Visionary
Connections with Visionary Comics, Pg. 2
However,
the mutually 'beneficial' relationship was often one-sidedly
parasitic rather than collaborative. Even though the comic
adaptations of films were often regarded as superior to
the films that inspired them, the films based on comic
books were often lacking much of the integrity of the
comics that inspired them. Hollywood would give short
shrift to the established comic book sagas, allowing writers
and directors with little understanding of a comic book
to carry it into film. Tim Burton, director of 1989's
Batman and 1992's Batman Returns, boasted
that he had never read a comic book in his life. (This,
of course, would explain many of Batman's problems in
Tim Burton's strangely off-kilter films.) In fact, it
wasn't until an Australian director Alex Proyas took on
the task of James O'Barr's tortured hero Eric Draven in
The Crow that a Hollywood-backed filmmaker seemed
truly eager to make a film dictated by the confines of
the comic book from which it came. However, even that
film used the comic as a basic guideline as opposed to
a full script. It wasn't until 2005's Sin City
that a nationally-released filmmaker actually used a comic
book as a fully realized script and storyboard.
Despite
the fact that nearly every film made in old Hollywood
requires an elaborate comic-grade storyboard to be created
before shooting can progress, it took nearly a century
for a film to be created straight from a comic book. And
it required a rebel filmmaker to lose his membership in
the Director's Guild in order to get it made as true to
the original as possible.
In
the end, microfilmmakers everywhere have to wonder how
it is that old Hollywood, which has direct access to the
greatest number of comic books in the world, has such
an aversion to making their lives easier by just treating
the comic book as the storyboarded script it should be.
We at Microfilmmaker felt that if the most powerful
filmmaking conglomerations were unwilling to make comic
films in the correct way, then we should open the doors
to the filmmakers who were willing. With this in mind,
we decided to look for truly talented comic creators who
would be willing to partner with us and make their comics
available to you as no- and low-budget filmmakers.
As
we searched for the best, we were blessed to come into
contact with C. Edward Sellner, the Creative Director
of the newly-launched Visionary Comics. Visionary
is a collaborative comic book studio that offers a wide
variety of resources to new and established studios, publishers,
and artists. Their goal is to achieve improved standards
of quality in the comic book industry by constructively
working out problems and by mentoring new up-and-coming
creators. Artists that are accepted into their New Visionary
program are guided by the experience, insight, and help
of Senior Visionaries; these mentors are artists, writers,
and creators
themselves with years of comic book experience to their
credit and a strong desire to help these talented students.
In
addition to their New/Senior Visionary program, Visionary
Comics actively pursues building strong relationships
with everyone involved in the development of their comics.
They work together with other studios to bring additional
resources to get their books out on the market; they work
alongside their publishers to help package and market
their books; and they try to be attentive to the needs
of their retailers by giving them information and tools
to best sell their material. Together, this emphasis on
relationships builds a strong artistic community where
people's focus is on working together to make the best
possible product.
creators
themselves with years of comic book experience to their
credit and a strong desire to help these talented students.
