Posted in: Comics, Current News | Tagged: colleen doran, good omens, kickstarter, neil gaiman, terry pratchett

Good Omens Graphic Novel Later But Longer, Jumps From 164 To 200 Pages

The Good Omens Graphic Novel will be later but longer, as the Kickstarter success jumps from 164 to 200 Pages #goodomens

Published Fri, 07 Jun 2024 11:58:08 -0500

by Rich Johnston

Comments

Article Summary

Colleen Doran extends Good Omens graphic novel from 164 to 200 pages.
Kickstarter success allows for more detailed storytelling and art.
Adaptation focused on the novel, distancing from TV series influence.
Extra colourist Dee Cunniffe enlisted to meet project's high standards.

Colleen Doran is adapting the novel Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Sir Terry Pratchett as a graphic novel, after a rip-roariously successful Kickstarter campaign. It is going to be later than initially planned as a result of a variety of circumstances, but it is also going to be considerably longer as well. She writes on Substack,

"As you may imagine, I'm having a wonderful time working on the Good Omens graphic novel. The Dunmanifestin team asked me to pop in and give you a look at my process. The task of adapting a beloved novel into graphic novel format is a complex, wonderful sort of pressure cooker. Even without the well-publicized complications I got smacked with over the last year, it promised to be an intense, time-consuming project. The graphic novel is about the book and not the show. Getting Michael Sheen and David Tennant out of my head was quite a task. I've seen it dozens of times and I adore it, but I had to devote a lot of time to re-reading the novel and listening to the audiobook to clear my head of them. The few times I allowed myself to watch the show again screwed me up a bit. So, I won't watch it again until I am completely finished with every drawing. Maybe a view-a-thon will be my reward for finishing the book.

Good Omens Graphic Novel Later But Longer, Jumps From 164 To 200 Pages — Frank Quitely variant cover

"But I'm getting ahead of myself. There's still a lot to do, so let me show you it. Before we knew the Kickstarter fundraiser would do well, the graphic novel was to clock in at 164 pages. After the good news of the Kickstarter success, I got permission to take the story to 200 pages. That meant a major rewrite and redraw on some dozens of thumbnails and layouts. And you guys are getting a much longer book. Not complaining one bit. I was so happy to get more space to give breathing room to the ending."

She writes about the process a lot more on the Kickstarter update, including;

"Since I'm running behind on the book, I've brought in Dee Cunniffe to do some extra color work. He is a wonderful colorist, as well as an excellent flatter. I'm not sure to what extent I'll be handing pages to Dee at this point, because I'm very controlling, and I want to make absolutely certain there are no stylistic anomalies in the art, and I want all the Crowley and Aziraphale pages for myself, is that too much to ask?"