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Movie Notes: Movies Based On Non-Superhero Comics

April 27th, 2007

Heroes are cool and geeks like superheroes, but I thought it would be fun to create a list of movies that are definitely not about superheroes yet still based on comic books (or – graphic novels) and comic strips.

Admittedly, I haven’t seen all these films, but where appropriate I’ve included relevant notes. Maybe this is a new genre for me to explore.

I’ve deliberately excluded anime from this list because that genre is too rich and deserves a separate post in and unto itself.

Ghost World

IMDB, Wikipedia, Rotten Tomatoes 92%

Starring Thora Birch, Scarlett Johansson, Steve Buscemi
Directed by Terry Zwigoff
Comic by Dan Clowes

I really liked both the comic book by Dan Clowes. The movie was directed by Terry Zwigoff. The film diverges pretty substantially from the source material, with the minor record collector character (Steve Buscemi) getting an expanded role.

American Splendor

IMDB, Wikipedia, Rotten Tomatoes 94%

Starring Paul Giamatti, Hope Davis, Harvey Pekar
Directed by Shari Springer Berman, Robert Pulcini
Comic by Harvey Pekar

Great movie with an expert blending of real life and the comic which makes perfect sense, as the comic book is autobiographical. Author Harvey Pekar is played expertly by Paul Giamatti.

Sin City

IMDB, Wikipedia, Rotten Tomatoes 78%

Starring Mickey Rourke, Jessica Alba, Benicio Del Toro
Directed by Robert Rodriguez
Comic by Frank Miller

Lots of credit goes to keeping this film looking almost exactly like the black and white comic book, where the positive and negative shapes define everything.

Popeye (Robin Williams)

IMDB, Wikipedia, Rotten Tomatoes 61%

Starring Robin Williams, Shelly Duvall
Directed by Robert Altman
Comic by E.C. Segar

I think the mistake was the approach by Robert Altman – great director, just not the right for this film.

Howard the Duck

IMDB, Wikipedia, Rotten Tomatoes 19%

Starring Lea Thompson, Tim Robbins, Jeffrey Jones
Directed by Willard Huyck
Comic by Steve Gerber

Truly terrible. George Lucas had something to with it.

Josie and the Pussycats

IMDB, Wikipedia, Rotten Tomatoes 53%

Starring Rachael Leigh Cook, Tara Reid, Rosario Dawson
Directed by Harry Elfont, Deborah Kaplan
Comic by the same folks who made Archie (Harvey)

I ought to see this because of Parker Posey, and I’m a sucker for girls with guitars. Although I like cats, women dressed like cats hit a bit too close to home.

Richie Rich

IMDB, Wikipedia, Rotten Tomatoes 23%

Starring Macaulay Culkin, John Larroquette, Edward Hermann
Directed by Donald Petrie
Comic by the same folks who made Archie (Harvey)

I’m pretty sure I saw this lame film on an airplane. Macaulay Culkin plays the blond rich kid but he doesn’t get to do any crazy stuff like he did in the Home Alone movies.

Tales From The Crypt

IMDB, Wikipedia, Rotten Tomatoes 86%

Starring Joan Collins, Patrick Magee, Peter Cushing
Directed by Freddie Francis
Comic by Johnny Craig and Al Feldstein

There’s a 1972 movie version of this comic that looks like fun to check out. I’m not as interested in the HBO television show.

Annie

IMDB, Wikipedia, Rotten Tomatoes 54%

Starring Albert Finney, Carol Burnett, Aileen Quinn
Directed by John Huston
Comic by

A solid, entertaining musical. As a kid, the Carol Burnett character scared me – there’s some scene where she’s making moonshine in a tub and acting mean and drunk.

Fritz The Cat

IMDB, Wikipedia, Rotten Tomatoes 53%

Voices by Skip Hinnant, Rosetta LeNoire, John McCurry
Directed by Ralph Bakshi
Comic by Robert Crumb

Robert Crumb is the original underground cartoonist with a real stream of consciousness style. Fritz the cat doesn’t really do it justice, instead focusing on the perverted, alternative aspects. Which is pretty decent, just not awesome.
300

IMDB, Wikipedia, Rotten Tomatoes 61%

Starring Gerard Butler, Lena Headey, Dominic West
Directed by Zack Snyder
Comic by Frank Miller

Frank Miller’s on a roll. While waiting for the DVD, check out the comic.

Persepolis

IMDB, Wikipedia

Voices by Catherine Deneuve, Gena Rowlands, Chiara Mastroianni
Directed by Vincent Paronnaud
Comic by Marjane Satrapi

Movie’s not out yet, but the books are pretty great. Check out my reviews of Persepolis One and Persepolis Two.

Road To Perdition

IMDB, Wikipedia, Rotten Tomatoes 82%

Starring Jennifer Jason Leigh, Tom Hanks, Daniel Craig
Directed by Sam Mendes
Comic by Max Allan Collins, Richard Piers Rayner

Art School Confidential

IMDB, Wikipedia, Rotten Tomatoes 35%

Starring Max Minghella, Sophia Myles, John Malkovich
Directed by Terry Zwigoff
Comic by Daniel Clowes

Definitely not as funny or witty as it could have been. Please, have David Lynch make Like A Velvet Glove Cast In Iron… Check out my movie review.

Constantine

IMDB, Wikipedia, Rotten Tomatoes 45%

Starring Keanu Reeves, Rachel Weisz, Shia LaBeouf
Directed by Francis Lawrence
Comic by Jamie Delano, Garth Ennis

I still haven’t seen this flick, which looks like a horror movie crossed with The Matrix but now that I know it was based on a comic book, I should check it out.

From Hell

IMDB, Wikipedia, Rotten Tomatoes 57%

Starring Johnny Depp, Heather Graham, Ian Holm
Directed by Albert Hughes, Allen Hughes
Comic by Alan Moore, Eddie Campbell

I haven’t seen this one either. But with Johnny Depp and Heather Graham it can’t be all bad.

Dick Tracy

IMDB, Wikipedia, Rotten Tomatoes 66%

Starring Warren Beatty, Charlie Korsmo, Glenne Headly
Directed by Warren Beatty
Comic by Chester Gould

The Warren Beatty movie got points for emulating the colors of the comic book. I remember it being enjoyable, especially the creepy villains and their extreme face makeup – most notably Dustin Hoffman as the Mole.

Tank Girl

IMDB, Wikipedia, Rotten Tomatoes 36%

Starring Lori Petty, Ice-T, Naomi Watts
Directed by Rachel Talalay
Comic by Alan Martin, Jamie Hewlett

Whatever happened to Lori Petty? You may know Jamie Hewlett as the illustrator behind the Gorillaz.

V for Vendetta

IMDB, Wikipedia, Rotten Tomatoes 72%

Starring Natalie Portman, Hugo Weaving, Stephen Rea
Directed by Andy Wachowski, Larry Wachowski
Comic by David Lloyd, Alan Moore (although… he wanted his name taken off of the film)

I really liked this one. I ought to do a post on it. The writer Alan Moore touches on a lot of controversial subjects simultaneously. The film paints a grim picture of a potential future where revolution is the only way to stop a corrupt, freedom-stifling government.

Flash Gordon

IMDB, Wikipedia, Rotten Tomatoes 80%

Starring Sam J. Jones, Melody Anderson, Max von Sydow
Directed by Mike Hodges
Comic by Alex Raymond

I haven’t seen this one since I was a kid, when mostly the scary parts stood out: folks sticking hands in a giant tree with a poisonous creature inside, Ming impaled on a spike, and the instantly memorable theme song by Queen.

*Update* Here are two more flicks, one fron Engtech and another from Dave.

A History Of Violence

Starring Viggo Mortensen, Maria Bello, Ed Harris
Directed by David Cronenberg
Comic by John Wagner

IMDB, Wikipedia, Rotten Tomatoes 87%

I had no idea this flick was comic book based. Adding it to the queue!

Judge Dredd

Starring Sylvester Stallone, Diane Lane, Rob Schneider
Directed by Danny Cannon
Comic by John Wagner, Carlos Ezquerra

IMDB, Wikipedia, Rotten Tomatoes 14%

I remember this film being really terrible, and confused with Demolition Man until I remembered Rob Schneider. I’m a bit scared to recall more, but with a Tomato rating that low, it might be so-bad-it’s-good?

So, that’s all I could think of. If there are any I’m missing, please let me know so they can be added to the list! I think my Netflix queue will be getting a work-out shortly.

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  • You left out History of Violence

    From this list

    Favs: Constantine, Sin City, 300, V for Vendeta, Tales from the Crypt, From Hell

    God that was horrible: Art School Confidential, Popeye, Howard the Duck, Josie and the Pussycats, Fritz the Cat, Dick Tracy, Tank Girl

    Want to see: Ghost World, American Splendor
  • Hey Eng - I got a Tshirt post coming up for your contest in the works.

    Cool, I'll add History of Violence, I didn't realize that was based on a comic book. Josie and the Pussycats and Fritz the Cat must have been really terrible for you if the cat appeal didn't function...
  • I have a dirty little secret.. I can't stand Robert Crumb. I've tried to get into his books again and a again, but it's just a no go.

    Found another post on the same subject:
    12-days of cinematicalmas 7 comic book movies for people who hate comic books
  • Enjoyable comic: Judge Dredd
    Horrible film: Judge Dredd (starring Sylvester Stallone)

    Oh the humanity!
  • Well, truth be told, I'm not a die hard Crumb fan, I find him rather hit and miss, but I definitely would sooner pick up a Crumb book than many others. The movie "Crumb" I actually enjoyed a ton because it ended up being less about him than his nutso brothers. I almost added it to this list, but that's a film based on a cartoonist, not a specific comic book per se ...

    Judge Dredd - is that dude a super hero? Was that the flick with that annoying Rob Schneider character... yeah that was poor!
  • Judge Dredd was no superhero!

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judge_Dredd

    from wikipedia:
    "Dredd is a law enforcement officer in a violent city of the future where uniformed Judges combine the powers of police, judge, jury and executioner. Dredd and his fellow Judges are empowered to arrest, sentence and even execute criminals on the spot."

    Of course, if your definition includes folks in weird uniforms from a dystopian future who run around killing guys, then yeah, I guess he's a "superhero" of sorts ;-)
  • Hmmm. I guess I should add Judge Dredd... coming soon! I hope that doesn't mean I gotta watch that flick again... man that was bad...
  • Jase, I just thought of another comicbook/movie adaptation.

    Again, I don't know if this falls into the "superhero" category or the just plain weird: Hellboy

    Wikipedia describes the comicbook premise as:
    "As a demon named Anung Un Rama, Hellboy was brought to Earth as an infant by Nazi occultists. He was rescued by Allied forces and raised by the United States’ Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense (BPRD). He grew up to be a large red-skinned demon with a tail, horns (which he files down to stumps), and a big stone right hand. Although a bit gruff, he shows none of the malevolence thought to be intrinsic to demons and works with other strange creatures in the B.P.R.D. He has been dubbed as the "World's Greatest Paranormal Investigator."

    And the Wikipedia entry on the film describes it as a "fantasy thriller".

    Anyway...take all that for what it's worth. The film sports a 79% fresh rating from rottentomatoes, but I haven't seen the movie or read the comic.
  • Ah yeah Hellboy is a Mike Migniola comic - I leaned towards not including that one (obviously)... there's some overlap there for sure.

    I wanna see that movie too, so maybe I'll add it...
  • Wow, that was a really cool list. I think some of my favorite picks are in there. Good list, I enjoyed it.
  • So many movies here. Only where should I to watch them online or where to rent them?
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