These 5 Comic Books Are 10/10 Masterpieces, And They’re Impossible to Make Into Good Movies

In the modern era, with the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the DC Cinematic Universe bringing fan-favorite characters to the big screen for the first time in decades, comic book fans are living in a unique world. Characters, storylines, and superpowers that seemed like they would be confined to the pages of comics and graphic novels now have a place in live-action and can be seen on movie screens around the globe. Avengers: Infinity War may be one of the highest-grossing movies of all-time now, but in 1991, The Infinity Gauntlet was just a story that could only exist on paper.

The success of these movies has led to other comics and graphic novels making their way to the big screen. Though superheroes largely define the adaptations that become movies, comics like the memoir My Friend Dahmer, the fantasy-adventure Nimona, and the horror-conspiracy tale The Empty Man have all found their way to the big screen. As a result, it would appear we’re in a place where anything found in a comic book shop or in the graphic novel section of a bookstore could become the basis for the next big blockbuster, but that’s far from true. Some comics are perfect in the medium they were created for, and these titles would be impossible to adapt.

5) The Multiversity

Grant Morrison’s magnum opus, which finely catalogs the entire multiverse of DC Comics, is one of the finest examples of a storyline that can only exist within the confines of pages and panels. In addition to an overarching narrative across all of its issues that brings together a team of superheroes from the 52 different universes, The Multiversity is a series of self-contained stories that pay tribute to specific eras of comic books themselves, not only in terms of plot and characters, but also in form.

Issue 4, for example, Pax Americana, uses the Charlton Comics characters as a springboard for modern commentary on politics while also paying tribute to the style of Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’ Watchmen, or Issue 8, Ultra Comics, which puts the reader in control and as a direct source of the comic’s conflict, begging you to not read the series on its cover. The Multiversity is a tribute to and celebration of the entire comic book medium, specifically superheroes and the many evolutions they’ve enjoyed over the past century. Bringing it to life as a feature film would rob it of its entire reason for existence.

4) It’s Lonely At The Centre Of The Earth

Zoe Thorogood’s autobiographical graphic novel is one of the best of the 2020s, a raw and honest examination of living in the modern world. What makes It’s Lonely so distinct is that its visual style can change not only from page to page, but panel to panel. Thorogood depicts herself in a variety of ways, all with distinct faces depending on the mood or tone of the sequence, and often bringing all the different versions of herself into the scene together so they can all talk to one another. Plus, the physical manifestation of her depression is usually lingering in the background somewhere.

It’s Lonely also annihilates the idea of a specific comic book form, experimenting with how it chooses to tell its story at the drop of a hat. At one point, Thorogood in the story reaches a eureka moment about how to structure her new graphic novel and tell the story itself, proudly declaring, “I can be anything on the page.” She then restarts the entire graphic novel, complete with the cover, title page, and copyright text all appearing again, about halfway through the book. It’s Lonely is abook that is a rewarding read, not only for the candor and emotion on display, but also for how it pushes comic ideas and defies expectations.

3) Miracleman

In truth, a list of this nature could be made entirely from comics written by Alan Moore, but for now, we’ve landed on his work on Miracleman from the 1980s. A revival of the UK comics character created by Mick Anglo, itself a loose spinoff from Shazam/Captain Marvel, Moore’s version of the character was his first real post-modern take on superheroes, which he would perfect with Watchmen. In the series, Mike Moran has grown up and forgotten his secret word that would transform him into the superhero Miracleman. After a chance encounter with terrorists causes him to remember everything, Miracleman tries to rekindle life with his old cohorts, only to find them changed. He goes on to battle old foes, form alliances with intergalactic races, and eventually take over Earth entirely as its benevolent ruler, truly using his superpowers for the greater good.

Miracleman wouldn’t work as a feature film because there’s no chance that its grim worldview and depiction of superheroes would be anything but sanitized on its way to theaters. Visual effects obviously exist to a degree now that everything seen in the pages of Miracleman could be depicted on the big screen, but the heart and soul of the story wouldn’t work outside of comics, partially because a sterile adaptation would feel toothless and partially because the series is a love letter to the stories of yesteryear.

2) Zero

Aleš Kot, as a writer in comics, has long been defined by making sure that his work does what comics do best, and not trying to be something they’re not. This can be seen across titles like Material and Generation Gone, but one of his most distinct comics is the Image series Zero. Telling the story of Edward Zero, an asset trained by a secret espionage agency to be their greatest agent from a young age, with a different artist drawing every issue, thus giving a distinct visual look to the series across each tale.

At first, the series appears to be a pretty straightforward spy thriller, with a fourth-wall-breaking twist later on that completely defies expectations of that genre and instead brings the reader into a sequence where authors William S. Burroughs and Alan Ginsberg dissect the nature of existence as it relates to the universe itself. Zero would already be tough to bring to life for the sake of the visual fidelity that is defied across each issue, but the metaphysical beating heart of the story itself is one that is entirely too big of a concept for a feature film.

1) Mary Tyler MooreHawk

Cartoonist Dave Baker made a splash two years ago with this graphic novel, which is one-half pulp adventure comic (the titular Mary Tyler MooreHawk), as if The Adventures of Jonny Quest had a baby with the Doom Patrol; and one-half prose mystery told through the lens of magazine articles in the far future that are documenting the history of said pulp adventure series. Also, nearly every page has extensive footnotes that color in the lines, offering details about larger Mary Tyler MooreHawk lore but also the people involved in its creation and the fascist anti-physical media, pro-corporate future that the author finds themselves in. To put another layer on it, Dave Baker is not only the cartoonist responsible for the work, but the name of the creator of Mary Tyler MooreHawk within the context of the graphic novel, and the name of the person investigating its history and creation.

Confused yet? This is the exact reason why Mary Tyler MooreHawk will never make its way to the big screen. As a graphic novel, this is a purely physical experience that must be experienced by testing the limits of your imagination and pushing the form of the graphic novel to a near-breaking point. Could someone attempt to bring this to life? Maybe, the closest approximation to Mary Tyler MooreHawk in live-action currently is something like I Saw the TV Glow, but even then, that’s also a work deliberately conceived to provide commentary on what is in front of the viewer.

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