KIM BAUER: COMIC BOOK PUBLISHER?

File under "Incredibly Stupid:"

Fox TV's award winning, hit series 24 is noted for its innovative use of time and its fast-paced, exciting stories. Now IDW Publishing will break new ground by releasing a 24 comic book one-shot mirroring the show's dynamic use of the time element.

Two pages of printed story will equal one hour of time elapsed in this 48-page one shot. Handling the clock and the story will be J.C. Vaughn and Mark L. Haynes of Battlestar Galactica fame. Art will by by noted CSI: Miami artist, Renato Guedes.

As implied, IDW publishes a variety of comics based on action-related TV programs; they started with CSI about a year ago. The idea of a 24 comic is not stupid on its face, but the idea of a comic that completely inverts the show's format is. The show is basically as decompressed as you can get in motion picture storytelling. After accounting for commercials, 60 minutes of story happen in 43 minutes of real time. Most shows compress at least a few days worth of story into those 43 minutes. This comic is going to give you 60 minutes of story in two pages, probably about a dozen total panels. If you're not familiar with reading comic books, that's a few minutes worth of reading, assuming the pages are caption-heavy.

Why not do a 24-issue series in which each full issue is one hour? Why not ease off the "24-hour" part and do a 48-page special that covers just one hour? This format is just plain dumb. End nerdrant.

Posted by Aaron S. Veenstra ::: 2004:03:19:09:35