DC TO ADAPT GAIMAN'S NEVERWHERE

[MattBrady]

It’s been a novel, a BBC miniseries, and now, Neil Gaiman’s Neverwhere will move to comics, in the form of a miniseries from DC.

Gaiman quietly confirmed that DC is working on the miniseries at his blog, and when asked by Newsarama, DC confirmed that the project is in the works, with more details to be released soon.

At one time, it was rumored that Michael Zulli would be illustrating, though DC did not confirm, or name an artist.

For those who’ve yet to read the novel, Neverwhere is a fantasy story set in the “invisible” London…Neverwhere.

From the bookflap:

“Richard Mayhew is a plain man with a good heart -- and an ordinary life that is changed forever on a day he stops to help a girl he finds bleeding on a London sidewalk. From that moment forward he is propelled into a world he never dreamed existed -- a dark subculture flourish in abandoned subway stations and sewer tunnels below the city -- a world far stranger and more dangerous than the only one he has ever known...Richard Mayhew is a young businessman with a good heart and a dull job.

"When he stops one day to help a girl he finds bleeding on a London sidewalk, his life is forever altered, for he finds himself propelled into an alternate reality that exists in a subterranean labyrinth of sewer canals and abandoned subway stations below the city. He has fallen through the cracks of reality and has landed somewhere different, somewhere that is Neverwhere.

"For this is the home of Door, the mysterious girl whom Richard rescued in the London Above. A personage of great power and nobility in this murky, candlelit realm, she is on a mission to discover the cause of her family's slaughter, and in doing so preserve this strange underworld kingdom from the malevolence that means to destroy it. And with nowhere else to turn, Richard Mayhew must now join the Lady Door's entourage in their determined--and possibly fatal--quest.

"For the dread journey ever-downward--through bizarre anachronisms and dangerous incongruities, and into dusty corners of stalled time--is Richard's final hope, his last road back to a "real" world that is growing disturbingly less real by the minute.

"If Tim Burton reimagined The Phantom of the Opera, if Jack Finney let his dark side take over, if you rolled the best work of Clive Barker, Peter Straub and Caleb Carr into one, you still would have something that fell far short of Neil Gaiman's NEVERWHERE. It is a masterful debut novel of darkly hypnotic power, and one of the most absorbing reads to come along in years."

[JK Parkin]

Sweet! And Michael Zulli on art would be even sweeter!

[Quay Lewd]

Always a comfort to have Mr. Gaiman working in comics.

As for NEVERWHERE, Should I read the book first? See the TV show too? Or just wait for the comic - my favorite medium

I enjoyed STARDUST, but that's the only thing outside of the beloved SANDMAN that I've read. Still haven't read 1602.

[Strike]

I've got the book.

And I've yet to read it. I just haven't gotten round to it.

[Fazhoul]

I loved the boook and the mini-series should be just as good. And I agree that Michael Zulli would be a good choice for an artist. Or maybe Bryan Talbot.

[blankpoint]

The book is good, but it's probably one of my least favourite works by Gaiman. The show is well-acted, but suffers from the fact that it had an extremely low budget and was filmed on video, instead of actual film. (at least today it could have been done on DV)

I remember the talk way back of the comics adaptation... I think it would be more successful now if it was a sequel or spin-off mini-series, not a simple adaptation of the novel.

[captainamerica4]

I liked the book and have read American Gods and was equally imprerssed. The comic adaptation should be great especially since Gaiman is doing the writting. He always teams with such talented artists. Has ther been anybody else that has written a book and has personnally written the comic book adaptation?

[Rob Helmerichs]

FWIW, the miniseries came first, then the English edition of the novel (which fleshed it out), then the American edition (which both added and deleted material to make it more accessible to the American audience).

[kingofcities]

Great book. I liked American Gods better, however I think Neverwhere will translate wonderfully to the comic medium.

[Pascal]

I've read the novel, watched the TV show. This is one of the best stories of Neil Gaiman! I'm really excited about this!

[kingofcities]

Originally posted by Pascal
I've read the novel, watched the TV show. This is one of the best stories of Neil Gaiman! I'm really excited about this!

Is the TV show any good? I've seen the DVD set on sale, but know nothing about it.

[Hdefined]

It's great that DC is getting ahold of this. Maybe we'll see even more Gaiman projects at DC in the future. After the 1602 mistake, I hope he never writes for Marvel again.

[Pascal]

Originally posted by kingofcities
Is the TV show any good? I've seen the DVD set on sale, but know nothing about it.

Despite the small budget, it's VERY good. Only the (british version of the) novel is better.

[ParisCub]

Well, let's not forget that the "novel" is actually the TV series novelisation, nothing more. It does flesh out the characters a bit and has different scenes (the floating market in Harrod's instead of Battersea).

I'd tell people to see the series before they read the novel. That's the way it was made.

Strangely enough, I remember the comic book mini-series being a DC project back then, illustrated by Michael Zulli... It's weird to see this project again.

I only hope it will be a new story... They were supposed to do another series set in Paris, New York... using the same concept.... That would be much better than yet another novalisation, this time in comic book form.

Excellent story!

[Raphe Cheli]

Is Gaiman actually writing the adaptation? It doesn't really say in the article.

[PopCultureComix]

Originally posted by Hdefined
It's great that DC is getting ahold of this. Maybe we'll see even more Gaiman projects at DC in the future. After the 1602 mistake, I hope he never writes for Marvel again.

Please enlighten me. What was the '1602' mistake??????????

[PopCultureComix]

This should be a kick-ass series for mature readers. Here's an overview of the Neverwhere novel copied from the Neal Gaiman website:
"Richard Mayhew is an unassuming young businessman living in London, with a dull job and a pretty but demanding fiancee. Then one night he stumbles across a girl bleeding on the sidewalk. He stops to help her -- and the life he knows vanishes like smoke.
Several hours later, the girl is gone too. And by the following morning, Richard Mayhew has been erased from his world. His bank cards no longer work, taxi drivers won't stop for him, his landlord rents his apartment out to strangers. He has become invisible, and inexplicably consigned to a London of shadows and darkness, a city of monsters and saints, murderers and angels, that exists entirely in a subterranean labyrinth of sewer canals and abandoned subway stations. He has fallen through the cracks of reality and has landed somewhere different, somewhere that is Neverwhere.

For this is the home of Door, the mysterious girl whom Richard rescued in the London Above. A personage of great power and nobility in this murky, candlelit realm, she is on a mission to discover the cause of her family's slaughter, and in doing so preserve this strange underworld kingdom from the malevolence that means to destroy it. And with nowhere else to turn, Richard Mayhew must now join the Lady Door's entourage in their determined -- and possibly fatal -- quest.

For the dread journey ever-downward -- through bizarre anachronisms and dangerous incongruities, and into dusty corners of stalled time -- is Richard's final hope, his last road back to a "real" world that is growing disturbingly less real by the minute"
NEAL GAIMAN'S NEVERWHERE

[Janin]

Originally posted by Rob Helmerichs
FWIW, the miniseries came first, then the English edition of the novel (which fleshed it out), then the American edition (which both added and deleted material to make it more accessible to the American audience).

Were there any major differences between the English and American versions?

[Janin]

Originally posted by Quay Lewd
Always a comfort to have Mr. Gaiman working in comics.

As for NEVERWHERE, Should I read the book first? See the TV show too? Or just wait for the comic - my favorite medium

I enjoyed STARDUST, but that's the only thing outside of the beloved SANDMAN that I've read. Still haven't read 1602.

I don't think it matters whether or not you read the book or see the show first. They're about the same thing.

What I'm not sure of is whether this comic miniseries is an adaptation of Neverwhere, or if it takes place after the original story.

[brainofj21]

Originally posted by PopCultureComix
Please enlighten me. What was the '1602' mistake??????????

Yes

I too would like to know.


I thought it was great

[Scavenger]

Anyone know if the Brian Henson helmed movie is still in the works?

[bookwyrm]

Originally posted by brainofj21
Yes

I too would like to know.


I thought it was great

I think the problem a lot of Gaiman fans had was they were expecting something more like Sandman or American Gods from 1602. They didn't appreciate that it was intended from the get go as a tribute to the old Lee/Kirby/Ditko Marvel Age. With goofy high concepts (see Sir Reed's 'scientific' theories) and big group fights.

No it wasn't the best thing Gaiman has written, but it was fun for those of us who enjoyed some nostalgia. If it had a serious flaw it was that it was made so open ended. But I'm certain that was imposed from on high. I think too often stories aren't alowed their proper rest (see The Matrix).

Oh, and a Neverwhere comic would be nifty. It'd be great to see Zulli drawing again. Though I wouldn't want Neil to take time away from Anansi Boys (the next American Gods book) to do it.

[brazilgilliam]

More Gaiman is something that I have mixed feelings about:
On the one hand, I've always liked Neverwhere. I think his Sandman work has for the most part been very well written, with some glaring exceptions of course. On the other, I'm beginning to feel that Gaiman is no longer as adept in his writing as he used to be. I thought American Gods was good all the way up till the end where Gaiman stopped short of ending it with a bang. I read the first 2 issues of 1602 and was unimpressed with Gaiman's new imagining of the Marvel Universe. It was okay for what it was but for Mr. Gaiman's standard it simply didn't hold up for me. I thought Sandman Endless Nights was only sporadically good and mostly just filler material with great art. This new project could be interesting but what is DC offering for us fans who already know the story and love it? Admittedly, I am at the far end of the spectrum of fans but I just can't stand to see Gaiman and all of his upcoming projects put on this pedestal that glorify him in such a way that places him beyond reproach.

[furioso2012]

The comic adaptation should be great especially since Gaiman is doing the writting.

This seems to be an adaptation, so it is likely that another writer will handle he series scripting.

As I recall, the novel is not a novelization in the commonly understood "tie in/cash-in" meaning of the term. Gaiman wrote six or so forty-five minutes scripts for the TV show, as contracted. But during preproduction, as things were getting down to the wire, the BBC decided on an abrupt format change, and Mr. G was asked to cut each Ep down to thirty minutes. That's two hours less story time. Plus, each Ep was carefully structured, so it wasn't a matter if simple pruning. This was a drastic measure. LOTS of stuff had to go. He wrote the story as a novel as a means to "hold onto" the original intent and design of the Neverwhere storyline. (In fact, if memory serves, he finished it in Tori Amos' London house.)

The differences in UK and US versions are minor. Maybe the US editors wanted a happier ending, or wanted it explained in more detail.

[gren99]

i got the DVD set for my birthday last week and while at first i thought the low-end production values were at best quaintly humorous, within 10 minutes of the first episode, i was totally engrossed by the story, the concepts and just about everything about it.

it was a fascinating piece of work.

if you've read a lot of gaiman's work, you'lld find a lot of familiar hooks and angles as it were -- the politics of heaven, angels, amusing historical tidbits (i had to smile when door mentioned that some members of the XIX legion survived and were still hanging around london...), notions of a whole different world existing just beyond us mere mortal's ability to percieve it -- it's great stuff allright. ca'nt wait to see a comic adaptation.

be nice if they actually did some new material, actually, but i suppose that will come eventually.

as for '1602' -- i can kinda-sorta see where people were disapointed with it. i think it's perhaps the worst work in comics that gaiman has ever done (i even thought that superman-GL story he originally did for action comics weekly was in it's own wy more interesting), but his worst work in comcis still was one of the more interesting books i read over the last year. as someone noted previously, i suspect it kinda go clobbered by people having too high a set of expectations for it.