New ‘Good Omens’ Graphic Novel Will Be ‘Very Different’ Than the Live Action Series
If you’ve burned a hole in your screen watching Good Omens season 2, and you’re pining for more Aziraphale and Crowley, we’ve got good news! A Good Omens graphic novel is officially on its way.
The graphic novel is being adapted by writer and illustrator Colleen Doran, from the original novel by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett. The Kickstarter campaign to produce the book launched earlier this week, and while the project was fully funded within ten minutes of the campaign going live, you can still claim a copy for yourself. Along with the book, the Kickstarter tiers offer all the usual prizes and goodies, like pins, stickers, and trading cards. (Although if you had your eye on the Apocalypse Tier, which goes for £8,000 and includes a foreground named character cameo and the extremely rare Celestial edition of Good Omens, that one is long gone.)
Doran has previously collaborated with Gaiman on projects like The Sandman and Lucifer, and that collaboration continued in the Good Omens adaptation. Doran told The Mary Sue that she made sure to steer clear of the Prime Video series so that she could stay true to the book.
I’ve tried very hard not to let the show influence me, and I stopped watching the show the minute I knew I would be working on the book. I absolutely love the show, but it goes in very different directions than the book did, as anyone who’s read the book knows. Aziraphale in the show is a lot like my head canon anyway, but Crowley was very different in the show. He’s sort of rock star and louche, which is hilarious and great. I never saw him that way when I read the book, but I absolutely loved it. But I think the graphic novel Crowley is more elegant, though he still has very broad body language.
Doran also tried to balance her own vision for the graphic novel with the qualities that fans have fallen in love with over the years.
The most challenging thing has been knowing that so many people love the novel and so many people love the show and here I am doing this graphic novel, and people are going to argue about it all over again. People get very protective of their fandoms and feel like an adaptation encroaches on their head space, and of course, that’s not what I’m doing. I’m simply adapting the work to the best of my ability while consulting as closely as possible the people who created and protect the work … I love working on it while listening to the audiobook version, because of course Michael Sheen and David Tennant’s voices are the voices of Aziraphale and Crowley, and they performed the roles in the audiobook. It’s really lovely.
Alex Stott, art director of the publishing arm of Terry Pratchett’s estate, sees the graphic novel as a natural continuation of Doran and Gaiman’s partnership.
The shorthand that Neil and Terry had also exists between Neil and Colleen. For the whole team, including Neil, so much of the process has been enjoying the ride as Colleen brings the world to life. Neil has been part of the process from the very start and has shared lots of insights into the story and particular ideas that he and Terry were trying to evoke.
Terry always had strong feelings about artwork and would no doubt have been a spirited source of discussion—but that’s something Colleen loves.
Doran, Stott, and Gaiman are tentatively planning to publish the graphic novel in summer 2024.
(featured image: Dunmanifestin)
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