Comic book author David Hopkins on comic adaptations
This week's Quick Profile is on David Hopkins, a comic book author (Karma Incorporated, Emily Edison) who will appear at Dallas Comic Con this weekend. Here are some extra features: his take on comic adaptations, as told to our own Geoff Johnston.
Q: What are a few of your favorite comic book movie adaptations?
Hopkins: The Rocketeer is an amazing movie. It's based on the graphic novel by Dave Stevens. I remember watching this for the first time, when I was a teenager. It was entertaining, pure and simple, the quintessential superhero film without cape and tights. It's a shame Dave never produced more Rocketeer before he died last year. We lost one of our greatest comic book creators.
For more recent movies, Spider-Man 2 is about as flawless as could be. It showed how Spider-Man is such a unique character. Peter Parker lacks the bravado of Tony Stark/Iron Man, but when he becomes Spider-Man that confidence emerges. This movie especially shows the true heroic nature of Peter. He's just a kid with a world of responsibility on his shoulders.
Sin City was a faithful, almost line for line, adaptation of the comic, and it paid off. Everything that's great about the comic is great about the movie.
Q: Which ones do you think missed the mark?
Hopkins: Spider-Man 3, obviously. There's a curse. No superhero franchise can make three good movies in a row (Superman 3 with Richard Pryor, Batman Forever with Jim Carrey, X-Men: The Last Stand). Be prepared for a heartbreaking follow up to Dark Knight.
In the case of Spider-Man 3, it suffered from too many dangling plot lines. The inclusion of Venom was an unnecessary fan-pleaser that ruined the film. Harry Osborn's descent into villainy was an obvious continuation of the previous movies. It could've been so good, but instead we got James Franco saving the day at the last minute (deus ex hover board). And what about Sandman's ailing daughter? That's the story I wanted.
Finally, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen was painful, an absolute insult to the original comic book.
Q: As a writer, how would you have adapted those series for the screen?
Hopkins: Spider-Man 3 is an easy fix. Remove the Venom plotline, and save Harry Osborn's redemption for Spider-Man 4. In the meantime, make Osborn an evil bastard who ruins Parker. Then, you have a good movie.
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen is a little trickier, because Alan Moore's work is hard, if not impossible, to adapt. It should be an HBO television series, before it's a feature film. You need to stay completely faithful to the source material. Better casting, no Tom Sawyer or Dorian Gray. You probably also need a more visionary and artistic director. I'd take Alfonso Cuarón, Terry Gilliam, or Guillermo del Toro before Stephen Norrington.
Q: Which franchise would you love to see given the silver screen treatment?
Hopkins: Marvel's Power Pack would be fun in the same way that Spy Kids was fun. Beyond that, I'd like to see Hollywood attempt Mike Allred's Madman or Paul Chadwick's Concrete.
Q: How would you cast the film adaptations of some of your books?
Hopkins: This is a question I've thought about for some time. For Karma Incorporated: Felicity Huffman as Marsha, Vincent D'Onofrio as Terry, Zooey Deschanel as Susan, Mos Def as Malcolm, Zach Galifianakis as Art. It would be Matchstick Men, but with the tone and style of Pushing Daisies.
For Emily Edison, I don't know. I bet Nickelodeon would do a good job casting. Maybe Emma Roberts, the girl from Hotel for Dogs and Lemony Snicket, as the lead?
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