Graphic Novel Film Adaptations

Definition

Since its inception, cinema has sought material from other media, such as literature, plays, video games, and comics. Although adapting films from comics and graphic novels is not new, there has been a boom in this kind of adaptation in the twenty-first century. The upsurge has two explanations: First, comics and graphic novels have gained more critical respectability; second, advances in digital technology have allowed for more sophisticated production of unrealistic images in film.

Introduction

The most popular inspiration for film adaptation comes from novels. However, other media has also been combed for stories. Film adaptations of comics date from as early as 1900, with a series produced by the Edison Film Company inspired by Frederick Burr Opper’s Happy Hooligan cartoon strip.

This relationship between comics and film is natural because both arts are essentially narrative, telling stories through sequences of images. Comics and films share both aesthetic qualities and formats. If there are evident resemblances, there are also significant differences, which influence how these media are produced and received by audiences.

By the mid-2020s, hundreds of film adaptations of comics have been released, and the trend showed signs of growing. The rise of film adaptations of Marvel comics in the twenty-first century has hastened this trend. There was also a good prospect for sequels, prequels, and remakes of previous works.

There are two reasons for rediscovering comics as source texts for profitable films. Beginning with the release of Maus in 1986, comics have gained increasing critical respectability. Maus proved that comics can deal with mature themes and can be addressed to an adult audience, revelations that have helped expand the popularity of the comics medium. The second reason for the increase in adaptations is the development of digital technology in cinema. Adaptations are not limited to plot, characters, and dialogue of comics; technology allows filmmakers to re-create the appearances of comics on screen.

From Comics to Graphic Novels

The narrative structure of graphic novels—with a beginning, middle, and end—is closer to that of films than the never-ending narrative structure of superhero comic books. The approximation between the narrative structure of films and graphic novels perhaps makes the screenwriter's job easier because there are fewer choices for dialogue and narrative events.

Comics-to-film adaptations also differ from film adaptations of graphic novels because graphic novels are mostly written and drawn by a single artist. Because several artists have drawn superhero comic book series in many different styles, there is no single, stable iconic meaning to characters, and the comics do not always have unique defining styles. Unlike comic book superheroes such as Batman or Superman, which have already become mythical figures with multiple incarnations, graphic novels have only one version, which comic book readers refer to when watching film adaptations. The drawn image of the graphic novel bears the “signature” of its artist, which should somehow transfer to the screen. Because of the similar narrative structure of graphic novels and films and the unique visual style of graphic novels, when the latter are adapted, audiences tend to compare films to the graphic novels in a more rigid manner than they do in the case of film adaptations of comic books.

Historical Overview to 2001

Before the 1970s, comics-based films were mainly intended for children, and the special effects were drearily primitive. The success of Richard Donner’s 1978 Superman marked the inauguration of the blockbuster era for comics cinema and the beginning of a period of adaptations of comic books. However, for a long time, the works that followed were not as successful as Clark Kent’s story.

At about the same time, during the 1970s, but especially since the second half of the 1980s, graphic novels started attracting academic and critical attention. However, film adaptations of graphic novels in the United States did not become popular until the 2000s. With the exception of Swamp Thing (1982) and The Crow (1994) (and their respective sequels), no other remarkable films based on graphic novels were produced.

In 2001, three films marked the beginning of a new period for film adaptations of graphic novels: Henry Selick’s Monkeybone, Terry Zwigoff’s Ghost World, and Albert and Allen Hughes’s From Hell. Selick’s Monkeybone was based on a graphic novel called Dark Town (1995) by Kaja Blackley. Ghost World adapted Daniel Clowes’s graphic novel of the same name, which first appeared in his Eightball series from 1993 to 1997. Lastly, From Hell adapted Alan Moore’s eponymous graphic novel about the legendary murderer Jack the Ripper, published in several volumes from 1989 to 1996 and later compiled into a single-volume work in 1999. Despite their different genres and styles, together, these three works represented a new niche in the film industry.

Historical Overview, 2001–10

With the relative success of these three film adaptations in 2001, several other films were released in the following years. Sam Mendes’s Road to Perdition (2002), based on a graphic novel by Max Allan Collins, was a major hit, especially because of its five-star cast, including Tom Hanks, Paul Newman, Jude Law, and Daniel Craig.

Stephen Norrington’s The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (2003) was an adaptation of the eponymous work by Moore and Kevin O’Neill, which depicts a league of heroes formed by popular characters in the literature of the Victorian era, such as Allan Quatermain, Captain Nemo, and Dorian Gray. American Splendor (2003), directed by Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini, is a realistic depiction of the life of Harvey Pekar, the author of the comics series American Splendor (1976–91; 1993–2008) and the graphic novel Our Cancer Year (1994). The film, with Paul Giamatti playing Pekar (who also appears in some scenes as himself), acquired cult status and received several positive critical reviews.

David Cronenberg’s A History of Violence (2005), adapted from the 1997 work by John Wagner and Vince Locke, captures the source text’s noir atmosphere and received positive critical appraisal. In Sin City (2005), director Robert Rodriguez worked with comics artist Frank Miller to adapt the latter’s series; the result is the most aesthetically faithful adaptation ever produced in comics cinema. In 2006, another graphic novel was adapted to film: V for Vendetta, directed by James McTeigue and starring Natalie Portman and Hugo Weaving, reenacts Moore and David Lloyd’s dystopian fiction.

Two other film adaptations also did well at the box office: David Slade’s 30 Days of Night (2007), an adaptation of a three-issue horror comics series by Steve Niles and Ben Templesmith, and Zack Snyder’s 300 (2006) from Frank Miller’s fictional retelling of the Battle of Thermopylae. In 2009, Snyder brought Moore and Dave Gibbons’s dystopian masterpiece Watchmen to the screen. The science-fiction graphic novel The Surrogates (2005-5006), by Robert Venditti and Brett Weldele, became a 2009 film directed by Jonathan Mostow.

In 2010, three works reaffirmed the successful formula of film adaptations of graphic novels: Matthew Vaughn’s Kick-Ass, inspired by a graphic novel by Mark Millar and John Romita, Jr.; Edgar Wright’s Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, based on Bryan Lee O’Malley’s graphic novel; and Robert Schwentke’s Red, based on a three-issue comics series by Warren Ellis and Cully Hamner.

Historical Overview, 2011–Present

The trend of film studios choosing to adapt graphic novels, including those not centered around superheroes, continued to mixed success in the second decade of the twenty-first century. In 2011, director Jon Favreau brought the 2006 graphic novel Cowboys & Aliens by Scott Mitchell Rosenberg to life with the help of a cast that included Daniel Craig, Harrison Ford, and Olivia Wilde. However, while the novel and film have an intriguing premise surrounding an alien invasion taking place in the Old West, the film did not perform well at the box office. Two more high-profile actors, Denzel Washington and Mark Wahlberg, were brought on to star in the big-screen adaptation of Steven Grant's 2 Guns in 2013. The screenplay for 2013's supernatural action comedy R. I. P. D. was based on Peter M. Lenkov's graphic novel of the same name about the fictional Rest in Peace Department and its officers, who hunt troubled souls masquerading as humans instead of moving on to the afterlife; despite its star power and special effects, the film was panned critically and did not fare well at the box office. The following year, the success of two previous adaptions resulted in the release of sequels: 300: Rise of an Empire and Sin City: A Dame to Kill For.

IIn a move considered incredibly unique in terms of this adaptation trend, Fox Searchlight greenlighted the production of Wilson (2017), starring Woody Harrelson and Laura Dern. Based on the graphic novel of the same name written once again by Clowes, the film follows the story of a man reuniting with his estranged wife and meeting his daughter for the first time. Commentators were initially concerned with the filmmakers' ability to capture the specific tone conveyed in the graphic novel accurately. Meanwhile, that same year, the Cold War spy thriller The Coldest City, by Antony Johnston, was adapted for the screen as Atomic Blonde amid much media hype and stars Charlize Theron. In the 2020s, the trend of creating film adaptations of graphic novels continued. Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn), originally conceived by Jordan B. Gorfinkel and primarily written by Chuck Dixon, was brought to the screen in 2020. That same year saw the release of The Old Guard, a film adaptation of Greg Rucka's graphic novel. Extraction, also released in 2020, is an action film starring Chris Hemsworth based on the graphic novel Ciudad (2014) by Ande Parks. 

Digital Technology in Cinema

Digital technology has strongly influenced adaptations of comic books and graphic novels. Advances in digital technology have had a decisive role in the boom of this kind of film. Digital technology allows for the recreation of fantastic worlds and characters and can make action scenes look more sophisticated. Special effects have also been used to reproduce the look of comics on screen.

One of the most striking characteristics of Sin City is the directors’ attempt to closely match the source text's noir look. In the film, actors do not perform before real-life landscapes but in front of a green screen, which is later filled by digitally created images in a process called computer-generated imagery (CGI). CGI is also used for certain characters’ features to call attention to specific elements, such as glasses, lips, and eyes.

Another film that resembles the source text and has attracted audiences’ attention is Snyder’s 300. The film manages to digitally reconstruct the look of the graphic novel—with Lynn Varley’s beautiful aquarelle colors—in an artificial manner but extremely close to the original work.

Impact

With some positive critical reviews and, in many cases, successful box-office returns, film adaptations of comics and graphic novels will likely continue. The growth in this kind of adaptation has affected the film industry, emphasizing digital special effects and making these adaptations more likely to be visual spectacles than other types of films.

The film industry's rediscovery of comics may also help popularize graphic novels because film audiences will probably look for source texts after viewing the films. This may reaffirm graphic novels' position as a nonjuvenile subcategory within the comics medium and, consequently, contribute to the academic recognition of this kind of adaptation. Thus, even though theoretical works that approximate both arts remain scarce, film adaptations of comics and graphic novels are expected to become a fruitful area for future academic research.

Also, while graphic novels may inspire other successful films, the converse may also be true. Readers may expect an increase in graphic novels with a cinematographic quality and structure, written and illustrated to be adapted to screen or perhaps even as marketing tools to be sold across different media.

Bibliography

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Kirby, Ben. "40 Movies You (Probably) Didn't Know Were Comic Books." Empire Movies, 10 Feb. 2014, www.empireonline.com/movies/features/movie-comic-book-adaptations. Accessed 2 May. 2018.

Lacassin, Francis. “The Comic Strip and Film Language.” Film Quarterly, vol. 26, no. 1, 1972, pp. 11–23. Translated by David Kunzle.

Newkirk, Lloyd. “10 Most Anticipated Comic Book and Graphic Novel Adaptations (& Their Release Dates).” Screen Rant, 12 Jan. 2021, screenrant.com/most-anticipated-upcoming-comic-adaptation-release-dates. Accessed 30 July 2024.

Page, Aubrey. “The 25 Best Graphic Novel Adaptations Of All Time.” Complex, 23 Aug. 2017, www.complex.com/pop-culture/a/khal/ranking-graphic-novel-adaptations. Accessed 30 July 2024.