Slapnut's Weekly Top Five: Best Comics that should be Movies

Welcome back for another edition of my Weekly Top Five.  This week, thanks to an assist from Kyle, I am going to take a look at the five best comics or story lines that should be movies.  Inspiration hit yesterday while talking and thinking about the Watchmen trailer.

I have been reading comics off and on since I was in the 6th grade courtesy of a G.I. Joe issue.  I am 29 now, so I will let you do the math.  The comic medium has become the new "it" thing in Hollywood, owing much to the success of movies like Blade, X-men and Spider-Man.  Now every comic with a decent storyline seems to have a bull's eye on it.  What follows is a quick summary of each of these story lines and what would allow them to transfer to the movie medium and still be a success.

5.  The Walking Dead
Years before George Romero did the "Land of the Dead" movie, Robert Kirkman was writing about the pursuit of life in the post zombie outbreak world.  The Walking Dead is a fantastic series set in the south after zombies have over taken much of the US (we presume).  It starts off with a police officer trying to find his family after being separated before the outbreak, and leads to all sorts of craziness as he and others attempt to survive with no military, or government support. 

My only potential gripe with this as movie is the fact that others have tried, (see 28 days/weeks later, Land of the Dead, Resident Evil Extinction), to cover similar ground but no one has done it with Kirkman's style and flair.  The comic revolve around family and friends and the intricate question of what morality exists in such a world, if any.  Plus, there is a **** ton of zombie killing, smashing, and even people killing people to appeal to the common folk.

4.  Y The Last Man
Y The Last Man is an incredible story of the survival of one solitary man in a world where only women survived.  Some sort of genetic plague wipes everything with a Y chromosome, even male animals.  Only one man and his monkey survive.  Try living as the only man on Earth, with plenty of ape **** crazy women around the world seeking men for all sorts of reasons.  His adventure to find the cause and solution, and his long lost love are highlights of the comic. 

This apparently is in the works as a movie, possibly a 3 part movie, with part one as the first 14 issues or so of the comic.  Shia LaBeouf is rumored to play the lead Yorick.  There is load of stories and content yearning for a movie translation.  Everything from crazy Amazonian woman, government agents, rouge factions hunting for Yorick and his monkey, it gets intense.  Hopefully these movies come through and deliver.

3.  The Death of Superman
Enter Doomsday; the only man to have ever truly beaten Superman.  The Death of Superman storyline was one hell of a ride.  Imagine someone just as powerful, just as fast and strong as Superman yet with no moral code or feelings.  Bred to be the ultimate weapon, Doomsday was just that.  You can set up the first half of the film leading to the death, and follow that with some sort of "returns" storyline as well in the same movie.

Everyone and their brother, including Kevin Smith, have taken a shot at writing this script.  The problem being that Warner Brothers never seems to settle on one story and instead went with a relaunch via Super Man Returns.  Doomsday hasn't had much consideration as the movie villain in past scripts but the right CGI and author could pull it off.  Hopefully something like this is considered once these Superman movies start kicking again.

2.  The Authority
A no holds barred superhero team featuring a roster that would rival the best of the Avengers and the Justice League.  The Authority kicks ass and takes names later.  The comic is known for a high level of violence, graphic situations, and battles of an epic scale.  There is no "never take lives" Batman code here.  These guys do what they must and whatever the hell they feel like.  From fighting off intergalactic invaders, to taking on tyrannical US and world governments, there isn't much these guys haven't dealt with.

The main issue with moving this to the movies is probably cost.  They fly around in from place to place, even dimensions in this futuristic Carrier.  The battle scenes alone could rival anything from Lord of the Rings or 300 as far as scope, death and destruction, and there are only 8 members on the team.  If you want action, this comic and movie would have it spades. 

1.  The Dark Knight Returns
Frank Miller, author of greats such as 300, Sin City, Daredevil is probably most famous for his Batman mini-series titled "The Dark Knight Returns".  A story of an aging retired Bruce Wayne sick and fed up with the moral and social decline of Gotham City, coming out of retirement to put some boot to *****.  Highlights include a fight with a mutant gang leader, the Joker, and of course the big red and blue himself gets in his way leading to Batman and Superman going toe to toe.  The ending is perfect.

This movie was rumored to happen before "Batman Begins", but they decided to go in another direction instead which makes a bit more sense.  This is obviously a movie that should take place near the end of Batman sequels considering the time frame.  The fight scenes would be incredible to see on the big screen.  A struggling and aged Batman isn't something we have seen before and it gives a real human feel to the story's run.  This is a must have movie, someday.

I hope you enjoyed the list, and if any of these interest you be sure to hit up your local comic shop.  Or if that is too geeky, plenty of good bookstores now carry trade paper backs of these in multi-issue collections.

Do you guys have any other ideas for comics that should be movies?  Let me hear them.

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