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