George R.R. Martin wants to reboot Doctor Strange for Marvel

George R. R. Martin would literally be incapable of writing for Marvel or DC due to that second paragraph. He doesn't own the characters, rendering his work barely a step removed from the fan fic he so thoroughly despises; and someone will inevitably come along after the fact and change things, especially if the core of his idea is that Dr. Strange shouldn't associate with other Marvel characters.

Basically, a Strange story by Martin would make for a great What If, but neither I nor, by the sounds of it, he would want to see him write Strange in the 616 universe.

 

Don't they have a series of books dedicated to that purpose....? The Season 1 line....?

 

That guy's a *****e.

 

He just wants to be A Neil Gaimen

 

Tschyeah, good luck with that Georgey boy. How about you just focus on getting your own books out on time before trying to venture out into something else that you'll take forever to do.

 

Dang, Martin's kind of a persona non grata around here.

 

Other than his completely unrealistic expectations about his stories being set in stone I like the premise he suggested. I never thought Strange should have been part of any Avengers, and having him as more of a shadowy figure working behind the scenes, saving even the heroes from threats they don't know are there sounds awesome.

 

That's pretty silly.

I adore the man, his writing, his ideas - but saying what he said and allowing it to get out there is pretty stupid.

 

Honestly, the thing I'd most like to see is just for magic to be more unified. The gods' magic and Strange's magic and the horror magic of Ghost Rider and others usually seem weirdly distinct and never really cross over much. That just doesn't make sense to me.

 

Honestly, sounds a bit *****ey here. "I want to reboot the character, but no one can ever reboot it." As if he is entitled to some sort of authority that not even the original creators are privy to.

 

They seemed to be on track to attempt this a few years ago post annhilation success..with the cards thing? Even still it seemed some big mystic story was in the works with Bedis, but it always seemed to fizzle

 

Yeah, the Mystic Arcana thing. I can't say that impressed me much, so it's probably for the best that that particular unification of Marvel's magic didn't work out. It also left the gods out in the cold, for the most part.

 

Will [BLACKOUT]Dr. Strange be beheaded half way through the story?[/BLACKOUT].

 

They could try, but Bendis kinda went nuts with Wanda's "chaos magic" and how it doesn't follow the traditional rules of magic. Which is why Strange was clueless and powerless to stop her during HoM.

"Go back and reread it knowing what you know about Wanda"

 

Martin is crazy if he think he can set terms that keeps the owners of the character from ever touching him after Martin. None the less, a reboot of Strange, especially from someone like GRRM, is welcome. He's magic, so a crazy retcon wouldn't be out of left field if played right. He's still mostly obscure; I mean, what is Marvel really doing with Strange? Stories written by a big name like GRRM couldn't hurt the character's sales and popularity at all. And because he is obscure, his history isn't so iconic and set in stone by fandom or the general public that there will be a backlash against any extreme changes. Really, this could only work out for the best. If GRRM really wants his writing to be respected by Marvel, all he needs to do is gain a rapport with the company and writers like Gaiman did.

 

I talked with a friend about this and arrived at the following conclusions:

a) with his level of success, it is not surprising that he behaves like he does. The constant literary worship would get to anyone's head.
b) A story by him would be awesome.
c) With that said, having it as a miniseries or 'What If' is fine. There is no need to mess with the 616 Continuity. Personally speaking, I like Strange as an Avenger and member of the Illuminati.
d) His preference for not having his story retconned is hypocrisy at its finest: he has made the decision to view fanfiction as an infringement on copyright. But, what he wants to do with Strange is fanfiction, except that it would be a )canon and b) the most insulting, since he would replace the narratives of the original creative team, the copyright owners he has go to such lengths to defend (and yes, this opens the issue up of Marvel having the copyright, I am trying to make a point about Lee and Ditko having their work rejected by someone else's fanfiction).

In short, I have mastered the ability to separate the artist from the art. Marvel would never agree to something like this, and still, one cannot downplay the beauty of A Song of Fire and Ice. I love the series and the show, but still think Martin's a pompous ass.

 

Seriously. We're not going to see the next book for years at this rate.

 

Well, yes and no. GRRM's biggest issue with fanfiction, as he's spoken about multiple times, is consent - as in many cases, it is not given, and if it is, he claims it a mistake yes, due to copyright, but not per se of the character, but of a claim to the story idea, and the lack of any contract legally dictating rights. And then he'll generally cite a story of an author who gives consent to fans to write fanfiction, even encourages it, and then comes across a fanfiction story in which events transpire similar to the events in the fanfiction story, and voila, legal ****. His issue with this is primarily due to the private nature of the author's ideas.

Dr. Strange is not a private character, and the application of GRRM's views on fanfiction to this situation fall apart there. Furthermore, as this would have a contract behind it with distinct stipulations, not to mention be a professional work-for-hire job, it's rather not fanfiction.

 

Just meet in the middle and make it a version of the Dr. Strange character and say here ya go, Mr. Martin, go crazy with this continuity, and no, we won't reboot this continuity in the future.

Ultimate Dr. Strange, basically.

EDIT: As for whether he would do a good job, I have literally not been able to bring myself to read anything else Martin has written besides his Ice and Fire novels and novellas, despite owning Dreamsongs Vol. 1 and 2, sitting around here somewhere (curse you, Barnes and Nobles bargain bins). I've heard Fevre Dream is good, but whether I will ever get around to reading it...in any case, I can't really judge whether he would be a good writer for a Dr. Strange comic book.

 

Memo to Martin: He is welcome to create his own superhero anytime, if he can find the right publisher for his work. That way, he can do whatever he wants with it, and nobody will be able to change it.

But unless Marvel consents, what he wants to do with Dr. Strange will never ever happen.

 

He does have his own superhero franchise set of novels, it's called Wild Cards.

Marvel might consent to him doing something with Dr. Strange but probably not under those particular conditions (it would have to be a separate continuity or something).

 

I do think strange needs new life..hate what Bendis has done with him..those stories don't even make sense.

 

Hasn't he gotten some new life via Fraction's Defenders?