The spotlight may very much be on Marvel and DC’s upcoming battle for silver screen supremacy, but the announcement of so many superhero movies in one go may actually have the opposite effect – instead of building hype, fans might start getting superhero fatigue. Fortunately, there is another major comic house that is quietly building a solid fan base and a reputation for producing creatively superior comic books by some of the best comic book creators in the business – the creator-owned heaven of Image Comics.
From Jonathan Hickman to Scott Snyder, Greg Rucka to Matt Fraction, some of the best comic book writers and artist have been flocking to Image to produce the sort of original, edgy, imaginative creator-owned comics that they would not have been able to make in the superhero-driven Big Two.
Surprisingly, movies or even TV shows based on Image Comics’ properties have been few and far between over the years. That could change though – with the success of The Walking Dead, the profile of Image Comics has never been higher.
Here are some of its current ongoing series’ that deserve a shot at the silver screen.
1. Saga
Genre: Space opera
What it’s about: A man and a woman from two opposing factions in a centuries old war fall in love, have a baby, hire a ghost nanny, and go on the run in a tree spaceship. In pursuit are a royal prince with a TV for a head, a jealous ex-girlfriend, and a bounty hunter with a cat that can detect lies.
Brian K. Vaughn and Fiona Staples may have gone on record to say that they have no interest in adapting their multi-Eisner Award winning series into a movie or TV show, but that doesn’t change the fact that the wildly imaginative world of Saga is the perfect foil to the increasingly sterilised and Disney-fied world of Star Wars. Plus it’s got a Lying Cat.
