A Book, Manga Or Comic Book Story You Like To See On The Big/Small Screen

With so many books/manga/comic book stories having already been brought to the big screen (theater) or small screen (television), I'd like to hear which ones you like to see there, even if it has already been done before but you hope for a better version.

My choices:

Atlas Shrugged (a novel by Ayn Rand): It's already been done as a trilogy of three movies, but it wasn't enough time to properly tell the story which resulted in many critical story elements being left out. I'd like to see it on television as a miniseries (a minimum of 12 hour-long episodes).

Virtual Girl (a novel by Amy Thompson): Excellent science fiction story set at a time when artificial intelligence has been outlawed. A programmer creates an artificial intelligence and puts it in a female robot. I think it would make an excellent low-key science fiction movie.

Gotham Nights (a comic book miniseries): Set in Gotham City, it follows four stories of ordinary people who live in the city. While Batman does make an appearance, he is not the main character.

 

Foucault's Pendulum (Umberto Eco): A wild novel about three befriended book publishers who decide to mock conspiracy theories, creating their own theory by using a computer program which randomly pairs words and phrases together and, thus, creating a complex theory about the templairs, their possession of the legendary Holy Grail and their big plan to take over the world - only to face extreme consequences by publishing their theory. A brilliant satire - but very likely unfilmable.

 

The last Galactus Story.

 

They've kind of taken too much from The Dark Knight Returns in Batman Vs. Superman for it to work, but I'd have liked to have seen it. (I never did see Batman Vs. Superman).

 

The Deryni trilogies by Katherine Kurtz would make a good series. They're less dark than GOT and are already complete, so adaptation wouldn't require finishing the dang story.

 

I'd like to see an adaption of Art Spiegleman's Maus, done in the simple art style (though in color) of the graphic novel.

 

I would really like to see a film adaptation of The Little Paris Bookshop by Nina George. It's the best novel I've read in years. It's about a Frenchman who calls himself a "literary apothecary" and operates his bookstore on a barge that floats along the Seine River. The book is an in depth exploration of love, loss and the stages of grief. There are a lot of truths about life and relationships in the novel. It stayed on the German bestseller list for over a year. It was also recommended by oprah.com. That's the only "chicken soup" you will ever need.

 

Gary Jennings' ~ Aztec

There's the film "Apocalypto" which dealt the the Myan civilization, but too many liberties were taken, where the truth would have been better than fiction.

I believe that showing the conquering of The Aztecs, from both the Spanish and Aztec eyes, would be a neat cinematic experience.

The only problem is it would take at least 3 hours to present it.

Does anyone even do epic films like that anymore?

 

That would be a very hard film to get financed. There's any number of Robert Crumb's longer stores that I'd love to see produced but he got hosed so badly on the Fritz the Cat movie that he would never give permission to anybody.

 

The problem isn't leaving out story elements, the problem is Rand's terrible characters, which were memorably described by PJ O'Rourke as "hacked out of concrete with a blunt ice pick."

 

Dilbert

 

Conan the Barbarian has NEVER been done properly on film. For that matter, neither has Tarzan. I'd love to see them done right!

 

PJ is right. Probably the worst writer I ever continued to read thinking there was something of value in the work. I was wrong. I understand there are the faithful who believe the hype of her one sided philosophy but that is no reason to make more movies out of it.

 

Superduperman from MAD comics. Or Starchie. As long as they were faithful to the visual styles.

 

This appears sorta "meh", but I'd really love to see Ed Zwick take a crack at running a Strangers In Paradise series-by-series maxi for someplace such as ABC (or better yet, The CW once they get the superheroes out of their system). He's got access to writers who apparently can work together on a plotline, and although I've never read anybody like Terry Moore do such a good job in narrative graphics with female characters, this would be a wonderful place for Moore to get his feet wet in teleplays. The book started out like so many do, interpersonal conflicts with mysteries bubbling up and eventually subsuming the narrative. I think it would be a great hook for a family drama, and then become a much darker and more "FX-level" tension, that wouldn't lose a mainstream audience. ABC has shown an ability to straddle these sort of character/story dynamics before, and god knows Terry Moore deserves to be known to a much wider universe.

Also could see his Salem-witches story get a re-launch somewhere such as USA, or TNT. Like I said, extraordinary storytelling with extroardinarily-well-developed characters. Can't miss.

 

Seems to me that there's plenty of "one sided philosophy" in movies these days!

 

Philip K. Dick's UBIK has been bandied about Hollywood for years. He even wrote a screenplay for it, but it has never been made into a theatrical film. I've read all his major novels, and UBIK is my favorite. It's very easy reading. I recommend it, if you like science fiction.
Most of PKD's screen adaptations have fallen short, IMO, except for Blade Runner, but UBIK could potentially be an amazing movie.

 

Daredevil - Born Again

The Defenders - Six-Fingered Hand Saga

 

To start with Rachel Caine’s best selling thriller series starting with Stillhouse Lake...


Cat

 

The Guyver I always loved this series..
Yes, I would to see better live action film of this
the 90's ones were bad..
But only if it's made in japan away from hollywoods greedy hands.

 

Dream TV series is Dorothy Dunnett’s Lymond Chronicles series. Six books about a Scottish aristocrat who is a dangerously capable guy in many things, leading him into various plots involving many historical figures of the time (mid 16th century). Each book is dense enough that at least 10-12 episodes each would be needed. But it could be amazing. Fans have been fantasy casting it for years.

For a movie, I’d love to see Louis L’Amour’s Last of the Breed, a great adventure story revolving around a downed American test pilot in the 80s Soviet Union. The pilot is Native American, and he must use all his traditional skills to stay alive and escape, while being pursued by his Russian opposite, a Yakut tracker.

 

I'd like to see an adaptation of the Russian sci-fi novel Roadside Picnic, one that stays closer to the source material than the Tarkovsky movie Stalker and spends appropriately on the special effects. I understand there was going to be a limited-run cable series based on it, but that seems to have gone nowhere.