Tom Clancy, whose death was confirmed earlier today, will be predominantly remembered for his novels. He became best known for military and spy thrillers such as The Hunt for Red October, Rainbow Six and Clear and Present Danger. While his books were hugely successful - it's reported that a two-book deal earned him in the region of €35 million back in 2007 - one of the most unique aspects of Clancy's career was how his name grew into a brand of its own.
Clancy's books proved so popular that Clancy himself could not possibly keep up with demand. The result was a significant amount of releases co-authored with different writers, or even completely written (sometimes ghostwritten) by a different person while still bearing the 'Tom Clancy' name and branding.
The Power Plays novels, for example, were based on ideas by Clancy and Martin Greenberg, but the books themselves were written by Jerome Preisler. Similarly, the Tom Clancy's Net Force novels were written by Steve Perry. For the most part, Clancy worked on the popular Jack Ryan novels himself, with a new entry called Command Authority is expected in December.
On the topic of Jack Ryan, the character has proven the most popular Clancy character for the big screen. Adaptations of books in the series have included The Hunt for Red October and The Sum of All Fears. Irish viewers might be most familiar with Patriot Games, concerning a fictional IRA conspiracy. Jack Ryan himself has been portrayed by Alec Baldwin, Harrison Ford and Ben Affleck. Chris Pine will be the next actor to tackle the character in Jack Ryan: Shadow One, which is due out later this year.
Unusually, Clancy's biggest multimedia success has not been through film, but rather through the huge amount of video games that have borne his name over the last two decades. A number of extremely popular games series - such as Splinter Cell, Rainbow Six and Ghost Recon - have been released under the Clancy 'brand'.
Typically, the games feature the same military themes and attention to detail the novels are known for. The different series tend to take on different approaches to the 'Clancyverse'. Ghost Recon, for example, is a first person shooter, while Splinter Cell is stealth-focused. H.A.W.K is all about aerial combat, while EndWar is a 'strategy' game. A new Clancy game called The Division is one of the most anticipated games for the upcoming next-generation consoles.
While Tom Clancy will be remembered as an author first and foremost, the prevalence of his name throughout several mediums is one of the most unique features of his long and prolific career. With several of the franchises in question still going strong, it's likely we'll be seeing the words 'Tom Clancy's...' on shelves, posters and covers for a while yet.
