In the late 1990s, the Animorphs by K.A. Applegate became a cult phenomena. Written by Katherine Applegate and husband Michael Grant, and later a team of ghostwriters, the prose series totaled over 60 volumes. Animorphs was subsequently adapted for television and occupied a significant amount of schoolyard discussion time across the country. And now, Scholastic Graphix is adapting the story is to a series of graphic novels by Chris Grine.
With the next entry in the Animorphs graphic novel series, The Predator: Animorphs #5, just around the corner, Comics Beat leapt at the chance to interview Applegate and Grant about adapting the beloved prose series to sequential graphic narrative. And be sure and return next week, when we share our follow-up interview on The Predator with Grine!
AVERY KAPLAN: Can you tell us about your global thoughts on the Animorphs? What do you see when you look back at the road to get here?
KATHERINE APPLEGATE + MICHAEL GRANT: We’ve been a bit surprised that it’s endured this long, in at least some people’s minds. We wrote it all before social media, so we had very little contact with our readers. Jump ahead a decade. Suddenly we became aware that people had actually read the series (to our shock, they were no longer children) and we started to hear about the impact it had on people.
Sorry to drop a cliché on you, but it’s humbling. You might think we’d have been gratified. But no, our reaction was more like, “OMG, people were actually paying attention to us?”
KAPLAN: What are your thoughts on the Animorphs comic adaptation in particular? How involved are you in the creative process?
APPLEGATE + GRANT: The comics are all thanks to Grine’s talent and the work of his amazing editors. We didn’t have to do anything. And the result has exceeded our most optimistic expectations.
KAPLAN: While the Animorphs series was originally published as written by just “K.A. Applegate,” in the intervening years you have both been very open about your collaborative process (including with additional writers). What made you choose to be so open about this element of the series’ authorship? What kind of reactions have you received?
APPLEGATE + GRANT: Well, the “K.A.” was Scholastic’s idea, presumably because boys would be reluctant to read a book with a woman’s name on the cover. (Not true, as it turns out, but that was the thinking back then.) At that point, Michael really had no intention of staying in the kids’ book world, but all of that of course changed when he wrote his YA series, Gone.
As for the ghostwriters, we really wish we’d done better on our end. As you may know, books typically drop about a year after completion. With Animorphs, that was cut in half, and we needed 14 books per year, which is insane. We were still writing the Megamorphs and Chronicles books, as well as other projects, and there was simply no time to be helpful to the ghosts.
Having started out as ghostwriters ourselves, we made sure to pay well and give credit, but we took on too much, and some excellent writers probably didn’t feel as appreciated as we would have wished. What’s the plural of mea culpa?
KAPLAN: I realize this may be impossible to answer. But do you have a favorite Animorphs book? How about a favorite character? Are there any character arcs you wanted to but were unable to include in the series, for whatever reason?
APPLEGATE + GRANT: Favorite characters is an easier question. We don’t project ourselves into our books, but it’s no great secret that Cassie is more Katherine, and Marco is more Michael. Not necessarily in terms of the writing, but in terms of character definitions. We liked the Chronicles books most, though honestly, that answer changes every time we think about it. Unfinished character arcs? After 63 books in total, we had more than enough opportunity. Besides, that’s what fanfic is for.
KAPLAN: I know that some of the 90s pop culture references have been updated by Grine in his adaptation of the series. However, I’m curious if you had a sense of how prescient Animorphs was while you were writing it. Did you suspect that it would remain a relevant story almost three decades later?
APPLEGATE + GRANT: It is kind of shocking that Animorphs got so much right, given the fact that we are basically just a couple of ninnies. We were really still children. You know: 40-year-old children. There wasn’t a lot of deep thinking involved; we were just tryna write a story people would enjoy. Of course we included elements of history, politics, philosophy, social justice, but it was always in service to story. What research we did do was all about animals, which, before the internet, could be time-consuming. So, to be clear, we did not do a deep dive into philosophy or political science or anthropology, we just went with our instincts and by sheer dumb luck we mostly got it right.
KAPLAN: In January 2020 a movie adaptation of Animorphs was announced. Is there any update you can share with us about this? Can we still look forward to its arrival?
APPLEGATE + GRANT: To the best of our knowledge, the Animorphs movie project is dead in the water. We’re frustrated with the inability of Scholastic to do something with what is, in our opinion, one of the more interesting, potentially more profitable, pieces of IP around. None of the people at Scholastic who were involved with Animorphs—in particular our editor, Tonya Martin, the Fifth Beatle of Animorphs—are still at Scholastic. Few people there now really seem to understand the books or their impact. The best outcome would be for Scholastic to sell their Animorphs rights to someone who can do something with them. Hollywood is well-infiltrated by Ani-fans itching to do something.
KAPLAN: Animorphs maintains a devoted cult following across demographics, but as a trans woman, I notice many other members of the trans community hold a special place for the series in their hearts. Do you have any thoughts on this phenomena? Have you had any particularly memorable experiences with any members of the trans community over the years? Is being an ally to the trans community something that’s important to you both?
APPLEGATE + GRANT: Our eldest daughter is trans, but we supported trans rights long before that became a part of our lives. Our default position is always that people should have control of their own lives unless there is some very compelling reason for the government to interfere. There are certainly legitimate concerns—adequate counseling, availability of care—but no rational reason for the state to get involved. As with abortion, decisions should be left to the people whose lives are directly affected. They may not always make wise decisions, but they are far more likely to do so than some Red State legislator or governor. On this issue, and others, the whole country could use a heaping helping of MYOB—mind your own business. Leave people to find their own route to fulfillment.
All that said, we cannot claim that we intentionally tried to appeal to the trans community back when we were writing the books in the 90’s. We wish we had, and we wish we’d done something more broadly on queer rights, but we didn’t. Of course we are gratified that trans readers found something they could embrace in Animorphs. But it would be sort of a “stolen valor” kind of thing to claim credit.
KAPLAN: As a Trekkie, and considering the Franchise is name-checked multiple times throughout the series, I feel obligated to ask: how do you both feel about Star Trek (if you feel anything at all)?
APPLEGATE + GRANT: Michael is the Trekkie, so we have to go first person singular here.
GRANT: Ahem. I was a big fan of original Star Trek, and a fan of Next Generation. I like what I’m seeing so far with Strange New Worlds. I thought they made a mistake going dark and gloomy with a couple of their shows because Star Trek is meant to be utopian, not dystopian. At this time, with very real threats to democracy itself, we don’t need more fatalistic gloom, we need some hope for a better future.
KAPLAN: Is there anything else you’d like me to include?
APPLEGATE + GRANT: Just our gratitude to, and our respect for, Animorphs readers. You hear so much about toxic fandoms. Well, the Animorphs fandom is the opposite of toxic. Frankly, they are to a man, woman or neither-of-the-above, that we’ve encountered, nicer, kinder people than we are. Our “literary children” grew up to be lovely human beings.
The graphic novel adaptation of The Predator: Animorphs #5 will arrive at your local bookstore and/or public library beginning on August 20th, 2024.
Source link
