One of the books I picked up at Free Comic Book Day was IDW's sampler featuring excerpts from their adaptations of CSI, The Shield, and 24, as well as a fourth feature I don't remember. I've never gotten around to watching The Shield, and adapting CSI seems a straightforward enough task, but the treatment of 24 is what intrigued me. The adaptation, which I understand is being released as a one-shot "graphic novella," tries to replicate the series' real-time aspect by making 2 pages equal to one hour of elapsed time.

And, well, it doesn't work very well. The creators of this adaptation picked the wrong aspect of the series -- its real-time gimmick -- to replicate; that gimmick (a term I use lovingly, mind you) simply cannot be done in comics. Instead, they should have focused on the gimmick comics CAN do: Serialization. I often describe 24 as TV heroin, because it's not very good for you and after your first hit it's really hard to wait for your next one. Instead of compressing the day into 48 pages, why not expand it out to, say, 12 double-sized weekly issues, with each issue representing two hours and ending on a "Dear God, I MUST know what happens next!" cliffhanger? Sure, there would be issues of doing the art consistently across 12 weekly issues, but wouldn't that be worth it to capturing more of the spirit of the show? I, and I suspect many other 24 fans, am willing to forgive implausibilities of time and distance if they occur in the service of a great ride, and it's the ride, more than any particular plot, that appeals to me when it comes to 24.