From the Small Screen to the Small Page

By Marissa Sammy
April 1, 2006

Television shows range wildly in content and genre, but one thing's for sure; the most successful of them are good at packing a whole lot of interest and characterization into thirty or sixty minute timeslots. In that way, they're very similar to comic books, where the serialization needs to have an intriguing plotline and interesting characters to keep people reading.

So on that note, this month we asked the Tarts: "What live-action TV show do you think would make a great comic? Which live-action show would be better as a comic? What show would absolutely not work in comic book form, and why?"

If you have a question you'd like the Tarts to answer, send it to riss@sequentialtart.com and we'll try to answer it in a future issue.

Corrina Lawson
(Staff Writer)

Medium would make a great comic. The show is centered around a psychic who works with the Phoenix police department but it's not a villian of the month type of show. It's much more an exploration of what it would really be like if you could see ghosts or peer into the future. Allison, the medium of the title, has prophetic dreams and can see and talk to ghosts but the dreams are often in symbols and the ghosts are not always clear about what they want. In all this, she juggles three kids and a marriage. The show is executive produced by Glen Gordon Caron, who did Moonlighting and Now and Again, and the plot often moves in ways not expected. The reason I think it would make a great comic is for what terrific, moody and terrifying artwork could add to the storytelling, which is already top notch. The show uses very few special effects — a comic would have a chance to really play with the vividness and terrifying aspects of Allison's dreams.

Ghost Whisperer would make a much better comic that a television show, mainly because the television show barely skims the surface of this interesting premise. Unlike Medium, it's a pretty much a by-rote examination of someone who sees ghosts. Each episode, a ghost shows up with a problem and Jennifer Love Hewitt helps the ghost, then the ghost has a teary good-bye with his loved ones and moves on. It's all very routine and very predictable. But if it was turned into a comic, then you could really get into the horror aspects, really make this a much deeper and darker show. Like Medium, it would really benefit from moody artwork. Unlike Medium, it would also benefit from the writing of some great comic talent, such as Tony Bedard, who did a masterful job with this premise in CrossGen's short-lived Route 666.

My Name is Earl, would definitely not work as a comic, because Jason Lee's charm is what makes that show work. It has terrific writing and an interesting premise but so much of the fun of the show is watching Lee and his stellar cast react to each other with perfect timing. That couldn't be duplicated in a comic.

Margaret O'Connell
(Staff Writer)

Veronica Mars (UPN) might be a good candidate for this. This TV series about a sort of semi-noir Nancy Drew investigating small-town crimes high school-related and otherwise with her ex-police chief private eye dad is sometimes reminiscent of a cross between Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Gotham Central, without the supernatural or superheroic elements. Even if they were available, long-time Gotham Central scripters Greg Rucka and Ed Brubaker have seemed a bit too enamored lately of the grim and gritty side of comics to capture the more satirical, intermittently light-hearted tone of this series in a comic-book adaptation. Dan (She-Hulk) Slott's approach, on the other hand, might lean a bit too far toward the humorous end of the spectrum. If the show's own writers — such as creator Rob Thomas, author of several excellent young adult novels like Rats Saw God and Satellite Down — couldn't or wouldn't do it, I'd suggest Buffy creator/current Astonishing X-Men writer Joss Whedon or ex-O.C. scriptwriter/Young Avengers creator Allan Heinberg. Of course, they undoubtedly wouldn't be available either....

Marissa Sammy
(Staff Writer)

I think that Supernatural would make a really excellent comic; the show (dealing with two brothers and their fight against evil ghosties/beasties) has endless possibility for both ongoing storylines and one-shots, there are excellent main characters and plenty of opportunity for side-characters, and the subject matter is a natural. Plus, as far as I've been able to tell, the show is meticulous about its research into the ghouls and urban legends it's covered (unlike the Buffy scripters and their "Spell O' the Week" writing, bless them) and I think that would parlay beautifully into comic books. The only thing is that I love the show itself, so I wouldn't want to see it go. *g*

As for what would make a better comic book than tv show? Most of the tv shows that are pretty bad would be wretched no matter what medium (think 7th Heaven or Desperate Housewives), but there's a cartoon I've caught once or twice called Class of the Titans that might be a good candidate. It basically follows the exploits of a bunch of kids who are descended from Greek heroes, and while the premise is interesting the cartoon is poorly directed, has dreadful voice casting, and just falls flat. I feel like they had a great idea and then couldn't follow through on it, but in a comic book it could be wonderful stuff!

The shows that I feel would absolutely never work in comic book form are the talky ones — Everwood, Gilmore girls, Lost — anything that relies so heavily on interpersonal relationships that it needs to have real, human people interacting. I love all these shows dearly, but I don't think they'd make for very compelling comic books at all.

Patti Martinson
(Staff Writer)

I think most sci-fi shows are in comic book form.

Alias would be a good choice if it not better than the tv show if is not already in comic book form. Sydney's adventures would be pretty easily translated to comic book form and the globe-trotting aspect would generate interest. Exotic locations are not much of a feature in comic books currently.

I would think Veronica Mars would make a great comic. Great characters, strong plots, good dialogue, wonderful character-driven drama. Might not be better than the tv show itself, though.

The original Night Stalker might also work very well in comic book format. They could go a number of ways with it, make it modern or keep it the same time as the original. The self-contained nature of the episodes would flow naturally in comic book format.

Charmed would absolutely not work in a comic book from. A great deal of the show involves magic and I can't really see any of the powers of the Charmed ones being at all interesting in comic book form. I also think many of the storylines and plots are a bit on the absurd side and it would not fare any better in comic book form.

Lost would also be a poor choice. The glacial pace, vast cast of characters, and the constant flashbacks would put off even the most die-hard fan of Lost.

Rebecca Salek
(Culture Vultures Editrix)

Television and sequential art are such different mediums. A fantastic tv series would inevitably be changed in adapting it to comic format, as would a comic moving into the realm of television.

Which live-action series would I like to see as a comic? Alias and Battlestar Galactica (the new series) would both be neat. :) Would I comeacross as weird if I said Law & Order? ;) Really, I think the series could be adapted as a good mystery comic.

I can't think of any series which would be better as a comic, but I can think of some that would not work at all — or, at least, I'm having trouble imagining them as comics. One is Due South, a comedic mystery series that ran on CBS about ten year ago; I don't think the actors' chemistry would translate to the comic page. Another is Buffy the Vampire Slayer — yes, I know Dark Horse had a long-running and successful series; but I could never get into it; for me, the tv show was always first, more real; the comic was a pale imitation, never quite capturing the pacing and chemistry of the original.

Wolfen Moondaughter
(Staff Writer)

Lost could be a great comic — it has the pacing and timing of a comic, and is a heavily-visual show. Hell, we know at least a few of the writers are comic geeks, and one of the writer/producers, JJ Abrams, has written larger-than-life action-adventure fare like Mission Impossible III. So yeah, it seems as though Lost was tailor-made for comics, to me! Bones could be a great comic too, especially given that Max Alan Collins, of Road to Perdition fame, wrote the first novel based on the series. Everwood has some really brilliant writing. While it's not exactly action-driven, and I don't generally think stories that rely on interpersonal relationships as the focus would work in comics, I think this show could be an exception, particularly if the artist who did it took cues from the show's director of photography. The backdrops are often stunning, the lighting gorgeous, and the framing is well done. And the bulk of the actors have quite expressive features — they make great portraits of love and angst, even when they aren’t saying anything. In other words, it would make a good manga. ^_^

I've never read Smallville — never cared much for Superman in general, really — but I imagine the comic is probably better than the show. At least I hope it is.

While I enjoy the show, Gilmore Girls would never work as a comic. Yes, the actors are certainly expressive, but the dialogue is far, far too word-heavy — even more than the average drama! The scenes also tend to be very static — the characters would just sort of sit there on the page. Besides, half the enjoyment of the dialogue is the delivery of the actors! ER would probably be a bad comic — I don't think you could successfully create the sense of disarray and urgency in such a medium without the pages becoming too busy.