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NAMOR
The mutant son of a human sea captain and of a princess of the mythical undersea kingdom of Atlantis, Namor possesses the super-strength and aquatic abilities of the "Homo mermanus" race, as well as the mutant ability of flight, along with other superhuman powers. Namor has been alternately portrayed as a good-natured but short-fused superhero, or a hostile invader seeking vengeance for perceived wrongs that misguided surface-dwellers committed against his kingdom. The first known comic book antihero, the Sub-Mariner has remained a historically important and relatively popular Marvel character. He is currently coming down from wreaking havoc on Wakanda as one of the Phoenix Five (sounds like a bad 80’s band) in
Avengers Vs. X-Men.
Namor seems to fall into the “love him or hate him” category for most people. I personally love him. I had originally hoped he would eventually make an appearance in the Fantastic Four movies….but that was a bust. Now I firmly believe that the
first mutant deserves his very own movie.
RUNAWAYS
Runaways is a comic book series published on and off by Marvel Comics. The series features a group of teenagers who witness their parents, who are part of a cabal known as the Pride, murder a young girl during a sacraficial ritual. Running away from their homes, the group banded together and began a journey of discovery, both of their parent’s origins and of their own inherited super powers.
Created by Brian K. Vaughan and Adrian Alphona, the series debuted in July of 2003 as part of Marvel Comics' "Tsunami" imprint. The series had been canceled in September 2004 at issue eighteen, but due to high numbers of trade collection sales, Marvel revived the series in February 2005. The series was then put on hiatus in late 2009.
At one point there was a script by Drew Pearce (No Heroics) and shooting was to begin in early 2011 for a release in the summer of 2012 along with The Avengers movie. Then it all fell apart. According to an interview with Pearce in mid 2011,
“Basically, ‘The Avengers’ came along and everything else at Marvel got put on hold for a year. But the script is there, we’re good to go. It’s kind of like [being] at the airport when you’re waiting for your slot to take off with Marvel, and we’re hoping we get a slot next year. Fingers crossed. They’re very happy with it, so hopefully it happens.”
Fingers crossed that he is right and this still happens. This series was brilliant and a movie adaptation would be perfect for a young adult audience.
THE UMBRELLA ACADEMY
The Umbrella Academy is written by Gerard Way (of the band My Chemical Romance) with art by Gabriel Bá. The six-issue limited series was released by Dark Horse Comics in 2007. It won the 2008 Eisner Award for Best Finite Series/Limited Series. A second series The Umbrella Academy: Dallas followed in 2008.
The members of the Umbrella Academy, a disbanded group of superheroes, reunite after the death of their alien-in-disguise adoptive father, "Sir Reginald Hargreeves". Hargreeves, an alien disguised as a famous entrepreneur, collected the members of the Umbrella Academy shortly after their birth and trained them to save the world from an unspecified threat. After his death, the members carry on his plan to save the world.
This is an awesomely twisted tale. I want Guiermo Del Torro to direct this weird little masterpiece!
ANITA BLAKE: VAMPIRE HUNTER
Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter is a series of urban fantasy novels by Laurell K. Hamilton. The series has been adapted as a comic book published by Marvel Comics.
The series takes place in a parallel universe where supernatural creatures and powers are real and their presence is considered to be public knowledge. The supernatural beings are considered to be citizens with most of the rights of regular humans, which is sometimes the focus of some of the strife in the series. The novels follow Anita's ongoing conflicts with the supernatural as she attempts to solve a variety of supernatural mysteries, come to terms with her own abilities, and navigate an increasingly complex series of romantic and political relationships.
As the series progresses Anita's perspective on the supernatural changes, as the character initially sees the supernatural predominantly as "monsters" to be fought and later grows to see them as communities to be protected and as potential love interests. Lots of love interests. A ridiculous amount of love interests in my personal opinion.
In the early novels the focus is predominantly on crime solving and action, with the later novels focusing more on Anita's personal and sexual relationships and powers. I loved the early novels as well as the comic book adaptations. As the series progressed, I felt the author was caught up more with the character’s sexual escapades than an actual storyline. But those first ten or so books were brilliant and would make a great tv show. Just put it on a channel like Showtime to rival HBO’s
True Blood and it’ll be good to go.
SANDMAN
The Sandman is a comic book series written by Neil Gaiman and published by DC Comics (later placed under the imprint Vertigo). The series chronicles the adventures of Dream, who rules over the world of dreams. It ran for 75 issues from January 1989 until March 1996.
The Sandman's main character is Dream, the Lord of Dreams who is essentially the anthropomorphic personification of dreams. At the beginning of the series, Dream is captured by an occult ritual and held prisoner for 70 years. Dream escapes into the modern day and, after avenging himself upon his captors, sets about rebuilding his fallen kingdom. Gaiman has summarized the plot of the series (in the foreword to
Endless Nights) as "The Lord of Dreams learns that one must change or die, and makes his decision."
The character's initial haughty and often cruel manner begins to soften after his years of imprisonment at the start of the series, but the challenge of undoing past sins and changing old ways is an enormous one for a being who has been set in his ways for billions of years. In its beginnings, the series is a very dark horror comic. Later, the series evolves into an elaborate fantasy series, incorporating elements of classical and contemporary mythology, ultimately placing its protagonist in the role of a tragic hero.
This series would be an epic movie. At Comic-Con in 2007, Gaiman remarked,
"I'd rather see no Sandman movie made than a bad Sandman movie. But I feel like the time for a Sandman movie is coming soon. We need someone who has the same obsession with the source material as Peter Jackson had with Lord of the Rings or Sam Raimi had with Spider-Man." I could not agree more.
Y: THE LAST MAN
Y: The Last Man is a dystopian science fiction comic book series by Brian K. Vaughan and Pia Guerra published by Vertigo beginning in 2002. The series is about Yorick, the only man to survive the apparent simultaneous death of every male mammal (barring the same man's pet monkey) on Earth. Society is plunged into chaos as society collapses, and the surviving women everywhere try to cope with the loss of the men, and the belief that humanity is now doomed to extinction.
The government then attempts to protect Yorick while performing genetic tests and attempts to clone him. Basically, Yorick is humanity’s only hope and the fate of the human race weighs heavily on his shoulders.
This, I am proud to say, looks like it will actually make it to the big screen! In March 2012 former Jericho writers Matthew Federman and Stephen Scaia entered final negotiations to write New Line's adaptation of the series. Reports in September 2012 suggest New Line was enthusiastic about the draft screenplay produced by Federman and Scalia and has begun the process of meeting potential directors to hire for the project.
So, there are my top 12 comic books I would love to be made into tv series or movies! What do you guys think? What are some of YOUR favorite comics that need the big screen treatment?