One of the more odious trends I noticed at the San Diego Comic-Con was the one where new comic publishers start publishing comic books not to make great pieces of fiction, but to create high-concept properties to garner some Hollywood interest. More than one publisher I visited put more\u00a0work into Hollywood Studio press kits than into their own books.<\/p>\n
Radical Publishing seems to be one of the biggest of these culprits. Thier publishing output to date consists of an updating of a Greek myth, a western take on the Arthurian legend, and an Asian import. Nothing\u00a0100% original in the lot but\u00a0yet all three are in the works for the movies.<\/p>\n
However, while Radical might be just an intellectual property factory, their adaptations have attracted some of Hollywood’s brightest stars.<\/p>\n
Action-master John Woo has signed on to direct a movie based on Caliber<\/strong>. The property updates the Arthurian legend to the Old West. Instead of a magic sword we get a mystical six-shooter. Instead of Merlin being a wizard he is an Indian shaman. The film is being produced by Woo’s Lion Rock Productions, Johnny Depp’s Infinitum Nihil shingle, and the publisher’s own Radical Pictures company.<\/p>\n \u00a0Peter Berg, fresh off this summer’s Hancock<\/strong>, will be bringing Radical’s version of Hercules <\/strong>to the big screen. The film is produced by Berg’s Film 44, Spyglass Entertainment, and, once again, by Radical Pictures.<\/p>\n The first issues of Caliber <\/strong>and Hercules <\/strong>have barely made it to the back issue bins and they already are being optioned for movies. But Radical has beat itself with its third project, which has a movie in development before the comic book even hits the stands.<\/p>\n Radical’s Freedom Formula: Ghost of the Wasteland #1 <\/strong>is set to be released this Wednesday, but the company announced last week that Bryan Singer will produce a movie based on the comic. The title is \u00a0adapted from an pre-existing\u00a0Asian “mecha” property. Singer’s Bad Hat Harry will co-produce with, you guessed it, Radical Pictures.<\/p>\n People complain about the way Hollywood is being dominated by the comic book movie. I think this shows that the trend isn’t that good for comics either. When publishers think movie first, comic book later, everyone suffers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"