Astonishing but true: Filmmakers moonlight as comic book writers
By Scott Bowles, USA TODAY
Hollywood has been plundering comic books for material for decades. Now it’s time for revenge.
The adventures of Dante and Randall continue in director Kevin Smith’s comic book version of Clerks, his first movie.
The comic book industry, once populated by anonymous, low-paid writers and illustrators, is luring big-name Hollywood talent to write some of its most popular comics. And at least one book is lampooning studios for their portrayal of beloved villains and superheroes.
Filmmakers say writing for comic books allows them to flex new creative muscles and become more familiar with story lines they may soon bring to the big screen. They also concede it’s the fulfillment of fantasies they’ve had since they were geeky teenagers.
Kevin Smith, the director of Clerks and Dogma, has been a regular writer for Daredevil and Green Arrow. But other directors are now joining him:
• Joss Whedon, the creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel, this month begins a year-long run of Astonishing X-Men.
• Bryan Singer, director of the first two X-Men films, has agreed to write a series of Ultimate X-Men comics, involving the popular mutant Marvel superheroes.
• David Goyer, director of the upcoming Blade: Trinity and screenwriter of next year’s Batman Begins, will write a 100-page installment of The Justice Society of America, the popular DC Comics series.
“Anyone who was a big fan of comics as a kid has dreamed of writing one himself,” Goyer says.
He says comic book writing is a lure for directors because it’s a throwback to old-time filmmaking.
“You don’t have the big budgets and the special effects,” says Goyer, who adapted the comic book screenplays for both previous Blade films. “It’s more simplistic storytelling.”
This high-profile moonlighting has a double payoff: Big-name directors bring more attention to comic books, and comic books can help sell upcoming films.
In the latest installments of Ultimate Spider-Man comics, for instance, the story line revolves around Spidey’s anger at Hollywood for trying to make a movie about him.
In the books, both Spider-Man and the evil Doctor Octavius confront Avi Arad, the real-life head of Marvel studios, and Sam Raimi, the director of next month’s Spider-Man 2. Arad tells the web-slinger that there’s nothing he can do to stop the movie, while Raimi orders the cameras to roll when Spider-Man and Doc Ock duke it out on the film set.
Arad says the self-referential story line has made Ultimate Spider-Man one of Marvel’s top 10 sellers. “It’s fun and a clever way to pay respect to the books,” Arad says. “Plus, Sam gets to look thinner, and I get more hair.”
Raimi isn’t so thrilled: “I come off like an arrogant jerk. The sooner they kill me off, the better.”
