AVATAR JOINS RIP-OFF JUNK PILE

Avatar the film, released in 2010.
(Which James Cameron says he wrote in 1994.)

2000 AD #828: First appearance of Firekind.
(Published by Fleetway Quality Comics on March 27, 1993.)
As a follow-up (sorta) to our previous "Top 10 Rip-OffS" list about comics ripping off various sources, how about one under "General Rip-Offs" involving a movie ripping off the comics world? (Of course Avatar comics came after the film.) Because that's what we have with James Cameron's Avatar.

A comic called Firekind was written in 1993 by John Smith with art by Paul Marshal, and published over eight issues (#828-840) within 2000 AD (the British guys who do Judge Dredd). Firekind only saw a reprint once and never received a trade paperback. Here's a brief breakdown on what is now very unoriginally being being called Avatargate:

AVATAR VS. FIREKIND - Direct Comparisons

THE PLANET:

AVATAR: Pandora, a lush jungle world with mysterious floating rock formations and an atmosphere toxic to humans.

FIREKIND: Gennyo-Leil, a lush jungle world with mysterious floating stone slabs and an atmosphere toxic to humans.

THE WILDLIFE:

AVATAR: Lots of weird stuff, plus big dragons for the natives to ride.

FIREKIND: Lots of weird stuff, plus the firekind: big dragons for the natives to ride.

THE PROTAGONIST:

AVATAR: Jake Sully, a washed up Marine who goes against his own species when they go too far. Has a lot of furry otherkin sex.

FIREKIND: Hendrick Larsen, a washed up botanist who goes against his own species when they go too far. Has no sex.

THE NATIVES:

AVATAR: The Na'vi, blue-skinned aboriginals with a planet-wide neural net connection.

FIREKIND: The Kesheen, blue-skinned Aboriginals with a planet-wide psychic connection.

RELIGION:

AVATAR: The Na'vi worship Eywa, an animistic nature deity who is summoned against the invaders with devastating results.

FIREKIND: The Kesheen worship Asha-Kadarine, an animistic nature deity who is summoned against the invaders with devastating results.

THE INVADERS:

AVATAR: Marauding colonialists bent on exploiting Pandora's unique resources: "Unobtainium", a rare and desirable miracle compound available only in the planet's unique geology.

FIREKIND: Marauding colonialists bent on exploiting Gennyo-Leil's unique resources: "Hexacrin", a rare and desirable miracle drug found only in the glands of the planet's mysterious dragons.

* * *

AVATAR VS. FIREKIND - Creation Timeline

Certainly Halo: Combat Evolved and Ferngully: The Last Rainforest had an effect on Cameron before he made the film Avatar. But more to the point, it's a fairly Anne McCaffrey or Eragon-type tale - a young boy in a lush valley with a dangerous atmosphere, dragons that he can ride to victory over his foes, going native with the strange natives, resisting marauders and rallying the troops to destroy the enemy, etc.

Problem is that all this and more is also in the plot to Firekind, which was printed in early 1993, meaning that according to publishing deadlines they had to have written it in 1992 or before.

Cameron admits that he did not complete his script treatment until the following year, and that when he did write it in 1994, it took... only two weeks!?

And our mega-rich man Cameron isn't new to such retelling methods, as most people know. His large-grossing Titanic, with all action and no acting, was a mere remake of the two superior films, Titanic starring Clifton Webb, and the hard-hitting documentary style A Night To Remember.

Cameron has also settled out of court with sci-fi writer Harlan Ellison over elements of The Terminator said to be "inspired" by Ellison's work. (Ellison himself was also ripped off by the folks that did Robocop, for which he also triumphed in court.)

But the Cameron thing gets even closer to home. He was also close friends with Judge Dredd screenwriter William Wisher Jr. at the time, so it's not any stretch at all to suggest that Cameron would have likewise been very familiar with 2000 AD.

Currently 2000 AD is owned by Rebellion Developments, now working on a reboot for the Dredd movie franchise - remember the fun Stallone version? - but thanks to Avatar is now very much unable to exploit Firekind on the big screen.

Or we should say thanks to his "pal" Cameron for screwing him over!

UPDATE: 3/7/10 - Great news! Avatar did NOT win the Oscar for Best Picture tonight. Some say that blogs like mine deserve some credit for sinking Cameron's ship this way. Interesting, huh? Looks like he ain't "king of the world" anymore! So there is at least some justice in this world!