I’m totally ripping off this idea from a column on Newsarama

Sorry Vaneta Rogers, who wrote an op/ed column about the absence of Twilight comic books, for ripping off your story idea. But, I tend to disagree with you.

First off, it should be noted that I am more than just a little obsessed with the Twilight Saga. I read the first three books in less than two weeks, worked a midnight release party for Breaking Dawn at our local Waldenbooks (owned by Borders) in which I was tempted to start reading even when I got home at 2 in the morning, and proceeded to read the final chapter in three days time. I bought my tickets for the Twilight movie three weeks ago, and I’ve been counting down the hours all week. It’s like Harry Potter all over again.

So why isn’t Twilight a comic book yet? Good question. Rogers pointed out that Twilight is a Warner Bros. film and that Warner Bros. also owns DC Comics, so it would be easy for them to throw the story of Edward and Bella into a comic book, maybe on the Wildstorm imprint.

Uh, no.

Here’s my issue. Twilight just isn’t meant for the comic medium. Sure, the people who read the series are already avid readers and would readily pick it up and find themselves in comic shops. But would the product really live up to the books in quality, and would it be able to capture the same tone of the book? I don’t think so. I have a fear that a Twilight comic book would attach the likenesses of Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart, who play Edward and Bella, respectively, to the characters. Don’t get me wrong—I think both characters are very talented and great choices for the movie versions of the characters. But at the same time, part of the magic of reading a novel is creating your own image of a character. And I honestly can’t see a comic version of Edward topping the one I’ve created in my imagination.

And anyways, these aren’t your father’s vampires. Sure, there are some exciting action scenes toward the end, but these are fun-loving vampires—vegetarians, as they call themselves. They refuse to eat human flesh and be monsters, instead choosing to live peacefully among mortals. Doesn’t it seem just a little wrong to have a vampire in comics that doesn’t go on killing sprees?

And the biggest reason of all, in my opinion, is that it will never live up to the novel. A comic book version of Twilight will undoubtedly make changes to the script in order for it to work better in the medium. If it has to be changed, then it just shouldn’t be done at all. A Twilight comic done poorly would only enrage die-hard fans of the series, me included.

Here’s where I agree with Vaneta Rogers, though. In the Twilight universe, there are plenty of untold stories about the pasts of the various vampires and werewolves. If anything, those are the stories to be told in comics. The ones before Bella arrives on the scene—and as the Cullen family is still forming—are the ones most likely to succeed in the comic medium. The vampire family of the Cullens and the werewolves of the Quileute tribe have a lengthy and rocky past, and that would make for some interesting storytelling.

Stephenie Meyer may be a comic book geek (the many comic references in her books solidify that fact), but I think she knows where to stop the insanity. Hopefully she’ll recognize that Twilight itself doesn’t work in the comic medium and put a kibosh on the whole thing before the idea gets too out of hand.

By Mandy Stegall

Don’t kill me, but…

I’m dreading what happens to my beloved Green Arrow/Black Canary when writer Judd Winick leaves after issue #14, which is out this week. I know his style of writing doesn’t sit well with many comic book readers, but I personally love the way it fits with the Green Arrow family. They are, after all, a bunch of smart @$$ characters, and Winick seems to excel when writing them.

Let’s back-track for a moment. I just started getting my comics from DCBS, but right now I’m only getting them once a month (which is changing soon because I can’t handle only reading comics every four weeks) and just got issue #13 in the mail this past week, even though it’s been almost a month since it was released. It ended up in the middle of my pile—which was quite large, in my opinion—but the minute I read it I realized I should have maybe saved it for last except for all the New Krypton books I had to read.

The books toward the bottom of my read pile are usually my favorites and the ones I think are the best right now. Still being new to the concept of having a pull list and everything that goes along with it, the books I read tend to rotate in and out as I figure out what I enjoy the most. But GA/BC? That book has been on my pull list from the very beginning, and I have never even considered bumping it from my list. It really is that good.

Sure, the hunt for Connor Hawke seemed to go on FOREVER, but it was entertaining at times. After all, the search gave us Dodger. I’m looking forward to seeing where he could possibly fit into the DCU in the coming months and if the writers will take advantage of the character and everything he has going for him. I mean, here’s a guy from across the pond in his early 20s, has a thing for Mia, and seems to have seen the light when it comes to fighting for the good guys. Ollie and Dinah probably couldn’t have found Connor if not for Dodger, so I hope he doesn’t get shipped off someplace never to be heard from again. From the sound of it, Mia isn’t going to be seen as much in GA/BC now that Connor is safe so she might find her way back to the Teen Titans with Dodger following behind her.

I’m also interested to see where they take the whole situation with Connor. Apparently he has no memory of being a crime fighter in addition to his newfound invulnerability. If I dropped a knife on my foot, I’m pretty sure that I would be in some extraordinary pain. Ollie and Dinah even looked like they were feeling his pain. Too bad he wasn’t feeling it. The upcoming solicitations promise that we’ll be amazed at what he can do now, and that it’s an after effect of his abduction by the League of Assassins. I wonder if he’s been changed so much that he finds himself on the wrong side of the law. It might make for some interesting storytelling if Green Arrow and Black Canary’s newest and worst villain is the person who knows them best.

By Mandy Stegall

Repairing the comic book stigma

Think about when you meet someone new and mention that you read comic books. Do you get the “oh, you’re one of them” looks? Personally, I get the look from a person that tells me they just diminished my IQ in their minds by about 30 points. To these people, comic books are those ten cent books where the heroes are from some distant planet and can never do wrong. And to them, the readers of comic books are either 10-year-old boys or grown men who work at the local Quik-E-Mart and spend half their salaries monthly just to keep up with their childhood pastime.

I walked into my first full-time job teaching English this year with a goal. In some way, I was going to teach a comic book in one of my classes. I had no idea which one, or how I was going to do it, but at least I had a goal. I didn’t shy away from my comic book love with my students—I even took a couple of duplicate issues I had and put them up on my “personality board” and shouted it from the rooftops that I read comics on a regular basis. But ultimately, my first attempts to connect with my students in such a way went sour and they didn’t take what I was trying to teach them (an excerpt from Scott McCloud’s Understanding Comics that is in our textbook) seriously. And really, it’s too bad because most of my students seem to gravitate toward anything that has pictures. I had a cool activity lined up for them in conjunction with the reading from the book, but we ended up not doing it because of the way they acted those first couple days.

It was my former student teaching advisor who made the comment about people diminishing your IQ once they find out you read comic books. And when she said that, it was the first time I was able to put a finger on that look that I get. And of course, the people who give you those looks like you have no life and totally and completely obsess over every little bit of the comic universe are the ones who have never picked up a comic book in their lives. See, the truth is that I used to be one of those people. I was all over the TV shows and movies, but I couldn’t see myself getting involved in comic books. And we all know how that turned out.

And now I’m trying my hardest show people that comic book fans are just as smart and astute as those who read the latest mystery novels. After all, aren’t most comic books mystery novels with pictures? My students are currently working on a mythology poster project. In the past, they could only choose from actual Greek/Roman/Norse/African/Egyptian mythological characters or legends like the Loch Ness Monster or Bigfoot. But I stepped it up for them. Now, they can also choose from “popular culture characters that have been in existence for at least 30 years who have an established mythology.” They caught on immediately and started choosing characters like Batman, Superman, and Spider-Man. And now, I’m excited to see what kind of information they come up with since they have to find two book sources in addition to Internet sources.

I think what I’m most concerned with is that people understand that comic writers and artists have to be some of the hardest workers in the entertainment industry. I have a great deal of respect for the work they do and the timely manner they do it in. And honestly, some of the stories I get from comic books are most interesting and intriguing than what I find in a traditional novel.

By Mandy Stegall