A comic fan’s biggest dream (or worst nightmare, depending on who you ask) is to see their favorite four-color caped crusader grace the big screen. Comic adaptations are nothing new, with radio shows adapting some of the earliest adventures of Superman and Captain America in the 1940s. These forays away from the page are not always welcomed with praise from the fans however, and many complaints stem from the movie or TV show straying too far from their source material. In some cases, I would agree with the disgruntled keyboard crusaders pointing out the inaccuracies in the plot or crying for justice over flawed characterization. Other times, I think it’s nice when creators realize that a comic only works on paper and not on a screen. Comics are a very fluid medium of entertainment, and adapting them to TV or movies is something that is going to happen as long as there are good stories to tell.
A great example of adapting source material and altering it to fit a new format is The Umbrella Academy by Gerard Way and Gabriel Ba. Both stories follow the dysfunctional lives of 7 super-human siblings as they struggle with day to day life after a childhood of saving the world. The characterization is very well done and the story doesn’t stray much from the original comics. There are some differences however, but I feel like these changes really made the show stand out. I remember seeing an interview with Gerard and Gabriel around the time of the shows release where they talked about the struggles in bringing their story to life. They didn’t want to just copy and paste everything from the page onto the screen, they wanted to truly adapt it to fit a new medium entirely. Watching the show feels different than reading the comics, and I think that’s an approach more creators should take.
On the other side of the adaptation spectrum sits Watchmen by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons, with the movie being almost a panel for panel reshoot of the comic it’s based on. One of the most influential graphic novels of all time, Watchmen shows a bleak reality full of every day vigilantes trying to change the world for the better. With the emergence of the world’s first super-human, Doctor Manhattan, everything changes and a new era of heroes is born. An absolutely brilliant take on the cape and cowl crime fighting story that changed the direction of comics forever. It’s no surprise that when the time came to bring the Watchmen to the big screen, not much needed changed. Moore’s brilliant dialogue and Gibbons’ cinematic framing gave the perfect blueprint for an adaptation. I highly recommend watching the movie and reading the comic (in whatever order you prefer), then going back to the movie with book in hand to see just how spot on the adaptation is.
I could write a whole book when it comes Marvel comic adaptations, but I’ll just stick with one for now. When it comes to adapting a character that has been around for over 50+ years with hundreds of stories to tell, it’s hard to decide how best to make the jump from the page. I believe that the 2008 Iron Man movie does a great job of modernizing a comic while also staying true to its source. Iron Man follows the story of billionaire playboy Tony Stark, who runs a very successful weapons company. In the original comics, Tony visits Vietnam at the height of the war to demonstrate his newest invention. After an attack that leaves Tony with shrapnel imbedded in his chest, he is captured by a ruthless warlord that forces him to fabricate weapons. Aided by an assistant, Professor Yinsen, Tony instead builds a suit of armor capable of breaking himself out of the prison camp where he is held. The movie changes various smaller things, like setting it in middle east rather than Vietnam, but other than that does a good job of taking both modern and original stories into consideration when bring Iron Man to the big screen.
Whether it’s a true to source adaptation, or an inaccurate story retelling, comic books are going to continue to be brought to life for better or for worse. But just remember, whenever you’re watching something you’re not happy with, comics will always be there for you.
