MAKE IT OR BREAK IT #4
With your host, David Paul
SO many titles to get to today. What’s good, what’s bad—who cares! What we really care about is what comics we’ll be watching at the movies. But this is a bit more than fantasy I’m talking about today. What matters in Hollywood are potential blockbusters.
The trends are telling studios those blockbusters will be adaptations of well-known comics from the mainstream; mostly Marvel titles. So let’s not go all crazy, expecting any of our favorite indie series to be adapted anytime soon. It’s all been flipped. Was a day people had no idea some of the best movies we’re adaptations from comics. Say goodbye to that.
Here’s a game: let’s all pretend we’re the big studio execs today. We have before us a pile of comics to choose from. Which of these titles are going to make the best movies? So let’s dive in.
DOCTOR SPEKTOR: MASTER OF THE OCCULT #1
By: Mark Waid & Neil Edwards
Publisher: Dynamite Entertainment
Verdict: Make it
Spektor is both the genuine article and a celebrity, who happens to hunt creatures of the supernatural in the public eye via a reality series. He’s a little too cocky, or at least that’s the persona he projects. The truth is, there is a man under that façade who happens to care about the work and the people he saves. So it hurts when people think less of him.
As a first issue goes this title does its job well of pulling you in and hoping for the best for what’s to come. For that reason my vote is make it. Of course that could change should the series later disappoint.
PEANUTS (#18)
By: Charles M. Schulz & various writers and artists
Publisher: kaboom!
Verdict: Make it (duh!)
If you have followed my work at all this is no surprise. Naturally a Peanuts movie is due sometime next year and it makes me very VERY nervous. Of all potential adaptations this is one they absolutely MUST get right. If Snoopy talks I’m leaving the theater and slapping the manager in the mouth for accepting something substandard. If this gets the “Lorax” or Disney treatment I will crash a plane into the luxury house of the exec who green-lit this movie. Yes. I feel that strongly about this movie. So don’t even get me started on a Calvin & Hobbes movie! DEATH FROM ABOVE!!
CLIVE BARKER’S NIGHTBREED #1
By: Marc Andreyko & Piotr Kowalkski
Publisher: BOOM! Studios
Verdict: Make it.
Not sure how this is “Clive Barker’s Nightbreed” other than his name being attached to the title. But let’s think of this as a series for HBO or Netflix. If you’re not familiar with Nightbreed go acquaint yourself.
With your host, David Paul
SO many titles to get to today. What’s good, what’s bad—who cares! What we really care about is what comics we’ll be watching at the movies. But this is a bit more than fantasy I’m talking about today. What matters in Hollywood are potential blockbusters.
The trends are telling studios those blockbusters will be adaptations of well-known comics from the mainstream; mostly Marvel titles. So let’s not go all crazy, expecting any of our favorite indie series to be adapted anytime soon. It’s all been flipped. Was a day people had no idea some of the best movies we’re adaptations from comics. Say goodbye to that.
Here’s a game: let’s all pretend we’re the big studio execs today. We have before us a pile of comics to choose from. Which of these titles are going to make the best movies? So let’s dive in.
DOCTOR SPEKTOR: MASTER OF THE OCCULT #1
By: Mark Waid & Neil Edwards
Publisher: Dynamite Entertainment
Verdict: Make it
Spektor is both the genuine article and a celebrity, who happens to hunt creatures of the supernatural in the public eye via a reality series. He’s a little too cocky, or at least that’s the persona he projects. The truth is, there is a man under that façade who happens to care about the work and the people he saves. So it hurts when people think less of him.
As a first issue goes this title does its job well of pulling you in and hoping for the best for what’s to come. For that reason my vote is make it. Of course that could change should the series later disappoint.
PEANUTS (#18)
By: Charles M. Schulz & various writers and artists
Publisher: kaboom!
Verdict: Make it (duh!)
If you have followed my work at all this is no surprise. Naturally a Peanuts movie is due sometime next year and it makes me very VERY nervous. Of all potential adaptations this is one they absolutely MUST get right. If Snoopy talks I’m leaving the theater and slapping the manager in the mouth for accepting something substandard. If this gets the “Lorax” or Disney treatment I will crash a plane into the luxury house of the exec who green-lit this movie. Yes. I feel that strongly about this movie. So don’t even get me started on a Calvin & Hobbes movie! DEATH FROM ABOVE!!
CLIVE BARKER’S NIGHTBREED #1
By: Marc Andreyko & Piotr Kowalkski
Publisher: BOOM! Studios
Verdict: Make it.
Not sure how this is “Clive Barker’s Nightbreed” other than his name being attached to the title. But let’s think of this as a series for HBO or Netflix. If you’re not familiar with Nightbreed go acquaint yourself.
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INTERESTING DRUG OGN HC
By: Shaun Manning & Anna Wieszczyk
Published by: Archaia
Verdict: Make it
I can’t say how close to home this title hit. All I will say is that a young man who longs to change the past is told he will invent a drug that makes it possible for people to travel through time by a suspicious character from the future. I very much wish that were true. So yeah, make this movie.
DOC SAVAGE MAN OF BRONZE ANNUAL 2014
By: Shannon Eric Denton & Roberto Castro
Published by: Dynamite Entertainment
Verdict: Break it
It’s too late for a Doc Savage movie. Remember when Pixar and Disney adapted John Carter? By the time we finally saw a John Carter movie it was way too late. There was just no way to avoid comparisons to all the other movies the Barsoom series had such an influence on long before they existed. A Doc Savage movie now would be exactly like that.
Now, personally I very much enjoyed the John Carter Pixar gave us. I’d wager that despite the comparisons to a SHIELD movie Doc Savage would have I’d still like it too. But I’m funny that way.
When would a good time have been for a Doc Savage movie? The 70s. Maybe the 80s. But now? Way too late. That’s not to say that it can’t be done. But it would face a lot of challenges to overcome.
BIRTH
By: Michael S. Bracco
Published by: Alterna Comics
Verdict: Make it
There’s some genius in the simplicity of this comic. An epic Sci-Fi story spanning thousands of years, two species war with one another over the frustrations of their individual genetic evolutionary flaws. Dialogue and narration are sparse. The story unfolds in illustrations. A good filmmaker could give us something visually stunning to convey a thought-provoking and compelling story.
By: Shaun Manning & Anna Wieszczyk
Published by: Archaia
Verdict: Make it
I can’t say how close to home this title hit. All I will say is that a young man who longs to change the past is told he will invent a drug that makes it possible for people to travel through time by a suspicious character from the future. I very much wish that were true. So yeah, make this movie.
DOC SAVAGE MAN OF BRONZE ANNUAL 2014
By: Shannon Eric Denton & Roberto Castro
Published by: Dynamite Entertainment
Verdict: Break it
It’s too late for a Doc Savage movie. Remember when Pixar and Disney adapted John Carter? By the time we finally saw a John Carter movie it was way too late. There was just no way to avoid comparisons to all the other movies the Barsoom series had such an influence on long before they existed. A Doc Savage movie now would be exactly like that.
Now, personally I very much enjoyed the John Carter Pixar gave us. I’d wager that despite the comparisons to a SHIELD movie Doc Savage would have I’d still like it too. But I’m funny that way.
When would a good time have been for a Doc Savage movie? The 70s. Maybe the 80s. But now? Way too late. That’s not to say that it can’t be done. But it would face a lot of challenges to overcome.
BIRTH
By: Michael S. Bracco
Published by: Alterna Comics
Verdict: Make it
There’s some genius in the simplicity of this comic. An epic Sci-Fi story spanning thousands of years, two species war with one another over the frustrations of their individual genetic evolutionary flaws. Dialogue and narration are sparse. The story unfolds in illustrations. A good filmmaker could give us something visually stunning to convey a thought-provoking and compelling story.
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DEJAH OF MARS #1
By: Mark Rahner & Jethro Morales
Published by: Dynamite Entertainment
Verdict: Make it
Yeah, I want to see this as a movie because they are so ripping off the Pixar movie John Carter of Mars (mentioned above) and this would make for a good sequel. Actually, this would probably be the third movie in a trilogy. But since the movie flopped it’s likely we will not be getting any sort of Barsoom movie in the near future, or ever again. But one can dream.
END
By: Mark Rahner & Jethro Morales
Published by: Dynamite Entertainment
Verdict: Make it
Yeah, I want to see this as a movie because they are so ripping off the Pixar movie John Carter of Mars (mentioned above) and this would make for a good sequel. Actually, this would probably be the third movie in a trilogy. But since the movie flopped it’s likely we will not be getting any sort of Barsoom movie in the near future, or ever again. But one can dream.
END
