Margaret Atwood, Graphic Novelist! Who’s Next?

Angel Catbird follows the adventures of a hero who is, hmmm, part cat and part bird (story checks out). It’s being published in conjunction with a real-life Canadian initiative to protect birds from cats while keeping cats safe generally (presumably, the solution is to splice the two creatures together). If it sounds maybe a little silly, you’re thoroughly underestimating Atwood. She’s not doing the art, though it wouldn’t be terribly surprising, given that she’s written and drawn a piece for The Secret Loves of Geek Girls anthology also coming from Dark Horse next year.
Meanwhile, another towering genre figure, China Miéville, recently wrote Dial H for DC Comics. It seems like the walls between prose and comics are coming down, which makes us wonder: which science fiction or fantasy author might be next to cross over?

Kim Stanley Robinson
As a novelist, KSR can do compelling characters and propulsive plots without sacrificing verisimilitude. It’s “hard” science fiction in the best sense: entirely plausible, without losing sight of humanity. He’s told stories of the ancient past, alternate history, and the colonization of Mars. His most recent novel, Aurora, involves a failed generation ship returning to earth with the aid of a computer AI that also narrates. Graphic novelists like Warren Ellis have demonstrated over and over that big idea sci-fi, when done right, is a natural (and often thrilling) fit for the comics medium. An original story would be ideal, but something with the epic scope and long timespan of the Mars books would make for a great long-form series.

Elizabeth Bear
She wrote one of our favorite books of the year, Karen Memory, a steampunk fantasy set in an old-west-style bordello, with a tough leading lady protecting her friends from a serial killer. Her Eternal Sky series stars a Khan’s grandson and a wizard princess on the steppes of Asia. She’s done time travel, lovecrafitian monsters…you name it. The point being, there are few genre authors working today with a broader range or a bigger imagination. I wouldn’t even bother to suggest a type of story; it would be much more fun to see what she’d come up with.

Nnedi Okorafor
Graphic novels have begun to spread as a global phenomenon, but almost all of the big names in the medium come either from a western tradition or Japan. Novelist Okorafor is another western author, but her Nigerian roots combine with her experiences as an African-American woman, informing everything that she’s written. Her first book for adults, the genre-bending Who Fears Death, takes place in a magic-infused, post-apocalyptic Sudan and deals very directly with issues of race and culture. She’d bring the same unique style and perspective to comics, and we’d read them to tatters.

Ernest Cline
Cline has been a screenwriter and a spoken-word artist, but he’s best known for his dystopian homage to gaming, Ready Player One, and, more recently, Armada—both soon to be major motion pictures. He’s already taken on three distinct media—games, books, and movies—and mashed them up into something original. Why not add a fourth, for the geek quad-fecta? A graphic novel about games and books that could be turned into a movie? Or maybe a comic about movies and books that could be turned into a game? Or a…well, you get the idea.

Edgar Rice Burroughs
Yes, he’s been dead for 65 years, which will make the contract negotiations tricky at best. Still, the writer of Tarzan, A Princess of Mars, The Land that Time Forgot, and literally dozens of other stories has had an enormous influence on 20th and 21st century pop culture in general, and comics in particular. Going back in time to ask him to write an original graphic novel or twelve would probably not be the best use of a time machine, but his larger-than-life tales have proven to be tailor-made for the comics, particularly the science fiction and superhero genres. While I’m cheating by mentioning a writer who passed long ago, Conan-creator Robert E. Howard would probably also produce something pretty cool.
Which SFF author should write the next great graphic novel?