The next graphic novel to become a movie: what should it be?

[Lord Dalek]

With Sin City doing well at the box-office this weekend I thought it might be a good idea to ask what would be the next great graphic novel screenplay adaptation? Not counting the ones in production now, what GN do you think would make a great film?

[Leaping Larry Jojo]

With Sin City doing well at the box-office this weekend I thought it might be a good idea to ask what would be the next great graphic novel screenplay adaptation? Not counting the ones in production now, what GN do you think would make a great film?
I'm sure something could be done with BLANKETS by Craig Thompson. Or David Boring by Dan Clowes (it may be in production though, I'm not sure).

One thing I would like to see, though, is some animated film adaptations of comic books. I mean, these were originally drawn material. So the most logical progression is animation. Too bad bankable animation is still only the "family friendly" kind. Animation's come a long way...not.

[randomguy]

Interesting question.

Craig Thompson's Blankets is a good call, and I'd be very surprised if it hasn't already been optioned. It practically screams "modestly budgeted arthouse picture from Fox Searchlight."

Given the success of Sin City, I guess the obvious thing to do would be to adapt other Frank Miller works. On that note, 300 and Ronin could make decent features... in fact, I'm pretty certain 300 is being worked on right now.

Another obvious answer is Watchmen, but that too is being done right now, though there appear to be some budgetary woes.

Moving into the less apparent... I can think of a lot of graphic novels I would enjoy seeing transplanted to the screen. I'm a big fan of The Couriers, a graphic novel series which features twenty-somethings Moustafa and Special as mercernary couriers in NYC. It's big, dumb fun, with lots of explosions and bullets and high-speed chases. It's really fun, and it would make one hell of a movie.

Some of Warren Ellis' sci-fi books, like Orbiter, Ministry of Space, and Ocean could work really well on the big screen, with the budget to back it up. Any of the Brian Michael Bendis crime books, like Jinx or Torso, would probably be enjoyable as films.

Any of the Joe Sacco comics journalism works would make a good feature, be it The Fixer, Palestine, or Safe Area Gorazde. I just read Oni Press' The Long Haul, and it'd make a damn fine western, though regrettably Hollywood doesn't seem terribly interested in those anymore.

LLJ's point about animation is a good one, also. It's a shame that more non-superhero comic books aren't considered for animation. I think Maus, in particular, could be well-served by this route.

[Ed Liu]

Howdy,

Xenozoic Tales (a.k.a. Cadillacs & Dinosaurs) might be a fun popcorn film, if they could get a plot down to a decent 2-hour running time.

Supposedly, Concrete has been in development for a long time, but there's been no news for years. I'm still not positive how well it would translate. I think I'd prefer to see it 1) animated, and 2) as a weekly cable TV show (i.e., no commercials) instead of a movie, considering that the short stories are really some of the best ones.

Of Alan Moore's mainstream-ish comics, I think Top 10 is probably the one that would translate best into movies or TV.

This is a harder question that it looks, mostly because nearly everything is already in the works as a movie (Grendel, Mage, Courtney Crumrin, Astro City, Hawaiian Dick...)

-- Ed/Ace

[Ha12leyQuinn]

This storyline has it ALL. Great writing and awesome animation. Now just imagine it on the big screen.

[Leaping Larry Jojo]

Watchmen is in some ways adaptation proof. It does lean on the strengths of the comic book a fair bit, and any attempts to make it a film can't go anywhere but down. I'd expect a "From Hell" like effort. Whoever's working on it right now...good luck.

Neil Gaiman's "Death: the High Cost of Living" would probably make a nice, small movie. Actually I'm pretty sure I heard it was in development. And I'm pretty sure there was an old TV movie that did the very same concept as that mini -series, although I haven't seen it. Can't see anyone being able to adapt his Sandman series properly though.

Mike Allred's "Madman" could probably also be done, at least in the right hands.

[Daughterof_Evil]

Moving into the less apparent... I can think of a lot of graphic novels I would enjoy seeing transplanted to the screen. I'm a big fan of The Couriers, a graphic novel series which features twenty-somethings Moustafa and Special as mercernary couriers in NYC. It's big, dumb fun, with lots of explosions and bullets and high-speed chases. It's really fun, and it would make one hell of a movie.
I couldn't agree more. Though Brian Woods and Becky Cloonan have shown that they're focusing on more arthouse comic productions like Demo, nothing screams "indie action film" more than their work on The Couriers. I mean, gun-toting rollerbladers? Middle Eastern restaurant? Retired communist general? I once heard that Woods and Cloonan were kind of "what if" talking about if Channel Zero (in which Moustafa and Special make their first comic appearance) or Jenny One was ever made into a movie, they would want Michelle Rodriguez to play the main character Jenny. Though considering the politics at play in both of those comics, I doubt they would ever see the light of day as films.

I'm sure this doesn't count, because it's already in pre-production, but I always thought David Mack's Kabuki series would rock as a movie. It has all the things that would draw an audience (as long as that audience hadn't seen Elektra): a masked woman in a skintight uniform working as sole propagandist and assassin for the Japanese government. Revenge, honor, swords, all that good stuff. Similarly, his offshoot series Scarab would make a great film, possibly better than Kabuki because it actually has a "normal" woman drawn into the same world as Kabuki; they could work as parallel movie series since they're connected but don't rely on one another.

[guerillacropoli]

I'm surprised an animated version of Maus hasn't already been made. It almost makes me think Spiegelman has refused any adaptation of his work.