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Post by Ripley on Jun 19, 2017 15:05:01 GMT -5
Skybound "The most notorious sociopath in The Walking Dead is finally getting his backstory told all in one place. HERE’S NEGAN, which has been collecting incrementally in Image Plus for over a year, will finally get compiled into a hardcover book this Fall. The story focuses on Negan’s life at the onset of the apocalypse, where we discover how he transitioned from normal family man to the Lucille-wielding maniac we met in Issue #100. Written by Walking Dead creator Robert Kirkman and illustrated by Walking Dead artist Charlie Adlard, HERE’S NEGAN will be available for $19.99 in comic book retailers on Wednesday, October 4th and in bookstores on Tuesday, October 10th. The final order cutoff deadline for comic book retailers is Monday, August 7th. HERE’S…the cover:" link
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Post by MorganBGone on Jun 20, 2017 15:52:05 GMT -5
Is there any possibility that Gimple won't incorporate this into the show? The GA (and even many in the fandom) didn't, from what I've seen anyway, care about the Governor's story. Given that, I'm very doubtful they'll care to see the backstory of the coercive rapist who smashed Glenn's head in as a show of power.
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Post by Ripley on Jun 21, 2017 1:04:55 GMT -5
MorganBGone , we were told in interviews last year that Negan's backstory might be coming, so I expect a bottle episode around that possible this season. I can imagine they might use it in a story about his being in captivity in the cage Morgan built and either thinking about it or more likely (because the man loves to talk ) telling someone about it at some point after the MSF and early into 8-B. I could be completely wrong on this, of course, but it seems that it might be a better time than during the war. I bought the first two Governor-based books, but disliked the writing, so stopped that around the time I stopped reading the comic every month. Negan is very popular and beloved by comic hardcore fans, so I think this will be as important a mini-arc, or event on the show as the iconic scene with Tyreese wielding his hammer.
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Post by MorganBGone on Jun 21, 2017 6:46:42 GMT -5
What fraction of the audience is comprised of those hardcore comic viewers, though, Ripley? Ultimately, it's what appeals to the GA that should, from a business standpoint, determine the content of the show. Look at the Governor episodes in season 4... Until this past season (another reason to ensure the GENERAL audience is the primary focus), they were the lowest rated of SG's tenure. Ratings drops occurred following both Savior-focused eps this past season. To me, Tyreese's hammer, which was a unique and thus cool weapon, is a very different kettle of fish vs dedicating time to a backstory much of the GA might simply not care about or feel inclined to sympathy or empathy over. I could, by contrast, see the audience's doing some solid eye rolling over an attempt to humanize a character who CHOSE to become a sadistic killer and coercion rapist. Did the GA feel greatly for the governor's history of abuse and loss of his family or the reason the cannibals became cannibals? Did they think Alpha wolf could be rehabilitated -- that Morgan was right and Carol wrong? To me, there's already evidence supporting the idea that any attempt to humanize Negan could be a mistake even if comic viewers have eaten it up. While the GA can't, in many cases, be credited with remembering many character names or minor plot points, "Glenn" is one of the names they pretty consistently remember, as is the not so minor plot point that had them seeing his head's being pulverized in vivid detail by a barb wire-encased bat held by Negan. Furthermore, thus far, I know exactly ONE member of the GA who doesn't just find Negan ridiculous and want him gone. I don't think a wife with cancer will come across to them as anything by annoyingly manipulative.. or just annoying. I'm not sure the GA, unlike Gimple, entirely buys into the notion that all people are innately GOOD. Most people in a ZA would not set up a harem of scared "wives", make an entire group give up their invidual identities, subject that group to degradation and disfigurement in retribution for such things as consensual sex, or take pleasure in bashing heads in. That's the reason these back stories simply don't work. Average people don't look at characters like the gov and Negan and say "that could totally be me", "poor him", or "yeah, he can rehabilitated". These characters are the equivalent of serial killers to the GA. They're sociopaths -- and correctly recognized as such by the audience, even if not by that term. But, maybe I'm giving the GA too much credit, and they'll eventually voluntarily drink the Negan Kool Aid if force fed enough of it... the members still watching after Negan is spared in the first place or even just watching after the less spectacular seasons 6 and 7, I mean. I say all this recognizing that a show that has repeatedly made the same mistakes, generally disregarding feedback regarding those mistakes, is likely to think none of the above is important and that the audience will *eventually* find all of this quite brilliant and therefore incorporate it into the writing without compunction... unfortunately. After all, what other option is there? *gasp* Recognizing that elements of the comic don't translate well to the show and writing original material instead? Under Gimple? Never.
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Post by Ripley on Jun 21, 2017 7:02:33 GMT -5
I don't disagree with you MorganBGone, but I think TWD makes choices not always based on things like percentage of diehard comic fans as opposed to what the showrunner wants or likes (with varying degrees of success) likes to develop. Morgan and Eastman in 'Here's Not Here' was well-received as a non-comic story compared to the less successful Grady arc in season 5-A.
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Post by MorganBGone on Jun 21, 2017 8:29:12 GMT -5
While there might have been some positive reception for here's not here (not across the board by any means except perhaps amongst critics), the Morgan story associated with that went over (generally) poorly, Ripley. Carol's story has likewise (consequently?) also been less than popular with the majority of the GA I know. I'm not sure what the solution is, given that *many* of Gimple's "original" stories have been falling flat (see, in addition to Grady and the atrocious Carol/Morgan arc, Oceanside, not to mention Daryl's non-story that has been circling (the drain) since Gimple really took over in 4b), but adhering strictly to the comic in this case seems up front like a poor choice, given that Negan has not taken off with the GA the way the show had seemingly anticipated. Hiring a new head writer is too much to hope for...
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Post by Ripley on Jun 21, 2017 9:24:53 GMT -5
Welp, Gimple admits he's telling the story he wants to tell. HNH wasn't a bad episode IMO, although it drew ire placed while Glenn's fate was unknown. I think had it been #2 or #3 it would have gotten a better response. *shrugs.
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Post by merelei on Jun 21, 2017 20:21:54 GMT -5
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