Movie Polls

Which of these films based on graphic novels is your favorite?

Please reference this thread for the rules of this group.

Watchmen is coming out pretty soon, and up until last week I don't think I could ever say I'd read a graphic novel before.  Someone lent me their copy of this book, and I'm actually only halfway through it still, but I'm really hooked.

So for this poll I tried to pick movies that came strictly from graphic novels.  For instance there were some I was originally going to add, but my research indicates that The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen is a comic book series and 30 Days of Night is a comic book mini-series.  In the case of American Splendor I couldn't tell if these were "comic books" or "novels" (I haven't seen the movie either...) so I just left it off to keep the list as focused as possible.  And as for anything Japanese or manga based, that's just another huge world that I might do another poll about later, but for now I didn't include anything from that.  Sorry if I missed your favorite, but please feel free to discuss.

Please vote only once in each poll.

Movies referenced in this poll:
300
From Hell
Ghost World
A History of Violence
Persepolis
Road to Perdition
Sin City
V for Vendetta

Re:Which of these films based on graphic novels is your favorite?

Excellent choices and a tough selection!  I really like Ghost World and A History of Violence is probably the best film of the bunch, but Sin City is a true graphic novel experience.  Robert Rodriguez and Frank Miller literally bring the drawings to life, meticulously recreating the images in live-action complete with ink-drenched backdrops.  The film is the closest thing to reading a graphic novel that has ever been made.

If you were to put American Splendor up here, I think it would get a lot of love.  The comics are great and the film is an entertaining blend of drawings and live-action.  Really, I like graphic novels and their film adaptations so much that I could have voted for any of these except 300.  But I have hopes that Watchmen will outdo all before it other than Sin City.

Re:Which of these films based on graphic novels is your favorite?

Hi. Why didn't you put Watchmen in the poll?

I was listening to a podcast, I forget which, and someone called Watchmen the best of all graphic novels. I put a hold on it at the library and I'm through the first three chapters. Good stuff!

Probably another essential entry for the poll would be The Dark Knight Returns.

Re:Which of these films based on graphic novels is your favorite?

joem18b:

Hi. Why didn't you put Watchmen in the poll?

It's not being released until next week....  Have you seen it already somehow??

joem18b:

Probably another essential entry for the poll would be The Dark Knight Returns.

Was The Dark Knight based on that graphic novel?  I didn't realize it was a strict adaptation of any previous source.  Why was anyone so afraid of the plot being leaked then?

Re:Which of these films based on graphic novels is your favorite?

I'm not big into graphic novels--I'm a member of the camp that Risselada's in, I just went out and bought a copy of Watchmen last week and am scrambling to finish it before the movie comes out.

I agree that History of Violence is probably the best of the choices, but my favorite would have to be Sin City. It really captures the feel of a comic book. I really like 300 too, because it gets me pumped as shit.

Re:Which of these films based on graphic novels is your favorite?

Risselada:

 my research indicates that The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen is a comic book series and 30 Days of Night is a comic book mini-series. 

Actually, Watchmen was released as a comic book mini series over 12 months and then compiled for the trade paperback.

Re:Which of these films based on graphic novels is your favorite?

Risselada:

joem18b:

Probably another essential entry for the poll would be The Dark Knight Returns.

Was The Dark Knight based on that graphic novel?  I didn't realize it was a strict adaptation of any previous source.  Why was anyone so afraid of the plot being leaked then?

urk! what was i thinking? somehow i was connecting Batman Begins with The Dark Knight Returns.

never mind...

Re:Which of these films based on graphic novels is your favorite?

Well, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen is my favorite graphic novel (like protexblue mentioned, Watchmen and a number of others were originally published in separate comic book issues) but is the worst film adaptation.

300 and Sin City tie for my favorite.

Re:Which of these films based on graphic novels is your favorite?

The question asks which is my favorite--different from which is the best.

My fav is Ghost World. It really has something to say, and, watching it cold, I took awhile to catch on where the film was going--sort of like the main character!!

Road to Perdition has wonderful cinematography--what a visual delight. But the story was not as strong.

I also gave consideration to A History of Violence, an extremely well-made movie, but I was a bit let down by some scenes near the end (e.g., the sex on the stairs) that were unnecessarily ambiguous or vague.

Re:Which of these films based on graphic novels is your favorite?

Great poll and such a tough choice for me!  My three I was bandying back and forth were Ghost World, Road to Perdition, and V for Vendetta.  I liked them all about equally.  I ended up voting for Road to Perdition because it was visually beautiful and because Sam Mendes (American Beauty, Revolutionary Road) is becoming (or just is) one of my favorite directors and because I love Tom Hanks and Paul Newman and because it's a poignant story...and because I knew it would probably not get many votes.  Sentimentality won out, I guess, though I relate to Ghost World more than any other (and it's arguably the edgiest of the choices), and I like the theatricality of V, which looks to me more like a graphic novel in the way it was filmed.