In celebration of the 97th Academy Awards (the Oscars) I thought I would look out a few of the comic book adaptions of some of the best SF / fantasy films of the bronze age. The above cover to "Marvel Special Edition" #1 (Star Wars) by Rick Hoberg is from the internet (I never had this book) but you can't focus on comic book adaptions of films without Star Wars.
"Alien The Illustrated Story": Written by Archie Goodwin with art by Walt Simonson. Simply put the Heavy Metal adaption of "Alien" is a blood-soaked comic book masterpiece. I have been looking for a copy of this book for years having read nothing but positive reviews, and only purchased my copy a few months ago - the hype was justified.
Logans Run - This was a 7 issue monthly series that adapted the popular 1976 film. Written by Gerry Conway with art by George Perez and Klaus Janson "Logans Run" is probably best known to comic book fans for featuring the first
Thanos solo adventure story in # 6.
Close Encounters of the Third Kind - Cover by Bob Larkin. Written by Archie Goodwin with art by Walt Simonson and Klaus Janson - With such talent on board it's not surprising this was an excellent comic book adaption of one of the best ever SF movies
The Land that time Forgot - Cover by Nick Cardy - Written by Marv Wolfman with some nice art by Sonny Trinidad this comic was far better than the movie.
The Labyrinth - This book was illustrated by the great John Buscema from a script by Sid Jacobson. This didn't really contain big Johns best art, but it was largely faithful to the plot of the film. Following its initial release as a Marvel Super Special, the comic was split and released as a three-part limited series between November 1986 and January 1987. Cover from internet (I only have the 3 issue limited series comics - covers aren't as good)
Jaws 2 - Cover by Bob Larkin. Written by Richard Marshcall with art by Gene Colan and Tom Palmer. "Jaws 2" was the best of all the Jaws sequels and this adaption does the film justice. Colan's pencils are inked and painted by Tom Palmer and look excellent.
Planet of the Apes - Cover by Bob Larkin. Written by Doug Moench and illustrated by George Tuska and Mike Esposito . This is another of my favourite comic book film adaptions. I actually read this tale in the UK weekly POTA comic before I saw the film.
I was probably about seven years old when I walked into my local newsagents in Cambuslang (near Glasgow) with my pocket money firmly he...
Following on from my last post featuring some of my favourite Marvel comic book covers from 1973, I thought I would show some of DC's ...
Nearly a half-century on I still consider 1973 to be the year that cemented my destiny in becoming a lifetime comic book fan. It was a yea...
I had the Close Encounters one (might still have), and the POTA one and, years after the fact, the first monthly ish of Star Wars, but not any of the others. Also got Dragonslayer, which you don't show here.
ReplyDeleteI don't remember Dragonslayer I'm afraid I bought all of the above ( bar Star Wars which I never owned) long after they were originally published as well Kid
DeleteHad most all these save for the Jaws comic. The Alien adaptation is my favorite from this grouping. I had the original and traded it off, so I had to buy a reprint a few years back when I got the urge to read it again. Simonson's art was so offbeat back then.
ReplyDeleteAlien is my all time favourite comic strip based on a film Rip. I still occasionally pick up an Alien comic if it looks interesting .
ReplyDeleteNever had the Alien adaptation, which is strange as I was/am a big fan of the film. Am looking forward to the new TV series Alien:Earth later this year.
ReplyDeleteBack around 1977 I decided to write my own novelisation for my own use, of the first Planet of the Apes film (as one had never been produced) and meticulously used both the Marvel POTA comic adaptation and an audio tape of the movie as the basis for my novelisation, which I still have somewhere. I do feel that the George Tuska artwork was pretty workmanlike, and that the later adaptations of subsequent Apes films drawn by Alfredo Alcala were superior.
That said, I do very much like the way that panels from George Tuska's original artwork were integrated into last year's Beware The Planet of the Apes comic prequel from Marvel.
Another 70's Marvel comic SF adaptation was Star Trek The Motion Picture ; did you have that?
Hi Ian Apologies for delay replying my blogger notification alert isn't working. I still haven't seen the latest Alien film but plan to rectify that very soon. I really liked Tuska's Apes work but Alcala's POTA strips were sublime. No I didn't get the Star Trek adaption the Trek films at that time never intrigued me. . Wow writing a novelization of the apes sounds really interesting you should serialize it on your blog or on a fan fiction page, i get the feeling it was pretty good having read your blogs.. The Heavy Metal Alien adaption is worth seeking out as are some of the more recent comics based on the franchise.
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