Dear Hollywood: Here Are Some Comics to Adapt.
- By Gabe Powers
- Published 07/11/2008
Gabe Powers
Gabe Powers lives and works in the Twin Cities area of Minnesota. Now unemployed he spends most of his time sitting before the television watching movies, while collecting a diminishing number of insurance checks. He's written for DVDActive.com for about five years now, and racked up over 500 reviews, and was even linked on wikipedia.com. Gabe is also involved in several forms of art and design, and has been known to obsessively re-record the same guitar tracks on his iMac ad nauseam.
Edit: I noticed some lame typos. I'm sorry about that.
I’ve got a million ideas floating around in my head right now. Devin’s editorial about the future of DC comics in movies helped focus me, for a blog post at least. I don’t really consider myself a comic book reader, mostly because I don’t really read much unrelated to film criticism. I’m too busy being a movie geek to be a comic geek.
I used to read and buy comics weekly when I was in middle school, and through part of high school. This was unfortunately the era of Image, an aptly named company if ever there was one. I don’t like to use the phrase ‘out grow’, but I can’t think of any better way to describe my relationship with Image. There was an even a period there where I wanted to be a comic artist, and I unfortunately used the likes of Todd MacFarlane and Jim Lee as my inspiration (no Rob Leifeld though, even as a dumb child I recognized that shit for what it was). As a result, I can’t bear to even look at that brand of over detailed, every-muscle-visible illustration any more. I kind of turned my back on comics for a long while there, as my film tastes evolved (except Savage Dragon, I kept those).
But now I have a friend one state over named Blake who brings me TPBs to read about once a month, so I’m not completely ignorant of what’s been happening in the industry. For the most part I’ve been watching the rise of the super-hero film as an educated outsider, but now I’m developing a taste for what I like, and what I want to see adapted to the big screen. Most of my hard super-hero knowledge comes out of cartoons like the middling X-Men and Spider-Man cartoons of the ‘90s, and the fantastic Timm/Dini DC Animated Universe (which has ended up coloring my view of all super hero characters to the point of sad obsession, but more on that some other time).
So far I’ve been reasonably satisfied with most of the big super-hero movies of the past eight years, mostly because I don’t particularly care about the characters, and have little need to see them ‘accurately’ portrayed on the big screen. I walk in with some knowledge, but usually no huge preconceptions.
Obviously I’d be a liar if I said I wasn’t interested in comic books, but I still think of myself as an outsider. I’m not so tied up in the culture that I can’t look at it objectively (unlike Italian horror movie culture, to which I’m so intertwined I’m beginning to question my sanity). I usually read comics and novels as a film fan, and immediately go about adaptation possibilities. From my non-expert, film geek point of view, I’d like to see film or television adaptations of the following (apparently Y the Last Man is already in development, so I won’t bother with that one). I’m not too good with fan-casting, and in most cases I’d like to see the original writers given first crack at scripting, so I’m only going to offer up ideas for directors.
1. New X-Men:
Brett Ratner’s X-Men 3 left me very angry, though I still couldn’t call it a complete failure. The good news is that every earth-shattering event in the film can be easily discarded by the end credits (Magneto’s getting his powers back, Charles is alive, Cyclops’s body hasn’t been recovered, Jean Grey obviously isn’t dead), thus wiping the slate clean and leaving room for another series of films. I think Grant Morrison’s treatment of the characters, which was apparently suppose to be more in keeping with the tone of the first movie, is a great place to start over. Tie up a few loose ends and start right where his story starts, you could get three solid movies from the material. Also, Morrison acknowledges the Phoenix and it’s dangers, so we don’t have to even pretend that didn’t happen.
Michelle Soavi has proven his metal, and made two largely successful comic adaptations to date – Dellamorte Dellamore (AKA: Cemetery Man), and Arrivederci Amore, Ciao (AKA: The Goodbye Kiss). He’s also made several successful made for TV cop thrillers (Uno Bianca parts 1 and 2 are available on US DVD) that look like real movies, proving he can deal with multiple characters and action on a budget. Being a Hollywood first timer I’m guessing he’d have some interesting ideas to bring to the table, and he’d cost a fraction of a hack like Brett Ratner.
2. Ultimates: Volumes 1 and 2
Every step Marvel takes towards this new Avengers movie is pretty satisfying, but so far they feel like steps rather then films. Iron Man (which was very good), and Incredible Hulk (which was very average) both felt like stones over a river leading to something bigger, not stand alone movies, and I’ve got a creeping fear that there’s simply no way for Marvel to live up to this hype they’re creating. I liked The Ultimates more then anything else in the entire Ultimates universe, and would love to see a film follow that story as close as possible (Sam Jackson as Nick Fury seems an obvious start). The problem is that we really don’t need another War of the Worlds scenario (the Justice League cartoon pulled that one too), and the climactic battles of volume 2 will take a lot of set up to get too. I’m not sure how this will work, but I really want it to.
I suppose Jon Favreau would be the obvious choice, but I’m not convinced his skills and tone would work on such a huge canvas (yet). I’d rather see Matthew Vaughn finally finish production on a Marvel super-hero film, and I think this would be a good place to start. In only two films the director has proven a solid control of different kinds of characters and tones (from very dark to very light), and a decent control of special effects and action.
3. Powers
I haven’t been keeping up with the whole Brian Michael Bendis phenomenon save this one title (Ultimate Spider-Man just didn’t do it for me). Powers begins like Law and Order with super-heroes, a frankly blah idea, but the story steadily builds into something far more interesting. Perhaps someone clever could sell the series to a television studio as Law and Order with super-heroes to get a foot in the door. It’d have to be an edgier studio like HBO or Showtime, but I think that FX or AMC could also pull it off only pulling a few punches. It’d be a fine antidote to mainstream comic book absorption like Heroes or Smallville.
Television creative types aren’t so much my forte, but the people behind either Breaking Bad or Dirt would work, though for different reasons. The Breaking Bad route could make for a more realistic show, while the Dirt route could make for a more rowdy show, and I think the series could work either way. Another possibility would be the people behind the real Law and Order, or the people behind The Shield, but that’s just too on the nose. In a perfect world I’d like to see David Milch’s Powers, but that seems most unlikely of all.
4. Bone
I believe that Jeff Smith’s cartoony tale of alternate universe medieval adventure would make fine filler in the post Harry Potter world, following the release of that final film. Like Harry Potter, the series starts light and builds dark, but not too dark to completely alienate the children who grow up with it. Animation would be ideal, but I’m also pretty sure it could be pulled off live action given the right creative crew, though I can’t see how the series could be compressed into a single film.
If animated Jeff Smith himself might be able to handle direction on this one alone, but if we’re going live action I’m thinking perhaps a former animation director, like Brad Bird or Andrew Stanton.
5. Fables
…And when those children grow up and out of Harry Potter and Bone, perhaps it’s time for something with a little more adult grit, like Bill Willingham’s Fables. The series is slow to get going (I almost gave up), but once it finds the right footing it’s quite addictive, and in this man’s humble opinion, more enjoyable then Neil Gaiman’s similarly themed Sandman series. I believe the Zionist slants could get some funding with The Weinstein Company (if you’re part Jewish you’re aloud to make Jew jokes, it’s the rules). The problem is the series ongoing status makes for difficult film adaptation (perhaps TV), Hellboy covers similar ground, and Bigby Wolf is a whole hell of a lot like Wolverine.
I’m drawing creative blanks on a director for this one, because they all seem too obvious (Del Toro, Jackson, Fincher). Perhaps Fables could be Fran Walsh’s directorial début, or we could go the darker route with someone like Lucky McKee or Kiyoshi Kurosawa.
6. Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind
Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind may be the best Manga I’ve ever read, and the animated film version is a great disappointment – an average feature that dispenses with entire cultures from the source material, not to mention the last act, which could make a movie all its own. This is one Miyazaki property that I think could work in live action, and even survive a little Hollywood studio Westernization. Ideally this would be a trilogy, ala The Lord of the Rings, and ideally it would be treated in a similar matter. Despite the colorful environments and animated charm, this could work as a hyper-realistic universe. There would have to be changes made to the designs, of course, but the story could remain virtually untouched. One could probably sell the idea to a studio as Lord of the Rings in the sky, had the last half dozen LOTR fill-ins not failed miserable at the box office.
Obviously Miyazaki’s input would be key, but I’m not sure the 67 year old would have it in him to direct a huge Hollywood production. Again, director ideas all seem too obvious (Del Toro, Jackson, Spielberg). Part of me would like to see a Japanese genre director given the chance to shine, like Ryuhei Kitamura (who handled ‘epic’ Manga adaptation pretty well on Azumi) or Takashi Miike (who made two charming, effects heavy kids films in Zebraman and The Great Yokai War), but I’m not sure either of them could handle the appropriate tone or scale. Things could be taken to their whimsical limit with someone like Stephen Chow, or to their most philosophical, by someone like Darren Aronofsky or Park Chan-Wook (both auteur who likely wouldn’t step within a mile of such a property).
ETA: I just saw Hellboy II, and the Elemental sequence makes me more sure of the possibilities of Miyazaki in a 3D world.
I’ve got a million ideas floating around in my head right now. Devin’s editorial about the future of DC comics in movies helped focus me, for a blog post at least. I don’t really consider myself a comic book reader, mostly because I don’t really read much unrelated to film criticism. I’m too busy being a movie geek to be a comic geek.
I used to read and buy comics weekly when I was in middle school, and through part of high school. This was unfortunately the era of Image, an aptly named company if ever there was one. I don’t like to use the phrase ‘out grow’, but I can’t think of any better way to describe my relationship with Image. There was an even a period there where I wanted to be a comic artist, and I unfortunately used the likes of Todd MacFarlane and Jim Lee as my inspiration (no Rob Leifeld though, even as a dumb child I recognized that shit for what it was). As a result, I can’t bear to even look at that brand of over detailed, every-muscle-visible illustration any more. I kind of turned my back on comics for a long while there, as my film tastes evolved (except Savage Dragon, I kept those).
But now I have a friend one state over named Blake who brings me TPBs to read about once a month, so I’m not completely ignorant of what’s been happening in the industry. For the most part I’ve been watching the rise of the super-hero film as an educated outsider, but now I’m developing a taste for what I like, and what I want to see adapted to the big screen. Most of my hard super-hero knowledge comes out of cartoons like the middling X-Men and Spider-Man cartoons of the ‘90s, and the fantastic Timm/Dini DC Animated Universe (which has ended up coloring my view of all super hero characters to the point of sad obsession, but more on that some other time).
So far I’ve been reasonably satisfied with most of the big super-hero movies of the past eight years, mostly because I don’t particularly care about the characters, and have little need to see them ‘accurately’ portrayed on the big screen. I walk in with some knowledge, but usually no huge preconceptions.
Obviously I’d be a liar if I said I wasn’t interested in comic books, but I still think of myself as an outsider. I’m not so tied up in the culture that I can’t look at it objectively (unlike Italian horror movie culture, to which I’m so intertwined I’m beginning to question my sanity). I usually read comics and novels as a film fan, and immediately go about adaptation possibilities. From my non-expert, film geek point of view, I’d like to see film or television adaptations of the following (apparently Y the Last Man is already in development, so I won’t bother with that one). I’m not too good with fan-casting, and in most cases I’d like to see the original writers given first crack at scripting, so I’m only going to offer up ideas for directors.
1. New X-Men:
Brett Ratner’s X-Men 3 left me very angry, though I still couldn’t call it a complete failure. The good news is that every earth-shattering event in the film can be easily discarded by the end credits (Magneto’s getting his powers back, Charles is alive, Cyclops’s body hasn’t been recovered, Jean Grey obviously isn’t dead), thus wiping the slate clean and leaving room for another series of films. I think Grant Morrison’s treatment of the characters, which was apparently suppose to be more in keeping with the tone of the first movie, is a great place to start over. Tie up a few loose ends and start right where his story starts, you could get three solid movies from the material. Also, Morrison acknowledges the Phoenix and it’s dangers, so we don’t have to even pretend that didn’t happen.
Michelle Soavi has proven his metal, and made two largely successful comic adaptations to date – Dellamorte Dellamore (AKA: Cemetery Man), and Arrivederci Amore, Ciao (AKA: The Goodbye Kiss). He’s also made several successful made for TV cop thrillers (Uno Bianca parts 1 and 2 are available on US DVD) that look like real movies, proving he can deal with multiple characters and action on a budget. Being a Hollywood first timer I’m guessing he’d have some interesting ideas to bring to the table, and he’d cost a fraction of a hack like Brett Ratner.
2. Ultimates: Volumes 1 and 2
Every step Marvel takes towards this new Avengers movie is pretty satisfying, but so far they feel like steps rather then films. Iron Man (which was very good), and Incredible Hulk (which was very average) both felt like stones over a river leading to something bigger, not stand alone movies, and I’ve got a creeping fear that there’s simply no way for Marvel to live up to this hype they’re creating. I liked The Ultimates more then anything else in the entire Ultimates universe, and would love to see a film follow that story as close as possible (Sam Jackson as Nick Fury seems an obvious start). The problem is that we really don’t need another War of the Worlds scenario (the Justice League cartoon pulled that one too), and the climactic battles of volume 2 will take a lot of set up to get too. I’m not sure how this will work, but I really want it to.
I suppose Jon Favreau would be the obvious choice, but I’m not convinced his skills and tone would work on such a huge canvas (yet). I’d rather see Matthew Vaughn finally finish production on a Marvel super-hero film, and I think this would be a good place to start. In only two films the director has proven a solid control of different kinds of characters and tones (from very dark to very light), and a decent control of special effects and action.
3. Powers
I haven’t been keeping up with the whole Brian Michael Bendis phenomenon save this one title (Ultimate Spider-Man just didn’t do it for me). Powers begins like Law and Order with super-heroes, a frankly blah idea, but the story steadily builds into something far more interesting. Perhaps someone clever could sell the series to a television studio as Law and Order with super-heroes to get a foot in the door. It’d have to be an edgier studio like HBO or Showtime, but I think that FX or AMC could also pull it off only pulling a few punches. It’d be a fine antidote to mainstream comic book absorption like Heroes or Smallville.
Television creative types aren’t so much my forte, but the people behind either Breaking Bad or Dirt would work, though for different reasons. The Breaking Bad route could make for a more realistic show, while the Dirt route could make for a more rowdy show, and I think the series could work either way. Another possibility would be the people behind the real Law and Order, or the people behind The Shield, but that’s just too on the nose. In a perfect world I’d like to see David Milch’s Powers, but that seems most unlikely of all.
4. Bone
I believe that Jeff Smith’s cartoony tale of alternate universe medieval adventure would make fine filler in the post Harry Potter world, following the release of that final film. Like Harry Potter, the series starts light and builds dark, but not too dark to completely alienate the children who grow up with it. Animation would be ideal, but I’m also pretty sure it could be pulled off live action given the right creative crew, though I can’t see how the series could be compressed into a single film.
If animated Jeff Smith himself might be able to handle direction on this one alone, but if we’re going live action I’m thinking perhaps a former animation director, like Brad Bird or Andrew Stanton.
5. Fables
…And when those children grow up and out of Harry Potter and Bone, perhaps it’s time for something with a little more adult grit, like Bill Willingham’s Fables. The series is slow to get going (I almost gave up), but once it finds the right footing it’s quite addictive, and in this man’s humble opinion, more enjoyable then Neil Gaiman’s similarly themed Sandman series. I believe the Zionist slants could get some funding with The Weinstein Company (if you’re part Jewish you’re aloud to make Jew jokes, it’s the rules). The problem is the series ongoing status makes for difficult film adaptation (perhaps TV), Hellboy covers similar ground, and Bigby Wolf is a whole hell of a lot like Wolverine.
I’m drawing creative blanks on a director for this one, because they all seem too obvious (Del Toro, Jackson, Fincher). Perhaps Fables could be Fran Walsh’s directorial début, or we could go the darker route with someone like Lucky McKee or Kiyoshi Kurosawa.
6. Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind
Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind may be the best Manga I’ve ever read, and the animated film version is a great disappointment – an average feature that dispenses with entire cultures from the source material, not to mention the last act, which could make a movie all its own. This is one Miyazaki property that I think could work in live action, and even survive a little Hollywood studio Westernization. Ideally this would be a trilogy, ala The Lord of the Rings, and ideally it would be treated in a similar matter. Despite the colorful environments and animated charm, this could work as a hyper-realistic universe. There would have to be changes made to the designs, of course, but the story could remain virtually untouched. One could probably sell the idea to a studio as Lord of the Rings in the sky, had the last half dozen LOTR fill-ins not failed miserable at the box office.
Obviously Miyazaki’s input would be key, but I’m not sure the 67 year old would have it in him to direct a huge Hollywood production. Again, director ideas all seem too obvious (Del Toro, Jackson, Spielberg). Part of me would like to see a Japanese genre director given the chance to shine, like Ryuhei Kitamura (who handled ‘epic’ Manga adaptation pretty well on Azumi) or Takashi Miike (who made two charming, effects heavy kids films in Zebraman and The Great Yokai War), but I’m not sure either of them could handle the appropriate tone or scale. Things could be taken to their whimsical limit with someone like Stephen Chow, or to their most philosophical, by someone like Darren Aronofsky or Park Chan-Wook (both auteur who likely wouldn’t step within a mile of such a property).
ETA: I just saw Hellboy II, and the Elemental sequence makes me more sure of the possibilities of Miyazaki in a 3D world.
