Comic books that would make for a good live action TV show

T

The Overlord

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With the success of Walking Dead on AMC, what other comic books would make for good live action TV shows?

I am beginning to think the Punisher would work better as a TV show rather then a movie, as long as it is on a channel like HBO.
 
I've said it before, and I'll say it again the Annihilation Saga

Annihilation (Season 1), Conquest (Season 2), War of Kings (Season 3), Realm of Kings (Season 4), and The Thanos Imperitive (Season 5)
 
Gemini said:
I've said it before, and I'll say it again the Annihilation Saga

Annihilation (Season 1), Conquest (Season 2), War of Kings (Season 3), Realm of Kings (Season 4), and The Thanos Imperitive (Season 5)
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Would those stories work on a TV show budget? TV shows have way smaller budget then movies, so they are way more limited in terms of special effects. That seems like it would only work in animation and that carries its own problems: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/AnimationAgeGhetto
 
This has been discussed here a bit before, but Daredevil has so much potential for an excellent serial drama, possibly the most of any popular comic character.

Unlike The Cape, the recent-ish Blade series and even Smallville, the show would have to feel 100% real. No alleyway sets with steam coming out of the sewers. In style, tone and plot-arcs, it would be similar to how I imagine The Wire is from what little I've seen of it.

Having the show be - Dexter-like - intensely from the perspective of a blind character who perceives the world so differently and richly from anything we're used to on television would also be the type of great thing that another show could use as its whole premise and be a hit. I don't mean constant CGI radar-sense shots, I mean narration, description, and good direction that focuses on things that stick out to all of Matt's different senses.

The action sequences, even used liberally, wouldn't stretch the budget of a modern TV show, especially if it was an AMC, Showtime or HBO series, which seems ideal. So basically, The Wire meets Dexter with Daredevil's pantheon being played by the kind of cast we expect from these networks. Yeah. This is what I want.
 
Locke & Key.
Three siblings move to a giant mansion and discover that certain doors in the mansion have magical properties when opened with the right key. Now they have to figure out the mansions past while keeping the mysterious Omega key out of the hands of an enemy who might be closer than they realise.

This stuff writes itself!
 
robje said:
Locke & Key.
Three siblings move to a giant mansion and discover that certain doors in the mansion have magical properties when opened with the right key. Now they have to figure out the mansions past while keeping the mysterious Omega key out of the hands of an enemy who might be closer than they realise.

This stuff writes itself!
Click to expand...

Locke & Key is actually in production but it sounds like it might not be picked up.
 
The Punisher, Gotham Central, Daredevil, Desolation Jones, Ex Machina.
 
Daredevil would be great, but good gravy, Gotham Central would be award-winning, epic, and legendary.

Grim-and-gritty crime dramas seem to be a dime a dozen but add in the faintest hint of Batman involvement and a little bit of - what's the word - not "supernatural" characters or stories, but more extraordinary as would be the case with regular cops taking on parts of Batman's rogues, and the constant struggle with resisting and dealing with corruption...wow. It would be amazing.
 
I was always fond of the idea of a Smallville-esque (read: late teen age characters) version of X-Men. Give it a little bit of X-Men Evolution flair by having Professor X, Storm, Wolverine (and of course Emma Frost) as teachers to the young mutants Scott, Jean, Hank, Peter, Kitty and a number of other cameos and background characters from the comics. You've got characters whose powers are relatively easy to pull off (maybe Peter would be harder with the organic metal but there're ways around that) and you've also got literally hundreds of storylines that would work over several seasons. I could see it on an FX but you'd probably have to do it on Fox to get a bigger budget and because of the ownership rights and other stuff.
 
Here are live action shows I'd love in order of favourite :

1) Judge dredd (2000AD) - This has the all the making of been part "firefly" Part crime show like Ncis or CSi. Part "24" Also with how the character is it stands to reason that the could do a lot of "filler" "show only" stories / villains. As he's basically a cop in the future. So "criminal of the week" plus a big bad from comic every season, it'd be great.

2) Star Wars Tales - Tales of the crypt meets star wars. How could this fail? It'd be fun as some stories are there in the comic for laughs, It can also be a great opportunity to
show live action versions of characters like Mara Jade , Darth Bane and more.

3) Buffy season 8 - self explanatory
 
E said:
Daredevil would be great, but good gravy,
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I remember Compound had a great Daredevil tv pitch that felt like the first season would be "Daredevil begins" really exploring the mythology.
Gotham Central would be award-winning, epic, and legendary.

Grim-and-gritty crime dramas seem to be a dime a dozen but add in the faintest hint of Batman involvement and a little bit of - what's the word - not "supernatural" characters or stories, but more extraordinary as would be the case with regular cops taking on parts of Batman's rogues, and the constant struggle with resisting and dealing with corruption...wow. It would be amazing.
Click to expand...

Honestly, for a show like that the whole I'd just be thinking "I'd rather see more of Batman" because as you said cop shows are a dime a dozen so other than Batman there's really nothing that would draw me in. Even if Batman wasn't a part of it, as if it was a series based off the comic but not a direct adaptation. It would still sound like a cop show with a gimmick. I would love a miniseries though, but the longer the show goes on the less interest I'd probably get.

I do think that technology has reached a point where you could make a really good Batman series, I've thought about it quite a bit and I think you could easily have 9 seasons of stories. Think Nolan's Batman and Batman TAS.

One idea I've had for a while is to have a show called Bishop, revolving around the X-men character. Bishop arrives from the future with amnesia holding a few high tech gadgets and a bishop chess piece. Now he has to put together his own past and figure out how to prevent the future catastrophe. While being hunted by government and terrorist group he has to decide who is friend and who is foe before it's too late.

Also Heroes for Hire. I've been watching shows like Burn Notice and Leverage, both of which revolves around skilled professionals helping the common man (and a few uncommon) against much more powerful antagonists. Have Luke Cage and Iron Fist attempt to run a business fighting evil aided by a supporting cast they take on a wide variety of jobs from Body guarding to private detective. Their powers will be very easy to do on a TV budget and as the two shows mentioned showed there's plenty of stories you can tell.
 
Random said:
Honestly, for a show like that the whole I'd just be thinking "I'd rather see more of Batman" because as you said cop shows are a dime a dozen so other than Batman there's really nothing that would draw me in. Even if Batman wasn't a part of it, as if it was a series based off the comic but not a direct adaptation. It would still sound like a cop show with a gimmick. I would love a miniseries though, but the longer the show goes on the less interest I'd probably get.
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Eexxactly. It might work as a miniseries, but for a long-running show, I'd want more Batman.

My idea for a Batman show is slightly modelled on Gotham Central. I'll talk about it later.
 
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