With the pandemic wreaking havoc on the box office, along with literally everything else in our lives, this week the Vin Diesel-starrer Bloodshot drops on demand for your quarantine pleasure (I guess?). With this in mind, I asked our friend Ariel from the Geek101 Podcast to put together a list of other indie comics that could make the jump to the big or small screen in the not-too-distant future. - BG
Marvel and DC Comics will never go out of style. However, there may be be a point where audiences need a break from the comic book monotony of supera Zhero spandex. Enter indie comic books! Frequent readers will champion the notion that comic books are not a monolith; there are a plethora of stories to tell and retell! Studios are learning this lesson as they branch out to properties like Valiant’s Bloodshot or Amazon’s The Boys. Here are a few popular comics that you might see in the next few years.
Saga
Story by Brian K Vaughn, Art by Fiona Staples
Very few things are as good as people say they are. Saga is a rare exception. Writer Brian K. Vaughn and Artist Fiona Staples teamed up to create the lovely story of Marko and Alana. Saga follows these star-crossed lovers as they attempt to protect their new daughter and build a life as they travel through a galaxy torn by war. Marko and Alana aren’t the only interesting characters in the world of Saga and throughout the series the audience is introduced to others; people like Prince Robot IV, crown prince of the Robot Kingdom, or The WIll, quirky but brutal bounty hunter. Vaughn and Staples’ Saga is an easily recommendable story of how war affects everyone and everything, told through the eyes of a young, new family.
Saga is unafraid to be violent, sexual, and emotional. Vaughn throws the audience into a weird and unpredictable world similar to what George Lucas did to moviegoers back in the seventies and eighties. The other defining trait of Saga is the writer’s willingness to let characters die. Like Game of Thrones, don’t get too attached to a character as you never know who’s leaving you next. Fiona Staples excels at both character design and human emotion, the two biggest draws of the series. It’s easy to see a big shot Hollywood producer taking a look at Saga’s popularity and thinking “big money”. Don’t be surprised if a studio announces a trilogy of big budget Saga movies.
Looks like: Star Wars + Game of Thrones + Romeo and Juliet
Lazarus
Story by Greg Rucka, Art by Michael Lark and Santi Arcas
Everybody loves a dystopian future. Greg Rucka’s particular flavor involves a capitalist caste system and super soldiers with regenerative powers. In the story of Lazarus, the world has been divided into sectors run by families. Despite the modern setting and technology, each family uses a combat representative to settle disputes and deliver messages; beings who are given the title of Lazarus. In this book, we follow a woman named Forever Carlyle. As the Carlyle family Lazarus, she has to come to grips with her upbringing as a living weapon. The comic delves deep into Forever’s upbringing and emotions where she often questions her loyalty, motivations, family, and even her existence.
Lazarus is a slow paced series that isn’t afraid to take your eyes off the action. The comic’s deliberate sway away from action is often used to set up an intricate world that is mired by greed and corruption. Several times throughout the series the audience is given insight into the Carlyle family dynamics, a family made up of the patriarch and his four grown children. Their bickering and backstabbing is reminiscent of shows like Succession or even Game of Thrones. It’s easy to see Rucka’s Lazarus show up on the CW or SyFy schedule. Stop me if you’ve heard this before: a dark haired woman struggles with doing the right thing during a dystopian era of violence and suffering.
Looks like: Van Helsing, Wyonna Earp, The 100, Into the Badlands, The Hunger Games
Die
Story by Kieron Gillen, Art by Stephanie Hans, Jamie McKelvie
On a rainy night six teenagers head to Solomon’s house to sit down to play his newly created role playing game. As with most RPG’s, each kid crafts their character and are given dice to play but that’s all we’re told about that fateful night. The story shifts to years in the future where the audience has learned that the players were transported to an alternate reality, and transformed into the characters they created just moments ago. Ash the Dictator. Matthew the Grief Knight. Chuck the Fool. Isabelle the Godbinder. Angela the Neo. Solomon is the Master. These six characters traversed through the land of the Die but only five made it back home. Kieron Gillen’s Die tells the story of how these characters must travel back to the world of Die as adults to confront the lives they lived and left behind.
Die is a masterclass in imagination and storytelling. Kieron Gillen and Stephanie Hans created an unmatched world of magic, technology, and danger. The world of the Die has left an indelible imprint on each of our heroes and they all must deal with their trauma as best they can. A show based on Die would need a strong and diverse cast of actors. Actors should be drawn to this type of high stakes, big budget, critical success story. Everything a story pitch needs exists in Kieron Gillen’s project. Die has unique characters, a plethora of lore, and a high level mystery box. It’s easy to see a network like HBO making Die their next Game of Thrones.
Looks like: Jumanji, Stranger Things, Warcraft, Stephen King’s It
Giant Days
Created by John Allison
Esther, Ptolemy, and Daisy. No that’s not a magic spell, that’s the three characters in Giant Days! This book, created by John Allison, follows three young women as they navigate college and all the fun and drama that goes with it. Giant Days is an easy going, slice of life comic book full of humor and hijinks. John Allison initially created Giant Days as a web comic, and you can easily see that classic comic strip influence. There isn’t much going on in terms of sequential plot but it’s always a good time hanging out with Esther, Ptolemy, and Daisy as they deal with stress, romance, and the patriarchy.
Boom! Studios, the publishing company, releases many comics based off of popular cartoons; shows like Adventure Time and Steven Universe, and it’s easy to imagine the inverse happening. A Giant Days cartoon would follow in the footsteps of popular shows like Doug or Hey, Arnold. The audience that grew up watching slice of life cartoons could watch a more modern and mature version following college age kids. The art style would also lend itself well to fun and goofy animation. A show like this would remind folks that comic books aren’t just heroes in capes and violent psychopaths!
Looks like: Girls but with not terrible people, Doug, Saved by the Bell
