything I've seen has been useless..

John

What about comics made into films and the films made into comics? That does my head in. Not just the comic book adaption of a movie but a few years ago after Hollywood murdered Judge Dredd they brought out a kids comic which diluted the already dilute movie way down.

Fysh

I remember that after the judge dredd movie they had a relatively short-lived "Judge Dredd : Lawman Of The Future" comic... gotta admit that as someone who wasn't overly keen on Dredd as he appeared in the 2000AD book, I quite liked JD LOTF, because the artwork appealed to me more. The stories weren't great though, as I recall.

And yes, comic adaptations of the movie that was based on a comic are invariably dire. Just look at the Constantine movie adaptation.

Draco

As I recall the aim of the Lawman of the Future comic was to have a 'bridging comic' between the likes of Beano and 2000AD. I think I looked at one issue and never opened another one after that.

The franchise comics I've gotten over the last few years (Transformers, GI Joe and a Robotech one) have all been rather poor. Some of this can be blamed on the restrictions placed on them by the owners, but mostly it's just poor stories. About the best of them was the Transformers/GI Joe series set at the outbreak of WW2 which was helped by some wonderful artwork. Of course, these particular franchises were never going to stand up to my nostalgia tinted memories of the originals.

By and large I would tend to avoid them myself as more often than not they're just money making exercises.

Epitaph

Draco wrote:

About the best of them was the Transformers/GI Joe series set at the outbreak of WW2 which was helped by some wonderful artwork.

Nothing constructive to add to the overall debate (soz) but I must second the above opinion - fantastic looking book, it's what got me to notice Jae Lee. Unfortunately his upcoming Ultimate Fantastic 4 stuff doesn't look too hot, but the WWII-era Transformers and Joes looked outstanding. Been looking for the trade on eBay every now and again.

spooydermot

Draco wrote:

About the best of them was the Transformers/GI Joe series set at the outbreak of WW2 which was helped by some wonderful artwork.

The artwork in the WW2 TF/GI Joe series was fantastic, but the story was far too disjointed at the end (not to mention that fact that it took Dreamwave ages to get the final issue out, sometimes the whole 6 issue limit on miniseries can really cramp the story telling) I have to say I thought the Tranformers series was going well, especially the way that the 'war within' series tied into the 'generation one' story line. Its a pity the company folded when they did because there were a lot of interesting threads that it would have been nice to see tied up.

On the whole I think the whole comics to movies thing is a sure sign of how creativly bankrupt hollywood truly is, especially in recent years, although I have to admit I enjoyed X-Men and on the whole Spiderman was OK, I thought the very end of Spiderman 2 set the series up well for the next installment (not that I'm a huge sequel fan) - also I am very much looking foward to Sin City.

OK, so i liked a few of the comic book movies, my point about hollywold still stands though

And then the transition from comic book movie backto comic book is just another dollar in the pocket for the studio, and as has already been pointed out further dilutes the stories and characters.