The things you find when going through old file backups…

Welcome to the latest installment of Tales From Development Hell, that series of posts in which I tell you about projects I was hired to work on—usually original novels based on popular licensed properties—that never actually made it all the way to completion. And since 2016 is the 75th anniversary of Curious George—that loveable monkey with an insatiable desire to learn about the world around him—I figured the time couldn’t be better to tell the story of how I almost wrote the first-ever Curious George graphic novel.

A little background for those of you unfamiliar with the loveably nosy primate: George was created by Hans Agusto (H. A.) Rey and his wife, Margaret, in 1940, and made his first starring appearance in (naturally) Curious George, published in 1941. Together, the Reys produced seven George books that have never been out of print, and which continue to entertain children (thanks, in part, to the Curious George animated series that continues to run on PBS Kids, and a still-in-print series of new adventures).

In 1997, my boss Byron Preiss—head of Byron Preiss Visual Publications and, later, ibooks, inc.—approached Houghton Mifflin, the publishing house for the George books, with what he considered a surefire idea: Since graphic novels were becoming all the rage with kids these days, how about a series of Curious George graphic novels? The editors at HM were intrigued, but cautious. Why, they asked, would there be need for graphic novels when the George books were already fully illustrated?

To create new adventures and longer stories, Byron explained. Up to that point, the only “new” George books by Margaret Rey had been adaptations of episodes from a 1980s George animated series. The graphic novels would be completely original stories that emulated the style of the books but would introduce George (and HM) to an audience he hadn’t reached before: comic book fans. And with the comics industry sorely lacking in titles appropriate for young readers (a situation that hasn’t changed in 2015), George could appeal not just to kids, but to the parents who’d read the books when they were young themselves. HM was still hesitant—the graphic novel publishing explosion was still years off, at this point, so they couldn’t see the appeal of playing to comic book readers—but the higher-ups agreed to let us put together a formal proposal, complete with a sample script.

Guess who Byron asked to write that sample script?

Yeah, I found it hard to believe, myself, but that didn’t stop me from agreeing to take a crack at it. 😀 So I sat down with a couple of Curious George books to get a feel for the narrative and writing styles—I had to maintain the “voice” of the books that the Reys had established—and then tried to figure out a scenario that might appeal to kids. Eventually I settled on the idea of George’s friend, the Man With the Yellow Hat, taking George to a bookstore, my thought being it would be a good way to promote literacy and encourage kids to develop a love of reading.

Curious George Visits the Bookshop. Yeah, that seemed like it had potential.

So, following the upper- and lowercase lettering style of the books—a lettering approach now commonplace in comics, because editors think it makes the words look more “literary” (ha!)—I whipped up the following two-page sample…

PAGE 1:

SPLASH PAGE: A chaotic scene as GEORGE swings from an ornate lighting fixture in an old-fashioned bookstore. Below him, a number of wooden bookcases have fallen against one another, and children’s books are scattered across the floor. Children laugh and point at George, the children’s parents gape at him, and the MAN WITH THE YELLOW HAT tries to catch George before he falls.

1. TITLE: CURIOUS GEORGE VISITS THE BOOKSHOP

PAGE 2:

PANEL 1: We open on a shot of George sitting on the floor of his bedroom, scribbling with a crayon into a sketchbook of some sort—he’s drawing a picture. Around him are scattered a collection of children’s books.

1. CAPTION: This is GEORGE.

2. CAPTION: He lived with his friend, the MAN WITH THE YELLOW HAT.

3. CAPTION: He was a GOOD little MONKEY and was always very CURIOUS.

PANEL 2: George and the Man with the Yellow Hat—holding hands as they cross a busy street—walk toward a bookstore; the Man gestures at the shop. Inscribed on the large display windows is the name of the store: WHIPSNAPPLE’S BOOKS FOR CHILDREN.

4. CAPTION: Today, the man with the yellow hat was taking him to a place George had never been before . . .

5. MAN: It’s called a BOOKSHOP, George. It’s a place where people go to buy things to READ.

6. MAN: We’re going there because I have a very special SURPRISE for you.

PANEL 3: MID-SHOT of George, smiling brightly.

7. CAPTION: The news made George very HAPPY. He LIKED surprises.

PANEL 4: BIRD’S EYE VIEW: George and the Man with the Yellow Hat stand inside the doorway of the bookshop. Bookcases form aisles through the old-fashioned store, and in the aisles are a number of children with their parents. The walls are brightly decorated with images of characters from various books—Peter Pan, Snow White, Hansel and Gretel, etc.—and ornate lighting fixtures hang from the ceiling.

8. CAPTION: Inside the shop, George saw shelf after shelf lined with all kinds of books. He had never SEEN so many books–

9. CAPTION: –not even in the house where he lived with the Man with the Yellow Hat!

PANEL 5: As the Man with the Yellow Hat smiles at George, George happily watches the children—some are reading, some are being read to by their parents, some are taking books off the shelves to look at them.

10. CAPTION: George wished that HE could read, like the children in the bookshop. But since he was a MONKEY, he didn’t know how to read.

11. CAPTION: George wondered if the SURPRISE the man with the yellow hat was going to give him was one of the books from the shop…

I forget where the plot was supposed to go from there—like the books, it probably involved George getting into some well-intentioned but utterly chaotic adventure—but as this is another entry in the Tales of Development Hell series, it pretty much goes without saying (although I will) that the Curious George graphic novel idea was abandoned.

That wasn’t the end for George, though—not long after our negotiations ended, The New Adventures of Curious George was launched by Houghton Mifflin, with Margaret Rey’s involvement. Its debut raised the question again: If the George books were already fully illustrated, what would have been the point of doing graphic novels? None, really.

Dropping the graphic novels was probably for the best, though—BPVP would never have had the budget to do them right, and after looking over this sample script, even I’m not sure I would have been the best choice for writer. I mean, it’s functional enough, but me as a kids’ licensed comic writer? That might have been a stretch, even for me. Kids’ comics should be left to the professional writers who know how to write for that audience, like my friend Sholly Fisch, who these days writes such titles as Scooby-Doo Team-Up, Scooby-Doo Where Are You?, and Teen Titans Go! for DC Comics. Now there’s a guy who’d be perfect for Curious George comics!

Curious (no pun intended) about other topics I’ve covered in the Tales of Development Hell series? Then check out these posts about the late, lamented what-might-have-been book projects I was involved with:

Battlestar Galactica: The New Young Warriors
“Horror Express” Movie Review: Part 1, Part 2
Law & Order: The Novels: Part 1, Part 2
Speed Racer: Leviathan: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3
Spider-Man/Gambit
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Jewels of Ishlanon
Se7en: Sins of the Flesh
Stan Lee’s Alexa: The Lost Issue: Part 1, Part 2