When Marvel Comics recently announced that they would be taking over the Star Wars license from longtime publisher Dark Horse Comics, there were basically two reactions from fans: “Well, I’m not surprised” and “Oh, no, please don’t.”Nobody much was very excited about the nation’s largest comic book publisher taking over probably the most popular line of licensed comic books of the last two decades. Why? Well, there are a lot of reasons, and most of them have little to do with Marvel, so at least the House of Ideas can take solace in the fact that the Darth Vader-syle “NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!” they heard that day wasn’t anything personal.So what is it, then, if not personal? Well, it’s years of experience that tells fans most comic books based on other-media franchises are pretty terrible. Some of it, probably, is just taking the audience for granted, assuming that between the fans of the property and the fans of whatever creators you put on a book, you’ll be able to cobble together enough sales to make it a success financially even if it’s a critical and artistic abortion. There’s more to it than just laziness, though.Not even going back to the Silver Age heyday of cheesy licensed comics, I can think back in my own personal experience and remember terrible comics based on The X-Files (though the current one is outstanding), ALF, Chuck and more. With rare exception, it’s difficult to get excited about a comic based on a TV show, movie or novel because the vast majority of them slip into the same handful of traps:
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