Nimona’s radical page-to-screen story changes were a queer necessity

polygon.com:

Netflix’s animated movie Nimona is a deconstructive fairy tale that tackles rebellion and rebirth. Born from ND Stevenson’s Tumblr-published webcomic, the movie, centering on a rebellious, anarchistic pink-coded shapeshifter, evolved significantly from the page to the CGI incarnation.

Nimona herself has come back from the dead over and over. One of her many consequential rebirths was a matter of studio intervention: When Disney bought out 20th Century Animation, the company canceled the animated adaptation of Stevenson’s book, which was 75% completed at 20th Century’s subsidiary Blue Sky Studios. (Blue Sky employees are adamant that Disney shut down the project because two of Nimona’s characters are gay.) But Annapurna Pictures and Netflix breathed life back into the project.

Resurrection is a key part of Nimona — and so is changing form. Both of these things come into play in the movie’s radical departures from the book. This latest rebirth gives Nimona a new shape, with plenty of fire to spare — but while purists may object to all the changes from the original book, they were an absolute necessity.

[Ed. note: Major spoilers ahead for the graphic novel Nimona, and implied spoilers for the movie version.]

In the graphic novel that collects Stevenson’s webcomic, Nimona appears to die, but revives, which leads to a reveal that she has a Wolverine-level ability to heal herself. Then she supposedly perishes for good at the climax of the story, but with a strong suggestion that she escapes. The movie version grants her another revival, one as tantalizing as her first ending, yet with an intriguing new light.

The Nimona movie adaptation shape-shifts away from Stevenson’s original art style. The film version, directed by Nick