Guillermo del Toro Plans Pacific Rim Graphic Novel

It looks like director Guillermo del Toro?s much-anticipated Monsters vs Mecha movie, Pacific Rim, is about to get a graphic novel companion. ?Penned by Travis Beacham (Clash of the Titans), the same screenwriter behind the feature, the graphic novel will be put out through Legendary Comics and will be available before the film?s July 12th, 2013 release date, as its story is a prequel of sorts. ?Del Toro talks about the decision to release the comic as a prequel rather than adapt the movie after?it debuts. ?See what the director had to say, along with a brand new poster for Pacific Rim?after the jump.

In an interview with The LA Times? Hero Complex at the ongoing New York Comic-Con, del Toro talked about his plans to expand the universe of?Pacific Rim?beyond just the feature film. ?When asked why he decided to go prequel instead of post-release adaptation, del Toro explained as follows:

I think those experiments ? well, in my experience as a collector, it?s rare that you find a movie adaptation in which anyone really succeeded. They end up being really badly done commercial ventures where you have a not-so-great artist and a not-so-great writer and a not-so-great adaptation at the end of the day.

The idea was to set up the creation of the world that is in ?Pacific Rim,? sort of give the stories and the drama and the science that occurs after the first?kaijumakes land in 2013, and what happens when that occurrence is repeated over and over again until we realize that it?s not a single occurrence or a series of occurrences, but a full-on invasion. And that we are going to need to [create] a weapon to deal with a creature that is that big and is not going in a straight line or a diagonal ? hitting a target that is a living organism of a scale that has never been seen on Earth. We need to create an equally inventive way to grapple with the creature before it gets more inland. The ingenuity of the creation of Jaegers ? the gigantic machines ? that are pilot-controlled; the reaction of the?kaiju?attack; the creation of the academy; the first generation of Jaeger pilots that come out ? all of that is set up in the movie, but is not expanded upon. The graphic novel will do that and more.

Del Toro, notoriously over-committed, also comments on how involved he?ll be with the production of the graphic novel:

I try to get involved as much as possible. The first decision that is needed from me is to hire the right artist, the right colorist, the right writer for the books. That?s the part that I think is most important. It?s like directing in the comics?. In ?Pacific Rim,? I expect to approve the layout, the pencils, the inking, the coloring, the cover, the script ? everything.

So is there hope for the comic after the movie comes out, depending on if both are successful?

I think so 100%. It?s worth it from the creative point of view.? We are not doing just a spinoff, it?s not an ancillary market decision to go to the comic. I created one that allows us to set up and expand and explore things that are spoken of in the movies, but this is another kind of creative important endeavor. One of the things that we did in the movie that I intend to continue/create in the comic book was to convey that this is a real world with real mechanics and real people fixing valves and machines. It?s a livelihood. And hopefully in the comic we can give the fans that set world that?s not changing from panel to panel or from page to page or from issue to issue that you really feel the day-to-day minutiae of what it means to be a mechanic or a pilot or a commanding officer in this world. That would be my most cherished hope.

Be sure to check out the full interview at Hero Complex. ?As a treat for all that reading you just did, here?s the new poster for?Pacific Rim:

Pacific Rim?stars Idris Elba, Charlie Hunnam, Rinko Kinkuchi, Charlie Day and Ron Perlman. ?Here?s the official synopsis for?Pacific Rim:

When legions of monstrous creatures, known as Kaiju, started rising from the sea, a war began that would take millions of lives and consume humanity?s resources for years on end.? To combat the giant Kaiju, a special type of weapon was devised: massive robots, called Jaegers, which are controlled simultaneously by two pilots whose minds are locked in a neural bridge.? But even the Jaegers are proving nearly defenseless in the face of the relentless Kaiju.? On the verge of defeat, the forces defending mankind have no choice but to turn to two unlikely heroes ? a washed up former pilot (Charlie Hunnam) and an untested trainee (Rinko Kikuchi) ? who are teamed to drive a legendary but seemingly obsolete Jaeger from the past.? Together, they stand as mankind?s last hope against the mounting apocalypse.

Source: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1926070/news/1926070/

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