I have been mentioning the AMC mini-series of 'The Prisoner' that airs tonight for a while at several venues, including my own Facebook Group Page as well as my Facebook Wall.

That's because I picked up a few copies of 'The Prisoner' preview comic book at the July 2009 Comic Con International: San Diego (CCI / SDCC), and have been selling them from our eBay Store.  Plus the trailer shown at the SDCC and online has looked pretty good for a remake. I'll reserve judgement till I see the entire mini-series.

Earlier this summer I devoted a full blog post 'Main Feature' for this mini-series that finally starts tonight! (Click here for the full blog post of the AMC Prisoner TV mini-series!)

Since then I've had in the back of mind about blogging about the earlier unpublished comic book adapation of the original series.  Vince Musacchia, who I met at the recent 2009 Long Beach Comic Con, reminded me Friday evening of that adapation that was not published by Marvel Comics.

So I thought that a little bit of info on that adapation would be fitting for today as an update and as a reminder that show is on later tonight, as Tina and I are taking it easier this weekend celebrating her birthday, (see the below 'Featurette' section.

As long time readers of this Blog know... It was Jack Kirby's cover to "Journey Into Mystery #72" that got me from just reading comics into actually 'collecting comics'!  So I have a special fondness for most of his works...

Back in 1966 the premise for the TV Show 'The Prisoner' was conceived.  Patrick McGoohan became the actor/producer for the Show.  It was  a complicated show, and although not a true 'sequel' to Patrick's UK Show 'Danger Man', better known in the USA with the  title: 'Secret Agent', it was a great follow up to the earlier show.

'The Prisoner' had already acheived 'cult status' by the mid 1970's. I am not aware of any earlier adaptation prior to Marvel Comics wanting to publish this proposed comic book series.  Jack Kirby had returned to Marvel Comics by then, (from DC Comics), and was creating new series for Marvel, as well as a licensed series.

For whatever reasons, Marvel Comics dropped the proposed series after Jack Kirby created the first seventeen pages for the first issue.  Mike Royer had partially inked and lettered several of the pages in the Summer of 1976.  The timing of this series was to have the 1st issue published in November of 1976 with a February of 1977 cover date.

I've seen the unfinished pages before with reviews and insights, here and there in fanzines, and on websites, so I won't go into too much detail here about what Jack included and didn't include in his unpublished 17 pages...

I just wanted to acknowledge that there was this unpublished comic book series that was based upon the UK TV Show that was broadcast there in 1967-68.  USA viewers saw it in 1968.  Here we are 41 years later with a remake!  It truly is amazing how ideas get recycled in Hollywood!

(And yeah, I know there was a later published four-part sequel by Dean Motter and Mark Askwith, that was printed by DC in 1988-89, but I haven't read that series. I'll mention it here because it is only the second licensed project to be attempted on this TV Show that I'm aware of for comics format.  Of course there have been references made to 'The Prisoner' in other comics, and even some similiar stories published story wise, but I'm going to pass on mentioning those here today...) 

For those of You that want a copy of the preview comic book of "The Prisoner", just click this link to be taken to our eBay Store for purchase.  The cost will remain at $1.95 plus shipping until the preview comic is sold out.

Thanks again to Vince for reminding me that I hadn't mentioned the earlier unpublished comic book series in this blog!  And to all of You that have posted comments on my Facebook Wall or sent me emails or messages about your wanting to see this mini-series also!