Comic Book Adaptations!

Jondee here on New Genesis,

There is great wealth of material in comic books beyond super heroes. There are still a few super powered characters left to the side though. We are going to tap into fantasy, science fiction, and horror comic books. A property that is not currently in development like the Y the Last Man tv series, the Runaways movie, T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents, or the Sandman film. Here are five comic books ripe for adaptation.

#5 Power Pack – the series, a preteen superhero team, was created by the creative duo of Louise Simonson and June Brigman. Several series were launched in 2005 mostly with the team of Marc Sumerak and GuriHuru.  The family is led by the eldest son, Alex, who has the superhero name Gee since he controls gravity, his sister, Julie (Lightspeed) who could fly and left a rainbow trail, Jack called Mass Master he could turn cloudy, tiny, or giant), and finally the youngest and most powerful, Katie (Energizer) who could disintegrate objects to take an energy form and throw balls of destructive energy. They were given their powers by the horse-like alien Kymellian Whitey, who passed them his power before he died, and left them his smartship Friday. The best part of the series was the siblings argued, but were family and had to be superheroes while attending grade school. There was a tv movie for Fox, but has been regulated to Youtube. This would be perfect as a live action series on Disney XD.

#4 Weird World – a comic book fantasy created by Doug Moench and Mike Ploog. It first appeared in the Marvel Super Action magazine, then Marvel Premiere #38 (1977), then later the magazine Marvel Super Special #11-13 (1979) and Epic Illustrated 11-13 (1982) with incredible art by John Buscema. There was a Weirdworld series spinning out of Secret Wars, but that didn’t have the characters by Moench and Ploog. Two elves, Tyndall and Velanna, live on the floating island of Klarn. They are joined by the dwarf, Mud-Butt, who struggle against Shreekar and his goblins, and the sorcerers, Black Majister and Murkandor, to save the wizard of Skyhook Mountain, Lianissa. The designs are fantastic and might be perfect for an animated film, but that would be in Black Cauldron territory. Ploog worked on the animated, Ralph Bakshi film, Lord of the Rings (1978), and the Jim Henson films; Dark Crystal (1982) and Labyrinth (1986). This would be little mature for an animated film, in the vein of Heavy Metal (1981), so this would work well as live action film.

#3 Midnight Nation – this horror series was from creators, J. Michael Straczynski and Gary Frank. A police officer, David, is attacked by Walkers, who are not zombies, but strange, tattooed creatures who remind me of the Gentlemen from the Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode, “Hush.” He wakes to find that has his soul is stolen. David is led by a mysterious woman, Laurel, in a world that has in its corners, dark things. They meet a strange, old man named Lazarus who is literally the Lazarus who is immortal. The duo are on a road trip finding broken and lost people. David has to find his soul taken by the Other Guy, a bald, grey man. The series has a touch of Neil Gaiman’s Neverwhere and Stephen King, but stands as original for its dark and powerful content. Straczynski is known as the creator of Babylon 5 and has worked in television so the twelve issue series can be expanded into a television show, mini-series, or film.

#2 Lola XOXO – Mad Max or Furiosa has nothing on Lola XOXO’s apocalyptic world. This sci fi comic was created by Siya Oum for Aspen Comics. The most recent series is Lola XOXO: Wasteland Madam. As a young child, Lola traveled to Dayton when nuclear explosions destroyed the world. She grows up into a beautiful, young woman with a short, blond weave and shorts. Lola can take care of herself and makes her way into a New York leveled into a frontier town. She has to survive a carnival with animals from the Bronx Zoo, the Wasteland Trading Company, and into the city of Sinmora. This has great potential for a film property.

#1 The Fourth World – this landmark series brings superheroes into a mythical, science fiction setting created by Jack Kirby and spans several titles. Darkseid is rumored to be in the upcoming Justice League movie. I would rather the ultimate villain be featured in a New Gods movie. The series started in Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen #133 (1970) and crossed into The New Gods, Mister Miracle, and Forever People. Jack Kirby hinted at the destruction of Asgard in Marvel’s Thor with Ragnarok and the pieces reformed into two worlds; the peaceful utopia of New Genesis and the fiery, dark world of Apokalips. The former is ruled by Highfather and he has exchanged his son, Scott Free (known as Mister Miracle) with Orion, the son of Darkseid. Mister Miracle falls for Big Barda, the leader of the Female Furies, and escapes to Earth. Darkseid searches for the Anti-Life Equation on Earth. The series was (sort of) concluded with the graphic novel Hunger Dogs (1985). The ruler of Apokalips appeared in cloudy form in the last season of Smallville along with DeSaad, Gordon Godfrey, and Granny Goodness. The closest version of the Fourth World would be Masters of the Universe (1987). I easily see this as a trilogy of films from the Pact to Earth to a final confrontation between Orion and Darkseid.