Comic Book Resources

Well, independent comic books have been succesfully translated to the big screen for quite some time (which I don't think is news to you, Brian), so I take it you're asking which independent comic can be blockbuster material like Wanted.

Mmm... Queen & Country could be a cool movie, and there's enough material to pump out many more if it becomes a succes.

The succses or failure of Whiteout probably has a lot more to do with Queen and Country being adapted. I think that'd be a great TV series, personally.

Well, it's not as if it was unmined territory, I mean you got Ghost World, Road To Perdition, A History Of VIolence, League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen, 30 Days Of Night, etc...Hellboy did well enough to get a sequel...comic properties have been hot since the 1-2 punch of X-Men and Spider-Man, but with Time Warner having control over DC characters and Marvel working to get all their characters under one banner so they don't have any problems connecting their universe (ie. Daredevil not being able to make a cameo in a Spider-Man movie), indy projects are a far more accessible commodity...

Let's wait until after Hancock's opening weekend to answer the question - if it does well, Hollywood's going to be back on the "we don't need Marvel or DC, we can come up with our own superhero ideas!" bandwagon, even after that's historically not been the best of ideas (My Super Ex-Girlfriend, Mystery Men, etc.).

Whereas if Hancock under-performs (which I admit is a near-impossibility as Will Smith is the most bankable star in Hollywood), a studio looking for a new property may look to indie books on the grounds that they'd rather have a somewhat "road tested" concept.

My concern is that the lesson from Wanted will be "we should license comics before they get popular", which will result in more "adaptations" which don't reflect the storyline in the original comic. I really can't believe they created a script for Wanted before the first major plot point was established in the series. Brotherhood of assassins, my ass...

I think that it will be good news for adaptations already in the pipes, like the aforementioned "Whiteout".

But, beyond that, there will not be a huge flood of new scripts being penned for indy comics. They'll happen the way they always do, based on the quality and interest shown in the source material.

They're making Whiteout movie? Cool!!

>>Hollywood’s going to be back on the “we don’t need Marvel or DC, we can come up with our own superhero ideas!” bandwagon, even after that’s historically not been the best of ideas (My Super Ex-Girlfriend, Mystery Men, etc.).<<

Mystery Men was based at least somewhat on Bob Burden's Flaming Carrot strips, no?

I gotta agree with the whole "fluke" theory. I mean, after Eastman and Laird made all that money selling Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, there was an entire slew of black-and-white self-published books designed specifically to be the next Turtles... and there still hasn't been a "next Turtles" twenty years later.

Of course, I predicted Iron Man would tank, so probably I can't be trusted on this sort of thing.

Did it have an "... inspired by..." credit? I honestly can't remember. Nevertheless, it wasn't tied to a specific "name" property.

More movies based on terrible comics by Mark Millar, would be my guess.

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And more blog posts complaining about Mark Millar's work too...

It'd be nice to get a movie based on one of his good books, but what are the odds?

BTW Stephen, Mystery Men was created by Bob Burden, the same creator of Flaming Carrot. I agree that a tested and evenly somewhat recognized property will perform better than most original studio created properties.

Wanted was very good. I'm glad an R-rated movie has finally been made and accepted. Someone's going to get smart and film an R-rated property, cut out the R-rated parts and release 2 versions : the R-rated for adults and the watered down but safer and more child appropriate PG version. Drive 2 separate markets and distinct products and demographics with essentially the same film and practically no extra cost or expense.

Punisher PG & simultaneously released rated R version. Wolverine. I have complete faith it would work.

Getting back to indie stuff :

Nexus
Grimjack
American Flagg
Turok (in progress)
Solar Man of the Atom
Harbinger (in progress)
Bloodshot
X-O Manowar
Shadowman
Quantum & Woody
Elementals
Grendel
X
Ghost
Hero Zero
Big Guy & Rusty the Boy Robot
The Goon
Fear Agent
Hard Boiled
Monkeyman & O'Brien
Madman
The Boys
Love and Rockets
Warriors of Plasm
Dark Dominion
Miracleman (never happen but it would be great)
Axel Pressbutton
Mr Monster
Reid Fleming World's Toughest Milkman (was in the process long ago with Jim Belushi in the lead role)
Zot
Lady Justice
Captain Victory
Silver Star
Hardware
Blood Syndicate
Icon
Static / Static Shock
Monkey Vs Robot
The Nocturnals
The Jam

These are a lot, I know, but they would all be great on the big screen.

Maybe I'm a bit too cynical, but I'm going to predict more films in the style of Wanted, regardless of whether they're based on comic books or not.

But then I get the impression that it's impossible to be too cynical about the film industry.

No one went to see Wanted because it was based on a Mark Millar property. And for those who did go, what they saw was barely connected to Hitler's-poop monster.

In the same style of Wanted, I'd love to see Authority. And Millar did work for it, too.

This is the summer of comic movies, so another hit seems to me like it will accelerate the licensing comics trend. Honestly with the way it is going, comic companies should be using physical comics as loss leaders to fuel big Hollywood payoffs. The big money is in the movies right now. What it will do to the quality of comics I don't know, but it seems to me it makes more sense now to let series go to completion even when sales are lackluster if you can spin into a movie pitch.

Yeah, the success of "Wanted" is totally unrelated to it's comic counterpart. We're gonna see more action movies with more special effects, just like we would have without "Wanted".

When novels get adapted into movies, there's always a notable surge in the sales of the original book.

Does this apply to comics and graphic novels?

Also, novels are more often said to be superior to their film adaptations. Can the same be said for adapted graphic novels?

Because, if a movie is said to be "superior" to the OGN it was based on, and if OGN sales don't really experience a major spike in sales... what does that say about the comics story? Shouldn't creators up the ante?

Surely Sin City did this before Wanted? Violent Comic adaptation played as (almost) an action movie. True, Wanted has studio fingerprints all over it where as Robert Rodriguez has the luxury of making blockbusters in his garage, but I still think its an important point.

What influence will have? I hope this will lead to R-rated, faithful adaption of Preacher and WE3 with the budgets they require. And the smug sense of satisfaction of being into them years before all my non-comic book reading friends start raving about them

Most Wanted reviews I've read dogged basically everything in the movie that actually had some basis in the original comic, while highly praising the original script inventions and especially the creative direction. I don't think Wanted's success is going to be in any way relevant to the future of "indy" or other comic adaptations, other than proving that they can be valuable grist for the mill without being valuable enough to be worth respecting in their entirety.

I would love to see MAGE back on the production lists.

Disney animated (not CGI crap) Bone would be amazing.

Nice list, Hondo. I'd suggest 'The Surrogates' too, but it's already being made.

Has 'Grendel' ever actually been in development for the film treatment? Seems like it would lend itself well to that medium. I could imagine one of Alex Robinson's books ('Tricked,' 'Box Office Poison,' 'Too Cool to be Forgotten') being adapted, but they're pretty far from an action flick. Same goes for Cotter's 'Skyscrapers of the Midwest.' I may be getting off track though.

None of the promotional/advertising stuff I saw for Wanted in any way indicated that it had something to do with a comic book.

That's something to factor in here.

Hey RIch ! Nice to know you appreciate the list. Most of it is action and superhero fare but I love some of the other indie stuff too. Ghost World and Crumb were both awesome as was Persepolis.

I had not heard of The Surrogates, but did a search and it sounds interesting. Top Shelf indeed.

Yes, the fact that Wanted was based loosely on a comic...I'm not sure what to say except, why the heck don't these guys or even Diamond advertise on the very last pre-credits real estate and say, "Hey ! If you liked this movie you might like the comic book it was based on available at finer bookstores everywhere or your friendly neighborhood comic book shop along with thousands of other great graphic novel collections. You can locate the nearest one to you at 800-COMIC-BOOK or go to http://www.diamondcomics.com." or something to that effect.

I'll probably pass out from a heart attack if something, you know, impossible like that should ever happen.

Oy

"When novels get adapted into movies, there’s always a notable surge in the sales of the original book.

Does this apply to comics and graphic novels?"

I've heard it that it does; it's been reported for V for Vendetta, Sin City, and even League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (where the sales pitch was "ignore the movie and read the comic instead). It seems to be most visible when it's based on a single graphic novel or collection, or a small number in the case of Sin City; if the success of the Spider-Man or X-Men movies led to increased sales, there were considerably more volumes for the sales to be spread over. My Borders had a visible display of the Wanted collection when I was there last Friday, so somebody's on the ball.

Just one question-- WHEN IS SOMEONE GOING TO ADAPT THE AUTHORITY: RELENTLESS by Warren Ellis?! There's your big summer blockbuster for you.

*Jumps into time machine and goes 10 years in the future, only to realize Hollywood did indeed finally make an Authority movie, but with Midnighter having a pet robot dog sidekick named Sparky, and they're battling spiders on ice skates.*

And yes, I purposefully left it ambiguous who'd be on ice skates, the Midnighter or the spiders.

Honestly, would it even matter?

Personally I think the success of Wanted and other films like 300 and Sin City will lead to more R-rated movies and more shying away from the coveted PG-13 rating, as studios realize that summer blockbusters can be "hard R's" and still pull in the crowds.

On a related topic, Rob Liefeld made a very good point about the box office numbers for Wanted: a lot of teenagers under 17 will have sneaked in to see the movie, and, of course, there's no way to track those numbers. For that reason, I think Wanted will do considerably better on DVD than you'd think if you took the box office numbers at face value.

I saw Wanted yesterday, and it was as dumb as it was entertaining. It bore little resemblance to the comic, but it stayed true to the nasty, nasty spirit of Millar' & Jones' work. In fact, there's a last line of dialogue much better than the series' infamous last page that keeps a similar attitude. The movie was very violent and trashy, mostly to its advantage. The plot made no sense (the "Loom of Fate," in particular, was ridiculous), but I enjoyed it anyway.

I wouldn't be surprised to see Grendel done in the style of Wanted (highly-stylized ultraviolence, no redeeming social value), only with a better script.