Commentary: Comic Book Adaptations Need To Be Fun
by Frank Martin
Comic books, perhaps more than any other medium, are just fun. They are meant to be a fun art form for people to enjoy and for creators to work out some of their wildest stories. That’s not to say they can’t be dramatic and literary. But a lot of times, Hollywood and others are drawn to comics because of this element of fun. That’s why some comics, even with dark subject matter, can be so engaging. Unfortunately, some of these adaptations miss the mark in reproducing the fun that the source material conveyed. In fact, it can become pretty obvious which adaptations are successful and which are not by how much fun a show can be.
Three shows that come to mind as fun are Locke & Key, The Umbrella Academy, and The Boys. All of these shows have different tones and different subject matter. In fact, all of the storylines are widely differ from one another But there is an element of light-heartedness and fun that comes across between the dialogue, the characters, and the fantasy involved. That doesn’t mean the stakes aren’t real. Plenty of characters die all the time in these shows and the subject matter — particularly in The Boys — can get fairly dark. But even then, the shows operate under the presumption that their main goal is to entertain their audience.
This stands in contrast the two Brian K. Vaughan series Paper Girls and Y: The Last Man. While Y: The Last Man certainly handled difficult and dreadful subject matter, the comic was still a lot of fun. Its characters could be light-hearted when needed and there was a sense of humor to go along with the heaviness. This tone was completely lost in the TV adaptation of the story. The same thing happened to Paper Girls. The comic story moved very quickly, which led to a fun and fast-paced adventure. The show slowed things down incredibly and spent a lot more time focusing on character. In the process, the show failed to nail the right tone that the book had and the fun was taken right out of it. So it seems that fun is more or less the key to making these adaptations work.