Graphic Novels to Big Screen

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Anita_Blake on December 1, 2008 at 4:00pm

I agree, so far I have enjoyed the movies for the most part. I am excited for Watchmen as I have the read the books several times. I am often disappointed as the movies are never as good as the books, but I like to see them come to life none the less.

I should do it your way and watch the movies BEFORE I read them.

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by bob borka on December 1, 2008 at 4:14pm

i agree i like the graphic novel movies . i was just reading this the other day 75 comics being made into films. keep 'em comin'.

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by The Professor on December 1, 2008 at 4:24pm

Road to Perdition was one of my favorites. I liked how no one realized it had been a comic first.

I'm also a huge fan of "Lone Wolf and Cub," but those were filmed decades ago.

By the by, I've never liked the term 'graphic novel.' I think it diminishes the term comic book. I just could never stand those guys in the comic shop who said "I don't read comic books, comics and super heroes are for little kids -- I read graphic novels..." Yuck.

Still though, it's only a tiny gripe :-)

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by jessica on December 1, 2008 at 4:33pm

i will have to say i was/am naive to them so i though comics were just superheros and kids stuff to...but now i am "cultured" lol.

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by The Professor on December 1, 2008 at 4:43pm

Like I said, it's no big deal. :-)

Here's something interesting though: the "Watchmen" trailer says it is based on the 'most acclaimed graphic novel' of all time, which is fairly incorrect any way you look at it. When it came out in the 80s, it ran as a 12 issue limited series of plain old monthly comic books. At the time though, Marvel & DC were both issuing larger format, perfect bound, cardstock covers, and calling them "graphic novels." (Not trade paperbacks, they came later) So in that sense the Watchmen was never a graphic novel.

The nomenclature has changed a bit over time so that the term graphic novel has become an acceptable and more 'sophisticated' way to describe all comic books. So the problem there is that if all comic books are graphic novels, the trailer is claiming the Watchmen is the most acclaimed comic book of all time! Ouch -- maybe of the 80s (Though I prefer The Dark Knight), but not really of all time.

There are a few folks out there who will argue that the Watchmen is the best comic book of all time, but even they would be unlike to call it the most "acclaimed." I wouldn't agree with either position!

Good stuff!

P.S. Don't forget the Watchmen is a superhero comic book, and Will Eisner's "The Spirit" was a superhero newspaper comic strip!

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by jessica on December 1, 2008 at 5:29pm

Yeah i know they are superheros...maybe i chose the wrong way to describe what i don't like. Maybe i should say i don't like Justice League superheros, with the exception of Batman of course. I think i like the "flawed" or "dark" superheroes and not the squeaky clean like Superman and Capt. America.

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by B-Independent.com on December 4, 2008 at 4:18pm

Hey, Cap indulges in pre-marital sex like most of us, so I don't think "squeaky clean" applies. If you pick up the 1st ULTIMATES trade, you'll see an interprutation of Cap that even the most jaded of comic fans can appreciate.

As for SUPERMAN, I enjoy the movies, at least how they reflect the culture of times in which they were made. I've always found it interesting how every few decades there seems to be a need to reinvent the character making him more god-like in the process. He started as a man who didn't fly and could only leep tall buildings in a single bound and ended up as Jesus Christ in the last movie.

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by spiderpig on December 1, 2008 at 4:51pm

I've never liked the term 'graphic novel.'

Ditto, Prof. It's as if people feel they have to justify their reading material. Pshaw.

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Aces on December 1, 2008 at 4:54pm

I'm curious - do purists call them Cartoons or Anime?

Movies or Films? Or is there a difference? :-)

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by jessica on December 1, 2008 at 5:30pm

That is a good question...maybe i will start another topic about that.

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by B-Independent.com on December 4, 2008 at 4:25pm

Anime is a Japanese term for their animation. I call American animation cartoons or animated films depending on whether I'm watching a movie or tv show (completely subconsious on this decision), and I Japanese animated works anime.....only because I've offended far to many anime fans because I've refered to it as either Japanimation or Jap-toons (which my Japanese roommates always found endearing...don't ask me why).

Movies or films? I remember this discussion came up on my messageboards years ago. My response of "who teh fuck cares" curtailed the bickering.

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by beeswax on December 2, 2008 at 7:24am

I just could never stand those guys in the comic shop who said "I don't read comic books, comics and super heroes are for little kids -- I read graphic novels..." Yuck.

I agree that someone who would say that sentence is yucky, Prof, but I think you're throwing the graphic novel out with the bathwater.

I read both, by the way, but my Buffy comics are not really the same thing as a graphic novel and you want to make it a lot more difficult to tell a friend about Persepolis. "It's a comic book, but it's really long. Like a full autobiography, but illustrated like a comic book."

See how much longer that takes?

▶ Reply to This

• 1
• 2