Graphic novel?

[Sandra Ludwig]

I had what I think is a good idea the other day.

What if someone did "The Basketball Diaries" as a graphic novel? I think it would make a terrific one. 

[jeremy roberts]

Yep.

Jeremy Roberts

https://www.read-nz.org/writer/roberts-jeremy/

On Tue, 30 Jun 2026, 03:23 'Sandra Ludwig' via Jim Carroll Discussion List, <jimca...@googlegroups.com> wrote:

I had what I think is a good idea the other day.

What if someone did "The Basketball Diaries" as a graphic novel? I think it would make a terrific one. 

--
--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the "Jim Carroll Discussion List"
==========================================================
To post to this group, send email to JimCa...@googlegroups.com
or login at http://groups.google.com/group/JimCarroll
==========================================================
UNSUBSCRIBE INSTRUCTIONS
To unsubscribe, login at http://groups.google.com/group/JimCarroll
or send a blank email to JimCarroll+...@googlegroups.com
==========================================================
MANAGING YOUR SUBSCRIPTION
To manage your subscription settings, login at http://groups.google.com/group/JimCarroll
==========================================================
Please keep posts on topic!
For off-topic discussions, use the "OTJC" list: http://groups.google.com/group/OTJC)
==========================================================
-- PETTING ZOO DISCUSSION LIST
-- http://groups.google.com/group/petting-zoo?hl=en

---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Jim Carroll Discussion List" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to jimcarroll+...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/jimcarroll/f29603f3-d7b2-4bd7-a1b4-0d7d3ea7499bn%40googlegroups.com.

[Cassie Carter]

We are talking about the writer who titled his first major collection of poetry Living at the Movies… and who described his poetry as movies …

Carroll was a very visual artist. Yet I don’t think either diary benefits from visual treatment, in terms of the works themselves. 

I am not against it at all, as I would love to see anything that puts JC out there for people to appreciate. Think of the films and video that exploded Burroughs into pop culture. But, as with the Burroughs adaptations, the result is going to be a new artwork conveying the artistic vision of the artist creating the visual. Not a bad thing—just maybe a complication. The complication with Burroughs was I think a lot simpler.

Again, maybe I’m wrong. (I think the best visual adaptation was Pascal Ulli’s very literal stage adaptation:

https://www.catholicboy.com/WP/works/stage-adaptations/the-basketball-diaries-hits-off-off-off-broadway/)

I think the greatest superpower of the diaries, especially Basketball Diaries, is the writing: the voice, the style, the poetry—which is hard to translate to visual media. But of course I would say the same of Burroughs.

The story of Basketball Diaries is not what makes it a great work of art.  I am not a graphic novelist so I can’t imagine how a graphic novel would tell the story without losing most of the poetry.

What comes to mind for me is J O’Barr’s The Crow: 

https://www.catholicboy.com/WP/works/adaptations-covers/j-obarrs-the-crow/

O’Barr incorporates various JC lyrics into the dialogue and his bad guy FunBoy is literally drawn from the cover photo of The Basketball Diaries (all described on the page linked above). That works! 

I think a graphic novel treatment would expand audience and get more people to read the books. That’s what happened with the DiCaprio film. I didn’t like the film, but it exploded his audience beyond anything that had happened after Catholic Boy.

I love graphic novels. But … I dunno. It would have to be a very talented graphic novelist!

I think the film Curtis’s Charm is far better than the Basketball Diaries film. And on YouTube I have run across several student films interpreting Carroll’s poems that are pretty awesome. I think my main requirement is any adaptation has to actually demonstrate an attempt to understand the original work.

Cassie 

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/jimcarroll/CAEwn_qZ8%2BPnJSi1HWx6u7P40Bohf1qPt_codQtYt51iaPgU5JA%40mail.gmail.com.

[Sandra Ludwig]

You have some very good points here, Cassie. 

I didn't know about The Crow. Thanks!

Mostly, I thought that a graphic novel would get more young people to read it. I was thinking of the graphic novel version of "The Odyssey," for e.g. On the other hand, Basketball Diaries isn't difficult to read at all. Graphic novels are on my mind b/c I work in an academic library and we have a nice little collection of same. For the record, upon my suggestion, the acquisitions librarian has purchased Basketball Diaries AND Forced Entries. 

I'm going to look on YouTube for those student films you mentioned. If anyone can think of any in particular, I'd love to have the links. 

Thank you!

You received this message because you are subscribed to a topic in the Google Groups "Jim Carroll Discussion List" group.
To unsubscribe from this topic, visit https://groups.google.com/d/topic/jimcarroll/z4pcwbetboA/unsubscribe.
To unsubscribe from this group and all its topics, send an email to jimcarroll+...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/jimcarroll/CAJsij1eRtM9ac2VokGQSqsPeVLSBaajcYjPkkAULqy6mmqFHgw%40mail.gmail.com.

[jeremy roberts]

Must watch Curtis's Charm....

Jeremy Roberts

https://www.read-nz.org/writer/roberts-jeremy/

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/jimcarroll/CAJsij1eRtM9ac2VokGQSqsPeVLSBaajcYjPkkAULqy6mmqFHgw%40mail.gmail.com.