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Post by thwhtguardian on Mar 10, 2024 11:57:56 GMT -5
After watching the recent adaptation of Raymond Chandler's Marlowe (though the film is actually based on a novel by Jon Banville) I thought to myself, "How is it that Marlowe never got so much as a miniseries?" He featured in a couple dozen short stories, a few novels and a dozen movies and a few TV shows but never made the leap to comics for some reason(unless I'm mistaken) which just seemed down right odd.
What other characters are you surprised have never made the jump from novels or film into comics?
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Post by Deleted on Mar 10, 2024 12:21:14 GMT -5
I have to qualify this a bit since technically there was some short-lived newspaper strip activity, and even two early 90's Belgian comic one-off books, but overall Nero Wolfe never got a comic book series proper. This surprises me considering how prolific Rex Stout was and the popularity of the character in detective novel circles.
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Mar 10, 2024 12:32:19 GMT -5
After watching the recent adaptation of Raymond Chandler's Marlowe (though the film is actually based on a novel by Jon Banville) I thought to myself, "How is it that Marlowe never got so much as a miniseries?" He featured in a couple dozen short stories, a few novels and a dozen movies and a few TV shows but never made the leap to comics for some reason(unless I'm mistaken) which just seemed down right odd. What other characters are you surprised have never made the jump from novels or film into comics? There was a fabulous adaptation of The Little Sister by Michael Lark that was published as a graphic novel in 1997. I know that I've mentioned it a number of times here as has...maybe MRP and CodyStarbuck. It does seem odd that there was never an attempt at a comic strip back in the day. I suspect part of the issue is that detectives haven't been a big thing in comic books in a very very long time, so the cost for the rights would make it difficult for it to make money.  |
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Post by thwhtguardian on Mar 10, 2024 12:37:20 GMT -5
After watching the recent adaptation of Raymond Chandler's Marlowe (though the film is actually based on a novel by Jon Banville) I thought to myself, "How is it that Marlowe never got so much as a miniseries?" He featured in a couple dozen short stories, a few novels and a dozen movies and a few TV shows but never made the leap to comics for some reason(unless I'm mistaken) which just seemed down right odd. What other characters are you surprised have never made the jump from novels or film into comics? There was a fabulous adaptation of The Little Sister by Michael Lark that was published as a graphic novel in 1997. I know that I've mentioned it a number of times here as has...maybe MRP and CodyStarbuck. It does seem odd that there was never an attempt at a comic strip back in the day. I suspect part of the issue is that detectives haven't been a big thing in comic books in a very very long time, so the cost for the rights would make it difficult for it to make money. I had no idea that existed, but I need it in my life! And you might very well be right about the genre not being huge, though I happen to think noir works fantastically well in comic book art so it seems a perfect fit to me. |
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Mar 10, 2024 13:06:38 GMT -5
There was a fabulous adaptation of The Little Sister by Michael Lark that was published as a graphic novel in 1997. I know that I've mentioned it a number of times here as has...maybe MRP and CodyStarbuck. It does seem odd that there was never an attempt at a comic strip back in the day. I suspect part of the issue is that detectives haven't been a big thing in comic books in a very very long time, so the cost for the rights would make it difficult for it to make money. I had no idea that existed, but I need it in my life! And you might very well be right about the genre not being huge, though I happen to think noir works fantastically well in comic book art so it seems a perfect fit to me. I absolutely agree and I'm a big fan of noir and hard-boiled detectives. I think that Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips have shown that it works with books like Criminal and The Fade Out. I'd love to see Marlowe, Sam Spade and The Continental Op if they were well done. |
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Post by EdoBosnar on Mar 10, 2024 13:23:45 GMT -5
(...) I'd love to see Marlowe, Sam Spade and The Continental Op if they were well done. I kid you not, as soon as I saw the heading for this thread, Hammett's Continental Op was one of the first that came to mind. A few years ago when I was reading Selina's Big Score, it occurred to me that it would have been so cool if Darwyn Cooke had done adaptations of the Continental Op stories. |
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Post by EdoBosnar on Mar 10, 2024 13:56:36 GMT -5
Another one that surprises me a bit is Charles Saunders' sword & soul hero Imaro. The character was, admittedly, a tad obscure, but then again, Saunders was a good friend of Gene Day's and I think he was acquainted with a few others in the comics world. Personally, I'd love to see an Imaro story, or stories, drawn by Denys Cowan.
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Post by codystarbuck on Mar 10, 2024 14:00:33 GMT -5
It took YEARS for them to do a Prisoner take in comics....I always wondered if there were so many tv comics in the 1960s, especially by DELL, how come they missed out on this one? No. 6 was made for a comics adaptation dammit.....
I do know Kirby attempted one, had pages drawn out, but it never came to pass for whatever reason.
Started out with Steve Englehart & Gil Kane, under Marv Wolfman's EIC; but, then the EIC turmoil went down, Englehart was gone and then Kirby got his crack at it. Only 17 pages of art were done, but, for whatever reason, it didn't go ahead. My guess is they either felt there wasn't enough action (Kirby was adapting "Arrival," which has a ton of exposition, setting up the premise, the Village, Number 2 and Number 6's unflinching rebellion). The 17 pages mostly covers the first half of the episode and most of the action is in the second half (Rover capturing Number 6 when he tries toe scape, trying again, at the climax). I suspect, ultimately, they decided it was too cerebral for a comic book audience or, the rights holder rejected the pages. I tend to think Marvel was more likely to have axed it them ITW or McGoohan. Saw something else that said Wolfman originally intended it for himself and Gene Colan, but Colan wasn't enthused by the idea, which is how Englehart & Kane came into the picture. I liked Dean Motter's sequel, Shattered Visage, far more than the Titan reimagining. Motter is more in tune with McGoohan, to my mind. |
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Post by codystarbuck on Mar 10, 2024 14:11:49 GMT -5
CL Moore's Northwest Smith seems like a no-brainer. A roguish space smuggler, visiting other planets and such. Granted, the swipe of it did quite well in comics: Star Wars. Northwest Smith was one of the key inspirations for Han Solo. I would also add Harry Harrison's Stainless Steel Rat, though there were some comics in 2000 AD, from Kelvin Gosnell and Carlos Ezquerra.
Hammer's Captain Kronos seems like another no-brainer. A vampire hunter who has to work out the vampire's specific weakness, is a former guards office in the Imperial Army (assumed to be the Austro-Hungarian Empire), who carries a katana and a rapier and travels with his hunchbacked companion, Prof Hieronymus Grost.
Surprised that more hasn't been attempted with some of the French pulp characters, in the US market, like Fantomas, Arsene Lupin and Irma Vep & The Vampires....as well as Judex. Alan Moore tossed them a bone in League of Extraordinary Gentlemen and there was a Fantomas series in Mexico (and Europe), and Japan's Lupin III is supposed to be the grandson of Arsine Lupin (which got them in legal trouble, which is ironic, given that Lupin had an unauthorized match against Sherlock Holmes that got the name changed in later editions).
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Post by driver1980 on Mar 10, 2024 15:45:32 GMT -5
The Equalizer. Would have liked to see a niche publisher give us that.
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Post by MRPs_Missives on Mar 10, 2024 17:22:29 GMT -5
Another one that surprises me a bit is Charles Saunders' sword & soul hero Imaro. The character was, admittedly, a tad obscure, but then again, Saunders was a good friend of Gene Day's and I think he was acquainted with a few others in the comics world. Personally, I'd love to see an Imaro story, or stories, drawn by Denys Cowan. I'd be all over it. There are a few sword & soul comics, but Imaro has never been adapted. If you're curious about some sword & soul comics (though I think you are familiar with this one already iirc) there's Antar the Black Knight put out by IDW in 2018 written by Nnedi Okarafor  which was supposed to be more than a one shot but only one issue ever came out. There's also the recent Tales of Asunda mini from Stranger Comics in 2023  which I believe uses the same world as some previous sword & soul comics they produced (and offers D&D stats for items/monsters in the story). I believe MVMedia also offers a number of sword & soul graphic novels' they're currently keeping some of the Saunders stuff in print (or were last I checked). -M |
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Post by MRPs_Missives on Mar 10, 2024 17:24:39 GMT -5
CL Moore's Northwest Smith seems like a no-brainer. A roguish space smuggler, visiting other planets and such. Granted, the swipe of it did quite well in comics: Star Wars. Northwest Smith was one of the key inspirations for Han Solo. I would also add Harry Harrison's Stainless Steel Rat, though there were some comics in 2000 AD, from Kelvin Gosnell and Carlos Ezquerra. Hammer's Captain Kronos seems like another no-brainer. A vampire hunter who has to work out the vampire's specific weakness, is a former guards office in the Imperial Army (assumed to be the Austro-Hungarian Empire), who carries a katana and a rapier and travels with his hunchbacked companion, Prof Hieronymus Grost. Surprised that more hasn't been attempted with some of the French pulp characters, in the US market, like Fantomas, Arsene Lupin and Irma Vep & The Vampires....as well as Judex. Alan Moore tossed them a bone in League of Extraordinary Gentlemen and there was a Fantomas series in Mexico (and Europe), and Japan's Lupin III is supposed to be the grandson of Arsine Lupin (which got them in legal trouble, which is ironic, given that Lupin had an unauthorized match against Sherlock Holmes that got the name changed in later editions). To the end I am surprised at the height of Conan and Sonja's popularity in the 70s, no one tried adapting her Jiriel of Joiry stories. Jiriel was the prototype sword & sorcery swordswoman and a lot of the DNA/tropes Red Sonja is built with originate with her. -M |
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Post by Calidore on Mar 10, 2024 17:38:59 GMT -5
Seems like Twin Peaks, being lots of weirdness in a highly picturesque location, would be a natural for comics.
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Post by codystarbuck on Mar 10, 2024 17:42:25 GMT -5
Talbot Mundy's JimGrim is another, especially since he is one of the forefathers of Indiana Jones and RE Howard's El Borak. For that matter, El Borak, himself, given the other Howard characters who got comic series or mini-series.
It wouldn't have been commercial; but, I'd love to have seen a Jeeves & Wooster series, adapting some of the Wodehouse stories. You'd need a writer and artist adept at character comedy.
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Post by codystarbuck on Mar 10, 2024 17:44:28 GMT -5
Seems like Twin Peaks, being lots of weirdness in a highly picturesque location, would be a natural for comics. I see a whole lot of comics that don't really have endings and make no sense, sober. |
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