Looking at the recent trend in content making its way to streaming services it’s almost a better question not to ask if something popular will receive an adaptation, but when. Netflix in particular has had a great level of success with their adaptations, most recently with hits like Queen’s Gambit, The Haunting of Hill House, and You. These three shows are all adaptations of novels and show Netflix’s proficiency with bringing the written word to the silver screen.
But how has Netflix fared with adaptations of graphic novels? Also exceptionally well, just look at the success of The Umbrella Academy, which is based on the graphic novels by Gerard Way and Gabriel Bá. That show just wrapped up its second season and Netflix confirmed it will be returning for a third. It’s also quite shockingly faithful to the original graphic novels despite how utterly bizarre some of the characters and their designs can be. There are still many graphic novels that have not been adapted, but there are several that Netflix should look into adapting next.
Punk Rock Jesus is a book that deserves more praise (more than a cult following anyway). The story has a lot to say about religion, commercialism, and entertainment in the modern age and can be a challenging read at times for how outspoken it can be about these topics and people’s own complacency with them. It is not belittling to people of faith, but acknowledges that certain institutions can prey on people’s religious beliefs and tries to warn against these dangers.
The story follows the airing of a new reality television show the likes of which the world has never seen before. Using DNA found on the Shroud of Turin, a clone of Jesus Christ has been genetically engineered and the embryo implanted into a young virgin woman volunteer. The show, called J2, follows every moment of Jesus clone Chris’s life and causes his mother to become depressed due to the ridiculous amount of attention the show receives worldwide.
Eventually due to certain events, Chris begins to hate his fame and what it’s done to his mother. He ends up starting a punk band called The Flak Jackets and openly speaking out against Christianity as a whole, middle finger often raised. The story is surprisingly raw at times, and ends in spectacular, if tragic, fashion. It’s a fascinating read and would make for one heck of a Netflix series.
Tokyo Ghost is also drawn by Sean Murphy, but written by Rick Remender of Black Science and Deadly Class fame. The story is something along the lines of Blade Runner meets Fern Gully with even a touch of A Clockwork Orange thrown in. In the future, everyone is obsessed with technology most of society is at a low intelligence level with an unhealthy level of obesity. The setting is very Blade Runner to start, with duo bounty hunters Debbie Decay and Led Dent hunting down targets in a futuristic cityscape.
A new assignment leads these characters to a non-technological oasis where the noble way of the samurai is still the prevailing way of life. Here, Led and Debbie are able to reconnect with nature and rekindle their love. Just like in other stories of this nature, the good times don’t last and there’s trouble ahead for the happy couple. This is a story rich in social commentary, drawn in an even richer art style that would be a glorious sight to behold on a television screen if adapted properly. Despite a high level of violence and sexual content (think HBO levels), the story has a ton of heart.
Scott McCloud is a genius. His books Understanding Comics and Making Comics are textbooks about comics and graphic novels that read like actual comics. They’re mind-blowingly cool, and should definitely be checked out. It’s even cooler to see a master at work in a fictional epic of his own, The Sculptor. This is a tale of a young artist, David, who makes a deal with Death in order to obtain the ability to sculpt whatever he can imagine flawlessly.
The catch here is that David only has 200 days to live with his new abilities, and it doesn’t help that he meets the love of his life after making the deal. The story explores the meaning of art, the sacrifices artists go through for their creations, and falling in love. It’s a poignant tale that stays with the reader and absolutely deserves a live-action adaptation as a movie or limited series.
Fans of the Scott Pilgrim books that wanted a slightly more mature story would do well to check out Seconds. This graphic novel follows a young female chef who discovers a way to fix past mistakes in her life by writing them down in a notebook and eating a magic mushroom. This of course has unintended consequences upon other aspects of her life and she has to weigh out the importance of her personal career versus those she cares about.
Things take a twist even further down the line in the story, with our hero realizing the more that she alters her life, the further away from her own reality she ends up. It’s a quick read and has Bryan Lee O’Malley’s signature sense of humor throughout (he even brings back the “Bread make you fat?!” joke as a loving nod to Scott Pilgrim), but it’s also his most thought-provoking work yet. This would be a graphic novel that would more easily convert to a movie instead of a full series.
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