Motivated by my post, 5 Comic Books we want to see on the Silver Screen, I was encouraged by a group of aspiring geeks, to add my list of 10 Graphic Novels we want to see on the Silver Screen.
1. Sandman
One of the most popular and critically acclaimed comics of the second half of the century, the first volume opens a magical door to the world of The Endless and Gaiman’s stupendous literary talent. Neil Gaiman’s Sandman weaves the story of a man interested in capturing the physical manifestation of Death but who instead captures the King of Dreams.
A wizard attempting to capture Death to bargain for eternal life traps her younger brother Dream instead. Fearful for his safety, the wizard kept him imprisoned in a glass bottle for decades. After his escape, Dream, also known as Morpheus, goes on a quest for his lost objects of power. On the way, Morpheus encounters Lucifer and demons from Hell, the Justice League, and John Constantine.
2. Y: The Last Man
What if you were actually the last man on Earth? That’s Y, and he’s finding that the reality is not as great as the premise.
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 the only man to survive the apparent simultaneous death of every male mammal (barring the same man’s pet monkey) on Earth. On July 17, 2002, something (referred to as a plague) simultaneously kills every living mammal possessing a Y chromosome — including embryos, fertilized eggs, and even sperm. The only exceptions appear to be New York residents Yorick Brown, a young amateur escape artist, and his male Capuchin monkey, Ampersand. Many women are killed from disasters caused by the men’s deaths. Society is plunged into chaos as infrastructures collapse, and the surviving women everywhere try to cope with the loss of the men, and the belief that, barring a rapid, major scientific breakthrough or other extraordinary happening, humanity is doomed to extinction.
3. Batman: Arkham Asylum
This selection is purely based on the fact that I am such a fan of the Batman! Even though we just stepped out of the cinemas, and are still enjoying the Dark Night on Blue Ray, I will really appreciate collaborated efforts to see this graphic novel on the big screen.
In this groundbreaking, beautifully painted graphic novel by Grant Morrison and Dave McKean, the inmates of Arkham Asylum have taken over Gotham’s detention centre for the criminally insane on April Fools Day and have demanded Batman in exchange for their hostages. Accepting their demented challenge, Batman is forced to live and endure the personal hells of the Joker, Scarecrow, Poison Ivy, Two-Face and many other sworn enemies in order to save the innocents and retake the prison, jeopardizing his own sanity.
4. Frank Miller’s Ronin
In feudal Japan, a young, nameless samurai has sworn to protect his master, Lord Ozaki, from assassins. But despite his dedication, Ozaki is assassinated at night by a demon called Agat in the guise of a geisha, in an act of revenge for Ozaki stealing his sword. The sword is powered by blood – if it can be fueled by the blood of an innocent, the sword will become powerful enough to destroy Agat himself. Agat wants it back. Ozaki has hidden the sword, so Agat cannot find it. After Ozaki’s murder, the young samurai prepares to perform seppuku at his master’s graveside, to honorably follow his lord into the afterlife. Instead, the spirit of Ozaki appears before the young samurai and demands that he find the sword and keep it from Agat until his skills are great enough to destroy the demon lord. The young samurai becomes a ronin, a samurai without a master, wandering the countryside for many years. At last, he comes to Agat’s castle, and fights his way inside. But when he confronts Agat, he has a dilemma: since the sword has never killed an innocent, it is not powerful enough to destroy the demon. The ronin has a grim but effective solution to this problem: when Agat approaches him from behind, the ronin thrusts the sword through his own abdomen, impaling Agat. Powered by the ronin’s own innocent blood, the sword mortally wounds Agat and the ronin at the same time, and the ronin achieves revenge and the honorable death by seppuku that he desires at the same moment. But just before Agat dies, he curses the ronin, and both their souls are trapped inside the sword until someone releases them.
5. Torso
Torso, the 1999 Eisner Award winner for “Comic Book Excellence, Talent Deserving of Wider Recognition” tells the story of the real life “Torso Murderer”, a serial killer who was active during 1934 to 1938. He received his nickname because he left only the torsos of his victims. Without fingerprints or dental records, these victims were very difficult to identify in a time before DNA testing. The investigator on the case was Eliot Ness, Cleveland Safety Director and former head of the Untouchables. Meticulously researched and incorporating actual photographs of the crime scenes and grisly corpses, Torso combines innovative storytelling techniques, edgy and distinctive artwork, and terrific dialog.
6. Authority
People called The Authority, “the JLA (or the Avengers) finally done right!”. Fellow geeks that are fans of intelligent, big-budget science-fiction will go nuts if this graphic novel if it hits the big screen. If you liked The Matrix, Aliens, Star Wars, Star Trek, Watchmen….you will not be disappointed by The Authority. Uncompromising and hard-hitting, Bryan Hitch’s Authority brings you a team of superheroes who promised to get the job done by whatever means necessary. Jenny Sparks, the Spirit of the 20th Century, has brought together Jack Hawksmoor, The Doctor, Swift, The Engineer, Apollo, and The Midnighter. Together they are The Authority, and together they will change the world. This should be widescreen, cinema-scope, super-heroic fiction at it’s best.
7. Criminal
The series’ story arcs are self-contained and focus on different characters, but these central characters inhabit the same world, grew up in fictional Center City, frequent the same bar, and share a common history of two generations of crime. With his partner Ivan, Tommy Patterson ran the city’s most proficient crew of pickpockets and taught the trade to his eight-year-old son, Leo. When Tommy was arrested and imprisoned for the murder of Teeg Lawless, Ivan took care of Leo and explained to him how following certain rules can keep a criminal “out in the world,” out of both prison and the morgue.
Around the same time, Teeg Lawless’ two sons were arrested. While his fifteen-year-old brother Ricky was sent to a juvenile work camp, Tracy Lawless was given the option of going to prison or enlisting in the armed forces. Tracy joined the U.S. Army, abandoning Ricky but honing his skills as a soldier.
Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips are a match made in heaven, these stories are top in the genre proven by their previous successes. They produced a cult classic called Sleeper, which is an introduction to his unique blend of superheroes and noir sensibilities. There are no superheroes or magical beings anywhere to be seen in Criminal: Omnibus. Just the tales that make this novel hard hitting and on the edge. Brubaker and Phillips give us a complicated world with murky motives.
The dialogue is razor-sharp and the twist and turn leave you with an emotional experience that keep you on your toes.
When criminals need justice, Tracy Lawless is their best—and only—hope! But just who’s behind these mob-style hits on made men? It’s hard hitting noir tales about tough guys, violence, and constant danger – with not a superhero in sight!
8. Sleeper
Sleeper has lead the way to bigger and better things, as mentioned during my first selection on my list. Set in the early 2000’s Wildstorm universe, Holden Carver goes undercover in the criminal world. His handler is put in a coma, and Carver has no choice but to play the bad guy to finish the mission. This is definitely one of Ed Brubaker’s best, most captivating works, the story of Holden carver, a hardbitten superhero secret agent who’s gone deep undercover inside one of the most ruthless criminal syndicates ever.
9. The Unwritten
Tommy Taylor’s the boy wizard in a series of fantasy novels that have become a cultural phenomenon. Their popularity has turned the real Tom into a Z-level celebrity. When evidence calls doubt to Tom’s existence, he’s drawn into a literary underworld focusing on the ways fiction affects reality.
An exciting new story by Mike Carey of Lucifer fame. Mike Carey creates a world and fantasy world that is full of horrors, villains, and magic that the main character Tom Taylor has to endure throughout the story. Thrilling story that’s more than meets the eye.
The Unwritten opens on the life of Tom Taylor as he makes a scant living touring on the convention circuit and capitalizing on the fame of his father’s series of popular children’s books about a young wizard named Tommy Taylor. Immediately, the central conflict of the series is the identity of Tom—not so much distinguishing his life from that of the fictional Tommy Taylor (that comes much later in the series), but rather if Tom Taylor is actually Wilson Taylor’s son. Blurring this further is the arrival of Tommy’s arch nemesis from the novels, Count Ambrosio, who captures Tom and threatens to kill him. Aided by Lizzie Hexam, who bears a striking resemblance to the character of Sue from the Tommy fantasy tales, Tom embarks on a quest to learn more about the mysterious Wilson and the literary geographic trivia he instilled in Tom as a child.
10. Transmetropolitan
Transmetropolitan is a cyberpunk comic book series written by Warren Ellis with art by Darick Robertson and published by DC Comics. It chronicles the battles of Spider Jerusalem, infamous renegade gonzo journalist of the future, an homage to gonzo journalism founder Hunter S. Thompson. Spider Jerusalem dedicates himself to fighting the corruption and abuse of power of two successive United States presidents; he and his “filthy assistants” strive to keep their world from turning more dystopian than it already is while dealing with the struggles of fame and power, brought about due to the popularity of Spider via his articles.
