MattBrady
10-18-2006, 01:39 PM
<a href="http://www.newsarama.com/DBPro/Anita/Marvel/Anita_cvra.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.newsarama.com/DBPro/Anita/Marvel/t_AnitaBlake.jpg" border="0" align="right"></a>This week marks the beginning of Anita Blake’s journey into comics. Based on the New York Times Bestselling series of novels by Laurell K. Hamilton, this week’s <b>Anita Blake Vampire Hunter: Guilty Pleasures #1</b> marks the start of Anita’s stories being told in comics, as adapted by Stacie Ritchie and Brett Booth. (Click here ( http://www.newsarama.com/DBPro/Anita/Marvel/AnitBlakePre.html) for a preview of issue #1)
Hamilton spoke to us about the process.
“It’s been amazing watching the artwork come across the desk,” Hamilton told Newsarama. “And my admiration for those in the comic book industry increases virtually with every single page – line drawing looks very different when gone over and made darker and colored. Watching the entire process from start to finish is like watching something that’s caught in ice become clearer as the ice around it melts, and you can see more and more of the form.”
Additionally, Hamilton said that seeing the comic book version of <i>Guilty Pleasures</i> come to life has been a virtual trip down memory lane, given that the book was written in 1990.
“Looking at the story come alive in the comic book has made me go back to the original book and notice some of the details that I’d forgotten, like how much of the book Anita spends being angry,” Hamilton said. “I’d also forgotten that there’s almost a mathematical formula where the more attracted she is to a guy, the angrier she is, and the pictures show that clearly. Brett captured her moods perfectly, and it was very interesting to be reminded of where she and I were at when we started out. The novel was in the first person and she described her feelings, but with the comic, the character <i>shows</i> the emotion so that it’s clear and obvious. It’s like one of those moments that you go back on in your life, when you thought you were hiding your emotions pretty well, and in reality, everyone knew what you were thinking.
<img src="http://www.newsarama.com/DBPro/Anita/laurell-k-hamilton_2004_02a.jpg" border="0" align="left"> “It’s also wonderful to see the pictures of bit players that I hadn’t thought of in years, but had appeared in a lot of the books,” the writer continued. “Seeing them walking across the stage just reminded me that we haven’t used them in a while, so actually the comic books may actually translate some of the smaller parts in this book getting more on stage time in the latter books. Watching the characters and seeing them in full color and vibrant with life that I haven’t thought about in a while has really made me revisit them in my mind.”
And while Hamilton is, well by default, a fan of the comic version, she said that, from what she hears, her fans are after this version as well – and so far, not really thinking about waiting for the trade.
“Oh, they’re thrilled with the idea,” Hamilton said of the comic book version of Anita Blake. “They love the idea of having a really visual treat to go with what they’ve been seeing in their minds. I don’t check the websites, but what we’re hearing from across the country is that comic book shops are seeing women coming in asking about and looking for the book since it was announced. I have male readers as well, but what I take from that is that the word has gotten out, and they are trying to find the book or at least pre-order it. [Fans new to world of comic books can find a store near them by calling the comic book shop locator line at 1-888-comicbook.]
<a href="http://www.newsarama.com/DBPro/Anita/Marvel/JeanClaudelitho.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.newsarama.com/DBPro/Anita/Marvel/AnitaBlakeJean-ClaudeLimited-EditionPrint_t.jpg" border="0" align="right"></a> “We took pictures of Anita holding a gun while wearing the zombie penguin shirt and a picture of Jean-Claude leaning against a wall and looking just scrumptious to a convention, and there was almost a fistfight over who wanted to hold the pictures. Really – the fans <i>really</i> liked the artwork. This is something where the fans can finally see a visual to go along with the words that they’ve known for a while.”
(As a side note, the Jean Claude image that almost had fans coming to blows will be made exclusively available to comic book retailers in the form of a limited-edition print with <b>Anita Blake #2</b> Fans interested in receiving this unique collectible will need to visit their local comic book store on November 5th.)
Hamilton said that from the very start, Booth was able to capture the world of Anita Blake. “Brett’s art on Anita and Jean Claude, for the most part, was dead on when I first saw it. For some of the minor characters, we had to go back and forth a little bit, but one of the main reasons that I said yes to Brett when it first came in was that I took a look at it and saw that he had just captured the feel I was going for.
“There are different ways to work with artists – there are those who do almost a police sketch kind of way and go detail by detail, and I’ve yet to have that method work; but Brett is coming to this with a sympathy for the work and already has it in his head. So when the first sketches came in, my immediate reaction was, ‘Yeah! That’s it!’”
And while the property is licensed from Hamilton to Marvel/Dabel Brothers, Hamilton isn’t an absentee landlord. “[Scripter/adaptor] Stacie Ritchie sends the script through for us to look at, and then, when Brett starts the art, we get to see that from the very first sketch on, and are able to say yes, no, or this needs to move over here. So we’re fairly active in the production, but like everyone else out there, I’m very much looking forward to the finished product.
“Of course, having the comic coming out has raised this whole drawing envy thing I have – I so wish I could draw, and find it frustrating in a way that I’m not able to express what’s in my head in this manner as well, but I suppose that, if I could draw like this, it might satisfy some of the need that’s in me to write, and I’m not sure about making that tradeoff. With the comic book, I have someone else doing that for me, and don’t need to worry about it.”
Hamilton spoke to us about the process.
“It’s been amazing watching the artwork come across the desk,” Hamilton told Newsarama. “And my admiration for those in the comic book industry increases virtually with every single page – line drawing looks very different when gone over and made darker and colored. Watching the entire process from start to finish is like watching something that’s caught in ice become clearer as the ice around it melts, and you can see more and more of the form.”
Additionally, Hamilton said that seeing the comic book version of <i>Guilty Pleasures</i> come to life has been a virtual trip down memory lane, given that the book was written in 1990.
“Looking at the story come alive in the comic book has made me go back to the original book and notice some of the details that I’d forgotten, like how much of the book Anita spends being angry,” Hamilton said. “I’d also forgotten that there’s almost a mathematical formula where the more attracted she is to a guy, the angrier she is, and the pictures show that clearly. Brett captured her moods perfectly, and it was very interesting to be reminded of where she and I were at when we started out. The novel was in the first person and she described her feelings, but with the comic, the character <i>shows</i> the emotion so that it’s clear and obvious. It’s like one of those moments that you go back on in your life, when you thought you were hiding your emotions pretty well, and in reality, everyone knew what you were thinking.
<img src="http://www.newsarama.com/DBPro/Anita/laurell-k-hamilton_2004_02a.jpg" border="0" align="left"> “It’s also wonderful to see the pictures of bit players that I hadn’t thought of in years, but had appeared in a lot of the books,” the writer continued. “Seeing them walking across the stage just reminded me that we haven’t used them in a while, so actually the comic books may actually translate some of the smaller parts in this book getting more on stage time in the latter books. Watching the characters and seeing them in full color and vibrant with life that I haven’t thought about in a while has really made me revisit them in my mind.”
And while Hamilton is, well by default, a fan of the comic version, she said that, from what she hears, her fans are after this version as well – and so far, not really thinking about waiting for the trade.
“Oh, they’re thrilled with the idea,” Hamilton said of the comic book version of Anita Blake. “They love the idea of having a really visual treat to go with what they’ve been seeing in their minds. I don’t check the websites, but what we’re hearing from across the country is that comic book shops are seeing women coming in asking about and looking for the book since it was announced. I have male readers as well, but what I take from that is that the word has gotten out, and they are trying to find the book or at least pre-order it. [Fans new to world of comic books can find a store near them by calling the comic book shop locator line at 1-888-comicbook.]
<a href="http://www.newsarama.com/DBPro/Anita/Marvel/JeanClaudelitho.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.newsarama.com/DBPro/Anita/Marvel/AnitaBlakeJean-ClaudeLimited-EditionPrint_t.jpg" border="0" align="right"></a> “We took pictures of Anita holding a gun while wearing the zombie penguin shirt and a picture of Jean-Claude leaning against a wall and looking just scrumptious to a convention, and there was almost a fistfight over who wanted to hold the pictures. Really – the fans <i>really</i> liked the artwork. This is something where the fans can finally see a visual to go along with the words that they’ve known for a while.”
(As a side note, the Jean Claude image that almost had fans coming to blows will be made exclusively available to comic book retailers in the form of a limited-edition print with <b>Anita Blake #2</b> Fans interested in receiving this unique collectible will need to visit their local comic book store on November 5th.)
Hamilton said that from the very start, Booth was able to capture the world of Anita Blake. “Brett’s art on Anita and Jean Claude, for the most part, was dead on when I first saw it. For some of the minor characters, we had to go back and forth a little bit, but one of the main reasons that I said yes to Brett when it first came in was that I took a look at it and saw that he had just captured the feel I was going for.
“There are different ways to work with artists – there are those who do almost a police sketch kind of way and go detail by detail, and I’ve yet to have that method work; but Brett is coming to this with a sympathy for the work and already has it in his head. So when the first sketches came in, my immediate reaction was, ‘Yeah! That’s it!’”
And while the property is licensed from Hamilton to Marvel/Dabel Brothers, Hamilton isn’t an absentee landlord. “[Scripter/adaptor] Stacie Ritchie sends the script through for us to look at, and then, when Brett starts the art, we get to see that from the very first sketch on, and are able to say yes, no, or this needs to move over here. So we’re fairly active in the production, but like everyone else out there, I’m very much looking forward to the finished product.
“Of course, having the comic coming out has raised this whole drawing envy thing I have – I so wish I could draw, and find it frustrating in a way that I’m not able to express what’s in my head in this manner as well, but I suppose that, if I could draw like this, it might satisfy some of the need that’s in me to write, and I’m not sure about making that tradeoff. With the comic book, I have someone else doing that for me, and don’t need to worry about it.”