The Great Debate - Graphic Novel vs. Comic Book Movies
Alex Susse
Issue date: 11/9/09 Section: Entertainment
There will always be people claiming that the original was better, but on the whole there seems to be a feeling that GNAs will generally have more substance than CBAs. I believe this is due in part to the tone that one usually finds in a graphic novel. Comic books, at least the ones which have been around for a long time and are thus candidates for becoming movies, tend to be lighter. For some reason, the graphic novels that are made into movies are richer and contain far more developed characters. Graphic novels like Sin City and Watchmen are fantastic in nature, much like the worlds of Superman and Spiderman, but the characters are more brooding and dark. The Batman series is the only one which seems to bridge the gap, but even then this is only done through a graphic novel about the caped crusader called The Dark Knight Returns. Funny enough, The Dark Knight Returns was used as an artistic source for the 1989 Batman film starring Michael Keaton. The book is sinister and sanguine, which strikes me as sort of funny considering the colorful, almost playful lighting of the film.
Ultimately, the transition from graphic novel to movie tends to be smoother than from comic book to movie. V for Vendetta, Pesepolis, From Hell, 30 Days of Night, Wanted, American Splendor, 300 (okay, they can't all be winners, granted), and I'd already mentioned Sin City and Watchmen. Even so, there are a number of GNAs that aren't even acknowledged as graphic novels. Did you know that A History of Violence, Road to Perdition, Surrogates, and Ghost World were all graphic novels? Now, I'm not saying that ever graphic novel that becomes a movie is going to be great (I mentioned 300, right?), and the same is true of comic books. Iron Man, Superman, Spiderman, Batman Begins and The Dark Knight, X-Men and X-Men 2, Hellboy - these are all damned fine movies, every one of them based on comic books. The point isn't that graphic novels always make better movies, but that they don't encourage writers to hold off on delivering good material in lieu of a chance to beat any dead horses (I mentioned Spiderman 3, right?), and that ends up being better for the fans.
Ultimately, the transition from graphic novel to movie tends to be smoother than from comic book to movie. V for Vendetta, Pesepolis, From Hell, 30 Days of Night, Wanted, American Splendor, 300 (okay, they can't all be winners, granted), and I'd already mentioned Sin City and Watchmen. Even so, there are a number of GNAs that aren't even acknowledged as graphic novels. Did you know that A History of Violence, Road to Perdition, Surrogates, and Ghost World were all graphic novels? Now, I'm not saying that ever graphic novel that becomes a movie is going to be great (I mentioned 300, right?), and the same is true of comic books. Iron Man, Superman, Spiderman, Batman Begins and The Dark Knight, X-Men and X-Men 2, Hellboy - these are all damned fine movies, every one of them based on comic books. The point isn't that graphic novels always make better movies, but that they don't encourage writers to hold off on delivering good material in lieu of a chance to beat any dead horses (I mentioned Spiderman 3, right?), and that ends up being better for the fans.
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