Forgive the redundancy - a question re: JC

[echolocator]

Perhaps it'll be better posting the question here:

What is the current status of the Jerry Cornelius character? He's Michael Moorcock's character, that much is a given, and I have every intention of providing credit where it's due (and this extends to John Harrison, too), but I don't know how 'open source' Jerry is these days. Is it frowned-upon to use the character in a short piece of fiction, or is it all right, provided the would-be writer doesn't try and profit off it?

Forgive me for sounding timorous, I'm just that I'm not used to playing with other people's creations, but I have my head up against a concern that more-or-less merits using Jerry. The only intention I have as regards the finished piece is to post it in the writer's community of which I am an admin. If that isn't kosher, then I'll keep it to myself.

Thank you for your time.

[Michael Moorcock]

It all depends on the context, as far as I'm concerned. If you tell me the context, I'll tell you if it's okay or not (it usually is). However Jerry is one of my trademarks and if anyone seems to be exploiting him, I have been known to contact my lawyer... Harrison, incidentally, isn't the only writer to have used the character, though I must admit he contributed more to the development of the character than any of the other writers who have written about Jerry. It was Harrison who realised Jerry was a technique as much as a character...

[echolocator]

First out, thank you for answering.

In the introduction to the most recent edition of 'The Life and Times of Jerry Cornelius' you remarked on how you had used fiction as a sieve for sorting your feelings from your analysis, extracting commentary from what would otherwise have caused you to cry. The results were alternately humorous and horrific, and you weren't altogether sure they had worked as intended, but they were right for the times in which they were written.

I'm in a similar situation as regards my feelings and analysis of Guantanamo Bay. It's not the only disingenuously-named prison we're keeping outside the United States, but it is the most well-known example. Our refusal to discuss it, and especially our refusal to confront it and/or end it, troubles me-- not merely as a citizen of what may be the most cruel and rapacious nation on Earth, but as a human being. Currently the only reasons we have to care about Guantanamo are handed to us by a reluctant and hamstrung media, and since our reporters are now being refused access to the base, all we can do is speculate.

Jerry has been used as a tool for (oblique) speculation in the past, by yourself and others-- I cited M. John Harrison specifically for his contribution of Shaky Mo Collier, an invaluable aspect of the myth --and I would like to use Jerry for that purpose.

That's the extent of it. A short, five-part story that I have no interest in profiting on or causing injury to you with, a fictional investigation of a phenomena that I feel is best suited by the use of a proxy. If you judge otherwise, I will both understand and honor your decision.

Post-script: I mentioned a writer's community in my first post; that is perhaps disingenuous, at least in terms of the world-wide web. It consists of thirteen contributors and is viewed by no more than fifteen. What little I post there is only read and criticized by persons I know from my day-to-day life out of doors, and I feel it safe to say that I am the only person among them who is even remotely political... If that has any effect on your decision.

[Michael Moorcock]

Jerry, as you probably noticed, often takes a somewhat contrary view to the familiar one -- neither conventionally liberal or conservative, for instance. Anyway, if you really feel the best way of handling your take on Guantanamo and so on, then Jerry's probably the best way of doing it.
I have, of course, already done something with this in Firing the Cathedral, where I quote rightwing sources on Guantanamo, but that wasn't the chief focus. Anyway, sounds okay. So good luck.

[echolocator]

Thank you for the go-ahead & good luck.

I don't know you outside of your books (which is to say, I don't know you at all). I'd heard about previous problems, as re: Grant Morrison & 'the Invisibles' and Jean-Giraud's 'Airtight Garage', and while these may have been equitably settled, I didn't see any reason to risk upsetting you. A homage or tribute is one thing, but when you have reason to believe someone is taking liberties with your license, it's abominable. I thought it only proper to ask.

Jerry's largely neutral, as ever. Most of the focus is on the late, lamented Captain Maxwell, who's subbing in for the current camp commander, Rear Admiral Harry B. Harris. I'm sticking with the basic cast of ne'er-do-wells, applying characters to parts they might like to play. Part of the joy of working w/ the Cornelius character, as far as I can tell, is that the cast of cronies & conspirators surrounding him are as necessary to the play as the set itself; cf. 'The English Assassin'.

Thanks again. I'll let you know how it turns out.

[Michael Moorcock]

I had absolutely no problems with Moebius, who I regard as a friend, bu he HEARD (erroneously) that I wasnt happy with Airtight Garage and so changed it. I did not ask him (or want him) to change it but he's a courteous man. Grant Morrison didn't use the name, he jut lifted chunks of books, which I regard as a very different thing, as you can imagine.
His character had one of those somewhat typical names like Gideon Starbuck... I thought it was amusing that there's a new musical in the West End of London featuring Maxwell. He was sueing left right and centre for years, but somehow Mal Deans strip in IT and his representation in NW slipped under his gaze. He had been a bete noire
of mine from his earliest (Oxford) days. What amazed me was that it took such a long time to catch him out! Evrryone I knew knew he was bent from the start. But then George Bush bankrupted Texas before he went on to put the country into such vast debt everyone's wondering how on earth inflation and so on could be so bad and why there money is worth less and less overseas...

[voilodian ghagnasdiak]

Forgive the redundancy - a question re: JC

My daughter works part time at a video outlet and just ordered me a copy of " The Final Programme". I have read your opinions on the movie and often wonder if maybe your views are something akin to a cook that dislikes his own broth while others thoroughly enjoy it. Obviously there is a demand for such an item because it is being manufactured in DVD format.There must be others out there other than we members of the "Moorcockian Tribe" that are interested in The FP.I cant wait to see it!!

(All this for a mere $ 23.99)

[Michael Moorcock]

Well, I am not a GREAT fan of the book, where I was still trying out ideas, but I really hate the movie, partly because it was celebrating variety and multisexuality and stuff and the director turned some of that into sexist jokes, plus produced an incoherent plot, even though we (me and the producer) had tried to give him a perfectly good plot. I never expect a movie to be exactly the same as my book, but I came up with a decent movie version which Sandy Leiberson (producer) liked and which produced a decent dynamic without straying TOO far from the book. The director ignored everyone, believing he knew best. Result was that a lot of scenes wound up on the cutting room floor (this was in the days before 'out-takes' were a regular feature of movie DVDs) where they deserved to be and then money ran out when we needed some extra scenes to give the movie more coherence and tension. So don't get your hopes up. There are some good lines (mostly made up by the actors or me) in the movie and some good ad-libs from John (after we'd talked about it and he realised he was supposed to be in a comedy!). The movie picks up a BIT after that talk, but little could save it. Certainly the public (giving me even greater faith in the public) didn't like it! When you're actually GLAD the movie wasn't popular, I think that gives an idea of what it's like.
It became sort of cultish after it began being paired with late-night Rocky Horror showings.

[Michael Moorcock]

Wow. I just read my earlier posting. Typos aside, I ought to be horsewhipped for spelling 'their' there... I'm beginning to suspect premature senility.

[echolocator]

It's a symptom of computer abuse, that's all. Worry when you start transposing its and it's.

[zxvasdf]

I had absolutely no problems with Moebius, who I regard as a friend, bu he HEARD (erroneously) that I wasnt happy with Airtight Garage and so changed it. I did not ask him (or want him) to change it but he's a courteous man. Grant Morrison didn't use the name, he jut lifted chunks of books, which I regard as a very different thing, as you can imagine.
His character had one of those somewhat typical names like Gideon Starbuck... I thought it was amusing that there's a new musical in the West End of London featuring Maxwell. He was sueing left right and centre for years, but somehow Mal Deans strip in IT and his representation in NW slipped under his gaze. He had been a bete noire
of mine from his earliest (Oxford) days. What amazed me was that it took such a long time to catch him out! Evrryone I knew knew he was bent from the start. But then George Bush bankrupted Texas before he went on to put the country into such vast debt everyone's wondering how on earth inflation and so on could be so bad and why there money is worth less and less overseas...

Perhaps this section in wikipedia could bear some clarification?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerry_Cornelius

Moorcock encouraged other authors and artists to create works about Jerry Cornelius, in a sort of early open source attempt at open brand sharing. One example is Norman Spinrad's The Last Hurrah of the Golden Horde; another is Mœbius's The Airtight Garage. (Although in the case of this work he later retroactively withdrew the permission, meaning that later reprints of The Airtight Garage rename the protagonist.) The Nature of the Catastrophe, a collection of Jerry Cornelius stories and comic strips which had appeared in the International Times (with art by Mal Dean) by various hands, was published in 1971. It includes works by Moorcock himself, James Sallis, Brian Aldiss, Langdon Jones, M. John Harrison, Alex Krislov and Maxim Jakubowski.

[Michael Moorcock]

Wikopaedia's wrong there, I fear. I didn't retroactively withdraw permission. Moebius was a friend of friends of mine when he started and someone (I don't know who) told him I didn't like the strip. I loved the strip, though I'd said it wasn't really Jerry Cornelikus. This got taken to mean by someone that I didn't like it and Moebius, whom I came to know later and explain that I hadn't withdrawn permision, took the JC out of the title. He knows now that I liked it and had no problems with it.

[zxvasdf]

I also see that Mal Dean (Langdon Jones too) doesn't have an entry in Wikipedia. If I remember correctly, Mike, you held him in high regard... Who better than you to contribute to the masses' knowledge of his work?

[zxvasdf]

Wikopaedia's wrong there, I fear. I didn't retroactively withdraw permission. Moebius was a friend of friends of mine when he started and someone (I don't know who) told him I didn't like the strip. I loved the strip, though I'd said it wasn't really Jerry Cornelikus. This got taken to mean by someone that I didn't like it and Moebius, whom I came to know later and explain that I hadn't withdrawn permision, took the JC out of the title. He knows now that I liked it and had no problems with it.

Well someone could remedy that... I reckon I could, but I ain't much of a wordsmith, and I would not want to speak for other people. The coolest thing about Wikipedia is that it is open source, so anyone can fill in anything they want, as long as the consensus is in agreement

[Michael Moorcock]

Good point. Trouble is I have such a terrible memory. I think Mal's entry should really be done by one of his family. I can't remember when he was born, where he went to school (prob. Liverpool School of Art since he came out in the same generation as Bill Harry, the Beatles and so on).
Maybe Bill could do it. Same with Lang. Obviously, I know a lot about Lang, but not some of the important details. Lang should do his own, except he's a very modest bloke. Maybe they're in the SF Encyclopedia.