Pre-holidays stress
An edition about sexy vampires, sexy hitmen and Rody Pipper
HELLO AND WELCOME TO A NEW EDITION OF MY NEWSLETTER!
Like I told you in the previous newsletter, I´m finishing some commitments and working double on others to save time for holidays. It’s a little stressful and it doesn't let me have too much time for social media interaction or even updating the store, or writing this newsletter. Usually I write it during the month, with calmness, but this time I’m doing it the day before. Like a schoolboy who forgot to do his homework.
I feel like writing to you before the holidays at least to comment on some news.
SEINEN VAMPIRE
The original creator commented on his twitter account: I’m writing the adaptation to manga of the bestselling French album series Requiem Chevalier Vampire, created by Pat Mills and Olivier Ledroit for the French publisher Glénat.
Even if I'm a superfan of Pat Mills’ creations like Marshall Law or Slaine, I must confess I hadn't read the series. But the challenge to adapt a Bande Desinée to manga storytelling was too interesting. The artist will be a young (and insultingly talented) artist from Bolivia called Seban. I promise you, this guy is gonna be a star.
And I say it’s interesting because I work like a kind of bridge between this young artist, who is basically a manga artist and reader, and Pat, who belongs to the 2000AD magazine school. And like I was (long time ago, Gandalf) one of these 90s teens who was reading American superheroes and Judge Dreed and Tintin and Asterix, and were blown away by the manga explosion of Akira and Dragonball, my main task is taking these awesome series about violence, blood, sex and ultra-technified vampires and making it work as a seinen series.
I need to rewrite a lot and structure it in chapters because this manga could also be published in Japan. It’s not as easy as “one album, one manga book” and transforming 44 pages in 150. The motivations, the development of the characters’ powers, the dosage of the information, the action… It’s a completely different language, and it’s fascinating to study both of them.
I think it would be easier to make a manga directly instead of adapting another storyline, like I did with my collaborations with the Japanese Tezucomi magazine (where I used Osamu Tezuka’s characters in new stories). But this is the challenge, isn't it? Doing something you have never done before.
I think there has not been a complete official announcement from the publisher, so I will tell you more about it when I’m allowed.
THE BLACK KAISER ON THE WORKS
Mads Mikkelsen recently attended the Starfury convention and talked about the Polar sequel, The Black Kaiser. He didn't say very much. He can’t, and the few things I know I’m not allowed to either.
A filming was scheduled this year but different factors changed it. Mainly, the writers and actors (fair) strike forced to delay and reschedule everyone’s commitments. I suppose Vanessa Hudgens’ recent maternity was a factor. Not really sure about dates here, but I really want to have her in the movie, so if the price is waiting for her a little, I’m really willing to pay it. I love her acting in Polar and the character Jayson Rothwell wrote for her was the hearth of the movie.
I hope to give you news about a new filming date soon. If I have learned something in my different experiences in the visual industry, you need gigantic reserves of patience and enthusiasm at the same time.
WORKING CLASS HEROES
Don’t you feel that sometimes you are seeing and reading a lot of fiction about rich people with rich people problems? From The Bridgerton to Succession, I understand the fascination of peering through the keyhole to the privileged. But sometimes I miss, especially in genre stories, more people who worry less about their damaged feelings and more about his life because it’s screwed up, but truly screwed up.
I remember when I was a kid and saw They live by John Carpenter. I was surprised when I saw the hero of the story was an unemployed man. My father was unemployed by this time, because the factory he worked in closed and the bosses ran away with the workers’ salaries. I hadn't ever seen a hero like Roddy Piper.
I’m also a fan of Columbo, and I think Columbo is so cool because the rich and powerful men he investigates underestimate him all the time. And this is because they think a poor person is a uneducated person. They see the cheap clothes, his car, the five o'clock shadow… They see he has attended a public school instead a fancy college, so they think they can cheat him. And they couldn't be more wrong.
I'm glad to see films like Monkeyman, which is not a perfect film, but it’s full of enthusiasm and energy and recovers this kind of underdog fighter. I made my attempt with my Ginger's revenge story and his heroine, a “chav” girl who knows martial arts and confronts his father, a middle-level gangster.
It’s not a question of whether every hero should be defeating the Upper Class (even though defending the oppressed is confronting the powerful) or transforming action or adventure stories into Ken Loach’s dramas. It’s about the greatness that can be found at every level in society. You don't need rich parents and a bat-cave to be a hero.
And that’s all!
When you read my new edition of the newsletter, I will have returned from holidays. I hope to survive the experience one year more!
Meanwhile, take care!
Victor
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