I found myself in a conversation yesterday in the store about comics which are based on TV shows or movies and fan fiction. The customer believed comics such as Dr. Who, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and Star Wars were nothing more than glorified fan fiction. I explained how this could not be further from the truth.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
What is Fan Fiction?
Fan fiction is comprised of stories which the fans of a show or movie have written in the hope of bringing themselves and readers closer to the characters. Typically, fan fiction does not have the approval of the original creators of the characters and typically do not make money. A simple search of Google will turn up thousands of fan sites for everything from “Firefly” to “Dr. Who” to “Bladerunner.” I do not wish to talk down about fan fiction, but most of it is pretty bad. You can find a diamond here and there, but most of the fanboys and fangirls who write fan fiction have no experience whatsoever.
Difference of Comics Based on Established Products
The comic books on the market based on established properties from outside of the typical realm of comics, such as Star Wars and Buffy have the blessings of the original creators. While the content might not be considered as complete canon law when it comes to the characters being portrayed, don’t you think Disney would speak up if Dark Horse took an established character from the Star Wars Universe down the wrong path? If Yoda became an alcoholic or Ben Kenobi was portrayed as a pedophile, there would be major disruptions in the force and potentially in court.
Sometimes, the original creator of a property gets directly involved in the comic book based off of his or her property. Just think about how the Firefly comic might be different if Joss Whedon had not taken the lead on the title.
The storylines in these comics are developed over months and have the input of many different creators. Fan fiction is usually the work of one person who does not have the blessings of anyone involved in the original project. If you ever hear someone making an analogy between fan fiction and comics, make sure you set him or her on the right path.
