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 to this date, it never has. |
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