Dealing From the Bottom of the Deck: What Films Would Make Good Comic Books?
Someone mentioned this the other day, and it reminded me of an old entry I did on the blog about it, so I figured I'd bring it up again.
What film would you think would make a good comic book?
And remember, we're talking ORIGINAL screenplays here, not "Hey, I think it would be cool to adapt the Three Musketeers."
Here are some that I think would adapt well.
"The Third Man" - You could either have it as following Harry Lime around, doing his misdeeds, or you could have it star Holly (Rollo) Martins, following Harry around trying to stop him.
"Lone Star" - John Sayles created such a ripe background for many an interesting tale about Rip County, Texas.
"Notorius" - Couldn't you just see Alicia Huberman and T.R. Devlin continue to try to outwit the Nazi war criminals?
That's just a few off the top of my head...can anyone else come up with some better ideas?
(Here's the original post and comments)
What film would you think would make a good comic book?
And remember, we're talking ORIGINAL screenplays here, not "Hey, I think it would be cool to adapt the Three Musketeers."
Here are some that I think would adapt well.
"The Third Man" - You could either have it as following Harry Lime around, doing his misdeeds, or you could have it star Holly (Rollo) Martins, following Harry around trying to stop him.
"Lone Star" - John Sayles created such a ripe background for many an interesting tale about Rip County, Texas.
"Notorius" - Couldn't you just see Alicia Huberman and T.R. Devlin continue to try to outwit the Nazi war criminals?
That's just a few off the top of my head...can anyone else come up with some better ideas?
(Here's the original post and comments)
posted by Brian Cronin at 5/06/2006 06:31:00 AM
33 Comments:
John Wayne's The Cowboys. Lends itself to a continuing story--rotate in a fresh crop of new punk kids once in a while and you've got rootin' tootin' Western adventure for real he-man boys. (Although this really seems that it'd be a more commercially viable idea for a 1950s comic, twenty years before the movie came out)
I'm a nut for Wes Anderson films, and wouldn't you love to see a monthly The Life Aquatic with Steve Zizzou comic book? You could even play it up campy with ocean-based supervillains and claim it's the comic based on the real-life adventures of Steve and his loyal crew, as published in his world.
Plus man, I'd love to see a nicely done contining Incredibles comic book. Of all my wacky ideas, this one seems the most viable and commercially potential.
There's a lot of movies I'd would have loved to see made into continuing comics if the main character hadn't been killed by the end of the film: Ben Kingsley's Sexy Beast. Michael Caine's Get Carter. King Kong. Seabiscuit. Man, we need a comic book series based on Seabiscuit: every month Red and Biscuit go racing in a new town and solve a puzzling mystery. "I woulda got away with it too, if it wasn't for you durn jockeys and that meddling horse!" "Whinney!" "That's right, Biscuit!" (Laughter all around)
I saw "Brick" recently, and I think that would make an interesting series: hard-boiled detective drama in a high school. You'd have to keep everyone perpetually young, but it works for Archie.
I'm a nut for Wes Anderson films, and wouldn't you love to see a monthly The Life Aquatic with Steve Zizzou comic book?
This is just one of those "why isn't a little stuffed bull running the comics industry?" moments.
If memory serves, The Cowboys ended up as a bad '70's tv series, doing essentially what bully mentions. "I'da got away with it, too, it is wasn't fer them kids and all them dern cows!"
The further adventures of Jeff 'The Dude' Lebowski.
Or alternately if Amelie adopted her Zorro disguise again and started fighting crime in Montmartre I'd buy every issue...
There needs to be a new Godzilla book- the last one got et up by the mid-90s implosion.
And The Return of Captain Invincible is begging for an ongoing series. They'd have to clear the rights to use Alan Arkin's likeness though, otherwise there's no point.
The Big Lebowski recommendation is genius. I think following the character of Chas (Will Ferrell's role)from Wedding Crashers would be a hoot too.
I have to say that a Life Aquatic comic is one of the better ideas I've heard.
There's a Japanese movie called Aferlife that takes place in an abandoned movie studio where people help the recently dead prepare for their final rest. Thats kind of a neat premise.
The Warriors would make for a great comic series. Its already got a video game and a movie remake in the works, so you could offer some sort of tie-in.
Finally, The Wizard. The continued adventures of Fred Savage and his retarded, video-game playing brother as they hitch hike across 80s America.
I agree with the fellers who suggested Sky Captain last time. It'd be like Blackhawk, perhaps, but way cooler.
That Life Aquatic idea was also great.
Some sort of Blues Brothers book? Hmm.
The continuing adventures of Bruce Campbell as Elvis.
Blankman: The Series.
Surely something from Tarantino. Kill Bill?
The thing is, most good movies have already been made into comics. Bill and Ted, anyone?
when i saw lonestar, it reminded me of one of gilbert hernandez's palomar comics. it would make a great comic. so would slingblade i think.
Doesn't The Third Man fall into the same category as The Three Musketeers? Regardless, it would be a great comic.
Pulp Fiction, full of Tarentino reference goodies and keeping the chapter style of the movie.
El Mariachi, where you see various tales of the different incarnations of El Mariachi/Desperado. I mean how many guys walked through Mexican history with a guitar case?
Spy Kids would probably make a better comic than the third film was.
Unbreakable.
Fargo.
"Field of Dreams"
three things I'm a fan of: "talky" comics, baseball, and Iowa. All there!
Like Bill Reed, I too would buy a Blankman comic.
I know there's a Tron comic out already now, but I'm told it follows the 2.0 story. A Tron comic would've been far better had it taken the Kingdom Hearts route and stuck with the movie as it's point of inspiration.
Condorman would be a fun choice just out the convolutedness of having a comicbook based on a movie about a guy who bases a spy career off a comicbook.
I'm surprised nobody's mentioned Shaft yet. It seems the obvious choice to me what with both Luke Cage and animated John Stewart taking notes from the character.
"'The Third Man' - You could either have it as following Harry Lime around, doing his misdeeds, or you could have it star Holly (Rollo) Martins, following Harry around trying to stop him."
They did make The Third Man into a radio series (with Orson Welles describing early crimes and adventures). It's not as good as the movie but it's a lot of fun. At least one public radio station (WVXU 91.7 Cincinnati, Thursday nights) replays it.
"Doesn't The Third Man fall into the same category as The Three Musketeers? Regardless, it would be a great comic."
It was a screenplay BEFORE it was a novel.
One of the rare examples of an author turning his screenplay into a novel, and not the other way around.
Just like 2001.
Which was also a comic.
Fitzcarraldo. Klaus Kinski travels the world fighting supervillains with a battered gramophone recording of Caruso.
I heard a theory the other day linking to films and I think it would make for a nice bridging series - a series explainging how the child at the end of 'Zero Population Growth' grew into Logan from 'Logans Run', or at least how he grew into the guy who invented the Logans Run future.
A series of Bladerunner comics would be cool.
(surely there's enough difference between it and 'Do Androids Dream...'that it can slip into the list).
The ongoing adventures of 'The Goonies'.
The original 'Solaris'.
It felt like it already was an ongoing comics series - it just kept going with no resolution in sight.
'High Plains Drifter'. Either Eastwoods character keeps going from town to town righting wrongs, or each issue/storyline is about another wronged lawman/innocent righting the wrongs that were done to them.
M*A*S*H. They sai it wouldn't work as a book, they said it wouldn't work as a movie, and they said it wouldn't work as a TV show - yet it was a critical and commercial success as all three - so why not as a comic book?
-Ben.
actually, "the omega man," was based on a novel called "i am legend" by richard matheson (i believe) and has been adapted into three movies ("the omega man" obviously, "the last man on earth" starring vincent price, and a doubtless crap version due for release in 2007 called "i am legend" and starring will smith.
it was adapted for comics over a decade ago and published by (i think) eclipse. idw, god bless them just recently collected all four issues into one volume. you can and should buy it at amazon.com.
i go into all this detail only because it's one of my favorite novels of all time. and yeah, you're right, it makes a kick ass comic.
"'The Omege Man' - the last, scattered remnants of humanity against a legion of mutants determined to destroy all remaining evidence of civilization? Then spice things up with other tribes of mutants, with differing goals."
"It was a screenplay BEFORE it was a novel.
One of the rare examples of an author turning his screenplay into a novel, and not the other way around."
Didn't know that. Carry on.
Buckaroo Banzai
Now are we talking monthly series or mini-series of Film 2 Comics?
Most of these mentioned would be great minis, with the exception of something like The Incredibles or Sky Captain.
Here's a few suggestions:
- Manchurian Canidate: the original version. Cold War mini-series.
- Usual Suspects: A solid crime mini. Maybe go further into the exploits of Keyser Soze and Agent Cuyian tracking him down.
- The Sting: further exploits of Redford and Newman, traveling from town to town to steal as much as they can get.
- Mad Max: Apocalyptic comics about pre-crazy religious Mel would be cool.
- Tango & Cash: yeah, its stupid but a good buddy cop action comic would be insanely fun to read. Just make it darker.
- This is Spinal Tap: A funny as heck comic following the exploits of Britian's greatest and loudest band!
I think I'd like to see it more as in terms of ongoing series.
I'd think a LOT of movies would make good mini-series, but only a handful would make engaging ongoing series.
Donny Darko, with art by JH Williams
Bully - The continuing adventure of Steve Zizzou is absolutely brilliant.
For my two cents I'd got with something like Point Break but it would have to be inserted into a time bubble and shot back to 1992 or whenever.
I just saw Empire of the Sun again and while it was originally a book it's a fabulous movie and would be a favulous comic.
Then maybe something like Darkman, Hope and Glory, Bubba Ho-Tep, Six-String Samurai or Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels.
The Core. Not as an ongoing series, no -- as one of those big tabloid-sized monsters that DC and Marvel released all through the '70s. Ideally, it needs to be drawn by Jack Kirby, too.
I think an ongoing series about Darryl Zero and his assistant would be pretty sweet (and hilarious).
Six-String Samurai? Are you kidding? I loved the premise, and it was recommended to me by someone whose opinions are usually spot-on, but the execution left MUCH to be desired. Actually, maybe as a comic, it would realize the potential of its premise. It would have to for my wife to allow it into the house.
I'd also buy an Undercover Brother series. That was fun as hell...
Dave
There was a Condorman comic...I distinctly remember ages ago buying a Whitman 3-pack...the movie was adapted in the first two issues and the third was a brand new story. God, I remember so little of my childhood but for some reason I remember that one issue of Condorman, and for an even sillier reason I remember the blonde Russian spy claiming she comes from "How do you say...Duluth." Which made perfect sense when I was 7 or so, but as I got older wondered why the hell, if she was supposed to be from there, she didn't know how to say it. Some spy she is!
Now I got the Condorman song stuck in my head. Screw you, jr.
Hey I agree Six-String Samurai fell flat as a movie - hence the recommendation for comic transformation.
Viva Maria ...The continuing adventures of a young Brigit Bardot and her pal Jeanne Moreau(Their clothes would keep falling off) - with machine guns and her circus buddies...drawn by Dave Stevens.
Post a Comment
<< Home