Outside of main stream comics, there’s a whole world of contemporary graphic novels
that have accumulated a large fan base over the years.
Most of these stories venture into more mature content, and they often take advantage of
the medium to tell riveting, innovative and compelling stories.
All of which are important when it comes to crafting a story to tell on the big screen.
So today, we’re looking at some more of these obscure and non-traditional comics and
graphic novels with our list of top 10 niche comic books that got turned into movies.
Also before we begin, just wanted to let you guys know about a new channel we just started
called Fortnite Central.
As you probably guessed, it’s a channel entirely devoted to Fortnite, with videos
featuring highlights, compilations and lists.
So definitely head on over there and check it out if you’re a fan of Fortnite.
Now let’s get to our list!
10 Flaming Carrot Comics Created in 1979, Flaming Carrot of Flaming
Carrot Comics is a parody superhero series that explores the superhero genre.
While the character itself has never seen a film adaptation, one of the aspects of the
character’s world has – at one point, the Flaming Carrot founds the blue collar
superhero team the Mystery Men that would appear in a dream sequence in Flaming Carrot
Comics #16.
This story was later adapted into the 1999 superhero comedy of the same name, starring
Ben Stiller, William H Macy and Hank Azari – a group of heroes hungry to make a name
for themselves, but have pretty useless ‘powers’. 9 American Splendor
American Splendor is series of autobiographical comics created by Harvey Pekar in 1976, and
featured a variety of other work by various artists.
The film took a slightly different approach as an autobiography of Harvey, using the comics
to dramatize his life.
According to Pekar, Splendor was an attempt to stray away from the traditional mainstream
use of comics, and to use the medium to tell a wider range of stories, IO quote, “When
I was a little kid, and I was reading these comics in the 40s, I kind of got sick of them
because after a while, they were just formulaic.”
He’s known for his philosophy of “comics are words and pictures.
You can do anything with words and pictures.”
8 Red Red was a comic published by Wildstorm, whose
rights are now owned by DC comics.
Created by Warren Ellis and Cully Hammer, Red is about a retired CIA agent whose status
is changed from ‘green’ to ‘red’, meaning he’s now got to fight and fend for
his survival in order to remain alive.
The film took a lighter turn than the comic, and featured the likes of Bruce Willis, John
Mlkovich, Morgan Freeman and Helen Mirren, along with a cast of other well known actors,
who all find themselves hunted and scrambling to survive.
The title’s meaning was also changed to an acronym standing for ‘Retired Extremely
Dangerous’. 7 Timecop
Starring Jean Claude Van Damme, the Timecop film follows Van Damme seeking revenge on
a corrupt politician who is responsible for the death of his wife.
The comic, on the other hand, published by Dark Horse in 1992, is a three part series
that follows a time travelling police officer and a robot body guard of a 1930s diamond
thief set in South Africa.
Despite the differences, the Timecop adaptation was pretty successful and led to a sequel
and televisions series that did so-so.
6 The Losers Before Chris Evans was Captain America, before
Jeffery Dean Morgan was the Comedian, and before Zoe Saldana was Gamora, they were all
part of a rag tag group of heroes in The Losers.
The film was based on the Vertigo comic of the same name that follows a Special Forces
team working for the CIA, who was left for dead.
Out of revenge, they go after the CIA and an individual who spearheads their operations
named Max.
The film had mixed reviews.
5 Ghost World Starring Thora Birch, Scarlett Johansson and
Steve Busecemi, the film adaption of Daniel Clowes Ghost World is a cult classic, following
the small town lives of two cynical, pseudo-intellectually and incredibly witty teenage girls, and how,
as they grow older, they start to grow apart.
The film was penned by Clowes and Terry Zwigoff, and scored a nomination for the Writing Adapted
Screenplay at the Academy Award. 4 The Extraordinary Adventures of Adele Blanc-Sec
Directed by Luc Besson, the Extraordinary Adventures of Adele Blanc-Sec was super underrated.
Released in 2010, it went pretty unnoticed despite receiving fairly strong reviews.
It’s an adaptation of comic that was published in 1976 and follow the farfetched adventures
of a mystery solving woman, who is also a popular fiction writer.
The comic started off as a parody of over the top gaslamp fantasy fiction, but its noted
for getting into some pretty dark territory when exploring stories post WW1.
The film is loosely based off of it, and follows Adele in her adventures in 1910’s Paris.
3 Blue is the Warmest Colour Initially titled Blue Angel, Blue is the Warmest
Colour is a French graphic novel by Julie Maroh about two young women who fall in love,
and the ups and downs of their relationship.
The comic was adapted in 2013 and won the prestigious Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film
Festival that year.
It also came under a lot of controversy for its gratuitous realistic sex scenes and how
they were filmed.
The film version also has a different ending than the graphic novel – spoilers – in
which Adele is still alive.
2 Scott Pilgrim vs The World The six issue Scott Pilgrim series was crafted
by Bryan Lee O’Malley, and is a manga and video game influenced love letter to Toronto.
It’s filled with pop culture references, has a cast of young comically troubled adults.
It follows the story of Scott Pilgrim, a guy who falls for a girl named Ramona Flowers,
and, in order to be with her, must fight off her seven evil exes.
The film was adapted by Edgar Wright, and while it didn’t do overly well at the box
office, many see it as one of the best comic film adaptations to date, managing to capture
the essence of the comics without sacrificing much – minus Scott being played by Michael
Cera, which some fans weren’t overly keen on.
1 Persepolis An autobiographical graphic novel, Persepolis
follows the childhood and early adult years of a young woman growing up in Iran during
and after the Islamic Revolution.
Part of the new wave of autobiographical writing by diasporic Iranian women, it’s been described
by TIME magazine as “sometimes funny and sometimes sad but always sincere and revealing”,
and not only focuses on growing up as a girl in an often repressive culture towards women,
but also the daily dangers and tragedies that a war of that scale was capable of causing.
The critically acclaimed film adaptation of the same name was nominated for Best Animated
Feature at the 2008 Academy Awards.
Despite this, both film and comic have had to deal with their fair share of controversy
– in the US, parents from the Washington Northshore School District objected to it
being part of the cirrciulum because it contained “disturbing themes and content”.
There we have it friends!
Which of these comics is your favourite?
Are there any you had never heard of before this list?
Let us know in those comments below!
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