Neil Gaiman has won success in many different storytelling mediums: comics and graphic novels; prose novels, short stories and children’s books; radio plays and teleplays. Now he is about to have a significant presence in film as well. The movie Stardust, based on his 1998 fantasy novel, opens on August 10. And Gaiman and Roger Avary (Pulp Fiction) collaborated on the screenplay for director Robert Zemeckis’s CGI-animation Beowulf, based on the medieval epic poem, which opens on November 16.
Certainly Gaiman’s many readers will flock to these films. As Gaiman observed in an e-mail interview, “People who read books and comics go to movies, so there's obviously an overlap (and the Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter movies didn't start from standing still).”
With numerous tie-ins, fans of Stardust and Beowulf will have much to choose from. DC Comics, through its Vertigo imprint, has released a new, oversized hardcover edition of Stardust, complete with its original painted illustrations by artist Charles Vess. Harper Entertainment has reissued Stardust’s text (minus the Vess artwork) in a paperback edition aimed at teenagers. The U.K.’s Titan Books has released the paperback Stardust: The Visual Companion by Stephen Jones, which includes the screenplay, color photographs and production art from the movie, and interviews with cast members.
On September 1, Chronicle Books will publish The Art of Beowulf by Mark Cotta Vaz and Steve Starkey, featuring concept artwork for this CGI film. A month later, on October 1, Harper Entertainment will release the paperback novelization of the film by fantasy and science fiction author Caitlin R. Kiernan. Then on November 1, Harper Paperbacks releases Beowulf: The Script Book, which traces the screenplay’s development from early drafts to the final version.
HarperCollins associate editor Will Hinton expects a wide crossover audience for the Beowulf spinoffs. “People that love Gaiman’s work, people who love the films themselves, [or who love Roger] Avary’s extensive film work, and fans of fantasy and science fiction will all come to both the books and the films, because they are wonderfully told stories.”
Then there are all those current and former students who encountered Beowulf in high school or college. “I think there certainly will be opportunities to reach that audience," Hinton said. “What Gaiman, Avary and Kiernan have done is to take the essence of that classic story, which has survived the centuries, though perhaps eluding the average 10th grader, and with a contemporary eye explored the many areas only hinted at in the original. They’ve remained true to the history, tone and power of the source material, but also provided something that readers of today, including those in high school, will enjoy.”
The Beowulf novelization has a planned print run of 200,000, and HarperCollins is planning an extensive marketing push including a major cross-promotion with Paramount, advertising on the movie’s Web site, book giveaways at press-related events in major markets and cross promotions with local book stores and theaters. Given Gaiman's mass appeal beyond the fantasy audience, the book will have front of store placement at major bookstores outside of the sci-fi/fantasy sections.
The Stardust movie tie-in teen edition will have a similar appeal and a print run of 100,000.
What’s the difference between HarperCollins’s Stardust and DC/Vertigo’s version? DC senior v-p and longtime Vertigo editor Karen Berger replied that DC is “marketing [ours] as the original version. This is where it all came from, the best that anyone can offer, with amazing Charles Vess art.”
DC/Vertigo is presenting two new editions: a hardcover, including “some of Charles’s original sketches” as a bonus, and a paperback, with a new “trade dress” cover mentioning the film.
DC is undertaking a major marketing campaign for Stardust, withreview copies going to film critics, a big display at the San Diego Comic-Con and placement on the cover of DC’s summer book catalogue. The advertising campaign hits a wide range of publications, from comics and Fantasy Magazine to Publishers Weekly. Further, DC Direct is selling two Stardust statues and even Stardust note cards.
As in the case of V for Vendetta and A History of Violence, Stardust's stand-alone graphic novel should be set for a big sales boost. Berger said that the V for Vendetta trade paperback “did phenomenally well” when the movie version came out, and that the graphic novel A History of Violence got a “lift” from its movie tie-in. In the case of V and History, Berger noted that someone can “go into a bookstore and buy one big book” that contains the whole story. Stardust would benefit from this packaging. "It's a great dark fantasy story, mature literary quality, and a great love story that’s different and refreshing," she said.
What about filmgoers who don’t already know Gaiman’s work? How much attention do most moviegoers pay to the name of the screenwriter? Gaiman observed, “Some people think directors are the authors of films, and some people don't. Some directors are the authors of their films and some aren't. And from all my experiences, the screenwriter is simply a member of the huge team of people that makes a movie. But I don't see that has much impact on books. Except for the pretense that George Lucas wrote the first Star Wars novelization.”
Gaiman’s involvement with the movies continues next year with director Henry Selick’s stop-motion animated film of Gaiman’s children’s novella Coraline. As for possible tie-in books, Gaiman said that so far there is “nothing solid, as the film won’t be out for over a year.”
With all these films, will Neil Gaiman become an even bigger mainstream success in publishing? “The odds are in his favor," said Berger. "Neil is an amazing storyteller in many mediums. The films will bring him more and more [readers]. If anything, this is probably just the beginning.” Indeed, Gaiman's future film endeavors are even more hands-on: he's slated to direct the movie version of his own Death: The High Cost of Living comic later this year.
