50 Comics That Should Be Movies

Preacher

The Comic: Beautifully eccentric religio-pastiche from Garth Ennis in which preacher Jesse Custer acquires supernatural powers and hits the road with his vampire sidekick and ex-girlfriend Tulip.

The Movie Version: D.J. Caruso ( I Am Number Four ) talked about dumbing down the religious aspects for his failed movie version, but a movie adap really needs to embrace those controversial religious themes and take them to the max. It should be, in a word, fearless.

Perfect Cast: James Marsden, Juno Temple, James McAvoy

Dream Director: William Friedkin

100 Bullets

The Comic: A pulp noir series that ran for 100 issues (naturally), Bullets boasts an array of deeply flawed characters, not least the inscrutable Agent Graves, who offers wronged people a chance at revenge with some untraceable bullets.

The Movie Version: Remember Richard Kelly’s The Box ? Yeah, like that, only good. Kelly’s got an eye for memorable visuals, but he’s been let down by his original scripts – let’s give him this to adapt and get him back on track.

Perfect Cast: Lance Henriksen, Jake Gyllenhaal, Frank Langella

Dream Director: Richard Kelly

Calvin And Hobbes

The Comic: A daily newspaper strip that was created by cartoonist Bill Watterson, and ran between 1985 and 1995. The strip followed an adventurous six year old and his stuffed tiger.

The Movie Version: A stop-motion animation in which tiger Hobbes and six-year-old Calvin get into all manner of scrapes. A touching B-plot has Calvin struggling in school…

Perfect Cast: Unknown voice actors

Dream Director: Tim Burton

Nemesis

The Comic: “What if Batman was The Joker?” Mark Millar asked himself before penning this uber-cool comic in which unstoppable supervillain Nemesis targets Chief Inspector Blake Morrow.

The Movie Version: The movie adap has long been in the works, with Joe Carnahan apparently now in the director’s chair (replacing Tony Scott). We want hyper-violence and an intricately-plotted adap that stays true to the claret-soaked comic.

Perfect Cast: Zachary Quinto, Liam Neeson

Dream Director: Joe Carnahan

The Boys

The Comic: One of the naughtiest, most violent comics you’ll ever read (creator Garth Ennis wanted it to “out- Preacher Preacher ”), as CIA squad ‘The Boys’ monitor out-of-control, fame-hungry superheroes.

The Movie Version: Adam McKay tried to make a movie adap in 2010, but what we really want is a bloody superhero twist on Reservoir Dogs – which makes Tarantino the guy for the gig. Of course, Simon Pegg has to play Hughie…

Perfect Cast: Simon Pegg, Ellen Wong, Jason Statham, Patrick Wilson, Traci Lords

Dream Director: Quentin Tarantino

Creature Commandos

The Comic: Writer Timothy Truman revived the Creature Commandos in 2000, introducing Cyborg Gunner to the team, which also includes Bogman, Aten the Mummy, vampire Velcoro and werewolf Wolfpack.

The Movie Version: It’s been a while since Paul Verhoeven made a sci-fi, but he’s perfect for this outrageous, violent story. He’d probably favour animatronics over CGI, too.

Perfect Cast: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Colin Farrell

Dream Director: Paul Verhoeven

Locke & Key

The Comic: A mystical series from IDW set around the Locke family’s ancestral home, Keyhouse, which also houses an evil entity that wants to open a forbidden door…

The Movie Version: An adaptation of the comic’s first run, ‘Welcome To Lovecraft’, which sets up the story and has baddie Sam Lesser on the loose.

Perfect Cast: Ben Foster

Dream Director: Ti West

Queen And Country

The Comic: Inspired by 1970s TV show The Sandbaggers , Queen And Country follows SIS Operative Tara Chace.

The Movie Version: Think a female Bond, with Gemma Arterton finally getting a decent role as Chace, and Sam Mendes ensuring there’s enough gristle to go along with the grit.

Perfect Cast: Gemma Arterton

Dream Director: Sam Mendes

I Kill Giants

The Comic: An unconventional indie comic about a fifth-grader who carries a Norse war hammer in her bag for killing giants. Though is this all just a flight of fancy for the troubled youngster?

The Movie Version: This could be really good. A twisty narrative in which our young heroine’s action fantasies could just be an escape from her miserable reality. Poignancy here we come.

Perfect Cast: Chloe Moretz

Dream Director: Spike Jonze

Black Hole

The Comic: A body horrific nightmare courtesy Charles Burns, in which horny teens fall victim to a sexually transmitted disease that causes them to mutate.

The Movie Version: Though Steven Soderbergh hasn’t exactly handled something this kooky and grotesque before ( Contagion aside), we’d love to see what he made of this, especially considering his tight grip on characterisation and aesthetic.

Perfect Cast: Unknown teens for maximum impact

Dream Director: Steven Soderbergh