I Have

Posted by New Jersey Hughes from h186.n-D1A278.sac.verio.net on September 18, 2000 at 12:14:04:

In Reply to: More questions from the new guy....me! posted by Indiana Jones on September 17, 2000 at 16:08:26:

Back when Dark Horse Comics has the license to do Indiana Jones comics, I was working on a four-issue Indy miniseries. We even approached Drew Struzan about doing the cover to the eventual collected trade paperback, and he was down for it. Lucy Autrey Wilson at Lucasfilm liked my artwork, and wanted me to do more research for the story's sake. Since this was right around the time Young Indiana Jones was going into production, Lucasfilm seemed much more interested in having me produce an historically accurate text book than a whip-cracking tale of high adventure. I wanted the story to be more RAIDERS than YOUNG INDY, but it's their ball; you want to play with their toys, you gotta play by their rules.

Now, I had already done ACRES of research, all on my own dime, and I ended up having to temporarily shelve the project while I went off and earned a living doing paying assignments. During that time, Dark Horse, due to low sales, let the license expire without renewing it. To this day, I still get people asking me "What ever happened to your Indy miniseries?" If the comic license ever gets picked up again (and I'm sure if INDY 4 ever happens, it will), I'll do my damnedest to get that company to buy my miniseries.

It isn't as easy a process as you might imagine, and dealing with licensers can be a painfully frustrative experience. Your creative ideas get shot down by some bean-counter who knows nothing about the material but merely has a clipboard with a list of 'do's and don'ts' about the subject they refer to. The don't actually read your material, they just scan it with their little red flags, looking for 'violations'. You haven't experienced fun until you've argued with a licenser over what their characters would and would not do.

Licenser: "On page 13, you have Indy kicking a bad guy in the crotch. You have to change it. Indiana Jones doesn't fight dirty like that."

Creator: "But- but, he did it in RAIDERS--!!"

Of all the licensers I've dealt with, Lucasfilm has been better than most (Lucy Wilson was a very nice person to deal with); at least they tell you WHY they want a change made. If you ever want to have the creative juices sucked out of your veins, try doing some STAR TREK licensing work for Paramount. I have.

So, yeah; some of us creative Indyfan types have tried.

Adam Hughes
aka New Jersey Hughes
Gaijin Studios

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: Back when Dark Horse Comics has the license to do Indiana Jones comics, I was working on a four-issue Indy miniseries.  We even approached Drew Struzan about doing the cover to the eventual collected trade paperback, and he was down for it.  Lucy Autrey Wilson at Lucasfilm liked my artwork, and wanted me to do more research for the story's sake.  Since this was right around the time Young Indiana Jones was going into production, Lucasfilm seemed much more interested in having me produce an historically accurate text book than a whip-cracking tale of high adventure.  I wanted the story to be more RAIDERS than YOUNG INDY, but it's their ball; you want to play with their toys, you gotta play by their rules.

: Now, I had already done ACRES of research, all on my own dime, and I ended up having to temporarily shelve the project while I went off and earned a living doing paying assignments.  During that time, Dark Horse, due to low sales, let the license expire without renewing it.  To this day, I still get people asking me "What ever happened to your Indy miniseries?"  If the comic license ever gets picked up again (and I'm sure if INDY 4 ever happens, it will), I'll do my damnedest to get that company to buy my miniseries.

: It isn't as easy a process as you might imagine, and dealing with licensers can be a painfully frustrative experience.  Your creative ideas get shot down by some bean-counter who knows nothing about the material but merely has a clipboard with a list of 'do's and don'ts' about the subject they refer to.  The don't actually read your material, they just scan it with their little red flags, looking for 'violations'.  You haven't experienced fun until you've argued with a licenser over what their characters would and would not do.

: Licenser:  "On page 13, you have Indy kicking a bad guy in the crotch.  You have to change it.  Indiana Jones doesn't fight dirty like that."

: Creator:  "But- but, he did it in RAIDERS--!!"

: Of all the licensers I've dealt with, Lucasfilm has been better than most (Lucy Wilson was a very nice person to deal with); at least they tell you WHY they want a change made.  If you ever want to have the creative juices sucked out of your veins, try doing some STAR TREK licensing work for Paramount.  I have.

: So, yeah; some of us  creative Indyfan types have tried.

: Adam Hughes
: aka New Jersey Hughes
: Gaijin Studios

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