Bourne

Robert Ludlum may never challenge Tom Clancy for complete multi-media takeover, especially now that he has passed away, but Ludlum's creations live on especially Jason Bourne.
Bourne has been the subject of spin-off novels, movies and now has his own video game. The game follows the story of the first novel and uses flashbacks to fill in the details about who Bourne is, as he remembers previous hits he completed.
Thankfully the game does not use the likeness of Matt Damon (or Maaaattt Daaaaamoooon as he is also known) which I think is a good move, Bourne should not be defined by the movies, Ludlum described how Bourne looked before Damon played him.
Anyway play the game and become a 30 million dollar weapon.

Franchise writing

When a popular author dies it is always interesting to see what will happen to his characters. For example Robert Ludlum's creation Jason Bourne has been given new life in a series of books by Eric Van Lustbader a successful thriller writer in his own right. The latest one in the series The Bourne Betrayal, has just been released.

Other writers have received similar treatment, for example Issac Asimov's Foundation series, Frank Herbert's Dune books and others.

This type of franchise writing reflects the current Hollywood trend of making sequels, and remaking old films rather than thinking up new concepts.

Sure it is good to see much loved characters getting a new life, but a part of me would like them to stay with the people who invented them. Oh well, I'll just have to read the latest Bourne novel and keep my mouth shut.