Adapting animated properties into comics (and sometimes vice versa) is nothing new in the entertainment industry. IDW has comics based on beloved animated shows like GI Joe, Transformers, My Little Pony and now, even Jem and the Holograms. DC has the the Masters of the Universe license, while BOOM! carries several Cartoon Network properties like Regular Show and Adventure Time in their animated arsenal. But even so, there are still a slew of cartoons that haven’t had their chance as a hot comic property, or are in need of a reboot. In honor of those unearthed gems, here five animated shows that could thrive within in the modern comic book medium.
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5. Silverhawks
Tally Haaawk!
Essentially “Thundercats in space”, Silverhawks tells the story of Quicksilver and his band of bird-themed heroes fighting the evil forces of Mon*Star and his gang of space thug weirdos (but there’s something about a robotic minotaur brute named Mumbo Jumbo that is just hard to hate) and that’s pretty much it. There were other Silverhawks added later like Hotwing and Flashback that added a bit of variety to the roster, but the storylines were heavily borrowed from Thundercats and didn’t have the shelf life other programs had, but fared better than the “Thundercats underwater” show Tiger Sharks. True, Silverhawks had a comic adaptation from Marvel back in the 80’s at the height of the show’s popularity, but a more recent comic could expand more on the life of the former Jonathan Quick and his relationship with Commander Stargazer and possibly what led to the recruitment of the Silverhawks and possibly explain the whole “partly metal, partly real.” Plus it’s really hard to say no to a guy whose guitar transforms into a robotic bird.
Creative Crew We’d Love To See: Roche Limit’s Michael Moreci and contemporary master Phil Jimenez could make this book soar.
4. Bionic Six
Catchy theme song aside, Bionic Six sells itself as a great potential comic that needs to get made immediately. Part Fantastic Four with essence of Johnny Quest and the Bionic Man/Woman mixed in for good measure, Bionic Six were a superhero family fighting the evil Dr. Scarab and his deranged minions. Though the series had a proper ending (and one of the weirdest ones as well), they never had a comic series and given the nature of their world, would be great to come back and revisit the Bennet family once more. There was a proposed comic in the late 80’s, but it never materialized, so why not now to dive into this world of fun and super science? Perhaps, do a continuation of the canon and do a sequel with Meg or Eric’s family, or perhaps a complete reboot of the series.
Creative Team We’d Love To See: Witchblade and John Carter Warlord of Mars‘ Ron Marz with Ryan Cody (of indie fan favorite Doc Unknown) on art could give this a fun quasi-pulp feel with the show’s super science, but the focus being the family and their relationships.
3. Gatchaman
G-Force. Battle of the Planets. Eagle Riders. Science Ninja Team Gatchaman. Whatever you want to call them, the interstellar adventures of this teen team is a hit with anime fans old and new and helped usher in the wave of Japanese-based shows back in the late 70’s. Redubbed over numerous times, the original Gatchaman finally saw a DVD release by ADV Films in the middle of the last decade with its original content uncut. Top Cow released a mini-series around the same time as well as a tie-in with Witchblade, but an ongoing showing the adventures of Ken, Jo, Jun, Jinpei, and Ryu. In the early 2000’s, Top Cow released a mini-series that took the team on a deadly mission, but had little fanfare. They even had a Witchblade/Battle of the Planets crossover for some reason as well. What I’m proposing here, is an adaptation of the original series in all its glory for new fans to dive into as well as the more familiar fans something to enjoy.
Creative Team We’d Love To See: Cliff Chiang handling both writing and artistic duties as it’s no secret Chiang himself is a huge fan of the original show. Check out his redesigns on his site that look like he might have had something cooking.
2. The Pirates of Dark Water
This TV series almost had it all! A video game, action figures, great, fleshed-out characters, but it lacked one key important piece — an actual ending. Yep, after only 21 episodes produced and made, and only 8 of the 13 treasures Prince Ren had to find, the series was canceled, leaving a ton of stories unresolved. Now, Marvel did have a comic mini-series based on the show during the time of airing, but it lasted only nine issues and only three of those were original stories instead of episode adaptations. The Pirates of Dark Water is considered to have been one of the best well-written animated programs at the time and one of the biggest cases of “what could have been”. Granting Ren and his band of misfits one last voyage and give proper closure could be a potentially can’t-miss series.
Creative Teams We’d Love To See: Writer Ted Naifeh of Polly and The Pirates fame mixed with the heroic art style of Evan “Doc” Shaner could be something that make new readers notice and old fans return to see how it all turns out.
1. The Venture Bros.
GO TEAM VENTURE!
You might as well file this under “never going to happen”, but think of the possibilities. The Venture Bros. is one of Adult Swim’s longest running programs debuting in 2003 and still a fan-favorite to this day. Since the show’s seasons are sporadic, a comic would be a great thing to fill the void of times (sometimes more than a year) fans don’t get their Venture in their system. You could do a series of minis centering on various characters ranging from Rusty and his sons Hank and Dean, or the sultry Molotov Cocktease and her Blackheart assassin squad. The big idea would be an ongoing that fills in the time that there aren’t new Venture episodes on the air. Of course it would have to be licensed out, and with co-creators Doc Hammer and Jackson Publik pretty much hands-on with everything involving that, I don’t see this happening anytime in the near future.
Creative Team We’d Love To See: It would be difficult to not have Hammer or Publick involved somehow, but a fair trade-off could be Chip Zdarsky and Gerry Duggan on the script with Megan Levens (Buffy, Madame Frankenstein) laying out the crazy and surreal Ventureverse.
So readers, what other animated series would translate into fine pieces of sequential storytelling? Share your favorites below.
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