Deal Makes Yet More Comics Into Movies

18 Comments »

1. “Pretty soon, every single fucking film made by Hollywood is gonna be based on a comic one way or another. Ugh.”

   Dark Horse has produced a lot of original materials over the past few decades, including some very non-comic bookish projects. Nicki, just because you have your head so far up Hollywoods ass doesn’t mean everything’s shit. It’s just what you’re exposed too.

   How about Andrew Vachss’ “Another chance to get it right” - brilliant illustrated version? Or perhaps anything written by Frank Miller (300, Ronin)? These authors demonstrate that not all ‘comic books’ are bad.

   Originality may be a sin in Hollywood, but if you open your eyes Nicki, you’ll discover there’s more to ‘illustrated works’ than you thought.

   David (former Dark Horse employee)

   Comment by David — March 14, 2008 @ 12:22 pm

2. Easy Nikki, don’t be so judgmental.
   I would rather see adapted versions of Dan Clowes, Joe Matt, Adrian Tomine, Alan Moore, Will Eisner, Yoshiro Tatsumi than Joe Esterhas, Akiva Hacksman, et al. Don’t hate…

   Comment by cinema fan — March 14, 2008 @ 1:06 pm

3. so what? comics or novels? its all literature.

   “ugh”….?

   how about “oi vey.” Yet another elitist hollywood observer who still thinks comic books are for kids.

   go figure.

   kind of shocked Ms.Finke, that you find this so offensive. You will find not a few of the best contemporary comic book creators were members of the unions who lately brought down the hollywood tv titans unfair and selfish royalty structure, or lack thereof.

   but thats a horse of another color for you to discover for yourself.

   too bad you wish to remain in the “dark ages.”

   cheers kiddo…wink wink

   Comment by hal jordan — March 14, 2008 @ 1:16 pm

4. I don’t know why any of you are bothering to complain. Sure, there are plenty of bad comic book movies, but there are plenty of bad movies from any number of source. Regardless, this is a news site (albeit a rather tabloid-esque one) and not a taste-making site. Have you ever really noticed Finke to have decent taste at all? It’s simply about the business, not the art…

   Comment by jesus — March 14, 2008 @ 1:36 pm

5. I don’t have a problem with comic book movies.

   I do have a problem with BAD comic book movies.

   Many comics have well written stories and a wonderful visual style that should translate well into cinema.

   Problems arise when film directors and producers try to put their own “imagining” or try to make the original story hip, like putting nipples on the bat-suit.

   Dark Horse strikes me as a shrewd handler of properties, keeping their original fans in mind, while aiming to win over new fans.

   I wish the new deal luck.

   Comment by Furious D — March 14, 2008 @ 1:55 pm

6. Who can blame Ms. Finke for saying ugh to the idea of more comic book/graphic novel adaptations? Almost all that feature films have to show from such adaptations are utter, unforgivable shit. (See League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.)

   So until producers, writers, as well as the studio get it right, we can continue to expect people to say ugh. And rightly so.

   In the meantime, we [comic and graphic novel readers] can continue hoping creative types will actually one day READ the stuff and get a better sense of some of the brilliance waiting to be properly understood and adapted. e.g. That every comic property doesn’t have to be mangled into making a tentpole.

   Comment by Ella — March 14, 2008 @ 2:01 pm

7. Nikki -

   HELLBOY was a terrific movie!

   Comment by Tom — March 14, 2008 @ 2:13 pm

8. “Who can blame Ms. Finke for saying ugh to the idea of more comic book/graphic novel adaptations?”

   True enough… there have been plenty of awful ones… far more than there have been good. It’s just that I find that equally true of original screenplays or scripts based on books. I just think it’s interesting to note that this site gushed over the vapid psuedo slang fest of Juno, especially when a far more subtle and nuanced film such as Ghost World (based on a comic book) dealt with teen life in a much much more knowing way. The point being, as long as the source material is great, I could care less what a film is based on.

   Comment by jesus — March 14, 2008 @ 2:47 pm

9. Sorry kids. I’m with Nik on this one.

   Someone above put it aptly when he/she stated: “I’m against BAD comic book movies”, which let’s face it, comprises about 95% of the adaptations that hit the screen.

   Worse yet, they don’t seem to make a dime.

   Here’s hoping Hollywood will STOP catering to the disgracefully overrated geek-boy market and get back to writing original material.

   That also goes for video games and graphic novels.

   Comment by Layne — March 14, 2008 @ 4:25 pm

10. American Splendor?
    Ghost World?
    History of Violence?
    Road to Perdition?

    Just to think of a few.

    Comics is a medium, not a genre. Just as valid of a source as anything else, and with the same percentage of crap as any other medium, including original screenplays.

    They just happen to be big at the moment.
    –Brian
    “Ninety percent of everything is crap.” Theodore Sturgeon

    Comment by Brian — March 14, 2008 @ 5:10 pm

11. I would rather see a great comic book film over a crappy churning out of the same old stuff (see the horror genre as an example).

    Everything today is an adaption - why not adapt comics too?

    As long as they are done well - I applaud the jump from the pages of comics to the big screen. See Sin City, many of the Batman films, etc.

    When they are spun into something that doesn’t even resemble the book they were based on is when Hollywood misses it mark. Catwoman being a huge example of that. I also hear that Wanted might find itself with the same issue because they took a very gritty comic and twisted everything that made it what it was.

    With word that titles like Y the Last Man are being adapted I applaud but also hope for respect for the material. Great material. Written in many cases, as mentioned by another comment, by folks working on some of the most respected shows on TV right now.

    Tapping into the Dark Horse stable is a genius move by a studio as long as they respect the material. Well respected adaption of Dark Horse books would mean better films than 75% of the dredge Hollywood released on the big screen last year.

    Comment by Michele — March 14, 2008 @ 7:06 pm

12. “Here’s hoping Hollywood will STOP catering to the disgracefully overrated geek-boy market and get back to writing original material.”

    To discount comics as simply the “fan-boy” market is probably the wrong approach.

    Go to your local comic and dig deep, past the spandex and you maybe surprised.

    Then again you may not be, but to try and sweep the movies of “History of Violence” and “Fantastic Four” under the same carpet is simply nuts.

    Comment by simon — March 14, 2008 @ 10:40 pm

13. Comics are okay but all Manga seem to be fixated on rape. I don’t that should be in the theaters every weekend.

    Comment by John — March 15, 2008 @ 2:50 am

14. This isn’t really about “comic book movies”, Nicki; it’s about overblown blockbusters. I really see little difference between LORD OF THE RINGS and 300; both are too long, too loud, and think too much of themselves. The problem is the cowardly morons at the studios, who want a “pre-sold” name or something that LOOKS like a pre-sold name.(Warners owns DC comics, which has a huge library of material- but as far as the suits are concerned it consists of “Superman, Batman, and MAYBE Wonder Woman- but only if female heroes seem “hot” right now”.)

    Comment by craig — March 15, 2008 @ 4:14 am

15. –Brian
    “Ninety percent of everything is crap.” Theodore Sturgeon

    Sturgeon is wrong. 98% of everything is crap.

    Comment by needs correcting — March 15, 2008 @ 7:44 am

16. Well, if 95% of all comic adaptations are crap, I have some other genres that people should stop making:

    Dr. Seuss films
    Ben Stiller films
    Wayans Brother films
    etc etc

    There are a lot of great comic adaptations out there, and just because people either don’t appreciate the source or because writers fail to properly adapt the source doesn’t mean the entire genre is crap.

    Comment by icyone — March 15, 2008 @ 12:08 pm

17. Basically comic books were originally made for moron kids that didn’t know how to read a book. He-men in tights, living in bat-caves or Fortresses of Solitude were strictly perverted, ‘loner’ male fantasies. So the medium developed…big deal…so the heroes became pop culture icons…big deal…fact of the matter is, its all just so-oo fucking juvenile…the only brilliant thing to ever come out of comics books are the artists…as a writer all Stan Lee ever did was rip off great public domain literature, and made comic book characters speak ‘real’ with slang…hell Will Eisner, the great graphic artist, was a bigot that happily used a racial characterization for humor in his weekly “Spirit” strip…I blame Lucas for killing great science-fiction and I blame all these shit horror comics owned by shit movie companies for promoting stupidity, cartoonish torture and pornogore violence…

    Comment by Jack Shellac — March 24, 2008 @ 3:54 pm

18. Hey, Nikki, in case you missed it:

    Nikki Finke’s Nightmare Is Becoming Real

    Comment by Mike Cane — April 26, 2008 @ 9:51 am

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