Are there Any Comics Left that Haven’t Become Movies?
August 4th, 2010
Well, okay, there are lots left I suppose (including Zot!, for that matter, though that’s just ’cause I’ve been picky).
Funny thing is, Tamara Drewe by Posy Simmonds, while it may seem like it came out of left field, is actually a perfect choice for the screen.
Simmonds’ graphic novel (originally serialized in the Guardian) is a sheer delight, and with a terrific cast and crew on board, I wouldn’t be surprised if the movie is just as much fun.
If you haven’t read the book, get it now. Then you can pretend that you read it long before you even heard about the movie, and brag about it at cocktail parties.
Though, you may have to insist more than once that “Yes. Yes it really was a comic first!“
March 3, 2021
Well, now that you bought the topic up, here is my list of comics that I like that have not become movies (at least not yet)
Hate
Unknown Soldier
Jim Starlin’s “Gilgamesh II”
Grant Morrison’s run of “Animal Man”
(I just read that someone is starting on a screen play of “Doom Patrol”…I’d love for it to be based on Grant Morrison’s run, but lord knows how these things turn out…oh, and Will Eisner’s “A Contract With God”)
Blankets! Much like Tamara Drew, I think it would be more easily adapted to be a film than most comics. Unlike Tamara Drew, I’d be torn up about the affair, I love Blankets so much I don’t think I could ever be pleased with anything the screen did for it.
Comics made into movies may have a long-term, unseen benefit: the American mainstream acknowledgement of comics as an equal artform.
However, I won’t be satisfied until “Mr. Monster” is made into a movie… but only if it makes me laugh till I pee (like the comic does).
Yes but Hollywood has screwed up comics many a time including (but not only) Fritz the Cat, the League of Extraordinary Gentleman, Batman Forever, Batman & Robin, Superman Returns, Spider-Man 3, and Last Airbender (I know this one isn’t based in comics, I just hate that they f@*ked with it!).
Plus, as I metion before, the only reason Hollywood been comic based movies is because they’re lazy and cheap to buy new screenplays not based on anything. Maybe Hollywood should take this advice from David Boring “Every story has been told, so if you have to tell one, tell it well.”
I don’t think TAMARA DREWE will make as good a movie as it did a comic, for two reasons:
1. The characters will look like people. Not like charming Posy Simmonds art.
2.The storytelling will be cinematic, not the mix of action, introspection, narration, media clippings and such that made up TAMARA DREWE.
That’s not to say that it won’t be a good movie. It might make a very good movie indeed; it’s a strong story with rich characters. But a fair amount of the stuff that made the comic wonderful and distinctive will become more standard, because it’s film of real people, and not comics. And there are lots of films about real people acting human, but not so many Posy Simmonds comics. And it was Posy who made TAMARA great — how it was drawn and told even more than what was drawn and old.
kdb
I certainly agree that the characters look like real people, as opposed to how my brain processed Simmond’s character designs.
Real life Tamara Drew will never be as universally perfect as her art sibling. Also the teenage girls look much younger than I imagined and it makes the rockstar character that much creepier, heh.
I hadn’t thought before that my biggest gripe with seeing film versions of comics is losing the step between translating the art into reality and it never quite being as perfect as it was in my head.
She Hulk, (Dan Slots run). Planetary, Ex Machina are all things Ive love to see tv shows/mini series of.
But not sure theres much missing films, I think comic books rarely suit the same structure despite there being many adaptions that Ive enjoyed.
I would love to see Zot! on the big screen though. We’ve had the gritty takes on the genre KickA$$ etc. Could use some Zot! 🙂 I respect your pickiness Scott.
I can’t decide whether Phil Foglio’s stuff would make good movies or not. On the one hand, he puts so much humor into the panels that I fear much would be lost in translation. On the other hand, I’d really like to see a live-action runcible gun firing away.