Anita Blake — the Comic Book

Marvel is bringing out an Anita Blake comic book — starting with a 12-part adaptation of Laurell K. Hamilton’s Guilty Pleasures.

Bleah.

Okay, part of what makes the AB books work (at least in the early volumes, which is when they actually do work) is the grounding of horror in reality. As a comic book — unless you’re being very realistic and, you’re going to end up with something that becomes almost a parody. Which, looking at the art, by Brett Booth …

I mean … isn’t she cute? The Anita Blake I know would shoot anyone who drew her like that. And, honestly — Jean-Claude just looks darned silly in the various images provided in advance … because someone who just looks like that without the feelings/emotions/descriptions that Hamilton provides is … just going to look like a silly denizen from the cover of a romance
novel.

Steve Dillon. That’s who this novel needs. Or maybe Steve Epting, who’s been doing some great gritty art over on Captain America. If you try to make this cute or heroic or romantic, it’s going to fall on its face. This is a case where realism/grittiness need to be in place to tone down the florid nature of the tale.

Now, from what I’ve read in the various bits, it’s adapted pretty decently. I’m not going to be one of those, “No, wait, this little niggling detail is not right! It’s all ruined for me!” It’s more just a matter of just the tome.

Interesting stuff from a Marvel conference call.

QUESTION: Your novels are known for their “raciness” compared to Marvel’s line. Will there be a toning down of this?

ANSWER: MARVEL: We are not labeling this as Max.

HAMILTON: Yes, now that there is a high sexual content in the series – that is what everyone talks about. But actually the sexual content was not over the top initially. Guilty Pleasures, if a movie, would be rated R, but not for sexual content, but for violence and language – and maybe adult situations. I’m not sure there is anything here that needs to be toned down.

SEAN JORDAN: When we started with the project, our initial concern was the reputation of the books for being a bit sexual. Bu the first five books or so Anita is like a nice little Catholic girl.It isn’t even until the fifth book that we see a sex scene involving her. The reputation of the later books doesn’t come ’til the eleventh or twelfth book, which is, if we publish everything, about eleven or twelve years away. There is a strip club scene in the first book, but nothing objectional. The vampire strip club
is about vampirism, not the nudity that interests the women.

I’m in the middle of rereading these, and am on the 6th book (The Killing Dance), and the content is only here starting to go over the top, viz mature audience. (It’s also still a good book, and not too overloaded with fluff as the AB novels have bloated to more recently).

Will I pick it up?

Hrm. Probably not. Though I might pick up the TPB if the buzz is any good. I enjoyed the book — I’m just not sure this is the right medium for recreating it, especially if that’s the tack they’re going to take with the art.