The Prolific IP Man
Plus new Folkestone outlet joins Kent's indie news wave, upcoming Kent events, news in brief, and more
Dan Abnett is a Kent comic book writer and novelist who has carved out a unique niche working on some of the world’s most recognisable franchises. We sat down with him to discuss his work on Doctor Who, Guardians of the Galaxy, and more. Further down, we speak to a reporter who has set up a new hyperlocal news outlet for Folkestone in the form of a.. checks notes.. email newsletter. It’s a crazy idea, but it might just catch on. Beyond that, we have the best upcoming Kent events, news in brief, and more.
The prolific IP Man
Kent comic book writer and novelist Dan Abnett has written for, developed and changed some of the world's most famous Intellectual Property (IP). When we interviewed him and his talented wife, the maker Nik Vincent, for our sister title, we didn’t touch upon all of the projects for fear of it taking over what had already become a two-part interview. But we had more we wanted to discuss with him, and Dan was very generous with his time, so we dived with him into some of the big franchises he’s worked on, which definitely doesn’t just end up with us geeking out over Doctor Who…
Dan Abnett started his career strongly by working on Doctor Who comics. “I was a fan of Doctor Who as a kid. Jon Pertwee was the one I started watching.” Dan arrived at Marvel UK in the late 80s on editorial. “My office was adjacent to the office of Doctor Who Magazine,” which is still running today. “It rekindled my love of Doctor Who.” Dan became friends with the editors, and, at the time they ran a black and white comic strip. “My editor said, ‘Do you fancy writing a story for Doctor Who magazine?’ That felt like a really big deal.”
Dan compares it to when he was first invited to write a Batman story. “It was like, ‘Oh, that's a real thing.’ It's not that the other things weren't real things, but it's something that people take very seriously.” Dan wrote a number of stories for Doctor Who Magazine, involving the Seventh Doctor, portrayed by Sylvester McCoy, as well as stories for the Third Doctor, Jon Pertwee, and Fourth Doctor, Tom Baker. “It was great fun, and they had an absolute archive of episodes on videotape.” Dan would borrow these things and watch episodes he hadn't seen since he was a child. “That was lovely.”
His Doctor Who comic strip has been subsequently collected by Panini in different volumes, both in anthology titles and one story, which was collected in its own right. “Some years later, I was contacted by Big Finish,” who produce excellent Doctor Who audio adventures, leading to Dan writing a couple of Sylvester McCoy stories. “I got to watch them record it, which was great fun.” Later, Dan would get invited to Cardiff, home of modern Doctor Who, as a writer for the new series of novels around Doctor Who spinoff, Torchwood. “I visited the set, which was wonderful to be part of.”
Arguably, the pinnacle of Dan’s involvement with Who was having a Tenth Doctor David Tennant, audio adventure recorded by Catherine Tate. “She did the most amazing job. It was really funny because I'd written a light-hearted story where there were silly alien voices and she just committed.” The other candidate was writing a novel for the Eleventh Doctor, Matt Smith, ‘The Silent Stars Go By,’ as part of the 50th anniversary, which “they released as a hardback, and I was really honoured to be asked to do it.” Dan’s work continues to be republished, including comic strips he admits he had forgotten doing. “Doctor Who is one of those things that just never goes away. It resurfaces in unexpected ways.”
A classic question for writers of Doctor Who is whether they write the different Doctors differently. “It depends on what you mean by that,” Dan replies. When writing for Sylvester McCoy, Dan wanted to capture his particular attitude. “Not just ways of speaking, but the personality and the frame of mind.” Dan reflects on writing an audio adventure for Peter Davison's Fifth Doctor. “It was wonderful, the opportunity of writing dialogue for his voice and his mindset.”
A big part of the Doctor Who books is the Target novelisations, which Dan has an extensive collection of. “I grew up reading them.” There has been sporadic publication of the modern Who episodes. Would Dan be interested in writing one of those? “That would be a wonderful opportunity. What you're talking about there is adaptation and tie-in.” Dan tells me that almost all of the tie-in work that he has done has been focused on creating new stories for an IP rather than adapting old stories.
Dan is thanked in the credits on the Guardians of the Galaxy films, as he was part of the team that created the Marvel comics and the modern team on which the film was based. With the films, Dan was invited to work on tie-ins. “Marvel commissioned me to do what they wonderfully called prose novels, distinguishing from graphic novels.”
Dan realised what they wanted was for him to adapt a story he liked from his initial successful comic run. Dan asked if he could write an original story, which they agreed to after Dan assured them that it wouldn’t cost more. “If you commission me to write a comic, I've got a story in mind. If you commission me to write a novel, I've got a completely different idea.” Whilst Dan acknowledges the comparative strengths and weaknesses of what a comic and a novel can do, “it would almost be a description of what's happening in the comic.” With the opportunity to write a Rocket Raccoon and Groot novel, Dan was interested in getting into their psychology, “get into what a prose narrative can do that you'd never do in a comic.”
Getting back to the question of adapting a Doctor Who story as part of a novelisation of an episode? “I wouldn't care which one it was. I would absolutely do it to be part of that honourable tradition.” Dan recognises the specific skillset that you need to do justice to it. “I grew up reading Terrance Dicks.” Dan highlights that Terrance brilliantly adapted the old Doctor Who serials into novelisations. He acknowledges the work in the 70s novelising the Star Wars films, and they were brilliant at it. “Alan Dean Foster was a favourite of mine,” as well as the work of James Blish, who adapted every single Star Trek episode, including the animated ones. “It's an absolute art form,” says Dan, “and given that I am technically a tie-in novelist, a tie-in writer, it's something I've done comparatively little of.”
Our conversation then moved onto Dan’s work in the Star Trek universe, and his lack of work on Star Wars, but this is all the space we have for now. It’s a conversation we’ll likely pick up with Dan again in the future, given we haven’t even reached his work on Marvel or DC Comics yet.
In brief
🪑 Scandinavian homeware shop Sostrene Greene is set to open a second branch in Kent. The new outlet at Fremlin Walk in Maidstone will open on Friday 29 August.
🍷 The owners of Fort Borstal in Rochester have teamed up with a local businessman to turn it into a winery.
🏖️ Inside a delightful beach cabin in Seasalter.
Folkestone Dispatch joins Kent’s indie news wave
The Folkestone Dispatch is the latest in the exciting world of local news outlets for Kent. We caught up with founder Rhys Griffiths to discuss why he has joined this trend of launching newsletters via Substack…
For Rhys, the Folkestone Dispatch is about telling stories about life in Folkestone. It is a weekly email newsletter that comes out every Wednesday. Every edition provides a mix of original reporting and curation of useful information from other sources. In what sounds like an excellent format, Rhys runs a long main piece, then news in brief, before an events guide.
The Folkestone Dispatch is free to subscribers, though there is a subscription tier for people who want to support the project, whilst Rhys works on establishing the title. Ultimately, Rhys hopes that the title can become self-sustaining. Self-sustaining local news, imagine such a thing.
Rhys has started to consider what further work he could do that would be behind a paywall, but has yet to decide how to proceed. At the moment, the focus is on learning how best to use the tools available to him and understand who his audience is. Rhys is in no rush, recognising that this is a long-term proposition, and wanting to build a regular habit-forming relationship with his readers. Rhys has been open and explicit with his audience that they decide ultimately if this will truly be a long-term project for him. Rhys is encouraged by the positive reaction he has received so far, with ever-increasing subscriber numbers.
This project started after Rhys left the KM Media Group, publishers of most newspapers in Kent and KentOnline, in the Spring and was faced with a decision about what he was going to do next. Rhys is complimentary about our Medway title and inspired by the growth in independent journalism via email newsletters, not just in this country, but around the world. Rhys is hopeful that if he can, in his words, “keep his head above water” by the end of the year, he will keep going.
The Folkestone Dispatch is a very different proposition from his work at KMG. Rhys has said from the beginning that what he is doing is not intended as a rival to any other service that is available. He notes that Kent has a healthy media landscape, including the BBC and Brightside Publishing, who produce the award-winning Folkestone Foghorn.
He is not focusing on breaking news with his set schedule. The key difference to his time with KentOnline, where Rhys wrote the newsletter, is the focus on being hyperlocal. He previously worked on the Dover Express, where the stories would be local in their interest, but he says regional titles have, by their nature, got to focus on what stories would interest a whole region. Not everything has to be an attention-grabbing headline. It can be a nice picture and 50 words on a local achievement.
Rhys recently received good feedback on a story about a PE teacher who runs weekly activity sessions for adults. The piece was not about fitness and getting ‘jacked,’ it was a fun piece about people getting out and taking part. Rhys recognises that if he had pitched the piece to KentOnline, there would have been a debate about how wide the interest would be.
His model means Rhys isn’t focused on how many people are going to click on the story, something he has found freeing. Instead, he can focus on writing a nice read that receives good feedback. As his own editor, he focuses on “does it interest me?” and as a resident of Folkestone, “would I want to read about this?”
You can subscribe to Folkestone Dispatch here.
Upcoming Kent events
🎸 Sat 23 Aug - Words and Music at the Skep //Family-friendly and relaxed poetry and music event across two stages. The Skep, Rolvenden Layne. Tickets £20.
🎭 23 - 24 Aug - bOing! Festival // International family arts festival with a large number of free activities and events. University of Kent, Canterbury. Free, some events ticketed.
🚄 Sun 24 Aug - Southeastern Train Depot Open Day // Go behind the scenes of one of the rail operator’s largest depots. Ashford Train Maintenance Centre. Tickets £25.
🤼 Mon 25 Aug - Grapple in the Garden // Live outdoor wrestling from UKPW, with (for some reason) alpaca walks. Ruethe’s, Sevenoaks. Tickets from £1.
🎤 Thu 28 Aug - The Sugarhill Gang // New York godfathers of hip-hop. The Forum, Tunbridge Wells. Tickets £33.
🍻 30 - 31 Aug - Faversham Hop Festival // Internationally renowned festival celebrating hops and harvest, with music, entertainment, and stalls. Faversham Town Centre. Free.
Footnotes
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