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Salman Rushdie: Graphic Novelist?

Jonathan Horowitz’s Nightmare on Main Street: Election ‘08 (2008)

“I’m a world expert on superhero comics,” Salman Rushdie told us last night at the New York Public Library’s Library Lions benefit, where he was among the honorees. “I think maybe only Michael Chabon knows more than me.” The Satanic Verses author owns oil paintings of Spider-Man and Wolverine, signed by Stan Lee. Also, he collected comic books as a kid, but, sadly, his father threw them away. “They’d be worth so much money now if he hadn’t done that. You know, 1950s and sixties Dell Comics, and Marvel; it would be worth a fortune,” he said. And while he hasn’t yet written a superhero into one of his novels, Rushdie’s actually considering writing a comic book. “Just recently I’ve been approached by a couple of publishers of what are now called graphic novels to say, would I like to do one. And, I mean, I haven’t said yes. But I am quite interested.” He added that Doris Lessing told him she’d had a great time writing a graphic novel and recommended it highly. Rushdie wouldn’t say which publisher had made the offer, or which artist might do the drawings. “We haven’t got that far yet. Literally, I just got the letter a couple of weeks ago,” he said. “So we’ll see.”

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Salman Rushdie: Graphic Novelist?