75 Comics That Are Being Made Into Films

brumgrunt writes "The comic book is the new spec script in Hollywood, if this list is anything to go by. Den Of Geek has uncovered 75 comics that are in the process of being turned into films, along with their estimated year of arrival. It's scary, brilliant and bizarre in roughly equal measure."

Comments

"In the Process?"

[eldavojohn]

that are in the process of being turned into films

Keep in mind that the "process of being turned into films" is a long and difficult one where many projects get axed at every stage. And I'm sure <5% of these see theaters--hell look at how long it took The Watchmen (arguably the greatest comic book ever) to get off the ground!

Although I'm sure with the recent success of movies like X-Men, Spiderman, Fantastic Four, etc that script writers are rushing back to their desks to find any unexploited comic book series that their pen can interpret.

I cringe at the thought.

I'm reminded of so many bad action flicks from my youth, so many cheesy war movies of my young adult life, so many bad Uwe Boll video game turned movies and now I've already suffered from Batwoman & Daredevil ... with more to come.

Seriously, could Hollywood once--just for like a year--come out with only original semi-risky ventures? I mean, can we go one year without another recycled video game, without another tired sequel of an already diluted franchise, without another rehashed Mike Myers persona that's really just Austin Powers, etc. I mean, is that too much to ask?

Re:"In the Process?"

[altloser]

You do know that Watchmen is gonna suck?

Re:"In the Process?"

[Spazztastic]

You do know that Watchmen is gonna suck?

Some of us try to be optimistic about it before tracking down the director to tar and feather them.

Re:"In the Process?"

[hansamurai]

If it ever even comes out.

Re:"In the Process?"

[Loibisch]

Yeah, just like every Comic adaption sucks...right? right?

(*cough* Batman, Spiderman, Sin City, 300, ...)

Re:"In the Process?"

[Hognoxious]

Comics? Those are graphic novels, if you don't mind.

Re:"In the Process?"

[elrous0]

Hollywood is greedy, stupid, and unoriginal. As with the videogame industry, any success is going to be followed immediately with a slew of wannabes and knock-offs.

The good news is that there are still great movies being made. But you're probably not going to find them among the "tentpole" pictures with $100 million budgets. Hollywood isn't going to take a risk with that kind of budget, they're going to play it safe. And right now, PG-13 comic book movies are as close a thing to a safe bet as the studios know of.

Re:"In the Process?"

[Goaway]

You know, some of us are not so insecure about our hobbies that we feel the need to make up new words to describe them because them.

Re:"In the Process?"

[Anonymous Coward]

Comics? Those are graphic novels, if you don't mind.

Right because nobody knew what he was talking about. And "comic" is a dirty slur that was used to oppress readers historically so we need to eradicate that word from our minds & vocabulary.

Do you also object to "pulp magazine?"

Re:"In the Process?"

[falcon5768]

booo whoo whoo no squid WHO CARES! The squid was a MacGuffin, and a fucking odd one at that.

Re:"In the Process?"

[neuromanc3r]

Someone (I think it was Neil Gaiman) once said that "graphic novel" is to comic what "lady of the night" is to prostitute.

Re:"In the Process?"

[Anonymous Coward]

Seriously, could Hollywood once--just for like a year--come out with only original semi-risky ventures? I mean, can we go one year without another recycled video game, without another tired sequel of an already diluted franchise, without another rehashed Mike Myers persona that's really just Austin Powers, etc. I mean, is that too much to ask?

No. What on Earth could you be thinking?

Re:"In the Process?"

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm sorry, did you just give 300 as an example of a movie that doesn't suck?

Re:"In the Process?"

[camperdave]

You know, some of us are not so insecure about our hobbies that we feel the need to make up new words to describe them because them.

Whereas some of us know that there is a significant difference between ten pieces of colored newsprint stapled together, and a ninety page perfect bound book on quality paper containing a complete lack of sea-monkey ads.

Re:"In the Process?"

[Goaway]

So it basically all boils down to print quality, then?

Re:"In the Process?"

[KDR_11k]

Ninety pages is a bit tiny for a book, I've seen magazines with more pages than that.

Also Asterix comes with a hardcover and that's definitely a comic.

Re:"In the Process?"

[laughing_badger]

Keep in mind that the "process of being turned into films" is a long and difficult one where many projects get axed at every stage.

"making a movie is like trying to cook a steak by having a succession of people coming into the room and breathing on it" Douglas Adams

Re:"In the Process?"

[hswerdfe]

wasn't 300 hundred an dramatization of an actual battle?

Re:"In the Process?"

[Anpheus]

And torture porn in October.

Saw 33, coming soon to a theatre near you.

Re:"In the Process?"

[potHead42]

No. It's the sea monkeys, of course!

Re:"In the Process?"

[jellomizer]

Well, You do realize with More and More people having large screen HDTV's with surround sound speakers. In order for movies to make money with that medium is to make the Movies with Over the Top effects. If they get a good plot too then bonus. However most of the movies that come out that may not necessarily with cool effects we just go we will wait for the DVD. As watching low effect movies on the big screen doesn't give the same effect.

Re:"In the Process?"

[Unordained]

Tintin, too!

Re:"In the Process?"

[Anonymous Coward]

Uhh... That's not what we're doing.

A "comic book" is pretty accurately defined as a mass-produced, slim, stapled funny book that costs about four bucks, has only 22 pages of actual content, is full of ads nobody pays any attention to, and focuses on the difficult lives of grown men and women who insist on wearing spandex, capes, and little pointy boots everywhere they go. Comic books are traditionally created by large teams; one artist does the pencil work, another does the inking, yet another does the coloring, then someone does the lettering, and somebody else does the writing. This team is often changed month to month, with the effect that comics are really not art per se, but rather, a manufactured form of entertainment.

A "graphic novel" on the other hand, is usually the work of one person (or a small group of friends). The same small group does all the work, and tends to stay involved with the work for its entire duration, so it's consistent and high quality. The writing tends to be much better because these people are writing for themselves and other people like them (rather than the "design by committee" you get with a commercial comic book). People who work on graphic novels tend to take more risks, try out more radical ideas, and be deeper philosophically than their purely commercial counterparts. Also they tend to AVOID writing about people who wear capes, spandex, and pointy little shoes. Their work is much closer to "reality" than the alternative. It also tends to target an adult audience; this has been true since the '70s, when graphic novel writers and artists were able to ignore the Comics Code and sell their work in specialty shops (where comic companies had to make everything G rated so they could sell in grocery stores).

Think of it this way: comic books are "Harry Potter". Graphic novels are "The Grifters" by Jim Thompson. Get it?

Re:"In the Process?"

[elrous0]

Personally, the stunts and special effects have gotten so over-the-top that they take me "out" of the movies now. Granted, fight and chase scenes in actions movies have always been over-the-top. But stunts and effects have gone so far in one-upmanship that these scenes have become less thrilling than comical. The average human fistfight now looks more intense than the fight between the two terminators in Terminator 2 (and those guys were super-strong and built of titanium alloys). And chase scenes routinely involve jumps and falls that no human being could withstand in anything more than lunar gravity.

The Die Hard movies are the perfect example. The Die Hard series started out as a incredibly unlikely, but nonetheless at least mildly plausible. But by the third film, the characters were taking 50-foot leaps off bridges and routinely taking beatings that would have required immediate hospitalization (if not embalming services) for anyone even vaguely mortal. The last entry was particularly egregious. There is a fight scene in that one that makes the Terminator 2 fight scene look modest by comparison. I expect that by the next one, John McClain will be catching bullets fired at him with his teeth and the fight scenes will involve people being punched through bank vault walls.

Re:"In the Process?"

[LandDolphin]

In the same sense that the the Movie Troy was a dramatization of an actual battle

Re:"In the Process?"

[maxume]

I look forward to Bruce Willis running over the bad guys with his wheel chair.

Re:"In the Process?"

[Kierthos]

The movie 300 was an adaptation of the graphic novel 300, which in turn was based both upon the actual battle at Thermopylae AND inspired by the 1962 movie The 300 Spartans, which Frank Miller saw when he was young.

It's not exceptionally historically accurate (as the Spartans didn't die alone in the final battle, Xerxes was not a 7-foot tall bald gay man, etc.) but it's not a bad movie or a bad graphic novel.

Re:"In the Process?"

[FireFlie]

300 was a dramatization of a comic book by Frank Miller which was inspired by the Battle of Thermopylae.

Re:"In the Process?"

[Glothar]

It's not exceptionally historically accurate...

In other news: FOX News is not exceptionally biased toward the politically conservative.

To be clear: I would say that 300 is about as historically accurate as FOX News is "Fair and Balanced". That is to say: It's true, on occasion, but it's far outweighed by all the times it's not.

Re:"In the Process?"

[digitig]

But Tintin is neither a comic nor a graphic novel -- it's a "Band Dessine"...

Re:"In the Process?"

[yakmans_dad]

Seriously, could Hollywood once--just for like a year--come out with only original semi-risky ventures?
How risky do you want? "Rachel Getting Married"? "Synecdoche, New York"? Do you support movies aimed at adults?

Re:"In the Process?"

[Kierthos]

One of the reviews I read of 300 said Gladiator (the Russell Crowe movie) was more historically accurate... thus fulfilling my weekly quota of wishing I could strangle a movie reviewer.

Re:"In the Process?"

[daniduclos]

Seriously, could Hollywood once--just for like a year--come out with only original semi-risky ventures? (...) I mean, is that too much to ask?

There is millions of dollars at stake when a movie is made. Everyone is afraid of putting their asses on the line for something that's is unproven, so they stick with what has a better chance, in their point of view, of succeeding and bringing back the money invested (and thus, not destroying anyone's careers), ie, something that has already succeeded before - even if in another media. I mean, I agree with you, I'd love to see a original script, or, well, semi-original, at least, and I think they should at least try to do some original stuff instead of endlessly doing the same stuff over and over again with a new skin, but I can see why they usually don't.

Re:"In the Process?"

[SputnikPanic]

Miracleman (Marvelman in the UK) -- that would be a semi-risky venture. Not that I'm necessarily saying that a film adaptation should be attempted because it'd probably be a spectacular failure -- and even if some brave producer were game, Miracleman is tied up in legal hell, IIRC -- but if it were done right, it'd be quite different from anything you've seen in the conventional superhero movies.

Re:"In the Process?"

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm sorry, did you just give 300 as an example of a movie that doesn't suck?

In his defense, it didn't suck, it blowed.

Re:"In the Process?"

[Goaway]

Get it?

Yes, like I said, I get very well that you are so insecure about your interests that you have to make up new words and write long, long explanations about how the things you like are much better than those things others like which look exactly the same.

Seriously, get over yourself. You're reading comics. Some comics are sillier than others, and some are deeper than others, but they're all comics. And you're allowed to like comics! You don't need to make up elaborate justifications! Just enjoy what you like and ignore what you don't like, and stop worrying about how to label things.

Re:"In the Process?"

[Anonymous Coward]

Alan Moore comics don't translate well into movies. Do you remember Constantine? DO YOU?!?! I know I'm probably in the minority but for me, watching V for Vendetta was an eye candy coating wrapped around lumpy shit center. It left me disatisfied and slightly angry at the deception. The comics were good, nay great, movies not so much.

Re:"In the Process?"

[Goaway]

Uh huh. Right-o. So, you're into spandex, capes, and little pointed booties I guess.

There you go again, trying to show everyone how you're so much better because of what you read.

But sorry, dude, I don't read any of that. I probably read stuff that's far more obscure than you do, but I really feel no need at all to make any kind of point of that. What I read are comics. I like some of them, I don't like others, but I don't for a second think this makes me any better than anyone else, nor do I look down on others for reading the things I don't enjoy.

Hobbies and interests are not a popularity contest. You don't get points for liking some things and not others. Your interests should serve only to make yourself happier, not as some kind of measure of your worth as a person compared to anyone else.

Re:"In the Process?"

[sorak]

wasn't 300 hundred an dramatization of an actual battle?

Why is this modded flamebait?

From Kierthos

The movie 300 was an adaptation of the graphic novel 300, which in turn was based both upon the actual battle at Thermopylae AND inspired by the 1962 movie The 300 Spartans, which Frank Miller saw when he was young.

So, this is a movie based on a comic, based on a movie, based on a historic event. I disagree with parent, and would still say it is based on a comic, but parent isn't trolling or flaming.

Re:"In the Process?"

[somersault]

It depends more on the adaptation I'd say. Hellboy doesn't seem like typical superhero movie fare, but the movies turned out pretty well (the second one helped me appreciate the first, as I didn't think that much of it when I first saw it).

For real proof, just look at the range in the Batman movies to see how it doesn't matter what the subject matter is - only the quality of writing, acting, directing etc.

I didn't think much of V for Vendetta either, I actually used to think it was just a Wachowski Brothers creation rather than an adaptation of a graphic novel. But after seeing the movie I have no interest in the original! I have to say I kind of liked Constantine though. I only ever watched it once, at the cinema, but I might buy it on DVD if I saw it cheap.

Re:"In the Process?"

[Anonymous Coward]

Wasn't this flamebait moderation in lieu of actual thought?

Re:"In the Process?"

[canajin56]

Without cool stunts that have never been done before, there will be no new fodder for "Movie Myths" episodes of Mythbusters! Don't you dare try to take away what could be Grant's one and only chance to build a bank vault punching robot. (You mention catching bullets in teeth but that's already been done with explosive results).

Re:"In the Process?"

[KDR_11k]

Which is just French for comic since the French don't like foreign words.

Re:"In the Process?"

[doctrbl]

It's not exceptionally historically accurate...

In other news: FOX News is not exceptionally biased toward the politically conservative.

To be clear: I would say that 300 is about as historically accurate as FOX News is "Fair and Balanced". That is to say: It's true, on occasion, but it's far outweighed by all the times it's not.

The movie 300 wasn't based on history, it needn't be historically accurate. It's a movie from a comic book called 300, by Frank Miller. This comic isn't a historical documentary either; it's a work of fiction to be read primarily for entertainment (imho).

The movie 300 is very faithful to the book it came from, and so is an accurate rendering of it.

In short the two questions at hand are:

What was the film portraying?

How well was the portrayal; how accurate was it to its' base material?

For 300, the film portrayed the comic book (not history), and did a good job of it. The Sin City film adaptation was also accurate in this respect; you can open the comic and see the panels shot on the screen. For FOX, you'd need to answer these same questions... what is it trying to show, and is it giving you an accurate rendition of that? Personally I prefer "journalists" and "reporters" to "news commentators", but you shouldn't listen to anyone without using the old critical thinking...

Re:"In the Process?"

[Anonymous Coward]

And again, you confuse yourself, assigning motivations to me that serve your interests, but which have no basis in fact.

What I am suggesting to you is NOT that I am better or special because I'm interested in material designed to be read by adults. The information I'm presenting to you is morally neutral. It is simply organizational.

Graphic novels are DIFFERENT FROM comic books, because they target a different audience, are produced by a different group of artists and writers, are produced using different methods, and are subject to different social forces that cause them to offer significantly DIFFERENT subject matter.

Just as classical music is NOT THE SAME as rap music, even though both are types of music, graphic novels are NOT THE SAME as comic books, even though both are books that contain pictures.

Now, even a complete IDIOT can understand what I'm saying here. Are you complete? Or do you still need some work?

By the way, if you "don't read any of that" how exactly do you justify saying a few seconds later that "what I read are comics"? Either you DO read some of that or you don't read any of that. You must choose. You sound confused to me. And really, really insecure -- you're taking this awfully personally.

By the way, and this is very funny, you DO think something you do "makes you better than anyone else" -- specifically, you think that believing you're NOT better than anyone else makes you BETTER than people who DO think they're better than others.

You remind me of the Steve conversation in Singles (that's a movie, also without spandex, capes, or little booties, although there IS a flying scene):

Guy in a club: "So my friend and I have this long running bet, some guys come to a club and think they have to put up an act, so I figured A) I could come up with an act, or B) I could just be myself. I chose B."

Girl: "I think that A) You have an act, and B) Not having an act is your act."

Guy: "Uhh... Thank you."

Girl: Shrugs to say "no problem".

Dig?

Re:"In the Process?"

[Brain-Fu]

you are so insecure about your interests

Interesting character judgment there...made on very little information. Sometimes people become snobs, pedants, or what-have-you for reasons other than insecurity. Also, some people come across that way for the mere act of trying to shed light on an issue of semantics.

you have to make up new words

The word "Graphic Novel" is not at all new. In fact, it has been around for years. I suspect it was initially devised as a marketing tool, used to differentiate one product from another based on a promised higher level in quality. Whether or not the promise was delivered is a separate issue, of course, but the poster did not make up the word "Graphic Novel," and the word is not new.
In fact, you can read all about it here.

which look exactly the same.

In my experience, there is a difference in quality. They do not look exactly the same. Though the distinction between them is sometimes fuzzy and contains overlap.

You're reading comics.

And you are reading words. Grouping things together into a superset doesn't automatically make them the same thing. Abstraction is quite useful, but generalization is a logical fallacy.

Seriously, get over yourself.

We teach best what we need to learn most.

Re:"In the Process?"

[Anonymous Coward]

They cost more and geeks prefer if they're Asian?

Re:"In the Process?"

[danieltdp]

So comics = microsoft; graphic novel = linux?

Re:"In the Process?"

[Anonymous Coward]

You have to remember that Watchmen is a very expensive project to produce. Not all comics require budgets, special effects, etc. of that level to transfer to screen. The Punisher made it to screen three times, for instance, because all the character requires is fairly low level crime films that cost comparative peanuts to make.

Mostly it's producers hunting for comics properties, not screenwriters. Screenwriters have another game: they're all trying to get their unsold screenplays converted into comics in order to re-pitch them to studios...

Re:"In the Process?"

[Goaway]

What I am suggesting to you is NOT that I am better or special because I'm interested in material designed to be read by adults.

Then why are you making so much noise about how you like it?

By the way, if you "don't read any of that" how exactly do you justify saying a few seconds later that "what I read are comics"?

Because perhaps "comics" is a generic term to most people, much like "music"? Most people don't think a "comic book" is some specific kind of publication. It's a book with comics in it. And that's what a graphic novel is, and that's what a superhero magazine is, and that's what a european comic album is, and that's what a manga tankubon is.

By the way, and this is very funny, you DO think something you do "makes you better than anyone else" -- specifically, you think that believing you're NOT better than anyone else makes you BETTER than people who DO think they're better than others.

If that is so, how is that inconsistent with anything I've said so far? I didn't say I didn't think anything made me a better person. I specifically said that I don't think that what I enjoy reading does.

Re:"In the Process?"

[Goaway]

but the poster did not make up the word "Graphic Novel,"

If you though I implied any such thing, you really need to try and be less literal-minded when reading casual conversation.

That goes for the rest of your arguments too, come to think of it. Learn to read intended meanings, not literal words.

Re:"In the Process?"

[Anonymous Coward]

Classical music is not the same as rap music. But they're both still music. Graphic Novels are not the same as Superman or X-men, but they're still both comic books.

Re:"In the Process?"

[Glothar]

I never said 300 was bad or that it was a crime against the graphic novel. On the contrary, I found it to be a very well-made film, and entertaining even to people who had never heard of Frank Miller.

I only said it wasn't historically accurate. Myself, I have no problem reconciling the two statements. However, there are quite a few people (far too many) who are under the impression that the movie was an accurate portrayal of Spartan life and the wars fought between the Greek city-states and persia.

Re:"In the Process?"

[rronda]

It seems that you should be watching foreign movies for a change.

Re:"In the Process?"

[Glothar]

So far as I can tell, Gladiator was significantly more historically accurate than 300.

Sure, the characters in Gladiator didn't exist (as portrayed in the film), but at least the people and places they portrayed could be recognized as being remotely close to what would have really existed at the time.

Unlike 300.

The commentary of Gladiator even mentions that they had much more historically accurate art which was removed because audiences wouldn't accept it as being real (advertisements on the Colosseum, painted statues).

Now, I'm not trying to say that Gladiator is some shiny example of great historical moviemaking, just that if there is some perfect example, then 300 is even further away than Gladiator is.

Re:"In the Process?"

[Anonymous Coward]

Too simplistic. Try this:

Music
-- Classical
-- Rap

Books
-- Text
-- Comic books
----- Children's manga
----- Men in tights
----- humor, e.g. Bloom County
----- Adult-oriented political humor, e.g. Doonesbury
-- Graphic Novels
----- Adult oriented manga
----- Graphical versions of literary works
----- More serious subject matter, real-world stuff
----- Horror, often gruesome
-- Photographic collections
(ETC)

Being simplistic is sort of an "a-Duh" reaction. Try for something more energetic.

Re:"In the Process?"

[Anonymous Coward]

Yes, hobbies and interests are a popularity contest, because admitting them might change others' perceptions of you, for better or for worse. Unless, of course, you don't care what other people think of you, in which case you are either way too secure or you are a psychopath.

I'm reminded of an episode of Buffy, from season 3, where several of the antagonists are talking about comic strips. One of them admits to liking Cathy, at which point everyone else suddenly stops and stares at him as if he just arrived from another planet...

Re:"In the Process?"

[m50d]

Uh, the leaping-down-four-stories-tied-to-a-fire-hose scene in the original Die Hard was the most implausible scene in any of them, including the one where he drives a car into a helicopter. If you got *very* lucky doing that your spine *might* still be in one piece, but no other load-bearing bone would.

Re:"In the Process?"

[Anonymous Coward]

You're attempting to pick and choose among the "things that make you better" in a purely self-serving way. But you aren't succeeding, since I don't agree to play by your rules.

It's not that I think you're inconsistent; it's that I think you're an intellectually lazy hypocrite.

People like you, who cannot or will not discern between similar but different things, are a significant problem in the world today. Because of people like YOU, things like graphic novels are associated with childish superhero comics by the majority of the public, and therefore are limited in popularity here in the U.S.

In contrast, in Europe and Japan, and in most of Asia in fact, the distinction between kiddie comics and adult graphic novels is very well understood and the medium is much more respected there.

If you were willing to crack open that glued-shut mind of yours, you might be enlightened to a whole world of fine distinctions between things, and see the world in a more detailed way.

Sad, really.

Re:"In the Process?"

[Goaway]

People like you, who cannot or will not discern between similar but different things, are a significant problem in the world today. Because of people like YOU, things like graphic novels are associated with childish superhero comics by the majority of the public, and therefore are limited in popularity here in the U.S.

A significant problem? Really?

In contrast, in Europe and Japan, and in most of Asia in fact, the distinction between kiddie comics and adult graphic novels is very well understood and the medium is much more respected there.

Funny thing, you know: I'm from Europe. And you know? Nobody here feels the need to use words like "graphic novel". It's all "comics". Comics for children, comics for adults, nobody feels the need to make up special words for them.

Re:"In the Process?"

[digitig]

Translation is never so simple. The connotations of Band Dessine are not the same as those of comic, nor those of graphic novel. Translating it either way subtly changes the meaning.

Re:"In the Process?"

[Goaway]

You really think there's nothing at all silly about saying the difference between the difference between superhero comics and horror comics, or children's manga and adult-oriented manga is as big as the difference between comics and text?

Re:"In the Process?"

[Anonymous Coward]

It matters because of the way different genres are perceived (at least here in the US). Also there's a lot of history behind it.

Back in the fifties, during McCarthyism, when everyone was obsessed with "things that corrupt the youth" they created this thing called the "Comics Code". If you didn't obey it, you couldn't sell your publications in grocery stores, where all comics at the time were sold. Now, keep in mind back then, nobody used words like "graphic novel" because there were all kinds of comics for all kinds of people. Adult comics, horror comics, kids comics, you name it.

After the comics code came out, the only thing Marvel, DC and the rest were willing to publish were children's comics, because they were the only thing that would pass the comics code and be sold in stores.

Over the course of fifty years or so, the image of comic books in the public's mind became that of juvenile childish entertainment, involving men in spandex, capes, and pointy little boots. Hence, unlike in Europe and Asia, which were unaffected, most adults in the U.S. think comics are for children and people who read them are developmentally stunted.

Starting in the eighties, really, specialty shops began selling independent comics which did NOT conform to the comics code. These were often produced by much smaller companies, with single author/artists or small teams doing the work. But for a while there was still a stigma acting against them, because most people still thought that (Comics == funny books == men in tights).

The term "Graphic Novel" was invented to separate out comics that were designed specifically for adults, with higher production values, addressing more interesting, sophisticated themes. It was necessary for cultural reasons.

Now, the genre it represents is so different from the mainstream, comics code-addled children's genre most people think of when they hear "comic books" that it's actually a much better term for the subject matter it describes.

So, yes, I WOULD say the difference between superhero comics and graphic novels is at least as great as that between text-based novels and graphical works. There's a gigantic cultural divide involved.

The European guy who keeps arguing with me is clueless. He has no idea how things work over here.

Re:"In the Process?"

[idontgno]

My background and cultural heritage is Japanese, and I concur... manga is the entire continuum between 20-page kiddy pulps and glossy books full of a variety of subjects (romance, superhero, tentacle pr0n, etc.)

I think you're right. There's a large element of "comic book store guy" elitism in the "graphic novel" crowd. And generally speaking, it's based on fallacious distinctions.

Re:"In the Process?"

[Anonymous Coward]

Ninety pages is a bit tiny for a book

Maybe by most of today's standards. But I'm currently reading The Time Machine (HG Wells), which is only about 90 pages. And his others are of similar lengths.

Re:"In the Process?"

[crossmr]

75*.05 = 3.75
Which means you feel at most only 4 movies off that list are going to see the light of day?
There are 2 xmen movies, spiderman, superman, captain america, iron man 2, pretty much all guaranteed. You forget marvel is taking a shotgun approach to comic book movies, they're basically going to make everything and whatever is profitable gets made in to a sequel.
From this list I would say a good 15-20% are more or less "guaranteed" to show up in theatre, as its very unlikely that marvel will cancel anything and DC has to play some catch-up. Yes, they had a massive hit with dark night, but one major victory against all the smaller marvel little ones only holds up so long.

Re:"In the Process?"

[Anonymous Coward]

> Whereas some of us know that there is a significant difference between ten pieces of colored newsprint stapled together, and a ninety page perfect bound book on quality paper containing a complete lack of sea-monkey ads.

For the clue-deprived, comics come in both forms--and a few besides.

Serials (or "monthlies") are usually bound with staples, using folded paper to form the leaves. The paper quality varies from newprint to high-gloss heavy-bond. The covers usually use better paper than the internal pages, and can even use card stock and oversize "gatefold" folding patterns. Ink quality also varies greatly. Serials almost always contain advertising (yes, even for Sea Monkeys).

Trade paperbacks are usually bound with a glued-spine, using individual leaves. The paper and ink quality varies as with the serials, though the really high-end trades will sport "archival" inks, acid-free paper, and hard-cover bindings (you know, like "real" books). Trades usually have only "in-house" ads (i.e., ads for other books from this company).

Finally, "graphic novels" are not a form of packaging so much as an approach to story-telling. A graphic novel is designed to be a self-contained story (like a novel) told visually instead of with words. Think "movie" versus "TV series."

Yes, I'm a nerd. No, I won't sell you my X-books.

Re:"In the Process?"

[Goaway]

The European guy who keeps arguing with me is clueless. He has no idea how things work over here.

Wait, so now you're not keeping track of who you're talking to, and you're talking about me behind my back?

You're a real class act, dude.

Re:"In the Process?"

[philspear]

Although I'm sure with the recent success of movies like X-Men, Spiderman, Fantastic Four, etc that script writers are rushing back to their desks to find any unexploited comic book series that their pen can interpret.

I cringe at the thought.

I cringe at the thought of movie executives making a profit off of the abomination that was "fantastic four."

That said, I'm extremely excited for how sucky "Namor, the submariner" is going to be. I'm betting it will be actually worse than F4, but how much worse? Will it top "Daredevil" in terms of crapiness?

Please, God, let us never find out.

Re:"In the Process?"

[Anonymous Coward]

And you're not european, "dude".

Oh, by the way, you have been trolled. Thanks for the lolz.

My, what a deep thread I have collected this time...

Re:"In the Process?"

[Anonymous Coward]

More expensive?

Re:"In the Process?"

[stor]

You forgot the tag.

Re:"In the Process?"

[stor]

Gah! Lame slashdot filter. Lame me for not properly previewing my post.

That was supposed to be:

"You forgot the 'comic book store guy' tag"

Re:"In the Process?"

[Anonymous Coward]

Have you been to France or talked to a Frenchman lately? The French LOVE foreign words. In fact, they even make up foreign sounding words to be cool (like "footing"). The only French speaking people who are kind of anal with their language are the ones who live in Québec (like me).

Re:"In the Process?"

[ElectricTurtle]

I'm afraid you're both going to have to turn in your wangs.

Re:"In the Process?"

[Bonobo_Unknown]

Seriously, could Hollywood once--just for like a year--come out with only original semi-risky ventures? I mean, can we go one year without another recycled video game, without another tired sequel of an already diluted franchise, without another rehashed Mike Myers persona that's really just Austin Powers, etc. I mean, is that too much to ask?

Yes, yes it is.

Re:"In the Process?"

[Bonobo_Unknown]

In all fainess the closer you are to a genre in terms of interest and involvement the more finely sub gengres become defined. So what to you or I might be a comic book, to others might be Manga (or something else, if I actually knew any sub genres I'd have written some in). They are both comic books, yes. But yes they can also be defined by their sub genres.

Re:"In the Process?"

[Anonymous Coward]

Actually Comic Book is a pretty bad title for the whole format. It works fine for Scrooge McDuck comics, but most of your men-in-tights books are not really that "comic".

So I say the top level is illustrated storybook. Then you can have "newstand" books for the thinner mainstream stuff, and Graphic Novels for thicker, higher quality books.

Re:"In the Process?"

[Bonobo_Unknown]

Which is basically what I am saying. To someone on the outside (someone who doesn't know much about the genre) comic book might seem like a good word for the entire format. There really is no other word used for this... even if it's connotations are not accurate. It means for most people, a publication where the story is represented by sequential drawings (that are normally in frames).

You, as an enthusiast, have a far richer undrestanding of the genre, and would never refer to the whole format as comics, but instead know comic to be a particular sub genre.

It's the same with anything - take music. Most people think Classical music is stuff that people wrote a long time ago and is played in orchestras. People that are interested in music know that Classical Music is actually a sub genre of Music with fairly well defined boundaries (ie. music made from 1750 to 1820 in the western music tradition).

But still Classical Music is well understood as a format is understood to mean music played with a certain set of instruments in a certain type of arrangement, which does work to a certain degree...

Re:"In the Process?"

[KDR_11k]

I think there's some sort of institute or so that's charged with preserving the purity of the French language. I don't think it was the population that decided to use words like ordinateur, MO/GO, OTAN, ...

Re:"In the Process?"

[Goaway]

Ah yes, the old "I fucked up my entire argument so I'll just claim I was trolling all along" gambit. Good job with that.

Re:"In the Process?"

[DaVince21]

I consider The Lord of The Rings a risky venture, seeing as it's a difficult-to-direct-and-film book series done by a person who only made B-type horror films before that. And yet, look how awesome the movies turned out in the end.

Re:"In the Process?"

[penguinchris]

I agree completely. The reliance on these effects (usually enhanced by CGI, which removes the sense of reality) is past the point of killing most of my enjoyment of new movies.

In comic-hero movies, it makes sense, and can be cool. You expect ridiculous things, because they have super-powers and physics doesn't work quite the same way it really does. That's how it's supposed to be.

That's not how it works with normal people, though! Hollywood: stick to realistic (or only slightly augmented) physics in everything that's not a comic-book movie and your movies will be a lot more exciting.

I was predicting that the recent trend of over-the-top action scenes would end and filmmakers would realize how this detracts from the film, but now that Quantum of Solace had so much of this ridiculous stuff, we'll have a few more years at least of it.

To be fair, in general the action in Quantum of Solace was decently plausible. There were many scenes that were not, though, and it was all detracted from severely by the cinematography and editing, always too close and too fast to see what's going on. I thought we had finally passed that awful phase too, but again, I expect to see it even more in the next few years now.

The worst thing, I think, that they're using now is the "camera following at a fixed distance" trick. In Quantum of Solace, it's used when Bond and a bad guy fall through a glass roof. The camera follows them as if it's falling at the same speed from above them.

It was cool the first time we saw it (I'm not sure what film it was, but it was probably a Spiderman kind of thing) but it's such an unnatural point of view that it really takes you out of the illusion of reality, and it needs to end. It's like bullet-time. Cool and effective the first time only (and only when you're not going for basic realism, like Bond movies should.)

Re:"In the Process?"

[Anonymous Coward]

To someone with a life (someone who doesn't give a rat's cock about the genre) comic book might seem like a good word for the entire format.

FTFY.

Re:"In the Process?"

[Hognoxious]

The word "Graphic Novel" is not at all new. In fact

In fact, it isn't a word.

Re:"In the Process?"

[Anonymous Coward]

Remember those sound effects from the old comics? BAM and BIFF and the like?

I think we need to add WHOOSH!

Re:"In the Process?"

[elrous0]

I dropped out of the new Bond franchise about 20 minutes into Casino Royale. The over-the-top chase scene at the beginning was overdone enough, but it's a Bond film so I can cut it some slack for that. What REALLY ended it completely for me was the even more over-the-top Sony product placement. It's not that I think product placement is inherently bad, if it fits into the story or at least makes sense. But about the 50th time I saw the Sony logo in Casino Royale was when I realized that not only does Bond live in an alternate universe where humans can still run after jumping from 50 ft. cranes, but in said universe Sony is apparently the only electronics maker in existence. The most laughable moment came when he's looking around the country club security office and we see that they are recording all their feeds onto Sony blu-ray recorders (which didn't even EXIST at the time). And what kind of super-spy uses a regular old unencrypted Sony Ericsson cellphone?

Re:"In the Process?"

[elrous0]

The bizarre thing is that showing rape in movies has become almost verboten in Hollywood. But, at the same time, showing men and women physically tortured and maimed in horrific ways is all the rage (as long as the women aren't raped).

Re:"In the Process?"

[Anonymous Coward]

People always say Fox News is biased, yet they never, ever provide a single example. In truth, media studies show that Fox News--in particular Brit Hume's show--is the most balanced and centrist on television. Meanwhile, the rest of the media is admitting it was biased toward Obama all year long. What a great media.

Most people who hate Fox News actually hate the editorial shows like O'Reilly, but they have nothing to do with the hard news coverage.

Re:"In the Process?"

[Anonymous Coward]

more like the "messing with this guy is much more boring than I thought it would be... What's on TV?" gambit.

You just aren't fun anymore. It REALLY got boring when you pretended to be from Europe and didn't even try to get the slang right. It's like you're not putting in any effort. Why should I be the one doing all the work?

And yes, I was trolling. It doesn't mean I'm wrong, or that my point of view is entirely feigned... It just means that I was pulling your chain because you're an idiot and I thought it'd be fun.

But, really, you're boring. Nothing you say is amusing or interesting. All you do is pull the same "blah blah blah I'm better than you because I don't think I'm better than you" nonsense.

If you'd been willing to try harder, I might have kept the thread going for a while, but jeez, dude, you're just lazy. What European addresses an American by "dude"? I bet you're really a comic book store nerd in some boring midwestern town somewhere.

There are more interesting things to do, so you lose. Bye now.

Re:"In the Process?"

[Anonymous Coward]

At least SOMEONE gets it.

My understanding of the genres is:

Manga: Japanese graphic novels (and comic books) published on newsprint and originally drawn in ink, often written and drawn by the same person, although usually they have assistants helping them. A good value, with 10.00 getting you a few hundred pages of content with no ads.

Pulp comics: In the seventies and eighties, adult oriented comics were often published on newsprint like Manga. Usually these were horror and sci-fi comics. They were done in ink, with a grey wash for shading, and were in a sort of "variety show" format, with different stories every month. The only surviving example is "Heavy Metal" which is in a full color, glossy format. These were a good value, about 3.00 for maybe 150 pages. There were ads, but they were INTERESTING ads, usually for graphic novels and dirty comics. VERY adult oriented.

Comic books: Superhero comics. These are mass produced by corporate teams using expensive paper and ink, and cost about 4.00 for thirty pages, only 22 of which are content (thus not a very good value). THIS happened because American comic companies like Marvel and DC tried to turn comic books into collectibles, rather than making them more interesting to a broader audience. Many people believe this is going to lead to their eventual doom. The large companies are trying to invest in (read: buy up) smaller independent companies that focus on graphic novels (like Dark Horse) to hedge their bets; whether this will be enough to save them is anyone's guess. Note that companies that produce traditional comic books are notorious for their vicious contracts with authors and artists. Unlike graphic novels, most comic books are considered "works for hire" and the rights are owned by the company.

Graphic novels: high-end comics, sometimes hundreds of pages long, often drawn and written by a single author, published by smaller independent companies, with a cohesive story and more mature subject matter. These are often similar to the old pulp comics, and often were sold in the pulp comic's ads. They're comparable in quality to the better Japanese manga and european comics. They're a good value, at 10 - 20 bucks for up to a few hundred pages. Many graphic novels are owned by their authors, and only licensed to companies that publish them. Many authors also self-publish. In any event, the contracts seemed to be more generous, more like a traditional author's contract. Many European comics were distributed here as graphic novels, like Enki Bilal's stuff.

Webcomics: Independent comics produced by authors who either cannot or don't wish to become involved with a traditional publishing company. They're ad-driven and make money on products sold on a related website (like a CafePress site).

Syndicated comics: newspaper comic strips, small, basically gag-a-day type stuff. Think "Doonesbury". Good ones are collected in books and sold online and in stores.

Did I forget any? :)

Re:"In the Process?"

[Goaway]

Hint: It's not like my identity is hidden. You can easily figure out where I'm from.

Re:"In the Process?"

[Anonymous Coward]

I still disagree. Comics is the whole format of illustrated stories, whether that name is appropriate or not. Graphic Novels are a sub-genre of the format. Orthogonal to that is wide range of subject genres (You can have mainstream horror or GN horror, mainstream super hero and GN superhero. I don't think I've ever seen Graphic Novel Funny Animals)

Re:"In the Process?"

[Hognoxious]

There you go again, trying to show everyone how you're so much better because of what you read.

Well said. It wouldn't surprise me at all if he's one of those wannabe geeks who like soft SF.

Re:"In the Process?"

[Walter Carver]

It is artistically superb! Not deep, but great art!

Akira

[hansamurai]

Akira (2011)
Leonardo DiCaprio disappointed many fans of Katsuhiro Otomo's 80s manga strip by declaring that he won't be in this, though his Appian Way production company has set SFX wizard Ruairi Robinson to direct. The title character is a child of God-like powers who may have started the third world war that decimated the 'Neo-Tokyo' that biker gangs skirt round. Blade Runner-tastic. Appian Way are also developing...

Wait, what? There were people that wanted to see him star in this?

Re:Akira

[Andr T.]

Does Akira die frozen in the end? That would amuse the fans.

Re:Akira

[Loibisch]

Err, maybe, I don't know. That would be a problem why?

Re:Akira

[elrous0]

There are a shitload of women who want him to star in EVERYTHING. However, at the last moment someone apparently realized that women are probably the least likely demographic to go see Akira--no matter WHO'S in it.

Re:Akira

[netsavior]

I assumed it was sarcasm, one of the hardest to print and often unsuccessful devices in journalism.

Re:Akira

[BlackSnake112]

Spoiler alert if you haven't read/saw Akira

I thought Akira was split up into little pieces (at least in the anime I saw. He did sort of come back to help the the other guy with similar powers.

Anyway, watching DiCaprio being vivisected alive would get me into a seat at the movies.

Re:Akira

[0racle]

I thought that the movie and the mangas were about Kaneda, not actually about Akira. II never really expected that you would see Akira, except in flashbacks. Staring in Akira would put DiCaprio as Kaneda or Tetsuo.

Re:Akira

[Psmylie]

Which, with DiCaprio's huge forehead, makes him a shoe-in for Tetsuo. Especially at the end, where he goes out of control :P

Re:Akira

[hansamurai]

Probably, now that I re-read it. But to convey sarcasm on the internet you have to propose something really crazy, like:

"Even though Leo looks just like Tetsuo in his bloated blob form, he has chosen not to be in the film, much to the dismay of the rabid Leo/Akira fanbase."

Re:Akira

[filthpickle]

Don't give a shit about Akira...except to say that it would be EPIC if they named the English version 'Akila'...

Hate whomever you want to, I didn't like DiCaprio at first either, but he has shown that he isn't a terrible actor. I'll give you Critters 3....but from Growing Pains on its been SOLID GOLD.~

Re:Akira

[Anonymous Coward]

I want to see Akira. 3

Re:Akira

[Cyno01]

If you can get over Titanic, hes actually a damn good actor.

Years ago i heard he was going to be playing tony stark in iron man (that obviously didnt happen), and i thought that was a terrible idea.

Untill i saw The Aviator.

Re:Akira

[Anonymous Coward]

There are a shitload of women who want [Leonardo di Caprio] to star in EVERYTHING.

Even nowadays? He's still a reasonably big name, but his fame seems to have died down a bit since the late 1990s when he was bloody everywhere, despite looking like a fucking 12-year-old. I guess it must have been the nonthreatening thing that made him appeal to teenage girls and to older women who probably wanted to mother him. Eugh.

At least he looks like he's old enough to have pubes nowadays.

Re:Akira

[elrous0]

His babyfaced looks have spoiled many a movie. The worst example is The Beach. Clearly the part he played was written for Ewan McGregor, but Boyle had to get a "big name" to get financing. The movie might have actually been passably okay if it weren't for the distracting sight of the lead being played by a guy who looked like he was about 13 years old. Sometimes looking a lot younger than you actually are works AGAINST you.

Re:Akira

[Anonymous Coward]

Wheren't the main caracters suposed to be on their teens?

CAPTCHA: complain

Re:Akira

[maglor_83]

If you can get over Titanic

Sorry, that's a no go.

Re:Akira

[stor]

Yeah I wasn't a fan of DiCaprio (to say the least) until I saw Blood Diamond.

The guy can act.

Re:Akira

[Anonymous Coward]

I don't know, but wouldn't DiCaprio be a poor choice to play...you know a JAPANESE TEENAGER in apocalyptically futuristic TOKYO?

I mean, the guy's handsome and babyfaced and all, but he sure don't look like he comes from that little island full of robots, giant monsters, skimpy cladded underage preteen witches, and tokusatsu heroes, and geeks that worship all of the above.

good grief

[nomadic]

Elfquest? Wonder Woman? Shazam? Shazam!?! Don't these people actually think ahead as to how silly some of these things will look on the big screen?

Re:good grief

[KermodeBear]

While Shazam would be silly (I honestly don't know a thing about the comic itself, but the name alone makes me wince), ElfQuest has some potential. There's a lot of story to follow. It could be a LotR-style production. That said, Comic Book -> Movie conversions are generally craptacular, so...

What I would like to see brought to the Silver Screen is The Invisibles. I have been reading through the books lately and it is absolutely fantastic. A good mix of plot, philosophy, action, fantasy, and characters. From what I understand, The Invisibles was part of the inspirational material for The Matrix.

It would be interesting to see The Sandman produced as well - just not by the BBC. They completely butchered Neverwhere, turning a fantastic novel into a complete piece of crap (as they often do).

Re:good grief

[elrous0]

I wonder if they'll still have the old man and the Winnebago.

Re:good grief

[Anonymous Coward]

Wonder Woman.

Well, hold on there. I see some opportunity for some TNA on that island she came from with all those other wonder women and of course, let's not forget the gratuitous nudity.

Now, if they add in some cross over thingy with Super Man! That could get steamy. And if they add in something from horror sci fi, like the Invisible Man, well, there could be options for some R-rated threesomes; unbeknown to Super Man, of course. He'd never do a guy on purpose!

Re:good grief

[Mark J Tilford]

_The Adventures of Captain Marvel_ was a good serial.

Re:good grief

[Anonymous Coward]

So Superman was flying around Metroplis one day, just keeping an eye and ear out for trouble, when he spots Wonder Woman on a rooftop, sunbathing naked. He uses his super vision to stare at her perky breasts which seem to bounce with every breath. "Yeah, I'll use my super speed, fly down there, hit that, and she'd never know the difference!" he thinks. Superman zooms down, does the deed, and is flying away before Wonder Woman even reacts. Meanwhile, on the rooftop, the Invisible Man stops screwing Wonder Woman and yells "Ow! My ass!"

Re:good grief

[White Yeti]

I loved that pompous ball of lights! (Was it "Oracle"?) S.H.A.Z.A.M.!

Coming up next...Land of the Lost!

Re:good grief

[FlopEJoe]

Pyle!

Shazam!

Pyle!

Shazam!

Re:good grief

[para_droid]

just not by the BBC. They completely butchered Neverwhere, turning a fantastic novel into a complete piece of crap (as they often do).

Erm they made the TV series first. The novel was written later, based on the series. So I don't see how the BBC can be blamed for butchering a novel that didn't yet exist. And aside from the lack of budget, the series was pretty good.

Re:good grief

[LatencyKills]

Between the transvestites and bondage fans Wonder Woman has something of a built-in audience (albeit sort of a fringey one). I'm surprised it has taken this long for a movie to be made.

Re:good grief

[hummassa]

I don't think you'll ever see The Invisibles in the silver screen...

Re:good grief

[westlake]

Shazam? Shazam!?! Don't these people actually think ahead as to how silly some of these things will look on the big screen?
.

The 1941 live-action Republic serial "The Adventures of Captain Marvel" was released six months before Fleischer's "Superman." Captain Marvel Both characters have had a rather long life on screen and in the comics.

Re:good grief

[Anonymous Coward]

Elfquest? Wonder Woman? Shazam? Shazam!?! Don't these people actually think ahead as to how silly some of these things will look on the big screen?

Elfquest wouldn't be so bad. Think Dark Crystal.

Re:good grief

[KermodeBear]

I stand corrected. That still doesn't change the fact that the BBC makes crap productions - which is very unfortunate.

Re:good grief

[sesshomaru]

If you've ever heard the term Shazam, before, then you should no that it's origin was in a comic book known as Captain Marvel. For a time, Captain Marvel was more popular than Superman. His powers were granted to him by a wizard, and Shazam refers to the mythological characters who grant him his strength (Solomon, Hercules, Atlas, Zeus, Achilles, Mercury). Billy Batson, mild mannered newsie, becomes Captain Marvel when he speaks this word.

Unfortunately, the World's Mightiest Mortal was felled, not by the arch-villain Dr. Sivana, but by the labyrinth of copyright laws. One of the current absurdities visited on us by the laws is that the right to use the name "Captain Marvel" for a comic book is not owned by the company (D. C.) that owns the rights to Captain Marvel. Therefore, they can produce a comic, or a movie based on a comic, with Captain Marvel as a hero... but they can't call it Captain Marvel!

Hence, Shazam, Captain Marvel's magic word, is often used as the title of his comic book, even thought the character is named Captain Marvel.

We will not speak of Alan Moore's Miracle Man, based on the British Marvelman, who was what the British Captain Marvel became after he lost his war against copyright in the United States. For his magic word was "Kitoma!" which is just Atomik spelled backwords.

Re:good grief

[hondo77]

Coming up next...Land of the Lost!

Is 2009 soon enough for you?

Re:good grief

[Anonymous Coward]

Neverwhere was a BBC miniseries first. Gaiman wrote the book later.

Re:good grief

[Psmylie]

They make better productions than the Sci-Fi channel, but that's not saying much. So does my teenage nephew and his friends with a handheld video camera.

I mean, come on... Ice Spiders?

Re:good grief

[Zebano]

I never would have suspected that it was first a film. I was quite impressed when I read Neverwhere and always thought a well done movie would be neigh unto impossible. I shall have to track down the dvd.

Re:good grief

[m50d]

You are very, very wrong. The BBC can't afford effects, but what it does have are good actors and superb scriptwriters. The lack of budget forces them to actually put effort into things. Seriously, if you're someone who looks beyond the surface, they produce some of the best stuff you'll ever see.

Re:good grief

[nomadic]

And 1940s live serials were ridiculous, with silly effects, awful dialogue, two-dimensional plots, and scenery-chewing acting.

Re:good grief

[nomadic]

Admittedly The Dark Crystal was a good movie. Ok, MAYBE Elfquest, but I stand by my views on Shazam and Wonder Woman. And I don't know how they're going to do Thor (though I really liked the comic).

Re:good grief

[KermodeBear]

I have found the script writing to be alright, but good acting? Rarely - which is really strange considering that a lot of the folks across the ocean have acting schools with hundreds of years of history behind them.

Don't get me wrong - I'm not impressed with the 'actors' here in America either. I just heard a good spot on NPR today about how the American producers are importing actors, especially from England and Ireland. Good actors are few and far between - and they rarely end up at the BBC. Why go there when you can make real money elsewhere? Or, if you're truly interested in the art of acting, you're not going on the BBC either. You're going to be doing Shakespeare, et al.

That aside, although a lack of budget doesn't make a difference in theory, it does in practice. A really cheap set with nasty lighting and poor sound can turn an otherwise great production into one that is very mediocre. I'm not talking special effects here either - just the basics.

That, and the BBC still carries with it a very dry, sterile feeling that a lot>/i> of shows from the BBC have. Some people like that I guess, but it really doesn't work for me.

yaaay!

[apodyopsis]

my highlights:

akira, runaways, whiteout, witchblade, gamekeeper

though akira is an epic and the old film was very much shortened. the effects in both akira and witchblade had better be up to it - especially akira in a few spots, but these days they can CGI "film" anything.

of course, is it too late to ask them to file "They Boys" or "Fables", or even something like "Losers"?

Re:yaaay!

[BlackSnake112]

Wasn't witchblade a tv series for a while? I sort of remember that character name and that hand gauntlet being on tv.

My picks would be:
Akira - the carnage factor can be great
Ghost in shell -for comedy relief they could put in Keanu Reeves in as a cyborg, just tell him to act normally
Wonder Woman - if the right lead

Too much CGI in the Ghost in Shell movie would be just like the anime Ghost in Shell movies. So, just make a full CGI Ghost in Shell with voice overs and be done with it or make a regular movie and keep the CGI to a minimum.

That bring up another thing: is it more costly to make a movie with a lot of CGI or a full CGI (or animated) movie? Full CGI no risk to the voice over people, their salary should be a lot less then a regular movie. Most likely cutting off a large audience since those people will never go watch an anime or cartoon movie though.

Re:yaaay!

[Anonymous Coward]

Ghost in the Shell by Spielberg and Dreamworks?

Well apart from adding a talking donkey, here are the other likely cast members:

Batou: Arnold Schwarzenegger
Maj. Kusanagi: Lucy Liu
Togusa: Keanu Reeves

And some script:

Togusa staring at his revolver: FUCK
Togusa looking in the mirror at his mullet: SHIT
Togusa glancing at Motoko: WHOA

As you can imagine, the movie will be epic.

Epic Failure.

(Apologies to T.T. for reposting this)

and the butcher...er director for these films is

[aceofspades1217]

probably Uwe Boll's brother.

few really kick-ass, some very pathetic

[ranjeet.walunj]

I'm sure lot of efforts must have gone into making them ... but some of the movies were pathetic, few r really good ...total kick ass ... and this post also gives me lead about what movies are missed ...

Re:few really kick-ass, some very pathetic

[Loibisch]

and this post also gives me lead about what movies are missed ...

Is "lead" the heavier form of "wood"?

Dark Prophecy...

[Forrest Kyle]

Comic book movies appeared. They made boat loads of money. Drunken, sex addled movie moguls made seventy-five straight comic book movies. Seventeen in a row tank miserably. They never make another comic book movie again.

This is what I fear happening.

Scary, you don't know the half of it...

[sesshomaru]

...for even the undead fear The Goon. Actually, this is an interesting film, of course I'm biased as a huge fan of The Goon.

100% CGI, directed by David Fincher (of Seven and Fight Club fame) with positive input from Eric Powell (the comic books creator, writer and artist) it looks interesting. Here's an article and here's a first look at the movie poster.

even mediocre properties are snapped up

[jollyreaper]

Just shows how there's not an original bone left in that town. The comics are like elaborate storyboards anyway so let's do one but be sure to cut out anything involving taste and quality so as not to alienate our prime market of drooling mouth-breathers. And in twenty years we'll remake 'em all! Can't you just taste that money? Fuck, yeah.

Re:even mediocre properties are snapped up

[SputnikPanic]

Taste and quality? Such as Road To Perdition or A History of Violence, both of which were originally comics?

Comics encompass as broad a world as other forms of fiction and literature, it's not just all superheroes and science fiction. As far as Hollywood adaptations are concerned, the problem isn't so much a lack of originality -- although there is some truth to that claim -- it's that producers are risk averse.

Re:even mediocre properties are snapped up

[jollyreaper]

Comics encompass as broad a world as other forms of fiction and literature, it's not just all superheroes and science fiction. As far as Hollywood adaptations are concerned, the problem isn't so much a lack of originality -- although there is some truth to that claim -- it's that producers are risk averse.

I'm not knocking comics, there's much potential with the medium, even though the mainstream is all about superheroes in tights and impossible titties. I know there's potential there, even though most mainstream properties don't bother. But when Hollywood does an adaptation, it generally sucks.

Re:even mediocre properties are snapped up

[SputnikPanic]

I agree with you: there's a lot of potential with the medium of comics, and it's unfortunate that so much of comics still falls into the superhero genre. I mean, imagine if 80 percent of all the movies that came out since the 1960s had been westerns. That being said, superhero comics can still be pretty good: Alan Moore's Watchmen and League of Extraordinary Gentlemen; Moore and Neil Gaiman on Miracleman (which was unbelievably good); Frank Miller's Dark Knight and Year One, just to name a few.

As for what Hollywood has done with these comic book properties, more times than not it's been pretty bad -- the first Hulk movie, for instance, was a celluloid crime and the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen movie really underscores your point about Hollywood adaptations sucking -- but it's gotten much, much better in recent years. We're finally starting to see some films in which they're getting the feel of the characters right. Again, just to name a few, the last two X-Men movies, Spiderman, Iron-Man, Batman Begins and the Dark Knight. All of them finally gave you an impression that the creative teams actually bothered to get some grasp of what it was that they were adapting to film.

Re:even mediocre properties are snapped up

[DragonWriter]

But when Hollywood does an adaptation, it generally sucks.

IME, this is no more or less true of comics than it is of recent fiction (general or genre), classic literature, or, heck, beyond adaptations to original screenplays. Its not just comic adaptations that mostly suck.

I for one...

[Anonymous Coward]

Is still waiting for Battle Angel to be released.

Re:I for one...

[onetwentyone]

I would love to see a live action version of this manga made however, anything less than an R rating is going to be doing the series injustice. Part of what makes the books so compelling is the disregard for the body so long as the mind survives. You can't tone down the violence and expect for it to be the same.

Missing from the list

[dkleinsc]

Bluntman and Chronic

Seriously, it's scary when Kevin Smith accurately describes something.

Anyone Notice The Dates?

[Skeetskeetskeet]

Nothing goes past 2012? Maybe Hollywood knows something we don't..... Mayan Calendar, End of the World????

So many already done....

[gfxguy]

Off the top of my head: Witchblade was a failed series on TNT, Red Sonja, Buck Rogers, Sherlock Holmes?

Oh... wait... are these going to actually be good versions?

Re:So many already done....

[hondo77]

Actually, I believe Witchblade was doing well. It just suffered from a lead actress who had some major personal issues.

Re:So many already done....

[gpalyu]

Witchblade was a very cool show for the short time it was on. The star (Yancy Butler) had issues that kept interfering. I believe at one point she disappeared for a while and noone could find her. I had never read the comic, but the show was very interesting and well done.

Re:So many already done....

[cjsm]

I'm renting Witchblade right now from Netflix, and am about halfway through it. Its a great show, which I would recommend to anybody who likes that genre. Like another reply alluded to, the series was cut short because Yancy Butler, the lead actress, went into alcoholic rehab.

ETA's?

[rangek]

Is it just me or are those ETA's totally bogus? There is no way those times can possibly be... possible. We have things with film in can the estimated to arrive the same time as stuff that doesn't even have a script yet. What a bunch of crap.

Re:ETA's?

[Anonymous Coward]

We have things with film in can the estimated to arrive the same time as stuff that doesn't even have a script yet.

Whoa... what?

Dave Sim once said. . .

[Fantastic Lad]

"Writing about music is like dancing about architecture."

Well, he was quoting somebody else, but he DID say it. . .

The point being. . , comics are comics and movies are another animal entirely.

For every comics movie I've seen, I can never help but thinking, "This would have been more satisfying as an episodic TV series." Perhaps it's because comics rely heavily on word balloons and movies are actually quite conservative when it comes to dialogue, most being really just short stories. Episodic television offers enough canvas to do a more satisfying job with stories which are by definition, written as a series of short episodes anyway. A lot of drama and necessary timing can be included with a TV series which must by necessity be cut when planning a film.

I re-read Watchmen a few months ago when I heard about the film project, and it struck me that it was a story which would have done very well as a 6 or 12 part TV series. Not sure how they're going to manage to pack all of that into a movie without it feeling rushed. I guess we'll see.

-FL

Re:Dave Sim once said. . .

[digitig]

Perhaps it's because comics rely heavily on word balloons

Western comics, yes. Manga tends to be far more filmic with lots of dialog-free passages.

I re-read Watchmen a few months ago when I heard about the film project, and it struck me that it was a story which would have done very well as a 6 or 12 part TV series. Not sure how they're going to manage to pack all of that into a movie without it feeling rushed. I guess we'll see.

I think if you expect it to be a film of the graphic novel you are bound to be disappointed. Moving any creative work to a different medium is itself a creative task and results in an entirely new work.

Re:Dave Sim once said. . .

[canajin56]

Reminds me of a Flanders and Swann line "Some have said that architecture is like frozen music. Our music is like defrosted architecture."

Re:Dave Sim once said. . .

[Fantastic Lad]

That's really nice. I think I like it better. --It's funny but not sarcastic.

-FL

Re:Dave Sim once said. . .

[mochan_s]

For every comics movie I've seen, I can never help but thinking, "This would have been more satisfying as an episodic TV series.

In a TV series, the actor takes over a character, parts of the actor's personality starts showing up in the character.

ghost in the shell

[arbiter1]

not really surprised considering how popular the anime and manga is in most markets it gets released to

Re:ghost in the shell

[Anonymous Coward]

I swear, if Angelina Jolie goes anywhere near the set of that one, there will be a string of theater arsons on opening night.

Rob Schrab please

[Anonymous Coward]

Some of those titles make me sudder in horror, either because the source material is awful (Last Blood), couldn't possibly be done justice in a 2 hour film (Watchmen) or has already been done about as well as it possibly could be (do we need another Akira? And with sprout-face in it? Ugh.)

However, some comics are just crying out for a film version, first to my mind being Rob Schrab's Scud: Disposible Assassin. It was designed more as a movie storyboard than a comic, and would be amazing on screen.

Also, I'd love to see Thrud on the big screen - if a screen big enough can be found, that is.

Finally, how about a film (or better yet, TV series) of Schlock Mercenary? That could be truly excellent.

Re:Rob Schrab please

[meringuoid]

couldn't possibly be done justice in a 2 hour film (Watchmen)

It probably could be done well, and I look forward to it. But you'd lose all the extra material between chapters - the scrapbooks and memoirs and files that fill in the gaps. You'd never work out what the real deal was with Silk Spectre and Captain Metropolis, or what became of Hooded Justice, or why Nite Owl never really caught on to any of that stuff. So much of the richness of the Watchmen world was in details like that, in the gap between the facade the heroes put up for the media and the reality beneath it, and so much of the character of the older heroes is tied up in the lies they've concealed for decades.

Really I'd like Watchmen to be done as a very long film - like a 'Once Upon A Time In America' with capes. But honestly - who but we would sit through that?

I guess it's better than...

[solcott]

(Useful) Stupid Tricks to Get Your Comic Book Made into a Movie

Last Blood

[MaxwellEdison]

Most of you probably have never heard of Last Blood. But I highly recommend it. The level of production was sub-indie, but its still a very interesting retake on vampire/zombie mythos and a fairly interesting story. if you read through the comments you'll find the writer,Bobby Crosby really enjoyed discussing his ideas with his readers.

Of course the comic I really want to see on the big screen is Least I Could Do.

Re:Last Blood

[Anonymous Coward]

Boo on the LICD, go LFG.

Also, huge yes for Last Blood.

Re:Last Blood

[jgtg32a]

I read last Last Blood, I thought it wasn't that good but it was a fresh concept, so I kept reading.

Ive heard watchman is junk

[bobjr94]

I thought they were having lots of problems with watchman and some reports were saying it will bomb. I think they movie people are just out of ideas. IMDB has over 960,000 movies & tv shows listed I think. So comic books and remakes is all they have left.

Re:Ive heard watchman is junk

[somersault]

I think they movie people are just out of ideas. IMDB has over 960,000 movies & tv shows listed I think. So comic books and remakes is all they have left.

That betrays your own lack of imagination more than anything. There are millions of books and scripts out there, and the whole of documented history to draw on for those that don't have their own creative ideas. It's ludicrous to suggest that comic books are the only sources of inspiration left in the world.

The world is changing at an accelerating pace, not to mention the worlds that each individual on the planet perceives can suddenly change, even if the external reality stays the same. Sometimes just sharing your own take on reality or a certain theme can make an interesting movie.

The "movie people" aren't wanting for ideas or original scripts - they just need to be willing to take a risk and fund those ideas.

What about Dragonball?

[GerardAtJob]

We'll be able to see Goku in film too : http://dbthemovie.com/

75 more...

[nilbog]

"75 Comics That Are Being Forever Ruined, Raped, and Pillaged"

Fixed.

Re:75 more...

[Anonymous Coward]

"75 Comics That Are Being Forever Ruined, Raped, and Pillaged"

Fixed.

Well ... if Red Sonja has anything to say about it, they will never again be able to make another Comic Book movie, until one conquers her in a fair fight.

Re:75 more...

[residieu]

And Arnold is busy being the governor, so I think we're safe.

You are not the only one...

[denzacar]

Waiting for it for over a decade now...

Keep an eye on MarketSaw. It is a blog about 3D movies.
Whenever there is something new on Avatar or Battle Angel, it is very likely it will turn up there.

to all the naysayers in this thread:

[circletimessquare]

1. it is proven that comic book movie adaptations are a good return on the investment. therefore, from a strictly risk/ return financial analysis, you want to make a comic book movie as opposed to say, a mafia musical. therefore, any comic book property out there is going to get a good looking at, down to the fringe. it's inevitable, and what exactly then is the problem with mining comic book properties like that? what is the rationale for which you take offense at that?

2. you don't own your favorite comic book. if someone wants to turn it into a movie, why do you feel like something has been stolen from you? why do you think something will be ruined? just don't watch. why is that so difficult for you?

Re:to all the naysayers in this thread:

[Sockatume]

I'd say that enigma of "2" is at least weakly linked with the truth of "1". Cult literature is probably unique in that a piss-poor and unfaithful cinema adaptation will create more column inches and consequently draw in more punters than an equally bad movie cut from whole cloth.

Re:to all the naysayers in this thread:

[m50d]

if someone wants to turn it into a movie, why do you feel like something has been stolen from you? why do you think something will be ruined? just don't watch. why is that so difficult for you?

Idiots will watch it, and try and talk to me about it, telling me how awesome it was. And I'll have to avoid strangling them, so I'll probably end up staying in the basement again. Which is okay for a few weeks, but I'd rather not be doing it all summer.

Re:to all the naysayers in this thread:

[lennier]

"if someone wants to turn it into a movie, why do you feel like something has been stolen from you?"

There *is* a rare commodity here, though, that has been 'used up', and that's the position of "only existing movie adaptation of [work X]".

It's a bit like brand identity. The value of the work seems to work out to something like 'number of realisations of that work in all media forms divided by total quality of all realisations'.

In 1977, there was only one 'Star Wars' movie, and a bunch of Star Wars toys. The value of Star Wars was 'very cool thing'.

In 2008, there's so much Star Wars merchandise you can't breathe, but there's only a handful of excellent works: the first two movies, the Timothy Zahn book trilogy, a couple of games. The rest are mediocre at best and the official prequels are dire. If you picked up a random Star Wars product, the expected value is somewhere between 'possibly very good' and 'most likely really really really bad'. Same with Dune: one good book, increasingly wandering sequels, atrocious cash-ins.

It seems like something of value really *has* been lost by the creation of a bad product that 'dilutes' the value of a particular brand as a means of identifying 'stuff I'm likely to like'.

It might be just *information* - indexing or metadata, a way of minimising the entropy of a search - that's lost, but as all IT people should know, that's a real loss.

Re:to all the naysayers in this thread:

[maglor_83]

you don't own your favorite comic book

Not owning something doesn't mean you're not allowed to have an opinion about it.

Scott Pilgrim

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm disappointed Scott Pilgrim wasn't mentioned - the comic is great and a movie could be bearable.
Maybe it's not mainstream enough?

One that should be on the list

[Hoi Polloi]

I'm very dissapointed to see Buster Gonads wasn't on that list.

While we're at it I'd like to see Marmaduke and Hi & Lois added also.

done "boy meets girl" fifty thousand times

[peter303]

You'd think they'd have exhausted that theme by now :-)

Re:done "boy meets girl" fifty thousand times

[somersault]

I thought they had, but Spiderman gave the whole theme a huge lift when it was shown that it was possible to make a decent superhero movie! It's not about the genre for me, it's about whether it's a good or bad movie.

'Hulk' was so-so, 'The Incredible Hulk' was pretty good. The original Batman movies started off okay and degraded into a farce (as they dropped the darkness and attempted to copy the original series). However, the last 2 Batman movies were both excellent (IMO of course). It's all about the quality of the writing, directing, production and acting. And of course, personal preference.

Re:done "boy meets girl" fifty thousand times

[PitaBred]

Whoops... accidentally clicked "troll" rather than "interesting". Posting to undo it :) Sorry!

Re:done "boy meets girl" fifty thousand times

[Emperor Zombie]

How does a post talking about comic book movies in a thread about comic book movies get modded offtopic?

Re:done "boy meets girl" fifty thousand times

[somersault]

Oh, didn't notice the subject of your message, sorry :p I often don't even notice them unless a post starts mid-sentence.

I know I'll get burned for saying this...

[gaspyy]

I know comics may be considered "news for nerds" but this is pushing it - Editors, if I want to read Digg, I go to Digg.

I mean, after countless complains, jokes and accusations, Adobe FINALLY releases the the 64bit flash plugin (for Linux first nonetheless) and what gets published is a lame list that amounts to little more than blog spam?

Laurell k Hamilton books/comics also

[pekkoh75]

From the laurell K Hamilton website: "I have some big news! I am not at liberty to give you all the juicy details just yet but I am excited to announce that I have joined forces with a first class Writer, Producer and film studio. Yes, the rumors are true - a movie and a possible TV show based on the Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter 16-book series is in the works. Stay tuned to this website for updates and details."' The first 2 books appear also as comics so this may also qualify. No info on the year though or how certain it is...

superman

[qwertzisnotazerty]

Reading through the list, when it came to "Superman...", i red "Superman: man on wheels"

Barbarella

[suso]

I thought Barbarella had already been done too?

Re:Barbarella

[tb3]

Oh frequently. And by robots and aliens, too. She's insatiable.

Luther Arkwright

[szyzyg]

ONe of the greatest works of graphic literature has been picked up for movie adaptations on more than one occasion. I'd love to see this adapted, but then again It's probably impossible to do it justice....

http://www.superherohype.com/news.php?id=4514

Buck Rogers

[residieu]

A new Buck Rogers? If it doesn't have Erin Gray in spandex, I don't want it.

Off Topic -- SCI FI Book to Movie

[kcdoodle]

They should make "Infinity Hold" into a movie. Barry Longyear's best book.

And I think Emilio Estevez should star as "Nick Bando", I dunno why, but I think it would be a good fit.

Red Sonja?

[Animats]

Red Sonja has been done. With Brigitte Nielsen and Arnold Schwarzenegger. It will be hard to beat that pair. A remake will probably have worse casting, but, inevitably, better effects.

Re:Red Sonja?

[zaren]

Worse casting? Rose McGowan will be Sonja - http://www.wildaboutmovies.com/movies/RedSonjaTrailer2009-RedSonjaMovie2009-RoseMcGowan.php

What?

[airship]

No 'Little Lulu'?!?

Can you say BOFH?

[myspace-cn]

That's so overdue! A series!

Sorry for offtopic..

[azgard]

..but since we are talking about films, I would like to see Tim Burton's version of Hobbit. I can't imagine it, but I know it would be fantastic.

(If you agree, please spread this meme. :-))

Re:Sorry for offtopic..

[Firrenzi]

Or maybe Kevin Smith's version to the ending of the LOTR

Not necessarily...

[denzacar]

It would mostly be SF/cyborg violence with white/purple blood.
Plus there are almost no titties in the entire manga, and very little or no drug use.
Unless we count some of that brain munching in the beginning. That part would probably be safer as just "eating brains" instead of "eating brains to get high".

A lot can be squeezed into that PG-13 if they play their cards right, and maybe tone it down a bit for the MPAA censors.
Later, they can always make an unrated or R DVD version.

Re:Laurell k Hamilton [shit piles] also

[binary paladin]

I forget how it happened, but I read a synopsis of the first few books and it read like someone who had purchased a bunch of White Wolf books and asked the question, "Can I have a vampire with werewolf, mage, hunter and perhaps even changeling powers?" When all the reasonable GMs said, "No," Ms. Hamilton said, "Fine, I'll write my own fantastic stories about such a character... and add sex to them so people will buy them."

The fact that these books exist isn't what scares me. There's creepy talentless fan fiction all over the internet (with everything from Harry Potter and Snape being secret lovers to some insane girl who writes about her life and romance with Link--as in, the dude from The Legend of Zelda), but not a whole lot of it makes a profit. People actually buy these Anita Blake books though. WHY!?

I dread the results of this, particularly if Laurell Hamilton is referring to having a "first class Writer" since she fancies herself as one. Ugh. Just... ugh.

Right... because when we say "nerds"...

[denzacar]

... we actually mean you, gaspyy (514539), only plural.

The topic is climbing to over a hundred comments at the moment and yours is the first I see that is openly trolling against it.
I guess it has something to do with the fact that most people are more interested in movies and comics in general than in support for that particular plugin your heart desires.

You do know that YOU too can submit a story?
For example about how "Adobe FINALLY releases the the 64bit flash plugin (for Linux first nonetheless)".

Or are you here just to troll?
There is a brand new Science of the Lightsaber just up.
Why don't you try that one too?

Groo!

[T.E.D.]

I can't wait for Groo, the movie!

Groo is truly big and strong,
but then, so are most cattle.
Groo will fight to right each wrong,
and kill both sides in battle!

...

OMFG. I was joking, but apparently one is in production

Re:Groo!

[residieu]

Did I err?

Originals?

[antdude]

I think we ran out of originals. What else is left to be originals? :P

DM of the Rings

[ShamusYoung]

Of course, they will never make a comic book adaptation as epic and as lavish as mine: http://www.shamusyoung.com/twentysidedtale/?p=612 The trick is to get them to do the adaptation before you write the comic. Saves a lot of hassle that way.

10

[Propaganda13]

I was hopeful about this movie, but Ice Cube is now slated for it. He's more suited for comedies that anything else.

fee casting advise

[Anonymous Coward]

Whichblade = Megan Fox

Now if you'll excuse me I need to go find my box of tissues.

No, he's right

[Weaselmancer]

It will suck. Let me tell you why.

Listen to Kevin Smith talk about his work on the Superman Returns script.

He talks about meeting the producer for Batman, and Superman Begins. John Peters. Right around 13:00 or so he talks about presenting his script summary and how it was received.

And it was liked, but John said Kevin was missing some "action beats". He says that you need an action beat every ten pages. Something big needs to happen. This is how Hollywood thinks. Every ten pages of script, you need a fight scene. And listen to the absolutely stupid ideas that get thrown around.

This is why the Watchmen will suck.

Hollywood likes comic book movies because every ten minutes you are guaranteed to have an action scene. That's what superheroes do. It automatically meets the "action beats" criteria by default. That's why so many comics are being made into film. Every ten minutes someone gets in a big fight, or something explodes. Hollywood likes that.

But that's not what happens in The Watchmen. The Watchmen is a story about people. There isn't a lot of action. Hardly any, actually. This is a story about people. It has more in common with Clerks than it does with X-Men. Most of the story is people standing around talking. Character development.

Which is why Hollywood is going to fuck it up.

They're going to insist on their action beats. And that's not at all what the story is about.

Don't get me wrong. It will look pretty. It will have most of the story parallel the book. But mark my words - the heart and soul of the story will be ripped out. Most of the character development will be missing. And it will be replaced with a ten minute CGI battle of Dr. Manhattan pacifying Vietnam, or something similar.

Sorry to sound so pessimistic, but that's what's going to happen.

Re:No, he's right

[Spazztastic]

But will there be a giant spider?

Or am I thinking of another one of the bits that Kevin Smith did?

Re:No, he's right

[Anonymous Coward]

I dunno, I think Watchmen will just be boring.

I've never read it in my life until this past Saturday night at Barnes and Noble. There it was sitting on a display. So I picked it up and started reading.

I had NO preconceived notions whatsoever. Never read it, had no idea what it was supposed to be about, nothing.

Anyway, I started reading through it and ... it was just boring. I really lost interest after the costume suit was found hidden in the wall, and then another one later (Captain America? wtf?).

Flipping forward, there seemed to be a lot of cameos and whatever you want to call it from misc. super heroes. It looked like a scene out of Superfriends.

At that point I stoppped reading. I just do not care about super heroes. The book's square-panels were also a turnoff. It was like trying to read grid paper doodles.

After 10 minutes of trying, I never sorted out what Watchmen was about, exactly, but it was clearly not for me.

At least I do now understand the bloody smiley face logo. That much I did learn.

Re:No, he's right

[Anonymous Coward]

So I picked up a copy of Moby Dick. And read ten pages into it. What kind of a name is Ishmael anyways? I had no preconceived notions about classic literature. But I really hate whales. It was really boring.

After ten minutes of trying, I never sorted out what the big deal was. So I gave up.

Re:No, he's right

[Anonymous Coward]

Speaking of suckage, one comic I thought was written expressly as a book-to-film was "Life Sucks", about modern day vampires. The hook here is that old school vamps make new ones to run convenience store chains as less-than-minimum-wage slaves. Not deep by any means, but perfect for Hollywood.

Re:No, he's right

[VxMorpheusxV]

You're entitled to your opinion of course, but if you're basing part of that pessimism off of that interview with Smith, perhaps you should take note that Smith has called the new Watchmen film Astounding. Its been said over and over again that its too hard to properly replicate the book's unique presentation, but it doesn't mean that the movie can't be good.

Re:No, he's right

[Eighty7]

And it was liked, but John said Kevin was missing some "action beats". He says that you need an action beat every ten pages. Something big needs to happen. This is how Hollywood thinks. Every ten pages of script, you need a fight scene. And listen to the absolutely stupid ideas that get thrown around.

Look, you don't like it, I don't like it, but it might be true. Look at all the recent high grossing movies. You don't like ignorant marketing people messing with your IT so don't mess with their marketing when you don't know what you're doing.

Re:No, he's right

[Anonymous Coward]

Your name wouldn't happen to be Alan Moore would it?

Re:No, he's right

[Weaselmancer]

You don't like ignorant marketing people messing with your IT so don't mess with their marketing when you don't know what you're doing.

You're trolling, but I'll bite anyways.

I do know what I'm doing. Why? Because I can read. When I read a story, I understand it. When the movie comes out and it's different, I notice. And when the changes subtract from the original story and were only made to "spice" up the story to hold on to the public's diminishing attention span, I have every right to stop and say, "Hey, you know what? That sucks."

It's actually pretty simple shit, hombre.

Re:No, he's right

[Eighty7]

Not everyone likes what you do, they have a worldwide audience to think of. Again, look at the recent high grossing movies. People really do like "action beats" & hollywood just picks up on that. If you don't understand why or you think it sucks, that doesn't make it any less true.

Re:No, he's right

[philspear]

But that's not what happens in The Watchmen. The Watchmen is a story about people. There isn't a lot of action. Hardly any, actually. This is a story about people. It has more in common with Clerks than it does with X-Men. Most of the story is people standing around talking. Character development.

Which is why Hollywood is going to fuck it up.

They're going to insist on their action beats. And that's not at all what the story is about.

To take what will be an extremely unpopular devil's advocate stance, there is a very slight but non-zero chance they could actually improve the story by changing it.

Make no mistake, I'm not saying that will happen, in fact I'd bet good money it won't. I just wanted to make the point that a lot of people, myself included, won't be judging it based off of how faithful it is to the original, but how good it is on it's own right. If they were to drastically change it, I wouldn't mind so long as it was an improvement.

The changes the studios are making are going to make a bad movie, not by virtue of the fact that they're changing it. The changes are going to make it into a bad movie because throwing action sequences in pointlessly makes a bad movie.

Re:No, he's right

[Anonymous Coward]

Alan Moore, is that you?

Re:No, he's right

[Weaselmancer]

Yeah, I know. It's just disappointing is all.

But hey, with Kevin Smith saying they did a good job I'm willing to put my doubts on hold. And the trailer they've been showing is pretty fantastic looking, I'll admit.

It's just that I've been let down so many times already with book to movie conversions. It's safest to not go into the theater with high hopes.

I realize they're doing it to make the masses happy. And the masses like explosions every five minutes. And very few people are as OCD with their entertainment as I am. I know that too. It's just a bummer that they can't just tell the story in the way the original author intended.

You know what would be great? If movies didn't cost $100 million to make. Reign in the budgets. Hire some unknowns. If Hollywood would occasionally bang out a movie for $5 million. Then they could afford to make the occasional lemon. They could get away from the whole "Bruckheimer extreme movie" mindset and get back to making the occasional classic. I'd really like that.

Want to see how it's done (IMHO of course) correctly? Check out this. It's a low budget adaptation of The Call of Cthulhu. Nobody actors, zero budget. And it's just about dead-on target. Tells the story pretty much exactly. It's beautiful.

If Hollywood would ever get it into it's head that sometimes this is the best way to make a movie...with their resources, they could make absolute classics.

Ah well, I can dream can't I?

Re:No, he's right

[Bonobo_Unknown]

Hollywood likes comic book movies because every ten minutes you are guaranteed to have an action scene.

And of course the films have already been storyboarded ;-)

Battle Angel Alita

[Walpurgiss]

I'm really suprised that this is even being considered. I really enjoyed the manga, but the story never got any anime release beyond a 2 part OVA. I guess it is cool that it is getting attention, but I'm just suprised is all.

Many of the entries scare me. A lot.

Re:Laurell k Hamilton [shit piles] also

[geminidomino]

I forget how it happened, but I read a synopsis of the first few books and it read like someone who had purchased a bunch of White Wolf books and asked the question, "Can I have a vampire with werewolf, mage, hunter and perhaps even changeling powers?" When all the reasonable GMs said, "No," Ms. Hamilton said, "Fine, I'll write my own fantastic stories about such a character... and add sex to them so people will buy them."

+1, Best synopsis of Anita Blake ever...

My girlfriends read those books for awhile. Even tried to get me to read them (I gave the first one a try. Between the first person POV (strike 1), characters not quite as convincing as any portrayed by Keanu Reeves or Hayden Christensen (strike two), and the fact that it screamed "Bad White Wolf Fanfic (strike 3)" I wanted to kill myself inside of 3 chapters.

Number 76, 77, 78

[FatherOfONe]

Is Howard the Duck 2. Obviously this is a no brainer after the success of the first one.

Then the Archies (man I can't wait for that one in BluRay) :-)

and lastly,
Stan Lee: "how Marvel has tried to screw me", (working title). :-)

Was holding out hope..

[CrazyTalk]

For a Legion of Super-Heroes movie - my favorite childhood comic (circa early 1970s). Imagine Jack Black as Bouncing Boy....

please jeebus...

[filthpickle]

don't let there be another one...

I expect that by the next one

Elfquest FTW!

[Zobeid]

I cringe at all the comic-based movies. Comic books have been a creative ghetto for decades, and now movies can go the same place. This is progress?

However, I've also got to say. . . ELFQUEST, F*** YEAH!

It's just about 25 years overdue, IMO. But Hollywood will probably butcher it anyhow, as is their wont. (Is my cynicism showing?)

ROFL

[Anonymous Coward]

Learn to read intended meanings, not literal words.

Learn to express yourself clearly, and say what you mean.

Re:ROFL

[Goaway]

I did, and I did.

Re:Off Topic -- SCI FI Book to Movie

[OldHorton]

I'm still waiting on Rendezvous With Rama, one of the BEST sci-fi books ever written.

Except...

[Cyno01]

Kevin Smith has seen a pre-screening of Watchmen and said they got it right.

http://www.slashfilm.com/2008/08/15/kevin-smith-has-seen-watchmen-its-fking-astounding/

Re:Except...

[Weaselmancer]

Thanks for that link. I officially have hope now.

Re:Except...

[_2Karl]

When Alan Moore says they got it right then I'll believe it.

And yet...

[Anonymous Coward]

No Sandman (or Death), no Transmetropolitan.

I don't know, maybe that's a good thing. Most of these movies are probably going to be ridiculously awful.

I liked Y: The Last Man, but I can't see them turning that into a good movie.

!New

[DynaSoar]

> "The comic book is the new spec script in Hollywood"

!new:
Heavy Metal 1982
Judge Dredd 1992
The Fifth Element 1998

That's just a few of the more enduring successes.

It just occurred to me that "Unbreakable" is Bruce Willis's second (at least) film from a comic. I wonder if he's a fan?

original?

[glyph42]

Finally we will be treated to live-action adaptations of such classics as Buck Rogers, Sherlock Holmes, Wonder Woman, Red Sonja, Barbarella, The Green Hornet and The Flash! Wait, what? Those were made into live-action years ago? Oh bloody hell. Oh well, I for one am looking forward to the sequels to recent films in that list, such as Iron Man and (maybe sequel) Superman. I guess I will treat the rest as not-really-sequels and / or pseudo-remakes. Lots of movies were better the second time around anyway. Most aren't, but here's hoping.

*facepalm*

[w0mprat]

Just when I thought hollywood had become pathologically adverse to original ideas. Now with an economic downturn it gets worse still...

Look! It comes pre-storyboarded!

[randallecook]

Apparently the fact that comics and graphic novels come pre-storyboarded is a major selling-point. Hollywood's collective imagination must be completely bankrupt for it to have come to this. They need small teams, small budgets, imaginative directors, and brilliant writers. I believe that when people have to make do with less it forces the creativity like nothing else. The people are out there. Foster them. Oh yeah, they need good actors, too, but they are relatively common. :)

HERE'S a comic book movie for you :)

[Dogtanian]

I'm very dissapointed to see Buster Gonads wasn't on that list.

Well, speaking of Viz characters, they already made one of The Fat Slags. Never seen it myself, but it's supposedly dire.

Even so, I'd love to see the reaction of the average American Slashdot reader going to see that because it was a "comic book movie". :)

On second thoughts, they can check out the claymation version

It is interesting to see that the British..

[Anonymous Coward]

make films like Laurence of Arabia, The Dam Busters, Zulu, Battle of Britain and 55 Days in Peking, which are about heroics which really happened.

While the Americans make films about Superman and Batman, who share with other 'American Heros' the quality of being totally imaginary.

Occasionally, the Americans make films about British heroics, but change the plot to cast an American as the hero. Who can forget U-571, where we learn that it was America that captured the first Enigma, or The Ghost and the Darkness, where we learn that British Big Game Hunters in Africa were really American?

What?!

[Anonymous Coward]

What! Why isn't Aquaman on there? He's under-appreciated enough as is he needs his own crappy movie.

Which ones of these are not action-heavy?

[WDot]

I read through the list of comics and most of them seem like they could contain heavy amounts of generic comic-book action and special effects. Are any of these comics more about story/character development than fight scenes? I enjoyed the dialogue/character development parts of Iron Man, but was bored with the fight scenes.

I'm not a Sundance fanatic, I just want to know if there are any upcoming comic book movies that will be significantly different than the usual?

"Wonder Woman" casting

[ErkDemon]

It might still be possible to do something interesting with Wonder Woman if they cast Rosario Dawson.

Family Circus?

[Anonymous Coward]

I love that comic. I hope they fast-track a Family Circus movie.

Marvel Micronauts & Shogun Warriors

[MadRat]

There were two epic Marvel story lines based on toy lines I'd like to see on the big screen; Micronauts & Shogun Warriors!! If they stuck to the story lines even half as well as the Transformers movie or Iron Man then that would be bonus.

And yet they have missed the best one

[maxm]

"War Machine: Rogue Trooper" is one of the best graphic novels ever made.

http://www.voidspace.org.uk/cyberpunk/rogue.shtml

And it would be very easy to translate it into a movie script. It reads like one already.