Top Ten Tuesday: (At least) 10 Comic Book Adaptations That Are Worth a Watch

by Luke M.

While perhaps not the highest regarded medium of telling stories, it's hard to deny the massive impact comics and graphic novels have had on both literature, and pop culture. Whether it be crime-fighting superheroes or depictions of real-life events, comics have established themselves as an innovative way of storytelling, with some even winning prestigious awards (Art Spiegelman's Maus won a Pulitzer Prize in 1980).

Because of the widespread appeal of these books, it's easy to see why TV/film producers will reach out to these companies to pitch adaptations. Some of these adaptations will become fan favorites that will be highly regarded by both fans of the source material and average tv goers, others… simply don’t. Regardless of the quality of these selections, it’s important to give some adaptations a chance, even if it’s not exactly like the book. This is why, I present to you (at least) 10 comic book adaptations worth watching, in no particular order. Also, I’m not including any MCU or DCU content; let's give some other works their time to shine.

Nimona

What better way to start off this list than with an Oscar nominee? After years of development hell, including the original studio shutting down, Noelle Stevenson’s acclaimed graphic novel finally got to be seen when Netflix bought the rights to finish the project. This movie is a prime example of adapting a great book, and making it even better. The movie still follows Nimona (Chloë Grace Moretz) and her ambitions to become the sidekick of the misunderstood villain, Ballister Blackheart (Riz Ahmed), but the movie raises the stakes even higher and explores the character of Blackheart even deeper than the book. With extremely fluid animation and an amazing story, you should give this a watch whether you have read the book or not.

Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur 

Just because I’m not talking about MCU content doesn’t mean I’m excluding Marvel content entirely, especially when Disney Television Animation made this unexpected masterpiece. Based on the Marvel comics of the same name, the show follows the superhero alias of Lunella Lafayette (Diamond White) and her 1000-ton dinosaur (Fred Tatasciore) as they defend New York's Lower East Side from any villain that threatens her community. With animation that takes heavy inspiration from both Spiderverse and Rise of the TMNT, combined with the way it addresses real life issues like gentrification and cyberbullying, this show is a must watch for anyone interested in animation and comics in general. 

Invincible

With season 2 wrapping up, there is no better time than now to talk about this. I’m guilty of admitting that I have not seen this show, but it certainly has been the talk of the school. From what I can tell, the show follows 17-year-old Mark Grayson (Steven Yeun) and his training to become a superhero like his dad (JK Simmons), while also uncovering some dark secrets about his fathers past. Praised for its action sequences, voice-acting, and story, I definitely need to watch this show based on Robert Kirkman's series, and chances are, you should probably check this out too.

Persepolis

Definitely the black sheep of this list, but no less interesting. Based on Marjane Satrapi’s famous autobiographical graphic novels, this independent film combines both books to tell the complete story of Satrapi’s (Chiara Mastroianni) experience with Iran; from her childhood growing up during the Iranian revolution to her temporary return to Iran. I highly recommend this movie if you’re into independent film, Iranian history, or foreign animation (this was made in cooperation with France and Iran).

Batman Adaptations

With a superhero as beloved as Batman, many different people have made it their mission to adapt the Dark Knight in the best way possible, and it feels wrong to talk about only one. So instead, I’m going to give you a quick rundown of some of my favorites:

• Batman The Animated Series: If your show is able to get a Lego set 30 years after its finale, you must have done something right.

• Batman Beyond: Taking place 20 years later after the original Batman animated series, a new person takes up the cape in this dark, futuristic, cult classic.

• Dark Knight Trilogy: Let’s be honest, Christopher Nolan’s iconic trilogy is the first thing that pops up in your mind when you think of Batman.

• The Batman: While Batman's most recent venture into the big screen has been compared a lot to the Christopher Nolan films that came before, it still does a great job depicting Bruce Wayne in a way not really explored before with a unique atmosphere.

• Joker: You are definitely missing the point by idolizing him; still a pretty good movie though.

Spider-man Adaptations

Similar to Batman, Spider-man has been such a fixture in film/television that it would be a disgrace to talk about just one. So let's not do that:

• Spectacular Spider-Man: With its snappy dialogue and actually relatable drama, it’s easy to see why Josh Keaton’s Spider-man made a cameo in Across the Spider Verse.

• The Amazing Spider-Man: It might not be a popular pick, but it’s darker tone and the chemistry between Peter Parker (Andrew Garfield) and Gwen Stacy (Emma Stone) makes this take deserving of respect.

• The Spider-verse movies: Is there really anything I can say further? These movies broke new grounds in both animation and storytelling.

X-Men TAS (and ‘97)

I couldn’t really choose between the 2 so I did both. The original X-Men animated show, while flawed with production issues, established itself as a classic with its faithfulness to the original comics and experimentation with its serialized stories, being compared favorably to Batman TAS. So much so that, 30 years later, Marvel Animation rebooted the series for Disney+. X-Men '97 continues right where the original series left off, with the brave and resilient mutants facing new challenges after the loss of Professor X (Cedric Smith). Both the original and the reboot translate the mature X-men comics fabulously into the realm of television.

Scott Pilgrim Takes Off

Speaking of reboots, I don’t think anybody was expecting a Scott Pilgrim anime in the year 2023, but I could not be prouder of its existence. If you don’t know, the original story is about the titular loser, Scott Pilgrim, who in order to win the love of his dream girl, Ramona Flowers, battles her 7 evil exes. While the 2010 movie, Scott Pilgrim vs The World, is an amazing adaptation, I want to shine some light on this new take. This new show offers an alternative take on the story with Scott Pilgrim (still Michael Cera) supposedly losing the fight with Ramona Flowers’s (still Mary Elizabeth Winstead) 1st evil ex. Now Ramona goes on a quest asking various people in Scott’s life, as well as confronting her own exes, to find out where Scott is. In a time when many reboots are either very predictable or unremarkable, Scott Pilgrim Takes Off will surprise both fans of the original story and newcomers while still being faithful to the lore the beloved graphic novels set up.

American Born Chinese

Also speaking of new takes on existing works, we have Disney’s take on the acclaimed graphic novel, American Born Chinese, streaming on Disney+. The original book focuses on 3 separate tales that share the theme of identity and personal transformation. The show sets out to do the same thing, but in a much different way. The show pretty much abandons the 3rd story and merges the 1st and 2nd story into one (which, now that I think about it, is what the book did… coincidence?). It still focuses on Jim Wang (Ben Wang) wanting to be a typical high school kid, until he befriends an exchange student (Jimmy Liu) who is very open and doesn’t exhibit any self-doubt. Similar to Scott Pilgrim Takes Off, if you can get past the fact that they’re not telling the same story, I think you will very much appreciate this show.

The Sandman

 

Finally, we have the long-awaited adaptation of The Sandman that premiered on Netflix in 2022. Ever since the 90s, there have been various attempts to adapt Neil Gaiman’s highly influential comic books, all of which languished in development hell. That changed when he found the right connections and made the show he wanted to make, while also making changes. For those unfamiliar, the story follows Dream (Tom Sturridge), aka the Sandman, as he travels to different worlds and timelines to fix the chaos that followed after he was imprisoned for a century. This show removes all ties to other DC Comics to ensure the viewer has no problem following the story. Overall, definitely an interesting watch for fans of the series and adventure seekers.