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http://ifc.com/news/article?aId=18668
Five Graphic Novels Every Movie Fan Should Own
By Matt Singer
IFC News
[Image: Brian Michael Bendis and Marc Andreyko's "Torso," Image Comics, 2001]
Movies have always borrowed ideas and stories from other mediums, from literature to theater to television. But in the last decade one medium has surpassed all the others in influence and importance: comic books.
It's certainly not the first time comics have found a second home in Hollywood. During the first comic book boom of the 1940s, when titles like "Action Comics" routinely sold millions of copies a month, many of the medium's most popular characters became the subjects of their own movie serials. Super-hero stories, with their outsized protagonists and outlandish villains, proved ideal subjects for the serials. And it didn't hurt that the two shared an overlapping audience of dime-spending youngsters.
Even after the success of the first "Superman" movie and Tim Burton's "Batman," it still took moviemaking technology a few decades to catch up with the inventive imaginations of the men and women who spawned Spider-Man, the X-Men and the rest of their four-colored brood. But the world of comics has provided the inspiration for more than tent-pole theatrics: they've provided the spark behind documentaries ("Crumb"), biopics ("American Splendor"), indie self-loathing ("Ghost World"), vampire movies (the "Blade" series) and more.
Just as comics have inspired movies, movies have proven a fruitful inspiration for many comics. And, admittedly, most of the comic book movies that make their way to multiplexes barely scratch the surface of the diversity of styles and genres available in any good comic book store.
Here, then, are five choices particularly well-suited to movie fans. This is not a list of the greatest graphic novels of all time, or anything like that; it's rather a list of five standout books in five different genres that deserve a wider audience amongst the moviegoing public, and all five are currently in print; most should be available just about anywhere in the country.
"Torso" (Image Comics, $24.95)
Written by Brian Michael Bendis and Mark Andreyko; illustrated by Bendis
Genre: Police drama
For Fans Of: "L.A. Confidential," "The Big Heat"
This black-and-white comic book noir based on a true story and what's more movieish than that phrase? follows Eliot Ness on one of his largely forgotten cases, on the trail of one of the world's first recognized serial killers.
Movie Fans Will Particularly Appreciate: Bendis' cinematography, for lack of a better term. Like a really good D.P., Bendis plays with light and shadow, and his innovative panel layouts beautifully translate film's editing rhythm to the page.
Cinematic Connections: Ness is also the subject of Brian De Palma's memorable cop drama "The Untouchables."
Further Reading: Both Bendis and Andreyko have gone on to high-profile work in mainstream super-hero comics including "Ultimate Spider-Man," "Daredevil," and "Manhunter"; Bendis has also created several other crime novels in the style of "Torso" his massive "Jinx," a noir take on "The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly," is also highly recommended.
True Story, Swear to God: Chances Are... (AIT/Planet Lar, $14.95)
Written and illustrated by Tom Beland
Genre: Romantic comedy
For Fans Of: "Sleepless in Seattle," "An Affair to Remember"
Thousands of miles from home on a free vacation, newspaper cartoonist Tom Beland falls in love with a beautiful stranger named Lily he meets at a bus stop.
Movie Fans Will Particularly Appreciate: Beland's shamelessly at times embarrassingly romantic storyline. Rom-com and chick flick fans take note: you have never seen a more clichéd love story than this one: from the meet cute to the impossible coincidences to the wisecracking friends and relatives dispensing folksy advice, they're all here. And, of course, it's all true.
Cinematic Connections: In the midst of his magical first night with Lily, Tom compares himself to George Bailey in "It's a Wonderful Life," and, in a somewhat less flattering reference, admits his childhood crush on Lady from "Lady and the Tramp."
Further Reading: The ups and downs of Tom and Lily's ongoing love story continue in another collection, and now each month in a new series.
Nick Fury: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. (Marvel Comics, $19.95)
Written and illustrated by Jim Steranko, with Stan Lee, Roy Thomas, Jack Kirby, et. al.
Genre: Spy action
For Fans Of: "The Incredibles," "Austin Powers"
A collection of stories from the 1960s about super-spy Nick Fury and his band of intrepid spies battling evil terrorists with a variety of guns, gizmos and gadgets.
Movie Fans Will Particularly Appreciate: The fact that, like a lot of action movies, the dialogue is hokey and the situations predictable but the visuals are absolutely stunning. Auteurists will appreciate the fact that Steranko, creator of some of the most highly regarded and best remembered comics of the 1960s, was one of the first creators to both write and draw a monthly book.
Cinematic Connections: Arnold Schwarzenegger's boss in "True Lies," played by Charleton Heston, wears an eyepatch in honor of Nick Fury's signature headgear. And like James Bond, Fury also gets his gadgets from a chap named Boothroyd.
Further Reading: Turn-of-the-century series "Spyboy" from Dark Horse Comics, an underappreciated twist on the run-of-the-mill espionage series.
The Walking Dead: Days Gone Bye (Image Comics, $9.99)
Written by Robert Kirkman; illustrated by Tony Moore
Genre: Survival horror
For Fans Of: "The Crazies," "Slither"
After getting shot on the job, police officer Rick Grimes wakes up in an abandoned hospital to find the entire world overrun by flesh-chomping zombies.
Movie Fans Will Particularly Appreciate: Kirkman and Moore's faithful yet innovative approach to genre. "Days Gone Bye" is as much about the interpersonal relations amongst a small group of survivors as it is about killing zombies. Horror fans will get exactly what they want in a way they have never seen before.
Cinematic Connections: One of the first people Rick meets after leaving the hospital is a child named Duane Jones, an homage to the lead actor in George Romero's original "Night of the Living Dead."
Further Reading: "For me the worst part of every zombie movie is the end. I always want to know what happens next," writes Kirkman in his introduction. "'The Walking Dead' will be the zombie movie that never ends." Good to his word, there are already four more "Dead" collections" and new issues come out almost every month.
Ex Machina: The First Hundred Days (DC/Wildstorm, $9.99)
Written by Brian K. Vaughn; Illustrated by Tony Harris with Tom Feister
Genre: Super-heroic and political intrigue
For Fans Of: "Three Days of the Condor," "The Taking of Pelham One Two Three"
Engineer Mitchell Hundred stumbles on a mysterious device and is granted the power to control any machine by speaking to it. Years later, after retiring from super-heroism, Hundred uses his fame as "The Great Machine" to become the mayor of New York City.
Movie Fans Will Particularly Appreciate: Ideas and characters more dynamic than even the best Hollywood movies of the last couple years, and a specificity about New York City rare in comics (the novel's key subplot involves an art controversy not unlike one Mayor Giuliani faced a few years ago).
Cinematic Connections: There aren't any specific ones, but Vaughn's complex storytelling structure is worthy of a great screenwriter.
Further Reading: Vaughn's other signature title is an addictive ongoing series called "Y: The Last Man," an apocalyptic sci-fi story about a world where an unknown plague killed every man on the planet except one lucky escape artist named Yorick Brown. It could easily be an inspiration for Alfonso Cuarón's "Children of Men."
Five Graphic Novels Every Movie Fan Should Own
By Matt Singer
IFC News
[Image: Brian Michael Bendis and Marc Andreyko's "Torso," Image Comics, 2001]
Movies have always borrowed ideas and stories from other mediums, from literature to theater to television. But in the last decade one medium has surpassed all the others in influence and importance: comic books.
It's certainly not the first time comics have found a second home in Hollywood. During the first comic book boom of the 1940s, when titles like "Action Comics" routinely sold millions of copies a month, many of the medium's most popular characters became the subjects of their own movie serials. Super-hero stories, with their outsized protagonists and outlandish villains, proved ideal subjects for the serials. And it didn't hurt that the two shared an overlapping audience of dime-spending youngsters.
Even after the success of the first "Superman" movie and Tim Burton's "Batman," it still took moviemaking technology a few decades to catch up with the inventive imaginations of the men and women who spawned Spider-Man, the X-Men and the rest of their four-colored brood. But the world of comics has provided the inspiration for more than tent-pole theatrics: they've provided the spark behind documentaries ("Crumb"), biopics ("American Splendor"), indie self-loathing ("Ghost World"), vampire movies (the "Blade" series) and more.
Just as comics have inspired movies, movies have proven a fruitful inspiration for many comics. And, admittedly, most of the comic book movies that make their way to multiplexes barely scratch the surface of the diversity of styles and genres available in any good comic book store.
Here, then, are five choices particularly well-suited to movie fans. This is not a list of the greatest graphic novels of all time, or anything like that; it's rather a list of five standout books in five different genres that deserve a wider audience amongst the moviegoing public, and all five are currently in print; most should be available just about anywhere in the country.
"Torso" (Image Comics, $24.95)
Written by Brian Michael Bendis and Mark Andreyko; illustrated by Bendis
Genre: Police drama
For Fans Of: "L.A. Confidential," "The Big Heat"
This black-and-white comic book noir based on a true story and what's more movieish than that phrase? follows Eliot Ness on one of his largely forgotten cases, on the trail of one of the world's first recognized serial killers.
Movie Fans Will Particularly Appreciate: Bendis' cinematography, for lack of a better term. Like a really good D.P., Bendis plays with light and shadow, and his innovative panel layouts beautifully translate film's editing rhythm to the page.
Cinematic Connections: Ness is also the subject of Brian De Palma's memorable cop drama "The Untouchables."
Further Reading: Both Bendis and Andreyko have gone on to high-profile work in mainstream super-hero comics including "Ultimate Spider-Man," "Daredevil," and "Manhunter"; Bendis has also created several other crime novels in the style of "Torso" his massive "Jinx," a noir take on "The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly," is also highly recommended.
True Story, Swear to God: Chances Are... (AIT/Planet Lar, $14.95)
Written and illustrated by Tom Beland
Genre: Romantic comedy
For Fans Of: "Sleepless in Seattle," "An Affair to Remember"
Thousands of miles from home on a free vacation, newspaper cartoonist Tom Beland falls in love with a beautiful stranger named Lily he meets at a bus stop.
Movie Fans Will Particularly Appreciate: Beland's shamelessly at times embarrassingly romantic storyline. Rom-com and chick flick fans take note: you have never seen a more clichéd love story than this one: from the meet cute to the impossible coincidences to the wisecracking friends and relatives dispensing folksy advice, they're all here. And, of course, it's all true.
Cinematic Connections: In the midst of his magical first night with Lily, Tom compares himself to George Bailey in "It's a Wonderful Life," and, in a somewhat less flattering reference, admits his childhood crush on Lady from "Lady and the Tramp."
Further Reading: The ups and downs of Tom and Lily's ongoing love story continue in another collection, and now each month in a new series.
Nick Fury: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. (Marvel Comics, $19.95)
Written and illustrated by Jim Steranko, with Stan Lee, Roy Thomas, Jack Kirby, et. al.
Genre: Spy action
For Fans Of: "The Incredibles," "Austin Powers"
A collection of stories from the 1960s about super-spy Nick Fury and his band of intrepid spies battling evil terrorists with a variety of guns, gizmos and gadgets.
Movie Fans Will Particularly Appreciate: The fact that, like a lot of action movies, the dialogue is hokey and the situations predictable but the visuals are absolutely stunning. Auteurists will appreciate the fact that Steranko, creator of some of the most highly regarded and best remembered comics of the 1960s, was one of the first creators to both write and draw a monthly book.
Cinematic Connections: Arnold Schwarzenegger's boss in "True Lies," played by Charleton Heston, wears an eyepatch in honor of Nick Fury's signature headgear. And like James Bond, Fury also gets his gadgets from a chap named Boothroyd.
Further Reading: Turn-of-the-century series "Spyboy" from Dark Horse Comics, an underappreciated twist on the run-of-the-mill espionage series.
The Walking Dead: Days Gone Bye (Image Comics, $9.99)
Written by Robert Kirkman; illustrated by Tony Moore
Genre: Survival horror
For Fans Of: "The Crazies," "Slither"
After getting shot on the job, police officer Rick Grimes wakes up in an abandoned hospital to find the entire world overrun by flesh-chomping zombies.
Movie Fans Will Particularly Appreciate: Kirkman and Moore's faithful yet innovative approach to genre. "Days Gone Bye" is as much about the interpersonal relations amongst a small group of survivors as it is about killing zombies. Horror fans will get exactly what they want in a way they have never seen before.
Cinematic Connections: One of the first people Rick meets after leaving the hospital is a child named Duane Jones, an homage to the lead actor in George Romero's original "Night of the Living Dead."
Further Reading: "For me the worst part of every zombie movie is the end. I always want to know what happens next," writes Kirkman in his introduction. "'The Walking Dead' will be the zombie movie that never ends." Good to his word, there are already four more "Dead" collections" and new issues come out almost every month.
Ex Machina: The First Hundred Days (DC/Wildstorm, $9.99)
Written by Brian K. Vaughn; Illustrated by Tony Harris with Tom Feister
Genre: Super-heroic and political intrigue
For Fans Of: "Three Days of the Condor," "The Taking of Pelham One Two Three"
Engineer Mitchell Hundred stumbles on a mysterious device and is granted the power to control any machine by speaking to it. Years later, after retiring from super-heroism, Hundred uses his fame as "The Great Machine" to become the mayor of New York City.
Movie Fans Will Particularly Appreciate: Ideas and characters more dynamic than even the best Hollywood movies of the last couple years, and a specificity about New York City rare in comics (the novel's key subplot involves an art controversy not unlike one Mayor Giuliani faced a few years ago).
Cinematic Connections: There aren't any specific ones, but Vaughn's complex storytelling structure is worthy of a great screenwriter.
Further Reading: Vaughn's other signature title is an addictive ongoing series called "Y: The Last Man," an apocalyptic sci-fi story about a world where an unknown plague killed every man on the planet except one lucky escape artist named Yorick Brown. It could easily be an inspiration for Alfonso Cuarón's "Children of Men."
