Comics And Movies

With this summer officially the summer of the Comic Book Movie, the studios are scrambling to adapt everything and anything they can. Marvel's plans for Thor, Captain America, and eventually, The Avengers, are pretty well known. Warner Bros/DC have talked in recent days of a Superman reboot as well as developing Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, etc. in hopes of finally getting a JLA picture off the ground. Even the indies aren't being left out as one of my favorite comics, Sleeper, has been optioned with Tom Cruise being discussed as the lead. With The Spirit coming for the holidays, Watchmen early in '09, and G.I. Joe and Transformers 2 next summer - it's a good time to be a comic book fan if you like going to the movies.

One of my frequently checked websites, Comics2film, discussed a couple lists of comic book movie ideas. Let's take a look!

First, there was a list of the Top 10 Marvel Comics Heroes they wanted to see in the movies. Here's the list with my comments on each:

Dr. Strange
I could actually dig this one, I think. The Harry Potter movies have shown that magic and fantasy in the right hands can be a lot of fun for everyone. Something that starts darker from moment one could work nicely.

Namor, The Sub-Mariner
Uhhh. I really don't want to see this. I'd be more interesting in Aquaman, I think - and I'm not very interested in that at all. Unless Mandy Moore is playing Aquagirl - then I'm all in.

She-Hulk
Wow. Absolutely no desire to see this. Let's see if we can get the Hulk franchise nice and stable before we go there - and even then, let's not go there.

Ant-Man
Fuck. This list looked like it'd be a lot more fun to check out then it has turned out to be. This is a joke, right?

Captain Marvel
Next?

Scarlet Witch
Seriously? Next?

Nick Fury
Ahhh. There we go. With Samuel Jackson already in place as Mr. Fury, I could totally dig a 24-esque Nick Fury flick. Have him taking on HYDRA and I'm sold.

Black Panther
I actually think this could be good. The Panther background and the story of his country would be a lot of fun. This one probably could fly as a 300-ish style story actually. Just put the Panther in the leader role.

Cloak And Dagger
Never read it. Won't comment.

Power Pack
Nope. But I do think a Luke Cage movie might be fun.


The other article had to do with "unfilmable" movies based off the fact that for years, everyone considered Watchmen to be an unfilmable movie. Of course, a lot of people felt the same way about Sin City and 300 too - guess special effects are bringing down a lot of those walls. So, this was a list of comics considered "unfilmable" that they want Hollywood to tackle. Let's take a look!

The Sandman
Largely considered Neil Gaiman's greatest comic work, The Sandman has been in development hell for years. I'm not super-familiar with it sadly even though it's always been on my list to check out. I think I might even have a TPB of the first arc around here somewhere. I loved Stardust though so if The Sandman approaches the awesomeness of that [which I've always heard it does] I'd be down for it.

Preacher
Man, this list is really bringing back some memories. Preacher and The Sandman were both comics I've always wanted to sink my teeth into but never got around to. I've heard nothing but amazing things about Preacher so I'd be up for it too. However, at one point, there was talk of doing it "issue by issue" as an HBO TV Series. Now _that_ would be pimp.

Marvel Zombies
I've never even heard of this. The description talks about Spidey agonizing after eating Mary Jane. I don't understand why he'd be in agony for doing th- ohhh... I misunderstood. Hrm. I think my version makes for a better movie.

And that's that. Pretty shitty list, IMO. No Y The Last Man? No Fables? No 100 Bullets? Honestly, the entire Vertigo line is ripe to be picked for both the big and little screen. I'd love to see a 100 Bullets anthology series. Fables would be absolutely amazing - and easy to market because the characters are all familiar. Y The Last Man might be better as a TV series.