Game Of Thrones Creator Is Writing A Marvel Superhero Series
Game of Thrones creator George R.R. Martin is putting out a new series for Marvel based on a set of books he's helped create
This article is more than 2 years old
While he might be struggling to actually finish the set of novels and stories that really put him on the map, George R.R. Martin continues to churn out other work. It’s just maybe not what fans are looking for from the dude right now. While his Song of Ice and Fire series, which started Game of Thrones, is still sitting on book six (for what feels like forever now), it’s been announced that Martin will be contributing to and penning a new series for Marvel. Is it another story in Westeros? No, but it’s something. According to The Hollywood Reporter, George R.R. Martin is adapting his Wild Cards series into a comic book.
With Wild Cards, George R.R. Martin is adapting for Marvel a collection of stories and books that he helped create and ultimately served as lead editor for starting back in 1987. This was before he wrote Game of Thrones. Martin wasn’t the one to pen every story, but rather oversaw the curated franchise. It started as a Superworld role-playing game involving a number of other authors, all of whom ended up contributing stories to the series. This new Marvel initiative will be putting those stories into comic book form as part of a new publication.
This Marvel comic book from the Game of Thrones creator will adapt a Wild Cards story that focuses on an alternate reality post-World War II in which people can be given superpowers, though the “success” rate on survival isn’t exactly amazing. Essentially, an alien race has developed a bio-weapon they are testing on the humans of Earth to see if it can rewrite their DNA. But the virus affects everyone differently. Most people it just straight up kills. But the 10% who survive are broken into two categories, Jokers and Aces. 9% become Jokers who mostly just become feeble versions of their formal selves. The Aces are the ones who get the superpowers. The story has a historical bent to it that puts real-life occurrences in the framework of this new world.
And like HBO’s Game of Thrones, with this new Marvel comic book series, George R.R. Martin has plenty of source material to draw on. The Wild Cards series has almost 30 books in the anthology now, coming out consistently over the last few decades. There are more novel plans on the way as well. That’s what happens when you have a cadre of authors all invested in the story. Reportedly there are also plans for a Wild Card television series as well with it possibly hitting Peacock on streaming.
Of course, fans of Game of Thrones aren’t going to want to hear that George R.R. Martin is working on some other franchise. Not when it’s been more than a decade since a new book has come from the author. Back in 2011, Martin released A Dance with Dragons with the promise that he would have Winds of Winter done in a relatively reasonable timeline. He even said if it wasn’t done by the summer of 2020 fans could lock him in jail. But that timeline has come and gone without a book. There’s a chance this new Marvel series moves to the top of the list when it comes to his workload.
