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Fund It!: Comics Get Animated

By | May 25th, 2011
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Comics and animation have always been closely related, whether you’re talking in terms of Scott McCloud’s observation that film is technically sequential art (read your Understanding Comics, everyone), or the more superficial level of there having been multiple animated superhero-based television shows over the years. Nowadays, Marvel and DC are both churning out feature-length animated films, whether by coming up with original material (Marvel’s Wolverine Versus double feature) or adapting existing stories (DC’s upcoming Batman: Year One – which I am beyond stoked for). Follow the cut for other shorelines and/or franchises that I would love to see adapted for the drawn screen, and be sure to leave your own ideas in the comments!

Kirby & Lee’s Tales of Asgard

This was the one that inspired this week’s Fund It! I didn’t hear about the recent Thor: Tales of Asgard until Matt reviewed it, and I was incredibly excited to hear about it. “Tales of Asgard” is easily one of the main highlights of the two Marvel legends’ tenure on Thor, and I was pleased to find out that Marvel decided to use it as an animated adaptation. Then… I found out it was something completely different, featuring a young Thor. Huh. That’s nice, I suppose. But think of how great an animated adaptation of “Tales of Asgard” could be! It could be released as a television series, with each episode retelling one of the ancient Norse myths in a style similar to Kirby and Lee’s dynamic, modernized retellings. Not only would it keep up the interest in the character that was kindled by the recent Thor movie, but it could get more of the population interested in Norse myth in general. The Greek pantheon has a bit of a monopoly on that, don’t you think?

Batman: No Man’s Land

I know, I know, there are more than enough Batman-related things out there at this point. Even so, “No Man’s Land” was the second best thing to come out of DC’s main continuity in the 90s (Starman being the first, but Starman is nigh impossible to top in terms of mainstream superhero comics). I’m a diehard Kyle Rayner fan, and love Morrison’s JLA to death, but “No Man’s Land” may have been the best thing to happen to the Batman franchise as a whole. Instead of making it an animated series or a singular, cohesive film, I instead see it as a sequence of separate stories with distinctive styles, in the same vein as Gotham Knight. Some could be adapted from the stories that were originally published, while one or two could be original ones. After all, what’s the point of adapting something if you aren’t going to do something new with it?

Bone

Who says DC and Marvel have to steal all the fun? Bone Jeff Smith’s all-ages masterpiece, has supposedly been in development for the big screen for a while, but very few specifics have been heard. I say: why make it a movie? The original comic was rather massive (even though they were able to fit it all in one collection), and trimming out the “unessential” parts in order to fit the entire thing in one movie would probably result in the loss of some of my favorite scenes. Seriously, the overarching story of Bone is great, but it’s the little things that occur during the “downtime” that make the comic truly excellent. Adapting it as a series instead means these great little stories-within-a-story can get screen time, and allows for new stories as well. Let me repeat that: hypothetical new Bone stories. Why would you prefer a movie, again?

The Flash

Maybe it’s just me, but I haven’t seen a single live action movie where super-speed hasn’t looked incredibly cheesy. Supposedly (as is often the case with these things), a Flash movie is in the works, but I just don’t see that fundamental part of the character working very well. Sure, there’s more to Barry Allen/Wally West/Jay Garrick than goesfast, but it doesn’t change the fact that a movie where the main character is consistently going to be running is going to be a chore to watch if he looks silly the entire time. Instead, I have always felt that such abilities translate far better in the animated medium, where artists can use stylization and such to make an otherwise ridiculous action look relatively organic. Whether it’s a single film, or a single season series that explores the relationships of the whole Flash Family, the Flash should be animated again, quickly. He was the best part of JLU, anyway.

Continued below

Daredevil

To the general public, Daredevil has a reputation to repair. Hell, after the flop that was Shadowland, he has a reputation to repair with us comic fans as well. Maybe I’m just a devoted fan of ol’ horned, but I believe that an animated Daredevil film could be incredible, but only if it was handled as a bit of an artistic experiment. It would be easy to just make another standard animated superhero flick with Matt Murdock as the lead, but what’s the point of making it in the first place if that’s all you’re going to do? With Daredevil, though, you have two factors that can make the film more visually exciting than your standard superhero fare. First, of course, is Daredevil’s radar sense. It’s been used in plenty of exciting ways in the comics; now imagine what it could be like with some expert animators behind the wheel. Additionally, there’s the noir element that has been a part of Daredevil ever since Miller had his run on the character. High contrast visuals have always been an important aspect of noir, and both comics and animation can do things with contrast that film can’t. With that in mind, an animated Daredevil movie could be half superhero punch out and half work of art with the right people behind it.

What do you guys think? Don’t care for my ideas? Have some other great ones of your own? Let me know in the comments!


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Walt Richardson

Walt is a former editor for Multiversity Comics and current podcaster/ne'er-do-well. Follow him on Twitter @goodbyetoashoe... if you dare!

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