The end of humanity appears nigh as a massive asteroid hurtles towards earth. However, as it reaches earth, nothing happens. The object, in reality, is a towering three-mile-tall alien, seemingly dead. Touching down near Little Springs, Nebraska, dubbed “the giant,” the once-small farm town is transformed into a bustling metropolitan area.
Cover of “Godfall.” (Courtesy: University of Nebraska Press)
This is the premise of Godfall, the debut novel by Nebraska-born comic book writer Van Jensen, which debuted November 1st. Coupled with this books release, an announcement by Ron Howard’s production company to adapt the project for the screen.
KLIN News had the pleasure to speak with Jensen about Godfall and its upcoming live-action feature.
To commemorate the release of Godfall, Jensen held a book launch event at the downtown Lincoln bookstore Francie & Finch. “It was incredible,” Jensen said, “We got the bookstore so crowded, I don’t think we could have squeezed anyone else in. They actually sold out of books before I even got there.”
Jensen, a graduate of UNL, makes his debut into prose following a successful career in comic book writing. He is known for blockbuster titles such as Green Lantern, The Flash, and Superman, as well as receiving critical acclaim for non-caped stories such as James Bond, a biographic comic book for the 2018 gubernatorial campaign of Stacey Abrams, and a twist on the classic tale of Geppetto’s puppet: Pinocchio, Vampire Slayer.
“I grew up loving comic books, and that was my biggest dream in the world, to do anything with superhero comics,” said Jensen, who revealed a layer of personal significance with his first book, “My grandmother was a poet, and she really pushed me to read a lot of novels and was interested in teaching me to write prose. So it feels like I’m fulfilling a promise to her, in a big way.”
Author of “Godfall,” Van Jensen. (Courtesy: Van Jensen)
Both creatively and procedurally, Jensen said writing for prose is a distinct departure from the colorful, action packed splash pages of a comic book, “Storytelling is kind of all the same. But writing a novel… there’s nothing to hide the quality of my writing. Great art can make an ‘okay’ script look really good in a comic book, but with prose, it’s just words on the page. You have to put lots of care and thought into every single word.”
However, for Jensen, the independent nature of prose writing brings a unique satisfaction, “When you write a comic book, the script is just one step towards something that will eventually be real. With a novel, you write the end, and then it’s done. Like, that’s it. You don’t have to wait for someone to draw it and someone else to put it out. It’s just done, and it’s ready to go to the world.”
Jensen assured us that the release of Godfall does not spell the end of his comic book writing career. In many ways, Godfall is steeped in creative grooves often deepened by comic books.
The story of Godfall, in Jensen’s own words:
“There’s this asteroid that appears hurtling towards Earth. A three mile long asteroid, if it hits us, it’s going to obliterate everything. But when people get a closer view of it, they see that it’s humanoid in shape. The world goes into a panic, and it seems like the end of everything. The story cuts ahead two years, and this thing has fallen out of the sky and landed in western Nebraska… and somehow has not caused mass destruction. It just settled onto the ground, and didn’t do anything. It is seemingly dead with a giant blade stuck through it. So this mountain-range sized being is blocking out the horizon in the middle of nowhere, and it’s next to this town of 600 people.
The story follows the sheriff of this town, David Blunt. He just wants to be sheriff of his hometown and have a very ordinary existence. But his town has been flooded with the military, the government, scientists, spies, tourists, and a cult. So now his town is more like a city, with all the good and the bad that cities have, and he is forced to be in charge of it. It’s the story of this sheriff who is completely overmatched and struggling to figure out how to govern this town that is, all at once, the most important place on Earth.”
With an abundance of motifs set to clash in Godfall, Jensen said one sat at the helm, “As much as anything, Godfall is thematically about rural-America and urban-America being forced to coexist.”
“The Most Unlikely Place,” Art Gallery and Cafe’ located in Jensen hometown of Lewellen NE. (Courtesy: Garden County Visitor’s Committee)
“I’m from Lewellen, Nebraska out in the Panhandle, with a population of 300 people,” Jensen shared, “Now I live in Atlanta, Georgia. I feel there’s this huge divide between people who live in cities and who live in the country… a lot of stereotypes that each side tells about the other. As someone who straddles both of those worlds, I thought, ‘What if I created a situation in which these people really have to coexist and find a way to live together?'”
As is evident, Jensen’s Nebraska roots and life experiences in urban-America served as his creative cauldron, “My background was hugely, hugely important in writing this. There’s so much stuff out there that stereotypes rural America. I wanted to tell a story that was genuine. Godfall isn’t based exactly on one person or another… but more so taking the people that I grew up with, in the situations that I was in, and really illustrating who these people are. People who are very complex. All of them have their own desires, goals, aspirations and also things that they struggle with.”
While Godfall steers clear of the autobiographical, Jensen did borrow elements from his life for the book.
“Some of it’s as simple as a goofy catchphrase that the small town characters have, and I might have borrowed one or two of those, or a certain mannerism,” Jensen admitted. Adding that the quirks of small-town-life lended an influential dynamic, “What I love about small towns: everyone has to know everyone. Everyone has to get along with everyone. Unusual people live everywhere. In a city, if there’s someone you don’t get along with, you can just ignore them. But in a small town, you have to know who that person is, know their family history, and all this stuff about them… and that’s really powerful, I think.”
No matter your background, Godfall appears to weave a powerful and exciting narrative that anyone can find themselves in. Godfall is available for purchase through the University of Nebraska Press.
Typically, readers keep fingers crossed that their favorite stories will one day get the Hollywood treatment. Fans of Godfall have no such waiting period, as the rights to adapt the story has already been the subject of a fierce bidding war between production companies.
Imagine Entertainment founders Brian Grazer and Ron Howard. (Courtesy: Ron Howard’s Instagram)
Imagine Entertainment, founded by famed actor/director Ron Howard and veteran producer Brian Grazer, reportedly outbid more than 10 other potential buyers to cinch the rights to adapt Godfall for TV. Howard is set to direct the series, joining Grazer and Jensen as executive producers on the project.
Not every authors debut novel gets picked up for the big-screen, let alone prior to publishing, and let alone by some of Hollywoods biggest hitters. This uncanny situation is not lost on Jensen, “It was pretty surreal. [laughs] I wrote the book, to write the book, not to get a TV deal. I had no expectations. My manager in LA took the book and sent it around, and I didn’t expect to hear anything more about it. Then the offers just started to come in.”
Despite Hollywood’s eagerness to bring Godfall to the screen, the book hit the racks barely two weeks ago, leaving fans plenty of time to bide.
“It’s very early stages right now,” said Jensen, “We’re in the process of finding a showrunner at the moment. The next step will be pitching to different channels/streaming platforms to see who’s wants to put it on the air. So there’s still some time to get it all put together, but it’s moving far faster than I anticipated.”
As Godfall‘s production staff grows, Jensen said he’ll remain close to the heart of the project, “They really want me involved. They saw I was able to craft this incredibly genuine voice of rural America, and they want to maintain that… I look at this as just an incredible opportunity to learn from people who are literally the very best in the business. That’s the most exciting thing for me.”
KLIN News would like to extend our gratitude to Van Jensen for sharing his time and insights on Godfall.