Monday, July 5, 2010

Production I.G. and Marvel work on a new "Ghost in the Shell" comic

by Chris MaGee

A live-action "Ghost in the Shell" went from being an annoying rumour to a hard fact back in March when it was reported that screenwriter Laeta Kalogridis, who had penned the script for Martin Scorsese's "Shutter Island", had been brought on board by Marvel Studios founder Avi Arad to bring a remake of the seminal Mamoru Oshii anime to North American screens. That news was certainly bad enough for fans of the genius cyberpunk animated film, but now (depending on how you look at it) Anime News Network has divulged a piece of news that may be good, or may be bad.

Apparently it was revealed at a Production I.G. anime industry panel discussion that the animation studio that brought us the original "Ghost in the Shell" films was workin with Marvel to create a brand new "Ghost in the Shell" comic for the North American market simply titled "Innocent". It was clearly stated that this comic was in no way an update of the sequel to "Ghost in the Shell", "Innocence" (above), but a whole new story.

I would certainly hope that this new comic isn't a re-working of Oshii's "Innocence" as it is by far my favorite film of his, even surpassing (at least for me) the original "Ghost in the Shell". At the same time I get a bit suspicious that Marvel and prduction I.G. would go to all the trouble of creating a new "Ghist in the Shell" adventure if it didn't tie-in directly with this live-action remake. Perhaps a prequel? One never knows...

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