Posted in: Comics | Tagged: 2000 ad, Alan Moore, chris weston, dynamite, j. michael straczynski, jms, twilight zone

2000AD Vs JMS – Twilight Zones And Future Shocks

 JMS was quoted, talking about The Twilight Zone comic, saying

You can't do a Twilight Zone story in ten pages, or one twenty-two page comic book; you need to be able to establish and develop the character, and that takes time. You could never do a single comic book with the depth of storytelling you'd get in, say, "The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street," or "The Obsolete Man."

Well, now from the 2000AD Facebook page…

That would be Alan Moore's Future Shocks right here. Which has led to some entertaining comments, including one from JMS.

J. MIchael Straczynski Y'know, if you're going to troll me, at least try to get it right. I said you can't do a Twilight Zone story — which is roughly half an hour of material — in a 22 page comic. If you actually, oh, I don't know, read the fucking interview, it's about length of storytelling and what you can fit into that number of pages, not being able to do a story in 2, 5 or 10 pages.

Is Alan writing a Twilight Zone story? No? Then this has nothing to do with it, or him or anything else other than some folks who want to try and stir the shit.

Of course one can do a story in short form. Only an idiot would say otherwise. I wrote a bunch of done-in-ones for Brave and the Bold so right there it invalidates the point the meme writer is trying to create.

I would expect better from 2000 AD than to go around trying to start feuds and fires where none exist by deliberately misstating the situation.

Other relevant comments included;

Chris Weston Good Future Shocks aren't just exclusive to Moore, either. I'd put the one from Prog 50, "The Guardian" by Cruden & Cooper up against ANY episode of The Twilight Zone.

Imran Husain Hmmm. A punchy short story with a nice twist ending? EC Comics used to do it regularly in about 6 to 8 pages. IN THE 1950s.

I enjoyed watching The Twilight Zone very much and I think single issue comic stories have had the depth of storytelling of the episodes JMS mentions – but they aren't commonplace.

They can be done though. And Moore has written a number of them.

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