#715 Comics adaptations: “Dune” (1984) and “Bram Stoker’s Dracula” (1992)

Dune and Dracula

Sometimes comics adaptations of movies can have as much, or more, significance than the films themselves. Marvel‘s 1984 adaptation of David Lynch‘s Dune film, for example, marked Bill Sienkiewicz‘s upgrade from the realistic art he did on Moon Knight, to the mind-blowing, weird work he became known for on New Mutants. It’s also arguable that Ralph Macchio‘s script is better than that of the film.

Likewise, Topps‘ 1992 adaptation of theĀ Francis Ford Coppola film Bram Stoker’s Dracula, written by Roy Thomas, marks a turn for artist Mike Mignola from Batman to more supernatural work, leading straight into his magnum opus, Hellboy.

Kumar and Jordan, patiently awaiting the delayed Australian release of the new Dune film, decided to indulge their obsession by doing this week’s episode, discussing both films.

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#663 Moon Knight Begins

It’s been some time since Moon Knight came anywhere close to being considered a top-tier Marvel character in terms of popularity. But in the early ’80s, he was riding high in a popular series by Doug Moench and Bill Sienkiewicz. In this episode, Tim and Paul look at the runup to that series, when the character appeared in solo stories and teamups in various titles, as chronicled in the Marvel Epic Collection line’s Moon Knight: Bad Moon Rising.

#270 “Big Numbers”: Adding it all up

How often do you hear of two creators at the top of their medium, who set out to create their “magnum opus” and never complete it? Big Numbers is a famously unfinished comics project by Alan Moore and Bill Sienkiewicz from 1990. The theme of the project seemed to be chaos theory, symbolized by the fractal Mandebrot set (shown at right).

Meant to span 12 issues (or, rather, volumes, since the format is more paperback book than magazine), it only reached number two and then ceased publication. Rumors have flown since then about possibly existing third and fourth issues that never saw the light of day. Recently, new information has come out regarding the state of those unpublished episodes. Tim and Kumar sift through the rubble and speculate on just where Moore was going with this idea…

Wikipedia on Big Numbers

Bill Sienkiewicz explains the demise of Big Numbers

Scans of Big Numbers #3

Part of the script of #3

On Eddie Campbell’s take (from Mindless Ones)

What Al Columbia did with Big Numbers #4 (from CBR)

Sienkiewicz talks chaos theory on an episode of Prisoners of Gravity in 1991 (YouTube)