The Prisoner
1
Marv Wolfman, as Marvel's Editor-in-Chief, wanted to adapt the classic TV show, but after securing the rights, his duties didn't leave him enough time, so he handed it off to me. I plotted an adaptation of the first episode, and Gil Kane handled the art (with Joe Staton providing his layouts). I was all ready to script - but by then, Marv had resigned, a new E-I-C had taken over, and Marvel was in turmoil. I ended up leaving, and was told I would not be allowed to script my PRISONER. I told them I darn well would, and they told me I'd have to turn in the script the next morning!
I was spending a couple of days with Al Milgrom in New York, so I went to his place, got out his typewriter and his coffee, and sat at his kitchen table all night writing. Fortunately, it was an adaptation, and I was an inveterate Prisoner fan so I knew the series cold. Next morning, with no sleep, I turned in my script. Marvel put it on the shelf. Sometime later, remembering they'd paid for the rights, they got Jack Kirby to do an issue. I always thought Patrick McGoohan looked like a Kirby karacter, with his nice brow ridge, but apparently they didn't like Kirby's version and it, too, went on the shelf. Sometime later, a comic con in San Francisco asked me for something for their program cover. I got together with inker Steve Leialoha and letterer Tom Orzechowski, and we produced the splash page from my issue. Over the years, rumors of the Englehart-Kane and Kirby PRISONERs being published have surfaced from time to time. One time, Topps told me they'd bought the rights and I wrote a longer version of this intro for their book. But it didn't happen, and years kept going by…until 2018, when Titan published its Original Art Edition, with Kirby's version and our version at full art size. Well worth some wait. |
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