knight rider online

The medium of comics is very different from the medium of tv or film. Certain things work in some mediums which don't work in others. X-men brilliantly showed us this in the first movie, where Wolverine had black leather instead of yellow spandex. So how will Knight/Rider be different in comic form? I don't know, but I'm just throwing out some ideas. (apparently the slash is significant in the upcoming comic!)

1) The make of the car is less important.
We all have opinions on what kind of car KITT should be in a movie. Whether it's a Trans Am or a Mustang or a Corvette, I think most of us agree we want it to at least be a "real" car, as opposed to a complete custom job like the batmobile. I'm less concerned about it in the comic. I still think KITT should be black and shouldn't look overly freaky, but if they just drew a sleek car and never told us the model, I'd be OK with that.

2) Comics tend to be darker.
For 15 years I have been saying I would love to see Tim Burton's Knight Rider. It would be a definite breakaway from the tone of the original series, but it just fascinates me to think how they could do Knight Rider with a little more... aggression. Ultimately, I think the best move for the movie is to keep the tone of the original without taking itself too seriously. But a comic is different. It's tough to do "tongue-in-cheek" in a comic without just looking silly. I think it's a great chance to go a little darker. I'm not saying KITT is now a vigilante car without his programming to protect human life. Just... a little more serious.

3) Character exploration is easier.
Comics love thought balloons and it's something film and television can't match. Sometimes you'll hear voice-overs, but nothing gets into a character's brain (or microprocessor) like a thought balloon. What does KITT think? HOW does he think? As a computer, would he have to think using the same english word patterns he uses for speech? I just think it's a great opportunity to explore KITT as a character when he's not talking to a human.

4) Beautiful artwork.
We've all enjoyed seeing screen shots or production stills. But most of them rely on the camera simply stumbling upon a good shot. There are good frames, and bad frames. But every frame of a comic can be a piece of art. And I bet if we're nice to the production team, they'll release some really cool hi-res imagery of some of their artwork.

Any other thoughts? Aside from specific plot or character ideas, how can a digital comic differ from a TV show? How SHOULD it differ?


"The medium is the message."
(I had to do a report in college on Marshall McLuhan so I'm always quoting him.)

The author of the comic has already confirmed that the KR comic will be light in tone, not dark. But I would welcome a dark KR. The pilot was actually quite "dark."

I'm very interested to see the take they have for the comics, although I'm a little cautious at the same time as some of the things in the interview with the author gave me pause. For one, I agree that a slightly darker, grittier, more adult Knight Rider world would be extremely interesting but the author seemed to indicate the comics won't be that way at all, with the exception of some moments here and there. It's a thin line to walk when dealing with a subject like Knight Rider because while the original series nailed the tone almost perfectly, if you try too hard to appeal to a very broad (and young) audience, you can end up getting too campy and silly and it goes the direction of Team Knight Rider or moments of the 2008 series. Another thing that concerned me is that they don't have the license to use the original actors' likenesses, so to avoid any legal issues, the characters may look pretty wildly different than we expect or prefer, which could be good or bad depending on how it's handled. Lastly, it sounds as though the author is only vaguely familiar with the original source material and has only watched a few episodes. His choice of "Knight of the Rising Sun" being one of his favorite episodes was a bit surprising to me because while I don't necessarily consider it a "bad" episode, I certainly think there are many, many others that are far better. I really hope my concerns are misplaced.

As far as the positive things I'm looking forward to, I'm excited to see what the style of art is (I really hope they go for a high-quality look), that there will be an initial 8-issue run with individual stories as well as an overall "season" arc, that familiar enemies and faces will be making appearances, that this is going to be set in the present and that we'll hopefully get to see KITT get some awesome new upgrades.