6 ADAPTATIONS FROM OTHER MEDIA
Ambrose Bierce, Edgar Allan Poe, Mark Twain, Jack London, O. Henry, and Oscar
Wilde, as well as various horror, fantasy, gothic, and adventure stories. Some of these
works are fully adapted, while others are just the original stories with accompanying
illustrations added. Th e stories used in these books often include some lesser-known
works by a particular author.
As adapted works are often aimed at comic book readers who tend to also enjoy
science fi ction, fantasy, and horror, many recent adaptations have focused on those
genres. Th ese include Th e Nightmare Factory books based on Th omas Ligotti’s work,
various adaptations of Dracula , Richard Matheson’s I Am Legend , L. Neil Smith’s
alternate history title Th e Probability Broach , Terry Pratchett’s Discworld stories, Clive
Barker’s Th e Great and Secret Show , Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 , and several short
stories by Neil Gaiman. Another Gaiman adaptation of note is Neverwhere , a work
that started as a television series written by Gaiman and was then expanded by him
into a novel, which was then adapted into a limited series comic book.
Other genres have been adapted as well. Donald Goines’s urban novel Daddy Cool
was adapted in 2003, and the romance-themed Harlequin novels were adapted in Japan
in a manga style. Japanese works of fi ction have also been transformed into manga,
some of which have been translated into English including Th e Guin Saga , Th e Ring ,
and Battle Royale. Along with the Harlequin novels, other non-Japanese works have
also been translated into manga form such as Th e Two Faces of Tomorrow by British
writer James Hogan. Other adaptations in manga form include Oz: Th e Manga and
the Manga Shakespeare series of books.
Shakespeare’s works are not the only classical works to be adapted. P. Craig Russell ,
who has adapted the works of Oscar Wilde, has also adapted famous operas, and there
have also been adaptations of Wagner’s Ring Cycle. Even the Bible has been adapted in
various ways over the years, ranging from comic books to graphic novels that focus on
the main points of the Old and New Testaments, as in the work of Chester Brown.
One version was even done in a manga format.
Movie and Television Adaptations
While many comic book series have been based on fi lms and television programs,
there are some that simply adapt them. Due to the nature of comic books, it is much
more common to directly adapt a fi lm than episodes of a television program. Like
books, movies have a long history of being adapted into comic book form. For example,
the fi lms of Charlie Chaplin inspired several adaptations in the early 20th century. Th e
highly popular British magazine Film Fun (which ran for more than 2000 issues from
1920 to 1962) was a weekly comic book inspired by popular movies and actors. For
example, Western star Gene Autry had several of his fi lms adapted into comic form
before becoming the star of his own self-titled comic series. In addition, many comic
book publishers have produced ongoing series featuring fi lm adaptations. Some of these
adaptations are fully illustrated by artists, while others are airbrushed and contain inked
movie stills with word balloons or captions added.
