Thursday, February 27th 2025
At this point, we all have probably seen one or two or ten movies that were originally adapted from a comic book. From the Batman TV show in the 60s, to the Spider-Man movies in the 00s, to the MCU takeover in recent years, to Lady Gaga filming a musical based on the Joker in the streets of NYC a couple of weeks ago, one thing is crystal clear: comic book adaptations are here to stay. And not just because they have proved to be profitable in most cases, but they’re also starting to be critically praised by the industry, with celebrated actors like Angela Bassett getting an Oscar nomination for her breathtaking performance in ‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’ (2022) as Queen Ramonda.
"The first thing that can make or break a comic book adaptation is character design"
And of course, just like what happens when you see a movie adaptation of a book like Harry Potter or Little Women (the range, huh), you’re going to have people that love it and people that hate it, depending on how accurate or loyal these adaptations are to the source material. On one hand, you’re gonna have those super die-hard fard that are expecting a frame by frame, word by word adaptation of what they saw on paper, then you’re also going to have those that are expecting to be surprised with a new angle or a new twist, and then you’re going to have those that never read a comic in their lives and they’re just there to have a good time. And yes, it’s hard to please all of them (and by “them” we mean us as well).
The first thing that can make or break a comic book adaptation is character design, as the aesthetic chosen sets the tone for what fans can expect from the film. Take for example Batman, a character that can be as dark as Chirstopher Nolan’s ‘The Dark Knight’ (2012) or as silly and camp as George Clooney’s Batman suit with nipples (1997). Most fans expect their superhero costumes to be exactly as they see in the comic books but realistically, some of them just wouldn’t make sense in the real world, or they wouldn’t be taken seriously. The X-Men live action films, especially the original trilogy from the 00s, show our beloved mutants going from their colorful distinctive outfits to a more serious, all black leather gear, with just glimpses of what their comic book counterparts look like. In some cases, this has to be done just for practicality; imagine Elizabeth Olsen’s Scarlet Witch causing mayhem through the multiverse in the MCU using her original comic book outfit… I mean, it would be kinda badass, but not realistic at all.
We’re not going to dive deep into the “MCU is better or worse than DC” cause it’s subjective and at the end of the day, we can just hope that the studios try to remain as loyal as possible to the source material they’re working with, giving priority to quality over quantity and not compromising the storytelling and the character development of our beloved heroes for a few extra bucks, which at the end of the day, is more important that if they’re wearing their canon leotard suit or not.
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And if we’re talking about loyal comic book adaptations, we have to move away from the Marvel Vs DC mayhem and go in a more obscure, niche direction with Frank Miller’s ‘Sin City’ graphic novel adaptation. This movie takes actual frames from the comics to the big screen in a way that wasn’t done before, and unlike most comic book-inspired movies, Miller was in creative control of the world he created, as he wrote and directed the movie himself with the help of Robert Rodríguez. Everything from the shot-by-shot recreation of dialogue and action to the selective black-and-white style is replicated from the comics. It adapts four different stories from Frank Miller’s comics in its runtime, each as gritty as the original books.
All images attached to this article are not property of Lorem Ipsum and were crafted by the artists mentioned above.
