Having just read that Striker comic has acquired the rights to War of the Worlds and the comic is now being cancelled, perhaps the strip would be ideal in 2000AD? It's sci-fi, about aliens. Would seem perfect for 2000AD. I know it's unusual for 2000AD to do movie tie-ins but it did do A Life Less Than Ordinary.
It's an interesting idea. Anyone for the idea?
Personally I think it would be a wonderful idea. I was planning on giving the WotW's comic a try, even tho I dislike Striker. I would hope that Rebellion could produce a better version of the comic and I would certainly be getting the initial issues, at least.
Alan!
I think the problems would be:
- The time factor. The film is out soon so 2000AD would have to reschedule its current stories to fit it in.
- The cost. I guess the rights to the strip cost a fair bit.
But in theory it could be cool. But if the film is awful then blame someone else for the tie-in idea.:)
I doubt (although I can't be sure without seeing the new movie) that the movie version of War of the Worlds will be as entertaining as more leftfield takes on the legend (ie Scarlet Traces and The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen).
A Life Less Ordinary was a pretty mediochre film and an even more mediochre comic strip that didn't really belong in 2000AD, so that's not a particularly persuasive argument for more.
Speaking of Scarlet Traces, if Rebellion has money to spend on WotW-oriented strip, I'd rather it printed the ST sequel than a comic book version of WotW.
...and weren't the WotW rights only to do with Jeff Wayne's musical version, anyway? I don't believe the Striker team's effort was going to be anything to do with the new movie.
I remember doing WotW in Doctor Who Comics.
I remember enjoying the dexterity of the adaption they made with the story to comic form.
I remember them doing it as a concept and myself reading it.
The movie will probably come and go very quickly, from what I've seen, it's the usually toss. Then again it'll probably make a lot of money. But I can't see it being the movie event of the decade.
Too late to get anything ready in time, without an awful lot of effort. I assume with the artists problem, this project has sunk as well.
The movie's going to be very very "americanised" which is good for hollywood and bad for people wanting War of the Worlds to be in it's more classic form.
Isn't the original story in the Public Domain? I'm sure 2000AD would have no legal problem addapting the original story as a Trill Series. But then what would be the point? We already know the story. Plus 2000AD does Alien Invasion Yarns all the time (realativaly) Though putting Tri-Pods and ORSON WELL'S WAR OF THE WORLDS on the cover could spike a few sales, hell maybe you'd get a few kids reading, as parents would pick it for little Johnny to read that classic story in comic form!
Uh.... I mean H.G. Wells...of course. Curse this forum's inability to Edit posts!
Trouble with any WOTW comic, for me at least, is that it probably wouldn't stand up to the fantastic job Alan Moore did with the story/concept in LOEG vol 2.
The status of Wells' work is a bit messy. In the US, all of his work published before 1922 are in the public domain, but everything published during his lifetime after that remains in copyright for 95 years after initial publication.
In the UK and the EU, plus a few other countries, his work remains in copyright until the end of 2016.
I think - though I could be wrong - any adaptation or reprint of his work in the UK would seem to require the consent of the copyright holders.