Image Comics just released the first issue of a new five-issue comic book about one of my (Rob) favorite TV heroes from the 1980s: MacGyver. Being a comic book fan, and a MacGyver fan, I think I'm going to have to pick this one up! USA TODAY ARTICLE:
The comic is called: MacGyver: Fugitive Gauntlet miniseries, co-written by MacGyver creator Lee David Zlotoff and debuting today in comic shops.
MacGyver being earnest and trying to help the world? Check. MacGyver not exactly wooing the ladies? Check. MacGyver getting out of a sticky situation using whatever's around him, even candy? Check.
"It's turned into this global touchstone, which is one of the reasons why I'm trying to bring it back," says Zlotoff, working with co-writer Tony Lee and artist Will Sliney. "It's exactly what the world needs right now. He's the absolute right character for this century, I think."
A comic is just one aspect of how Zlotoff wants to tap into the continued fandom for the 1985-92 ABC series starring Richard Dean Anderson as the idealistic adventurer and cult favorite. In the works: a new website, a charitable foundation, a musical and a feature film that will potentially reboot the character for a new generation.
The MacGyver comic series is designed for those who already know at least a little about the character, according to Zlotoff, although he appears a little younger than Anderson did in the TV show.
Fugitive Gauntlet finds the hero flying off to Kenya to meet up with an old biology professor who may have made a breakthrough in solving world hunger. But MacGyver unknowingly walks right into danger: A $7 million bounty has been put on his head, with the prize decreasing every day he's alive, and hitmen are out to get him just as he is fingered as a criminal.
It's never easy for him, obviously. And a MacGyver story is not complete without the requisite "MacGyverism," where he has to escape from certain doom using what he can find at the last minute.
Zlotoff has a different guy than he did back when he wrote the original MacGyver pilot, but for the comic he has enlisted the help of engineer John Potter to figure out ways of using physics, chemistry and other science to have MacGyver get out of harm's way.
Fans won't see love interest Penny, antagonist Murdoc and other beloved characters from the TV show at least for now in the comic — Zlotoff only owns the rights to MacGyver and those who appeared in the pilot.
KNOWN WORLDWIDE
Since his '80s debut, MacGyver has become a "global man," and as beloved as he is in the USA, Zlotoff has seen firsthand that he's 10 times more popular internationally, even in the Middle East.
"In many countries, he's practically worshiped as a character," the creator says. "I was with someone who had been teaching English in Korea for eight years, and out of curiosity I said, 'Do they have any idea who MacGyver is?' He said, 'Are you kidding me? Every pocket knife in the country is called a MacGyver.'
HERE'S A PREVIEW:
MacGyver Preview
No comments:
Post a Comment