Pour One Out for Mass Market Paperbacks

According to this article Mass Market paperbacks are officially over.  It gives a succinct history of the format and why it went away.

I accept that the market forces change and it certainly didn't happen all at once.  I just recently read the novel "Heat 2", a sequel in book form to the 1995 film and I had a good time with that.  But the format might as well be a trade paperback as it is taller than a typical mass market but not as wide as a regular trade.  These days I call the left one a mass markets even though it really isnt.

What's replaced the mass market is the ebook.  I appreciate the convenience but it reminds me more and more that we're not really owning the product.  We're shifting towards a market that supports try everything and then curate your personal collection.  

I also miss the days when we had actual art for the cover.  Such as this one

All this is to say read however you want and fill your shelves with whatever makes it look cool.

   

Dune Messiah and the perils of fixing problems.

Near the end of 2025 we will be treated to Dune Part 3 which will complete Paul's saga and close out the franchise for this director.

Having recently reread Dune Messiah I thought it would be interesting to speculate, in light of the changes the filmmakers made with Dune Parts 1 and 2, the problems that these creators backed themselves into in adapting this book.  All of this is speculation because we won't have a trailer until later this year.

Consider this a heavy spoiler posting so if you haven't seen the saga or read the books stop now.  For the rest, let's dive in.

I reread both Dune and Dune Messiah in preparation for these films and I can say that I got more out of them now than when I was younger.  I will also stipulate that the changes made for the current films make sense for the film but not necessarily for what the books were doing.  This is okay.  They are different mediums and choices must be made to make it work.

For Dune, very broadly, there were only two big changes that fundamentally altered the story.  The first was the time compression.  A lot more time passes in the novel vs. the film, so much so that Alia, Paul's sister isn't even born during the film's run time.  We do get a future vision of her which creates a different problem but I will address that later.  The second big change is what they did with Chani.  Paul's love for her is the same but they gave her agency that makes her more modern than the book does.  The film ends with her leaving Paul as his forces are about to go out and lay siege to the galaxy.

Bold choices.  I think they work.  But it runs into a brick wall when adapting Dune Messiah.  The novel uses a conspiracy plot to drive the action where the Bene Gesserit, Spacing Guild and the Thelaxiu as well as Irulan attempt to kill new Emperor Paul.  Paul is conflicted because he's trying to wind down the holy war he started as well as save the life of the one he loves.  He succeeds at one and fails at the other.

The first rule of adaptation is what do you cut?  A friend suggested that the conspiracy plot might not even be used.  Another crisis could be invoked or invented.  We know by the casting that Scytale, the Thelaxiu is involved, Duncan Idaho returns and Alia is part of this story as well.  

Everyone has been aged up in the film version.  This is logical.  Paul starts out at about 15 in novel Dune, ages to about 18 during the course of it.  He's about 30 in novel Dune Messiah.  Alia is about 15 or so in that book. Timothy Chalamet at least looked younger even though they elaged him up about 10 years for the film version.  

Whipe Duncan Idaho is brought back in a logical way, getting Alia to the proper age for the actress playing her is going to require interesting leaps in "just go with it" logic.

That's actually part of casting.  Making the audience believe it.  

The biggest problem unfortunately has to do with Chani's inclusion in the plot.  The way she is setup in the film version she either has to become part of the conspiracy to kill him or she is part of some kind of resistance movement on Arrakis.  Maybe both.  In the novel she gives birth to twins and dies during the birth.  It is possible that she could be pregnant at film's end as she walks into the desert.  This creates an age problem for the twins but the film's timeline and the book's timeline are already diverging.  What's a little more.

I have a feeling that however they cope with the changes made for Chani, Princess Irulan's role will have an expansion.  Her novel role is not insignificant but they had already beefed up her role in the film version.  It would make sense to continue that.

If I was helping adapt this I would probably steal a technique from James Cameron or Peter Jackson. Open with the Holy War to quickly setup how we got here, end with some event that shows just how awful this conquest was and the need for the conspiracy to take out Emperor Paul.  Bring in Chani and have her work with Irulan and the Thelaxiu.  Newly resurrected Duncan Idaho is presented to Paul as a gift from the Thelaxiu and the conspiracy is set in motion.  From there we more or less follow the plot of the novel.  Alia will work with Duncan, Stilgar and Paul to unravel the conspiracy.  As for who betrays who we'll just keep the audience guessing because the main antagonist of this plot is a shape shifting assassin.

Incidentally I am looking forward to Anya Taylor Joy playing Alia because she technically already played this character.  She was Olga of the Birch Forest in Robert Eggers The Northman.  Viking Sorcereress.  She was scary.

I might be wrong about all this.  If nothing else I want to see how the filmmakers solve the problems in front of them as well as those they created.

How The Comic Book Industry Gets Its Soul Back

Not too long ago I came across a video from Youtube personality Razorfist who suggested that if you are not satisfied with the superhero action in Marvel and DC comics you should embrace the pulp characters of yesteryear.

It's not a bad suggestion and I found as I have gotten older that my tastes have changed anyway.  The history of some of this exploration led me to think about how to fix the entire comic book industry.  For the purposes of finding solutions I will use three characters that are currently outside the publications of the big 2 of Marvel and DC to show what's wrong and a potential solution.  This is also limited to American comics.  Japanese and other asian comics aren't covered here because, while crossover audiences exist, that industry is crushing it and doesn't need fixing.

SHEENA QUEEN OF THE JUNGLE

This character, one of many jungle girls from the pulp era, predates DCs Wonder Woman by about six months and currently occupies an interesting space of media rights controlled by multiple entitites which makes collection of current and past material difficult to navigate.  

She's a female version of Tarzan but has her own history that makes her a compelling character by herself.  Her supporting cast is usually the one being rescued by her but her male friends are treated like equals.  Her most recent comics are a rebooted concept that brings her into the 21st century and, for the most part, does an admirable job respecting her pulp origins while modernizing it.

Unfortunately if you were attempting to collect all this into one place, you'd have to negotiate with multiple companies.  Her Golden Age material is technically public domain.  The Rebooted version is strewn across three different publishers.  The 1950s TV series is public domain and the 2002 Sony TV series is print on demand DVDs.  If you're going to get media saturation with this character, say at the level of DCs Wonder Woman, the return on investment might not be worth it.  

Keeping things in print, either physical or digital, is a Herculean task.  Diamond Distrubtion which until recently was the only game in town for comic shops is a dead platform and the irony is now that we have competition for distribution it's slowed down the very thing that keeps public interest.  The electronic or physical tpbs just aren't collected in a timely manner these days.

The independent comic space has found a solution however.  They have killed the peridoical version of the story which the Big 2 and most of the rest have continued to use.  The major comic book companies that still use the periodical method of distribution--single issues, expensive, incentive rare covers--are dying a slow death.

We need to embrace the small trade version.  96 pages minimum.  Quarterly releases.   You are getting a book, and a complete story.  Think of it as long form pulp.  The crowdfunded style independents already do this and do it very successfully..  Dynamite Comics, which publishes Sheena as well as the other two examples I will use, would benefit from this.  

VAMPIRELLA

A monster hunter with a very convoluted origin who's been around since the mid 60s has a similar problem to Sheena except all her media rights are under the same banner.  So there's no one stopping Dynamite Comics from doing this.  And the current people at the helm for her adventures would benefit enormously from keeping her past adventures in print as well as embracing the TPB quarterly to keep up with what's going on.

Christopher Priest (AKA Jim Owsley) has been in the comic book business for decades and he is very good at what he does.  Currently he is the longest serving single writer on Vampirella since her debut.  His style, unfortunately, requires a lot of re reading and he's made some deep cuts into this character's past that sometimes take a very long time to pay off especially in the current 22 page periodical format release schedule.  If there ever was a writer who would benefit the most from quarterly trade releases it's this guy.

One other benefit to the quarterly release schedule, outside of getting a complete adventure in one package, is you get consistent art across this single story.  Priests' Vampirella run complimented by Erguin Gundriz's art across about 75% of it is a great example of this.  The periodical format sometimes results in fill ins that don't always hit the mark.

RED SONJA

Red Sonja is technically writer Roy Thomas's creation from when he was writing Conan the Barbarian for Marvel Comics.  He adapted a short story from Robert E Howard called Shadow of the Vulture.  This was not a Conan short story but Thomas made it one.  Dynamite Entertainment now has the rights to this character.

I keep hammering on this one but once again this would benefit from my quarterly TPB releases idea.  Keeping this stuff consistently in print builds brand recognition.  

There is good news with the comic book industry.  The independent scene has proven that the business model can be a success if you are consistent with your releases.  Collectors will seek out the premium and the general audience will seek out the usual releases to experience the great stories they can find.  And, as for content, the market is actually saturated.  A friend once said that it is easier than ever to produce content, monetizing it is the hard part.

I have had great success in finding characters to enjoy from the pulp era.  Doc Savage leads a great team of professionals.  Dejah Thoris's adventures with John Carter from Edgar Rice Burroughs are a lot of fun.  But I still have a soft spot for some of the Marvel and DC stuff.  I'm always optimistic that I can find good things.  It just takes a little while longer to find them.