Comic book movies -- the other discussion

[newman]

So, over in his LJ my friend Justin raised the question "What comic book(s) do you think would make a good movie? Feel free to assume that it's a competent adaptation, not a hatchet job, but assume that it has to fit into the usual constraints of a movie: about two hours, and has to be able to make enough money to be worth its budget".

In terms of adaptations, novels often make poor source material for films. Even a long movie has trouble fitting in all of the elements that make a novel appealing. Short stories and novellas work pretty well, as do plays, which are already about move-length. Comic books are often serialized novels, taking months or years of issues to complete a story arc. While individual issues (or short collections of issues) might make good films, there are some that just shouldn't be done — either because of reasons of length, or because a good comic book is more than just a storyboard.

Wanted is a prime example of this. It was a fine movie, but it had nothing to do with the comic book. The comic book was a dark, loving, homage to the two great houses in the comic book world, and, if it had been translated to screen accurately, most of America would have said "huh?". Better to have left it on the comic book page — or do what they did, which is the equivalent of never having attempted an adaptation.

There's been a great interest in a Sandman movie or a Watchman movie. I'd happily pass a law declaring these sources off-limits to Hollywood. The adaptation isn't going to to do the inspiration justice.

What comics are simply better as comic books? What comics don't want to be adapted to the big screen? Most of the ones I can think of are comics about comics (Wanted, for example -- but I can think of others). Thoughts?

Comments

[peregrinning.livejournal.com]

Hm. I think the Incredibles makes a good origin story... for Dash, Violet, the family as a whole, and Syndrome. You're right, though, that it doesn't provide the origin stories of Mr. Incredible, Elastigirl, or Frozone.

And isn't Mystery Men the origin story for their group? If memory serves, the team forms as part of the movie.

I think most successful sequels are origin stories - for their villains. Doc Ock in Spider-Man 2, the Joker and [elided] in The Dark Knight. The hero takes a back seat to the story arc of the bad guy. Alas, with movies, the main way to handle this is to kill the bad guy at the end.

[new-man.livejournal.com]

Both Mystery Men and The Incredibles tell the story of a point of transformation for the main characters, but neither gives the origins of the characters or their powers (Dash and Violet were born with theirs, so it's a bit of a cheat).

[brush-rat.livejournal.com]

with the exception of the title character, Hellboy and it's sequel mostly skipped past the origins.

[jducoeur]

True -- but it should be noted, so did the comics. I mean, we're only getting to Abe's origin now, after how many years?