My favorite example would be adaptations. You would think that it would be a natural to adapt something from one visual medium - TV, movies, video games - and present them in comic book form.
But with the exception of Star Wars, which has been a hit (off and on) for Marvel and Dark Horse since the original film debuted, I can't think of many examples of successful comics versions of popular properties.
I can understand why it doesn't quite work with most live action properties, since comics eliminate the motion and must struggle to capture the look of the actors.
But you'd think video games would be a natural partnership, combining a popular character and expanding on his, her or its adventures with added characterization, plot details and expanded stories (games tend to be long on action and short on story).
One of the earliest efforts was this Valiant adaptation of The Legend of Zelda, which starred the hero Link (Zelda, in the games, is usually a passive Princess, not an action hero).
But reading it, you have to wonder if the creative team ever actually played any of the games.
But that's not fair - it's easy to forget that this was printed in 1991, when Link's design - and the concept of the game itself - was only starting to take shape. (The early games, after all, used low resolution images.) The video game industry was still finding its way, so it's no surprise that the comic book adaptations struggled as well.
The story ends up being a hodgepodge of concepts, as Zelda runs around shooting bad guys with magic arrows, and Link only appears in a gag feature and a backup story. Are you surprised it didn't last long?
The lineup of artists is impressive, including Dan Barry and Mike Manley (though it's difficult to sort out who did what, since the credits are just a list of names).
It's surprising that no one has taken another run at this concept - in the right creative hands, it could be a compelling action story (but I admit, I'm a big fan of the game series).
Grade: C+
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2 comments:
"But with the exception of Star Wars, which has been a hit (off and on) for Marvel and Dark Horse since the original film debuted, I can't think of many examples of successful comics versions of popular properties."
In addition to Star Wars, Dark Horse has had success with Aliens, Predator, Terminator, Robo-Cop and Godzilla. Marvel & IDW have done well with G.I. Joe and Transformers. And Dynamite has all sorts of non-comics properties, from classics like Tarzan to TV shows like The Six Million Dollar Man.
You're right, anon, there have been legions of successful adaptations, going back to popular western stars (Roy Rogers, Gene Autry), comedians (Bob Hope, Jerry Lewis) and many others. What I didn't make clear is that most of them didn't work "for me" - which is to say, I didn't collect most of them. Certainly many had great sales success (G.I. Joe and Tarzan being good examples). But I can't think of many adaptations that I enjoyed other than an issue or two here or there (and granted, I didn't buy many of them - I know that G.I. Joe, for example, enjoyed great fan support). Sorry I didn't make that clear.
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