10 Modern Comic Books That Should Be Made Into TV Shows

There has been a dramatic shift in the comic book world over the past decade. Even though superhero stories are still the industry’s bread and butter, independent publishers like Image, Dark Horse, IDW, Dynamite, Boom, and plenty others are pumping out titles that aren’t limited to in their genre. In recent years, zombie tales, post-apocalyptic epics, crime dramas, and nearly every other variety of comic has hit the shelves to massive critical success.

In 2010, this modern comic book movement finally cracked through to the mainstream as AMC debuted the TV adaptation of The Walking Dead, one of the industry’s hottest non-superhero titles. By bringing the same white-knuckle drama from the page to the screen, the series has shown that there is comic book life outside of the heroes that everyone in the world is familiar with. In fact, since books like The Walking Dead started coming out in the 2000’s, DC and Marvel have tried to adapt by making some of their familiar superhero books encompass multiple genres.

As zombie-lovers prepare for the season three premiere of The Walking Dead next Sunday (October 14, 9 p.m. ET), Complex leaves the Golden and Silver Ages behind and makes a case for 10 Modern Comic Books That Should Be Made Into TV Shows. Networks, take note.

RELATED: 50 Comic Characters Who Should Never Get A Movie

RELATED: 10 Marvel Comics That Need Movie Love

Written by Jason Serafino (@serafinoj1)

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Brian K. Vaughan’s more famous creation, Y: The Last Man, is perpetually rumored to be turned into a movie; we think his cult favorite title, Ex Machina, would make for a completely fresh and dangerous TV show. The story deals with a man named Mitchell Hundred, who has the ability to communicate with machines and shut them down with just a word. Because of this strange ability, he becomes New York’s first superhero: The Great Machine.

After stopping the second plane from striking the World Trade Center on 9/11, Mitchell reveals himself to the world as The Great Machine and runs for mayor of New York. He wins easily, and the rest of the series focuses on plots and characters that deal with real-world political problems in a way that no other show would be able to top. Sure, given the 9/11 connection, it would be controversial, but a TV show based on Ex Machina would give audiences the kick in the crotch that they need.

Part CSI and part Men in Black, Dark Horse Comics’ BPRD series could be a police procedural for the horror fan in all of us. The BPRD (Bureau of Paranormal Research and Defense) is a government agency that's in charge of taking down threats of a supernatural or monstrous variety. Ghosts, zombies, demons—all of these horror staples are fair game for the agency which has established itself as Dark Horse’s premier franchise. Despite first appearing in 1993, it wasn’t until 2003 that the BPRD finally got its own solo stories published, and that allowed the mythology to really grow into its own brand.

The BPRD comics are filled with main agents like Hellboy, Abe Sapien, and Johann Krauss, who would require a lot of makeup prosthetics and special effects for a TV budget, but there are also human characters like Liz Sherman and Kate Corrigan that viewers could really relate to. In a television landscape littered with lame cop shows (which, admittedly, sometimes feature extremely hot police officer characters), BPRD could stand out by introducing fantasy and horror to this tried-and-true genre.

Sweet Tooth is a dark fairy tale that sprouted from the mind of one of the industry’s most honest and naturalistic writers: Jeff Lemire. Set in a post-apocalyptic world where people are being born as human/animal hybrids, the title focuses on a young boy named Gus, who was born with a pair of antlers on his head. Upon leaving his home after the death of his father, he meets a cavalcade of supporting characters, most notably Jepperd, a grizzled, jaded human who looks after the boy.

Like The Walking Dead, this would be a story of people coming to grips with a world that has lost its humanity, but instead of zombie horror, the main characters would have crazed geneticists, scientists, and anti-hybrid groups to contend with. Unlike post-apocalyptic shows like Revolution, Sweet Tooth would be a true character tale without the complicated conspiracy plots and twists of a J.J. Abrams show.

Taking advantage of the popularity of Game of Thrones, Northlanders would be the perfect TV show to blend Northern European mythology with the type of sword-and-shield action that audiences eat up by the truckload. Unlike Thrones, the original Northlanders comic didn’t focus on one group of main characters; instead, the series was an anthology, with each story arc centering on a brand-new cast and time period.

The book is a bloody look at the Viking Age and the actual social and political developments that eventually led to the rise of Christianity and the fall of the Norse. Ideally, each season would focus on the new characters and time period that creator Brian Wood wrote about in the comics. Think of each one as its own separate TV miniseries, but set in the same world with the same political factions. When put together it would create a brutal tapestry of history and blood-splattered action.

What would happen if the world’s greatest hero became the world’s most feared villain? That’s the question that Mark Waid’s hit series Irredeemable asked when it launched in 2009. Telling the story of Earth’s struggles against its former savior, the Plutonian, this series pulled no punches with the shocking violence and disgusting actions of the ontime do-gooder. But gore aside, it’s also a fascinating character study to see a man seemingly turn his back on the world that he was once sworn to protect and change into the planet's most notorious sociopath.

This wouldn’t be a pretty show, as Plutonian is regularly shown wiping out entire cities in minutes and brutally killing other heroes that he used to call friends. This is a daring deconstruction of the superhero genre, and it would be the perfect antithesis to fun-loving junk food cinema like The Avengers. If you thought the survivors on The Walking Dead had it bad, just wait until you see what the Plutonian unleashes on humanity.

We’re not lying when we say that Chew is one of the best comic books on shelves now. It’s raucously hilarious with the type of off-the-wall energy that is often found only in twisted cartoons like Ren & Stimpy and The Simpsons. The book is about an FDA agent named Tony Chu, who has the ability to get a psychic impression off of anything that he eats. His ability makes him a great detective, but it also means he has to eat some truly disgusting evidence.

Since its debut, writer John Layman and artist Rob Guillory have filled each issue with enough perverse humor to leave anyone reading it physically exhausted by the last pages, and that’s why this gem needs to hit the screen. It wouldn’t be able to survive on network television, though, so it’s likely that Chew would need to HBO or Showtime to pick it up for it to work. With the right cast and, more importantly, directors that could bring the book's energy to the screen, Chew could be a stylized piece of madness unlike anything on TV.

There is little doubt that the vampire genre has taken a serious hit over the years after the Twilight franchise all but neutered this once-fierce mythology, but a TV show based on Scott Snyder’s brilliant American Vampire saga would go a long way towards rebuilding the reputation of these creatures of the night.

The book is about a man in the old west named Skinner Sweet, who is the first of a new breed of vampires—super strong and fast, and without a vulnerability to sunlight. It also shifts its focus often to Pearl Jones, who is turned into a vampire by Sweet and hunts down the classic European vampires that once tried to kill her.

American Vampire is the perfect choice for a serialized television drama, as it provides enough twists and turns to keep viewers engaged, and also wouldn’t be dependent on special effects either. Mood and acting would be king here, as well as a network that would be willing to grow a pair and stick true to the roots of Snyder’s creation. If done right, this could be the heir apparent to The Walking Dead’s brand of televised horror.

Brian Wood’s DMZ is one of the best post-9/11 comic to hit stands. In the book, America is ripped apart by a new Civil War that has transformed Manhattan into a demilitarized zone in between The Free States and the United States of America. It's a tale of Middle America rising up and taking back what is theirs from a country that would rather fight pointless wars abroad than settle its own domestic issues. Sounds pretty familiar, right?

By taking plot points right out of the headlines, Wood created a terrific piece of political pop art that would make for a gripping TV series. DMZ wouldn’t just be entertaining; it could also be incredibly important for a generation of disillusioned youths to get some actual sustenance from television. We could see an entire nation rooting for Matty Roth as he makes his way through this strange new Manhattan.

Forget about Once Upon a Time and Grimm, because Fables is the only modern take on fairy tales that needs to be on TV. Bill Willingham’s whimsical comic about a community of classic fairytale characters trying to live in secret amongst humanity is Vertigo’s greatest achievement since the Sandman era, and it seems tailor-made for TV.

Fables is unique because Willingham doesn’t just write these comics like typical fantasy fare; instead, he adds real-world social and political issues into them, unlike the disposable TV competition. Characters like Snow White and Big-B Wolf are perfect for audiences to latch onto as they are both incredibly relatable as a couple, and they also have dense backstories that allow for escapism.

Watching the sprawling world of Fables slowly unfold on TV would be one of the more impressive accomplishments for a network in quite some time, and we could easily see fans of Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings following each episode with a cult-like intensity.

Gotham Central technically falls under the umbrella of a Batman title, but make no mistake about it: This series is as far away from a superhero book as you can get. By making the Gotham City Police Department the central focus of the series, writers Ed Brubaker and Greg Rucka created a comic book that read like a gritty crime fairy tale set in the most twisted city in the DC Universe. In the series, Batman is rarely ever seen; instead, he’s treated like a background element, always creeping in the shadows, watching the cops do their work.

But who needs the Bat when you have characters like Marcus Driver, Renee Montoya, Crispus Allen, and Maggie Sawyer bringing the drama hard and heavy? The transition to TV would be seamless as all of these issues were rooted firmly in reality. Gotham Central would fit perfectly on networks like FX and HBO where the content could be a little more visceral and faithful to the book’s violent tone.

Cop dramas are a dime a dozen, but there is something unique about putting the spotlight on a police department that has a caped vigilante watching its every move and sometimes undermining its authority. Plus, the appearance of villains like Two-Face and Mr. Freeze would make this show appeal to both hardcore comic fans and longtime crime show buffs.