If we take into account the fact that Game of Thrones and comic-based superhero movies are being the most striking for the so-called “geeks” that seem to be on the rise in popular culture, author George RR Martin's combination with a new superhero TV series looks like a guaranteed hit.
The author announced on his blog last weekend that Universal Cable Productions had acquired the rights to his Wild Cards book series, which he describes as
"A universe, as long, diverse and exciting as the comics of the Marvel and DC universe (although something considerably more realistic and more consistent) with a huge cast of characters ”.
The Wild Cards saga debuted in 1986, 10 years before the publication of the first book that made up the A Song of Ice and Fire saga, Game of Thrones. The The main problem with that series is that at that time the superheroes were not so important and famous as they have it now. Although it was still a time of great change in the comics with Alan Moore and Dave Gibbson announcing a darker and bleaker chapter of Batman.
In this series, George RR Marrtin and his co-editor Melinda Snodgrass used a variety of names from great science fiction and fantasy authors to create a shared universe that was not an anthology of short stories or a great collaboration but something in between, what they called a "mosaic novel", with different stories and different characters written by different authors but intertwined in a larger narrative.
In Wild Cards it is set in the WWII when an alien virus breaks out throughout the world, beginning in New York. This virus changed the course of history. Ninety percent of the people exposed to the virus died on the spot, but of the 10 people out of 100 who survived, nine of them were horribly disfigured in what they called "joker" in the lingo of the series. The 1% remaining were endowed with superpowers in the style of comics.
Starting from this premise, Martin, Snodgrass and the rest of the writers who joined in this adventure, including Pat Cadigan, Cherie Priest, Chris Claermont (writer of the X-Men comics) and the late Roger Zelazny joined in a world that has the magic of comics that echo but without the continuity problems that arise over many years.
As George RR Martin himself points out, the Wild Cards universe it is at least as populated as Westeros is, giving the producers of the upcoming television adaptation a huge tapestry of stories to go through. The first volume introduces Dr. Tachyon, an evil and flamboyant member of the alien race that unleashed the virus in 1941. It also introduces the great and powerful turtles, who use telekinesic abilities to lock themselves in a flying shell. Another character is Cap Trips, who used hallucinogens to activate his super abilities and finally is introduced to Jetboy, an expert fighter who tried to save the world from the virus that was released throughout Manhattan.
Along with these characters called "Aces" are the grotesque and deformed Jokers, subjected to intolerance and hatred. Thus arises a struggle in the sixties for civil rights in this alternate reality.
This saga of books too has been adapted in the form of comics and role-playing games. In fact, the whole concept of history arose in superhero role-playing sessions in which Martin and Snodgrass played. The success of the comic was assured, now it only remains to hope that such an idea develops in a television series.
With the names of some authors and a story that seems capable of capturing an audience, it is difficult to think where an error could occur. Nothing else with the name of George RR Martin, there is no doubt that it will manage to unite the thousands of fans who follow the Game of Thrones series, even if it has no connection to his other saga. Also, even though there has been some criticism against some comic book movies, especially DC's Batman vs Superman, superhero movies tend to be very popular with the public current and her appetite does not seem to be diminishing.
On the other hand, Wild Cards also has the incentive of a group of fans that has been growing for 30 years, since this saga has 22 published books, in addition to history has a tight grip on continuity, so producers won't have a big problem fitting disparate elements together.
Finally we must add to all the above that Wild Cards is a really big world. There have been many questions over the last few years about What if there were superheroes in the real world. In this series the best opportunity is given to know what would have happened if they existed.