I’ve already expressed to all of you my general dislike of movies based on comic books, but I have to admit that I feel even more trepidation when things are in the reverse direction.
Licensed comic books based on popular movies, games or television shows are almost universally terrible–I mean just look at the World of Warcraft books. There are, of course, a few notable exceptions. And scanning through the list of titles I plan on picking up over the next few months, I realized that there actually happens to be two of these such books that I am very excited about.

Serenity Volume 2: Better Days - Despite the amazingly satisfying ending to the film Serenity, the abrupt cancellation to the TV show that is was based on, Firefly, still left all kinds of unanswered questions for fans. Thankfully, series creator Joss Whedon is a die-hard comic book fan and so decided to continue the story through that medium instead.
The first volume of these comics, Those Left Behind, did a good job of filling in the gaps between the show and the film, and Better Days looks to continue to fill out the backstory of the 9 residents of the starship Serenity. But what’s even more exciting is the planned third volume, A Shepherd’s Tale, which should finally reveal once and for all who Shepherd Book really is.

Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney: Official Casebook Vol. 1 - This title is quite a rarity. Not only is it a licensed comic that I am excited about–being based on Capcom’s cult-hit legal drama Ace Attorney adventure game series–it is also a manga.
Despite my best efforts, I have never fully embraced Japanese comics the way I have more traditional ones, but that has not dampened my excitement for this book one bit. Since the first game came out back in 2005, I have eagerly anticipated each of is subsequent sequels, going so far as to import the third game from Japan in order to play it a few weeks early. And since a great deal of the Ace Attorney gameplay involves lots and lots of reading (it falls squarely in the ‘visual novel’ genre) it seems like the perfect candidate for a comic book spin-off. The book will feature a number of returning characters, including the titular Phoenix, Mia and Maya Fay, and the mysterious Godot. And since the latest entry in the game series focused on a new protagonist, Apollo Justice (though Phoenix had his fair share of screen time as well), it looks like this will be my last opportunity to spend time with the characters I’ve grown to love over the past three years.

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Andrew Webster is a freelance writer based in Toronto who covers comics, movies, videogames, and anything else that will rot out your brain. Check out his personal site to read more of his incoherent ramblings.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 4th, 2008 at 12:00 am and is filed under Tales From The Basement. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.