So, About That “Raise the Titanic!” Graphic Novel…
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Want to read a RAISE THE TITANIC! graphic novel?
Well, I wanted to write one, so I guess we’re both out of luck.
Missing out on adapting RTT! and other Dirk Pitt adventures into graphic novels when I really most sincerely thought it was going to happen remains the most frustrating what-could-have-been writing project in my career. I have alluded to it from time to time here but just never had the gumption to drudge up the full details. Not until this gorgeous mock RAISE THE TITANIC magazine cover by Matthew Robert Smathers that reminded me of the classic Gold Key comic book covers by George Wilson inspired me to get off my duff and indulge in some catharsis.
Oh, what could have been. This absolutely gorgeous mock cover brought to you by Matthew Robert Smathers.
“LET’S START AT THE VERY BEGINNING” or “THEN HE GOT AN IDEA”
S. Clarke Hawbaker’s cover for the first issue of Malibu Graphic’s DRACULA.
Let us begin by setting the WABAC Machine to 1987, the summer I made my first professional comic book sale when Malibu Graphics accepted my series STREET HEROES 2005. It debuted at the end of 1988 but was cancelled after three issues. I had better luck with the next project I pitched to Malibu: a faithful four-issue adaptation of Bram Stoker’s DRACULA. Not only did the first issue get a second printing, but Malibu quickly enlisted me to adapt Stoker’s short story DRACULA’S GUEST and discussions started soon after for an original sequel that became DRACULA: THE SUICIDE CLUB. (FYI – All these comics are currently available through Caliber Comics.)
Mundania Press edition of KING OF HARLEM. Cover art by Christopher Jones.
During this stage of my writing career I was constantly trying to think of ways to make a name (and money) for myself in the comics industry; however, unlike most of my peers I was just as anxious to break into the fiction novel market. I had a literary agent, Lee A. Matthias, who was shopping my novel KING OF HARLEM to publishers, and I succeeded in getting accepted by the University of Iowa’s prestigious Writer’s Workshop MFA program. So perhaps it was this heterogeneousness that made me susceptible to this idea: “If a comics adaptation of a public domain classic can generate respectable sales, how much more could you reap with adaptations of recent bestselling novels by brand name authors?” Such adaptations would not be limited to direct-market comics shops but could be sold in retail bookstores like B. Dalton and Waldenbooks, where people who would never consider picking up a superhero comic book might try a comics adaptation of a favorite author’s story. It seemed to me that, if successful, such adaptations would expand comics into a whole new market.
This probably doesn’t sound very revolutionary now, but what I’m describing had never been attempted forty years ago. Heck, the publishing industry was still trying to figure out what to call graphic novels much less how to take optimum advantage of the suddenly-popular medium.
If my idea was going to have a chance, however, the first adaptation had to make a really big splash with comic books readers and novel readers.
Fortunately the best choice was also my first choice: Clive Cussler’s RAISE THE TITANIC!
Why do I say it was the best choice?
The Grandmaster makes his cameo appearance in the RAISE THE TITANIC movie.
At the time, romance was the most popular novel genre, but comic book readers weren’t going to go coo-coo for adaptations of Danielle Steele or Rosemary Rogers. It was a different story, though, with the next most popular genre: adventure. The most popular comic books at the time were almost all adventures. Meanwhile, in the novel market, Cussler was considered the Grand Master of Adventure. His Dirk Pitt novels had made him one of the world’s most popular and successful writers. Even better, his novels were influenced by the same classic pulp adventures that still influenced most adventure comic books. This was a connection that many comic book readers and novel readers could respond to.
I also didn’t overlook the undying fascination of the RMS Titanic. A fascination Cussler had banked on when he conceived his novel to be a property that would put Pitt and his adventures on the map. A fascination that ballooned into Titanic mania in 1985 with the discovery of the ship’s resting place. I figured there was a good chance at least some Titanic buffs would give the graphic novel a look at to “see” the ship in action as it were.
I could also cite precedent for an RTT! graphic novel. In August 1977 Universal Press Syndicate’s newspaper strip BEST SELLER SHOWCASE debuted with an eight-week adaptation of RTT!, and, in spite of the limitations of the daily newspaper strip format, it was a pretty good adaptation. Definitely better than the 1980 film adaptation, which, except for an awesome John Barry soundtrack, a heartbreaking cameo by Sir Alec Guinness and some incredible shots of the Titanic breaching the North Sea, was a disappointment. In fact Cussler despised the movie so much that for the next two decades he rejected any and all offers for his novels’ film rights out of hand no matter how generous.
TOP: RMS Titanic breaches in the 1977 BEST SELLER SHOWCASE newspaper strip adaptation of Cussler’s novel. BOTTOM: She breaches somewhat more impressively in the 1980 movie adaptation.
Why do I say it was my first choice?
Because I realized before I thought through any of that stuff I just droned on about that I wanted to write an RTT! graphic novel.
I am a huge Cussler and Pitt fan. I would later spend eight years writing THE CLIVE CUSSLER ADVENTURES: A CRITICAL REVIEW, the first serious review book about Cussler and his work (but more on that in a moment). I am also a huge fan of RAISE THE TITANIC!, which is the fourth Pitt novel, the third Pitt novel to be published, the novel that lifted Cussler and Pitt from obscurity (24 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list), and remains the best and most famous of Pitt’s adventures.
“AND HERE’S THE PITCH!” or “GIVE ME A HEART ATTACK, WILL YA’?”
So I called Tom Mason, Malibu’s Creative Director, and laid all this out to him. Tom was unfamiliar with the Pitt novels, but he did recall the RTT movie had been a box office flop. Nevertheless Tom liked what I told him about Cussler’s novels and why I thought graphic novel adaptations could benefit the comics and novel markets, so he said he would forward my pitch to Malibu’s editor-in-chief Chris Ulm, publisher Dave Ohlbrich and owner Scott Rosenberg. All three had also been unfamiliar with the Pitt novels, but Tom told me if they could track down Cussler’s agent then Malibu would pitch my idea to them.
Y-e-a-h… the hell with that.
As far as I was concerned, if you want to make sure something gets done, do it yourself. And, besides, I already had Cussler’s mailing address.
In 1977 I wrote him through his publisher to ask if he thought an idea I had for an adventure novel in which Noah’s Ark is discovered and recovered was too similar to RTT!
Cheeky?
Sue me. I was only seventeen. And Cussler actually replied with an encouraging letter.
So I mailed my pitch directly to Cussler and then did my best to concentrate on my college schoolwork so not to drive myself bonkers worrying if Cussler would be upset or even reply. I had no way of knowing at the time that Cussler’s standard operating procedure was to ask for forgiveness later instead of asking for permission now. (To see what I mean check out how Cussler approached his long-time literary agent Peter Lampack.)
As it turned out, Cussler didn’t write back.
He called.
One late summer morning I was working on a school assignment when the telephone rang and a man with a lackadaisical and somewhat nasally voice asked to speak with Steven Philip Jones. I had never heard Cussler’s voice before, but somehow I knew this was him even before he introduced himself, and I tried not to sound frazzled as I found myself unexpectedly speaking with one of my all-time favorite writers… who, by the way, liked my idea!
Cussler brought up the RTT movie but said he liked the BEST SELLER SHOWCASE adaptation and had extremely fond childhood memories of comic books. So at his instructions I called Tom Mason and gave him Lampack’s contact information.
A few days later Tom called to let me know that very promising negotiations between Malibu and Lampack were under way.
“OH FRABJOUS DAY!” or “COUNTING CHICKENS”
One of my rough script drafts for Page 1 of the RTT! graphic novel.
I spent October through December of 1989 waiting for the negotiations to end. I also sketched out layouts and narrative breakdowns for the novel’s prologue. And I thought a lot about artists to draw the adapation, even though the final decision would be up to Cussler, Lampack and Malibu. I could make suggestions, though, and as far as I was concerned there were only two artists who could pull this off.
One was Al Williamson, a comics grandmaster famous for his work at EC Comics and on the STAR WARS and SECRET AGENT CORRIGAN newspaper strips, but considering his status in the industry I knew that wasn’t going to happen.
Could Al Williamson handle underwater scenes and action? Damn right he could!
That was okay because the other artist was my brother-from-another-mother and favorite collaborator Christopher Jones. Chris and I broke into comics on STREET HEROES 2005 and the powers-that-be at Malibu liked how we worked together. I liked how Chris can draw ANYTHING and make it look g-o-o-d. He is also one of the best storytellers in the business. Chris’s best-known comics include YOUNG JUSTICE and BATMAN STRIKES!, and these days he switches between comics work and animation work for such studios as Warner Brothers. My idea was to have Chris focus on penciling while a friend of ours, S. Clarke Hawbaker, handled the inking. Clarke was still a couple of years away from his landmark work on Marvel’s NOMAD and he liked my suggestion enough to draw a concept sketch of Pitt for Cussler’s consideration.
Clarke’s concept sketch of Pitt. Cussler thought that the sketch captured Pitt’s eyes, a high compliment.
Then came January 1990 and the word that Malibu’s offer had been rejected.
Ouch.
I wrote Cussler to let him know that I truly appreciated the opportunity he had given me and Malibu. (A few years later I found out that Rosenberg wrote a similar letter to Cussler at the same time.) Cussler was kind enough to write me back:
“TRY, TRY AGAIN” or “YEAH… RIGHT”
That should have been that, but a few months later it struck me that perhaps Lampack would approve of a larger publisher. I wrote to Cussler to ask if I could approach places such as DC and Marvel and he thought that sounded like a good idea. So that’s what I did over the next couple of years, but except for a nibble from Jim Shooter at Valiant Comics, no other publisher was interested.
Then in 1992 Malibu experienced incredible growth in a very short time when they temporarily became the publisher for Image Comics. Malibu went from being one of the more popular small independent publishers to owning almost 10% of the comics market.
Maybe Malibu was now at the right stage?
I wrote Cussler to ask and he wrote back, “Go ahead and give Malibu another shot. Maybe Pitt’s time has come. P.S. I agree, the comic market is getting strong, especially among the collectors.”
So I called Tom and he agreed to approach the company’s partners with the suggestion of publishing Dirk Pitt adaptations during their next meeting, but a few weeks later he wrote to say it was a no go. As he explained it, “Had our original offer been accepted over a year ago, the book would be out on the stands now to enjoy the benefits of our recent promotional pushes. Unfortunately, a deal now would take 3-4 months to negotiate and another year before going to press. Our schedule for that kind of work-intensive project is full these days.”
Well… awesome.
I continued to pitch the idea to other comics publishers until Lampack called in 1993 to say he did not see any reason to tie up licensing rights on “such a marginal” potential.
“AND THAT WAS THAT” or “WHAT? YOU’VE GOT ANOTHER IDEA?”
I’m not going to lie, my reaction was perhaps best expressed by Rousseau in a 1760 letter to Voltaire: “I don’t like you, monsieur.”
To be fair Lampack’s concern had to be for his client. It was the practical point of view. Even though comic books were enjoying unprecedented sales, most comic books couldn’t compete with the hardcover and paperback sales of Cussler’s novels. And, again, what I was suggesting was pretty revolutionary for the time, although some publishers were starting to put out literary adaptations of popular genre novels. Today it has even become commonplace to commission a graphic novel adaptation of a screenplay for the sole purpose of pitching it to filmmakers and investors, which has made me wonder how graphic novel adaptations of the Dirk Pitt adventures in the early 1990s might have helped Cussler show the film industry the true cinematic potential of his stories and characters.
Not that realizing any of this ever salved my feelings, especially since things managed to get worse before getting somewhat better.
In 1992 I was reading THE TOM CLANCY COMPANION and it got me thinking, “Why isn’t there a CLIVE CUSSLER COMPANION?” After sketching out a format for such a book, I wrote Cussler and he replied that he liked the idea. In fact Cussler had even written up a few bios to start such a project but it never progressed beyond that stage. Cussler said he would talk to Lampack, but soon after I was informed that the idea had been rejected.
Hey, I knew it was a long shot, but at least my hat had been in the ring, so the speak. That felt nice.
Or it did until 1998 and I was browsing a local bookstore and saw CLIVE CUSSLER AND DIRK PITT REVEALED in the spinner rack.
Ouch.
Cussler and Lampack had been under no obligation to me, and Cussler did tell me he had considered writing a companion book in the past. I just thought it would have been nice if someone would have told me, “Thanks but we’re proceeding with this on our own.”
That said, CLIVE CUSSLER AND DIRK PITT REVEALED is pretty cool.
“AND, AGAIN, THAT WAS THAT” or “WHAT NOW, GENIUS?”
This is where I was standing in the UofI Main Library when I got the idea for what became known as The Cussler Book. Below my right elbow is the TERENCE FISHER book that made me realize that I wanted to write a book for McFarland.
Things turned around a bit in 2005 when I was at the University of Iowa Main Library to check out a book for a writing project. As usually happens, though, I started browsing and soon I had a pile of books to take home, one of which was a review book on TERENCE FISHER by Paul Leggett and published by McFarland Publishing. If you are not familiar with McFarland, I can’t recommend their catalog enough, and it dawned on me then how many of the company’s books I had enjoyed over the years.
Then something else dawned on me: “I’d like to write a McFarland book.”
Okay. Nice idea, genius, but what to write? What topics are you an expert on?
One idea hit me instantly, only to be followed soon after by another idea.
The first was a review book on Cussler and the other was a review book on the best and most influential Independent comic books from the late 70s to the early 90s.
I really wanted to write the Cussler book, but it only seemed courteous to first run the idea past Cussler in case he had any objections. He replied, “Why anyone would want to write a critical review book on Dirk Pitt is beyond me, but go ahead.” So I pitched both ideas to McFarland because more can be better, and McFarland told me they already had a Cussler book in the pipeline and asked me to submit the Indy comic book instead.
Over the next few months I completed a breakdown of the mechanics of the comic medium, an overview of comic book history and the Independent comics revolution, and a review of Connor Freff Cochran and Phil Foglio’s sole issue of D’ARC TANGENT. I was also well into writing a review of Mike Grell’s JON SABLE series and his original James Bond graphic novel series PERMISSION TO DIE, and had started to research Matt Wagner’s MAGE when McFarland contacted me. They had been wrong about their having a Cussler book and asked me to submit my critical review book on him after I finished my current project.
Well, screw that.
Like I said, I really wanted to write the Cussler review book. I might not have gotten the chance to write the graphic novels or the companion book, but I damn well was going to write this book!
And not that it mattered, but in a stroke of serendipity most of the writers that I needed to interview for the Independent comics book suddenly stopped corresponding with me, or told me they had no interest in talking with me, or never replied to my request for an interview. Since these interviews were essential to providing behind-the-scenes insights that would be unavailable elsewhere, I told McFarland I could not proceed and they agreed I should move on to the Cussler review book.
This was 2006.
I finished writing the book in 2014.
So what took so long?
“DRAWING THE LINE” or “ENDING ON A GOOD NOTE”
If I had had my way Christopher Jones would have drawn the cover for The Cussler Book. Here is Chris’s cover rough that we submitted to McFarland incorporating my (preferred) working title.
For one thing, this was about the time that the Cussler Universe exploded, and the first thing I needed to do was reread Cussler’s novels and make notes.
The problem was, I am a s-l-o-w reader.
Sincerely.
In college my reading speed was measured in the bottom twenty percentile, but when I started out there were a manageable 19 Pitt novels, 6 NUMA Files novels, 4 Oregon Files novels, 2 children’s books, and 2 nonfiction books for me to read. By 2009, however, Cussler had an average of at least 3 new books a year coming out and I felt like I was in a leaking lifeboat. Things got so hectic that eventually my wife wisely counseled me, “You are going to have to draw a line. Review no more books beyond this point.”
Meanwhile as this was going on, my life… well… to paraphrase Charles Dickens, those eight years were the best of times and the worst of times, and no matter how good the best times were, there were times that life got so bad that the only thing that kept me going besides faith, family, friends and the occasional side freelance project was escaping into what people had come to call “The Cussler Book.” This was particularly true with people I saw only once or twice a year.
“How’s it going, Steve? Finish The Cussler Book yet?”
McFarland would also email once a year to ask how things were progressing and I can’t thank them enough for not losing faith in me.
I finally finished the manuscript on my daughter’s birthday in 2014. To make my deadline I spent every spare moment I had over the previous four weeks assembling the book’s extensive index and reading through the proofreader’s changes to my manuscript. I finished late that afternoon, just in time to shower and get ready for her birthday dinner, but after working at a fevered pitch for so long, the relief of finishing the book overwhelmed me and I nearly fell asleep in the shower, then on the ride to the restaurant and then during our meal.
Not long after that THE CLIVE CUSSLER ADVENTURES: A CRITICAL REVIEW was published.
“A COUPLE OF BEHIND-THE-SCENES INFO ON WHAT HAPPENED NEXT” or “COMING FULL CIRCLE”
The final product.
My biggest local supporter while working on The Cussler Book was Todd Meyer, co-owner with his wife Ruth of the late lamented Mystery Cat Books. (I’m sad to say that I found out while writing this post that Todd passed away earlier this year.) McFarland provided me with ten author copies and I brought one to Todd in gratitude. Now Mystery Cat Books sold collector and signed editions, so Todd asked if I would be willing to ask Cussler to sign some books (including Todd’s) that he could sell in his store at a commission.
The commission part sounded okay to me, but authors generally do not like being asked to receive copies of their books in the mail to autograph and return, but, like I said, Todd was a big supporter, so I called Cussler. Now bear in mind, Cussler was 82 years old at the time and may not have been in the best of health, but he didn’t seem to remember me and sounded more than a little upset by my request.
“Great,” I thought, “now this writer I admire thinks I’m a jerk.”
When I told Todd what happened he expressed his appreciation that I tried, then told me how he knew a collector near Scottsdale, Arizona, where Cussler lived. I already knew that Cussler did a couple of signings at The Poison Pen Bookstore each year, and Todd asked if I would be willing to mail some of my author copies to this collector, who could take them to Cussler’s next appearance in exchange for being able to keep one of the signed copies.
“I don’t know if Cussler will do it after what just happened, but okay.”
I mailed nine copies to this collector, who took them to Cussler’s next signing, and later he told Todd that Cussler seemed put off at first by the word “critical” in the title. The collector explained that the book was not critical of his novels, but a serious and positive review of them, so Cussler and his wife flipped through my book, seemed to like it, and signed all seven copies as well as kept one for himself.
“Great,” I thought, “hopefully he doesn’t think I’m a jerk anymore.”
Some time went by after that with none of my books being returned. I called the collector but all I ever got was his answering machine. Todd called him, too, but he also only got the answering machine. Todd was flummoxed. The collector had never behaved like this before. But we kept calling until one day a package arrived with only three signed copies in it. There was no letter of explanation regarding this delay, his silence, or what happened with the other four copies. (Remember, the collector was supposed to keep one for his troubles, and one copy went to Cussler.)
So I kept one copy for myself, gave one to Todd, and gave the last one to Mike Grell for writing the book’s introduction. Mike, one of the nicest people you will meet, had refused to take any payment for writing the introduction, but I sorta kinda got the last laugh when I delivered his copy to him. Mike was attending a comics convention near my town, and while I waited in line at his table to speak with him, a young lady assisting Mike asked, “Are you here for a sketch or an autograph?”
I held up the two books and told her autograph.
“The first autograph is free, but each one after that is one dollar.”
I suppose I could have explained the situation, but I handed over one buck and thought, “I finally paid you something for that introduction.”
Hee-hee-hee.
And if a dollar doesn’t seem like much… well… Mike and I do have the only copies of THE CLIVE CUSSLER ADVENTURES that are signed by Clive Cussler, Mike Grell and myself.
Which brings us more or less full circle.
Remember how Cussler called me out of the blue the first time I spoke with him? Well, not long after the Poison Pen signing, I was writing one Saturday evening when my cell phone rang. I was in a groove so I let it go to voicemail, and when I listened to the message a few minutes later I was dumbfounded to hear that familiar lackadaisical, somewhat nasally voice say:
“Hi, Steven, I especially enjoyed Clive Cussler’s Adventures. That’s only because I’m Clive Cussler.”
He laughed and asked me to call him back, which I did straight away, and we talked for about eight minutes, one minute for every year I spent writing the book.
That may not sound like a good return in my investment of time and effort, but it more than satisfied me.
Cussler told me he liked the book and showed it to friends. (I am not sure how much later, but Robin Burcell mentioned in a post on the Clive Cussler’s Collector Society’s Facebook page that Cussler had given her his copy to use as reference when she took over the Fargo series.) Cussler admitted he had forgotten a lot of the things from the Pitt series until he read about them in my book and seemed very appreciative of what I had written about THE CHASE. This was the last book Cussler wrote without a collaborator and had put a lot of effort into it, which may be why he really seemed to appreciate it when I told him the Isaac Bell series was my wife’s favorite Cussler series.
This was the last time I spoke with Cussler, although he did provide me with a blurb for my retrospective comics anthology HEROES AND HORRORS in 2019. Cussler died the following year.
We had parted on good terms and that means the world to me.
END THOUGHTS
So that’s it. At least as much as I remember that merits mention.
I have to admit, writing down these memories has eased some of the frustration I mentioned at the outset, but it still ranks #1 in my disappointment parade. Nothing else in my tin dispatch-box of could-have-beens matches it.
Not the SPAWN Middle Grade books.
Not missing out on the comic book rights to JONNY QUEST and SPACE GHOST.
Not the TATTERS reboot.
Not the RE-ANIMATOR sequel.
Not having DRAGON accepted then rejected by Aardvark-Vanaheim… or rejected out of hand by First Comics even though Dan Jurgens offered to draw it (Thanks again, Dan)… or rejected by Marv Wolfman for DC’s NEW TALENT SHOWCASE after his assistant Ernie Colon had been extremely encouraging.
Not getting the chance to write some cancelled DC comics to be published by Malibu.
Not the NIGHTLINGER/JON SABLE crossover. (I’d still love to do that.)
Not the comics adaptation of Stuart Gordon’s SHADOW OVER INNSMOUTH screenplay from Full Moon.
Not the TALISMEN novel/graphic novel series. (Now THAT was an idea.)
Not… oh, enough. There are plenty more I could list, but enough already. I’m starting to wonder what kind of career I have had if I spend more time writing about my misses than I do working on what could be successes.
“Get used to disappointment.”
I have given this advice from the Dread Pirates Roberts to young writers a lot of times over the years. I do it because disappointment is something a writer should be prepared for, but I think I need to also start passing along this advice from the film ROCKY BALBOA (2006) as counterbalance:
“Let me tell you something you already know. The world ain’t all sunshine and rainbows. It’s a very mean and nasty place and I don’t care how tough you are, it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me, or nobody is going to hit as hard as life. But it ain’t about how hard you hit. It’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward. How much you can take and keep moving forward. That’s how winning is done! Now if you know what you’re worth then go out and get what you’re worth. But you got to be willing to take the hits, and not pointing fingers saying you ain’t where you want to be because of him, or her, or anybody! Cowards do that and that ain’t you! … But until you start believing in yourself, you ain’t going to have a life.”
Some hits land harder than others. Some land so hard that the memory stays with you for as long as you live. You might think I’m talking about regrets, but I don’t regret anything in my writing career. Not even missing out on writing Pitt graphic novels or the Cussler Companion. But these are could-have-beens, which can be frustrating, but I don’t regret one of them. And you know, tomorrow is another day… so maybe something like a Kickstarter campaign for an RTT! graphic novel could be in the future.
I wouldn’t be opposed, just saying.
Mel Gibson once said, “He who tries, gets. If you try, you get somewhere.”
Yes, I have frustrations, but I wouldn’t have those or my successes or the life I have today if I hadn’t tried.
And I plan to keep on trying.
