Colleen Doran, whose campaign for adapting Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett’s beloved book Good Omens into a graphic novel has broken records on Kickstarter, explained that she isn’t incorporating Prime Video’s hit TV series into her own adaptation.
Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch is a fantasy novel about an angel and demon who team up to prevent the end of the world. In 2019, the book was adapted into a popular live-action series starring Michael Sheen and David Tennant as lead characters Aziraphale and Crowley. A second season premiered in 2023, carrying on the story beyond what the book covered, and fans are hoping for a third season to complete the series. Although Pratchett passed away in 2015, Gaiman is a producer on the show and has often stated an intent to honor his late collaborator and friend’s creative vision.
The Good Omens graphic novel is based on the book, not the show
However, Doran’s graphic novel doesn’t use the show as its basis. On her X account, the artist responded to a headline which claimed she couldn’t “compete with” the actors on the show. “What a bonkers headline,” Doran wrote. “I’m not competing with David Tennant and Michael Sheen because I’m not adapting the show, I’m adapting the book. And I’m avoiding influences from the show.”
The headline Doran criticized is for an article reporting on a recent interview she gave with CBR regarding the Good Omens graphic novel. “But the most exciting thing is working with these amazing characters that people love so much. There is absolutely no way I can do anything with the graphic novel versions that competes with the amazing David Tennant and Michael Sheen. I’m not even trying,” Doran said in the original piece, further explaining that she “stuck to only what was written on the page.”
Doran has illustrated hundreds of projects, including graphic adaptations of Gaiman’s short stories “Snow, Glass, Apples” and “Chivalry,” both of which earned the prestigious Eisner Award as well as numerous other distinctions.
The Kickstarter campaign for Doran’s Good Omens graphic novel closed on August 31 after becoming the most backed and funded comic in the site’s history, with every stretch goal reached and surpassed. Although Doran stressed that she wouldn’t base her versions of Aziraphale and Tennant on Sheen and Tennant, both actors and their co-star Jon Hamm will contribute a foreword to the graphic novel, as gained from the final stretch goal.
