Issue #39 of Cartoon Network Action Pack is out in July with a new Saturdays story and cover. Now would be a good time to mention that the stories in the comics have kind of drifted away from what we do in the show. This was mostly out of necessity, due to the tight plotline running through the first 26 episodes. But I thought it was time to point out that the comics are not considered official cannon.
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Alternate Saturdays
Issue #39 of Cartoon Network Action Pack is out in July with a new Saturdays story and cover. Now would be a good time to mention that the stories in the comics have kind of drifted away from what we do in the show. This was mostly out of necessity, due to the tight plotline running through the first 26 episodes. But I thought it was time to point out that the comics are not considered official cannon.
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13 comments:
Any chance of us getting to see more of the Secret Mondays again?
Also YES! I knew there was a reason why Saturdays were amazing.
Gracias.
So where did the non-canon stories start? The last one with Komodo, or the one with the Raicho.
I've really been enjoying the comics, so I'm kind of sad to hear they are no-longer canon. Oh well.
That cover is beyond pretty though.
Yay! More Saturdays!
Oh, and just a small side note...
THANK YOU FOR BRINGING DOYLE BACK!!! *hugs Mr. Stephen's ankle, sobbing* Even for just one episode! YOU RULE!!!
Though I kinda hope Van Rook escapes or something... He's kinda cool... (Hey, what do you expect? I am an evil genius...)
Thank you so much! YOU RULE! >D
Heh heh! Thanks. We were always planning bigger things for Doyle (and Van Rook. And... well, everyone). Keep watching!
The comics are still great, well-told, well-drawn Saturdays stories, and I personally approve the plots. But it's too difficult to control every aspect of them, so some cryptids in the comics appear in forms that they won't, or wouldn't, take in the series. The early prequel stories that I wrote or plotted myself fit into continuity perfectly. I'm not sure when or how the newer stories are supposed to take place. It's impossible to plan in-continuity comic stories without spoiling the show, if you know what I mean.
Well, I find the comics durned entertaining, continuity or no.
Jay, will the comics eventually be collected in Trade Paperback form?
As the writer of the comics, I'm a little saddened that they aren't part of the official cannon, but also understand why that would be necessary.
My goal from the beginning was to make the stories feel as much like the tv series they are based on, but there are a number of factors which make that difficult, and necessitated some sidestepping of continuity with the tv series.
First, we are unfortunately required to keep the stories at 8 pages in length. This is a Warner Bros. decision, not a Jay Stephens decision, or a DC Comics decision. Liz Gehrlein, the former editor of the comic books, and myself both felt that TSS deserved to be a full 22-page monthly comic, but it was not our choice. Trying to tell a complete story with six characters plus guest villain, cryptids, exotic locals and action sequences is not easy. It does limit the kinds of stories we can tell. There is a two part story (in the same issue) coming up that helps us get around that a bit. We may try for more of these, alternating with 8-page stories that focus more on one character, such as the recent Komodo story, while still including everyone else.
The biggest problem though is the bi-monthly nature of the comic book. By the time all the stories appear in print that Jay approved before the 1st episode of TSS aired on television, TSS will be well into its second season on television. I quickly realized that with this publishing schedule, I had to stop including references to continuity on the tv show such as progress on locating Kur. It's also why you haven't seen Doyle in the comic books, so far. There was no way to time the comics to coincide with certain revelations about the character on the tv series.
This is the primary reason that the stories may have veered away from the tv show. Everything published in the comic book series so far was written before last December. At that point I'd only seen a handful of completed episodes and a couple of partially completed episodes, so everything had to be based around the status quo I'd seen. I have to say though, everyone, especially Jay, has been extremely helpful in getting me reference material and answering my questions, which is why the comics have been as true to the tv series as they have so far.
I need to run new forthcoming plots by Jay soon, but have been holding off since those stories wouldn't be appearing until season two was winding down, and I don't know if even he has the answers for the status quo of things on the show that far ahead.
As for the look of the creatures. The effort had always been for Jay to design them, and I know there was some long mishap where emails from DC weren't getting to Jay, but I think there's been an effort to fix that and to get him back included in the process. If not, Jay, then let me know and I'll see what I can do to fix that again.
Even with the comic book stories no longer being cannon, I'm going to continue to keep them as true to the source material as possible and make them entertaining and satisfying reads.
Mr. Stephens and Mr. Rozum, you have no idea how much I appreciate you guys.
The thing is, you guys have done such an amazing job, so far I have not seen any problems at all. Nor do I see problems for including outdated references if it's obvious that story was to take place in the time frame those events were happening. Trying to time the airing of the series and the publishing of the comics is obviously impossible (as cool as it would be), I think everyone would be aware generally when the story would be taking place.
I don't get it, just because events veer away from the main plot, that means they are not canon? That's not what I've been taught. Believe me, I get what you guys are saying, and just how headache inducing it is, but... Gah!
I see the cryptid thing being an issue definitely, but not a very big one.
It seems as if I'm always stuck in a grey area, especially as a fan who want's what's "best" for the series (Ha, as if *I* know, right. ::rolls eyes::)... and I very much dislike "alternate" universes and plots.
As a fan, I absolutely despise fan-fiction for a number of personal, emotional, moral and legal reasons.
No I'm not calling the comics that for not being canon, but you can venture a guess where in this world of grey that this decision puts me. But hey... I don't work on the series, and I'm not here to argue. However, the above being said, I can assuredly tell that without even personally knowing you guys, Rozum is meant to be a part of this "family". It's just that heart and gut kind of squishy organ feeling. lol. So I have no worries.
John, as I've stated before, I think you pulled of a quite amazing feat with that Komodo story. It was believable, can be worked into canon as far as I can tell (despite including the major villain, which is a normal give-away for a non-canon story)and made me feel all fuzzy and not gypped at all. Heck even Beeman was there in all of his non-speaking dorky cameo glory.
Ranting and other stuff aside, I am just happy to give my heart and time to something that is so loved by the people involved. I believe the creator has the final say over all, even above the company they had to sell to. I am your loyal servant.
I'm still amazed in this age of technology that we have such an open window with TSS creator...and then John drops in to give us some insight.
It's very cool that the fans have people like you guys that are willing to talk to them!
I can see how planning the comics out so far in advance would make it hard to fit with the episodes airing when the comic comes out but I'd think it still possible to do more awesome comics that don't have to reference the show's events.
Just like Guess Who's Going to Be Dinner and Secret Mondays I think there's plenty of room in TSS world for one-offs and "in between show" adventures.
Thanks, John, for describing in detail exactly the sort of headaches we have in trying to make everything mesh! Some of these SS comic stories might not fit into continuity (and the whole reason for my bringing it up is that I don't want anybody else to get a headache trying), but the characters still always feel right, and true to the series. The stories aren't always what could be considered 'cannon', but Mr. Rozum is 100% Secret Saturdays.
This is the trouble you make for yourself when you create a continuity series that changes throughout the season instead of a nice, safe, predictable Scooby-Doo type cartoon!
It's still a breeze compared to when I was writing the X-Files comic book.
It's definitely a pleasure (minus that 8-page squeeze). As I told you at the beginning, this is the closest I've ever come to feeling like I was working on something I made up without actually having made it up myself.
Let me know, Jay, when you have an overview for Season 2 so I can put together the next batch of plots together to run past you.
My son is so itching to get his hands on the Field Guide.
Hey, it seems like Cartoon Network has high hopes for The Secret Saturdays. They just licensed two graphic novels, and one will be almost 100 pages long and around 10 dollars. Sounds like a baragin.
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