A Song of Ice and Fire comic book adaptation

[Albertosaurus Rex]

Concerning my recent absence: I have been totally engrossed replaying Baldur's Gate. Now that college is starting again, I am starting to fall back into my normal rhytm.

George R. R. Martin has announced a comic book adaptation of A Song of Ice and Fire. Now allow me to ask the question: why? Why another adaptation at the moment the first adaptation is getting started and the main series isn't even finished yet?

Look, I don't know why it's taking the guy so long to write A Dance with Dragons, but I can wait and I'm sure it will be awesome when it finally comes out. However, there seems to be an awful lot of stuff recently with GRRM's name on it that he didn't actually write himself. The following works are either ongoing or will be released soon:

Fort Freak, a new Wild Cards book, and more are coming.
Down These Mean Streets, another cross-genre anthology co-edited with Gardner Dozois.
Game of Thrones, the tv adaptation of ASOIAF.
The comic book adaptation of ASOIAF.
The comic book adaptation of his novel Fevre Dream (Or has that finished already?).
A comic book series based on Doorways, his tv show that never made it past the pilot episode.
A film adaptation of his novella The Skin Trade. The rights have been bought and there's a script apparently, but nobody really knows at this point whether the film will see the light of day.

Look, it might all be great stuff, and admittedly he did do editing duties on the first two. But what did he actually write the past six years? Two or three short stories? And yet his name is all over the place.

['thul]

he's still quicker than one author 'thul is reading a series by...

previous book release: April 30, 2002
Next book expected: March 29, 2011

Feast for crows: 17 October 2005
A Dance with dragons: unknown

Unlike George RR marin, this author hasnt published anything in those 9 years in between...

'thul are looking forward to A dance with dragons, though...

As for the why on those adaptions? Because it might just hook even more people...

[Nuytsia]

Concerning my recent absence: I have been totally engrossed replaying Baldur's Gate. Now that college is starting again, I am starting to fall back into my normal rhytm.

Wow finally a game you've played that I've played too! Hehehe.

Why another adaptation at the moment the first adaptation is getting started and the main series isn't even finished yet?

I saw the news about the comic too. I don't know the answer to your question!
My question is, how come the way the ASOIAF characters are depicted in artwork (eg the comis, calendars, etc) always looks fine to me, but the way they have interpreted the look of the characters in the TV show seems wrong to me! Like, what's with Jon Snow's curly hair? Looks like a Spanish pirate or something.

Look, I don't know why it's taking the guy so long to write A Dance with Dragons, but I can wait and I'm sure it will be awesome when it finally comes out.

I don't know either, but I must admit I was pretty amused when Robin Hobb made a blog post recently about cutting down her internet time to allow her more quality time to write and someone posted a comment 'send a copy of this post to GRRM! Stat!'

However, there seems to be an awful lot of stuff recently with GRRM's name on it that he didn't actually write himself. The following works are either ongoing or will be released soon:
.............. But what did he actually write the past six years? Two or three short stories? And yet his name is all over the place.

I guess the cynical answer is that it's a good way to make money? Maybe he's lost the passion for writing. I guess you can't force it.

[Albertosaurus Rex]

Oh yes, anything with GRRM's name on it will sell. But you have to wonder about some things.

Wild Cards I understand. It has been running since 1987. GRRM came up with it and coordinates it all. But Doorways? I'm not saying the concept isn't good, but would anyone make out a comic series out of a pilot episode if it was by anyone else? Doorways feels a little cynical to me.

he's still quicker than one author 'thul is reading a series by...

previous book release: April 30, 2002
Next book expected: March 29, 2011

Feast for crows: 17 October 2005
A Dance with dragons: unknown

Amd who might this mystery author be, Thul?

['thul]

Jean M Auel

Writes a prehistoric, periglacial story. around the time that Homo Sapiens and Homo neanderthalensis/Homo sapiens neanderthalensis coexisted. Quite good books, and very engaging.

[Farseer]

I was pretty amused when Robin Hobb made a blog post recently about cutting down her internet time to allow her more quality time to write and someone posted a comment 'send a copy of this post to GRRM! Stat!'

There is no WAY I am starting ASOIAF until the next one's done! Possibly he is secretly quite close to releasing it and all of these other projects are just to gain a suspenseful interest, new audience and escalated momentum in preparation for it hitting the shops soon? A bit of self-marketing?

Hmm...I see on Pat's Fantasy Hotlist that they are also releasing a new HBO/TV tie-in edition of A Game of Thrones (I might add an image link for it in the covers thread and continue a cover art-specific discussion there?) so maybe the plan really is to generate even more interest in the GRRM name now, and the whole ASOIAF series, so sales for the next installment will sky-rocket to unheard of heights...? After all, it is to also be the last installment in the series isn't it? Please correct me if I'm wrong in that...I just thought I had read something somewhere that alluded to that?

If it is, given its popularity, this is kind of the last chance then to wrangle as much out of the series as can be managed, I suppose? Either that, or it all serves as a distraction until the book is eventually released...and therefore buying further time (though, of course, it would no doubt also serve to further frustration and impatience in most long-time fans?)? In saying that, what is the position with GRRM's publishers etc? Surely the extended wait and commitment to so many other projects would be making them rather impatient as well?

I'd guess that you've all seen this but I have just found it on Wikipedia:

Martin has been criticized by many fans for the long delay between books in the A Song of Ice and Fire series, most recently the many-year gap before the next volume, A Dance with Dragons, which has led the author to respond, accusing angry fans of unfairly demanding he devote all his time to the series.

I'm not sure how long ago this was added but what say all of you? Apologies if you have all discussed this on the ASOIAF thread...I try to avoid it!!

Crikey, 'thul...nine years?! I guess I had to wait about sixteen years until Star Wars I, II and III were released but at least I'd known the ending for all that time! I'm not sure if I could wait that long for the next RH book...okay, yes, I could!!

['thul]

these beings did not read them that long ago, fortunately (only a few years)

[Albertosaurus Rex]

Hmm...I see on Pat's Fantasy Hotlist that they are also releasing a new HBO/TV tie-in edition of A Game of Thrones (I might add an image link for it in the covers thread and continue a cover art-specific discussion there?) so maybe the plan really is to generate even more interest in the GRRM name now, and the whole ASOIAF series, so sales for the next installment will sky-rocket to unheard of heights...? After all, it is to also be the last installment in the series isn't it? Please correct me if I'm wrong in that...I just thought I had read something somewhere that alluded to that?

Nope. Two more books are to follow after A Dance with Dragons, being The Winds of Winter and A Dream of Spring.

I'd guess that you've all seen this but I have just found it on Wikipedia:

Martin has been criticized by many fans for the long delay between books in the A Song of Ice and Fire series, most recently the many-year gap before the next volume, A Dance with Dragons, which has led the author to respond, accusing angry fans of unfairly demanding he devote all his time to the series.

I'm not sure how long ago this was added but what say all of you? Apologies if you have all discussed this on the ASOIAF thread...I try to avoid it!!

I'm sure the delay has its reasons. No author wants to miss his deadline, especially not by six years. Robin Hobb recently wrote how embarrased she was by missing her deadline by thirteen days.

Some people claim that GRRM's passion is gone. Maybe. I mean, he has been working on the series since 1996, so I imagine he must need a break sometimes. Maybe that's the reason for all those side projects, like Wild Cards and those anthologies. To keep himself sane. But Doorways just screams of milking the cash cow for all its worth. I read the script of the pilot episode in his Dreamsongs collection and it was good stuff. Basically Sliders with an added chase. But alternate universes are a common trope in SF, so why make a Doorways comic instead of an original work? To cash in on a famous name.

But back to ASOIAF, I do think it's fair to say that if you start a series, you are implicitly promising your readers that you will finish it. And if he doesn't die first, I'm sure he will. We can only wait and hope.

Yes, that was a reference to The Count of Monte Cristo!

[joost]

Two of the Dunk stories has been turned into a comic book a few years ago. I saw a French version while I was visiting Brussels last year.

On October 11, 2010, it was confirmed by GRRM's editor Anne Groell that Martin has finished all but five chapters for A Dance with Dragons and that the five chapters remaining already exist in partial form.

['thul]

so about a year left then... (with editing and such)