The French Punk Rock Jesus To Be Ten Pages Extra, And In Hardcover

[Rich Johnston]

Punk Rock Jesus is concluding next month by Sean Murphy for DC Vertigo. A thirty-two page comic book that actually was a thirty-two page comic book, the six issue collection will be larger than most ten issue collections these days. But that's just not enough for the French market.

At the Paris Comics Expo recently, author Sean spoke about how the French edition would have ten extra pages to allow the story to breathe more in certain places, and it would also be in hardcover...

UPDATE: Sean Murphy lays out what is actually happening...

[FONT=Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif]Just thought I'd comment on a few rumors I've been seeing about the Punk Rock Jesus trade and what it'll include. The fact is that we haven't yet decided what the trade will include as far as extras, and we don't know if it'll be a hardcover. Nor has our French publisher officially agreed to produce it in Europe.

One idea I had was adding extra pages to help the story breath a bit more--make it a "director's cut". As I've mentioned elsewhere, Punk Rock Jesus was cut down a lot for the periodicals. Why? When it was approved, we didn't know how well it was going to be received by readers, nor did we know that the sales would rise like they have. I was an untested writer and PRJ dealt with touchy subject matter, so cutting my 200 page OGN down to 6 issues was the safe move for DC. I'd love to have had more, but as a businessman I understood DC completely and was thrilled to be getting it publisher, period. If we knew that PRJ would be doing as well as it has, then of course we would have made the series longer. But that's all 20/20.

I'm extremely proud of Punk Rock Jesus but I DON'T think it's the best writing I can do--it's the best I can do given that I had to squeeze a huge plot into 6 issues. Sometimes I think I should have cut out Thomas' IRA back story to make more room for the main plot, but then it would have lost the strange juxtaposition between Chris and Thomas that makes PRJ such an unusual read.

In the end I decided to let it be fast, loud, abrupt, imperfect, jarring, and short--like how punk rock music is.

And please don't think that adding extras is a "money grab"--all trades have extras these days. I'm just pushing to use mine to improve the story rather than show sketches and doodles.[/FONT]

[Phantom309]

If it's longer than the US release than it's a dick move. I'll be finding out before I buy the book. If I will be getting shafted then I won't be picking it up. Is there a good reason to alter the book for the US? Pretty uncool unless Vertigo had issues with the pages and then it's lame on their part.

[abcdiablo]

If it's longer than the US release than it's a dick move. I'll be finding out before I buy the book. If I will be getting shafted then I won't be picking it up. Is there a good reason to alter the book for the US? Pretty uncool unless Vertigo had issues with the pages and then it's lame on their part.

Cool your jets. Where are you getting this "alter the book for the US" bit from? It's clearly implied that the French version is having pages ADDED on here:

the French edition would have ten extra pages to allow the story to breathe more in certain places

You don't create room to breath by taking pages away in another version.

[Celestin]

Cool your jets. Where are you getting this "alter the book for the US" bit from? It's clearly implied that the French version is having pages ADDED on here:

You don't create room to breath by taking pages away in another version.

But it still suggest that US version will be inferior compared to French one. And that makes you think - do you buy it now or wait for inevitable Deluxe edition or similar where they will include these additional pages?

[Johnson!]

No offense to Sean Murphy, whose work I generally find to be excellent... but this won't sell well enough for a subsequent "deluxe edition." Maybe the paperback gets more pages than the HC, which would suck. But if the french publisher is actually PAYING for those added pages, then... too bad for DC, and most of us.

[abcdiablo]

But it still suggest that US version will be inferior compared to French one.

Yeah, I wasn't denying that. But Phantom was complaining about alterations to the US material, which wasn't suggested anywhere at all.

And that makes you think - do you buy it now or wait for inevitable Deluxe edition or similar where they will include these additional pages?

That's up for each individual to decide. Personally, I'll be going with the cheapest version.

[Phantom309]

Yeah, I wasn't denying that. But Phantom was complaining about alterations to the US material, which wasn't suggested anywhere at all.



That's up for each individual to decide. Personally, I'll be going with the cheapest version.

Yeah, I may have worded my response a little wonky but the American paperback sounds like either it's been altered from the original story (not the floppies but from what Murphy had created originally) or that the French version is being enhanced. Either way I find it annoying when multiple versions of books are created for different countries. It's bad enough with movies, I don't want it with my books. Maybe it's like Johnson! said and the French publisher paid for the pages but it sounds like the pages where just edited out to save printing cost.

[mquitney]

I would pay double for the extra pages and hardcover presentation, think about it DC!

[fever]

Well, there's the excuse I needed not to rebuy the book in tpb.

[Manwich]

I want a hardcover. I also want more pages. I've been loving PRJ. I think it's one of the best things of 2012. But this bit of news does sting a little. Unfortunately, Johnson!'s almost certainly right. No way this gets a second edition until the first has been out of print for some time. Maybe we get the English equivalent to the French edition in 5+ years if the thing gains in popularity.