Comics UK

Just wondering if anyone has a comic strip they would love to see turned in to a movie? I have two, both from 2000AD, Flesh and Harlem Heroes.

The Yeti With Betty (from the Beano, early 1990s) would make a cute family film, similar to Where The Wild Things Are.

Queen of the Seas would be great comedy too. Or even a Jonah movie!

I always thought The Ballad Of Halo Jones from 2000AD would've made a great film (was a play on it done in the late 80s in Edinburgh I think - it got publicised on ITV's 1988 Night Network (hosted that night by Mick Brown). I'm not into 2000AD, but I liked that.

Also, I think many of the stories from Misty should be knitted together as a Horror anthology, like the British Amicus films of the 60s & 70s (Tales From The Crypt etc). Ones where a group of girls get stuck in a room together or buy from the same shop (like From Beyond The Grave film) and have a story and suffer consequences for their evil deeds.

The "Moonchild" story from Misty is worthy of its own film - a kind of British Carrie perhaps.

Just thought - would make a good film based on the Beezer's Pop, Dick & Harry - the film is about Pop & the boys scoring points off each other - effectively knitting together the various incidents in their original strips - with one party or neither coming out on top at each incident.

DavidKW wrote: The "Moonchild" story from Misty is worthy of its own film - a kind of British Carrie perhaps.

I'd be inclined to go for something original, rather than a story already based on a movie. How about The Slave of Form 3B from Jinty? A story about bullying told from the point of view of the bully? It's very rare that you ever see a story about bullying amongst girls, and even rarer to find one where the bully is the protagonist.

Quite a few of those "Tammy" & "Jinty" strips might make worthy movies from what I've heard about them (too depressing for my liking though).

It seems these comics tackled things such as girls bullying long before TV did, which did seem very slow to pick up on it (after all "Slave..." did get published the same year as "Grange Hill" first launched (with bully Jackie Heron).

Just thought another one which might be good - one based on "Tiger" strip "Skid Solo" - where he remembers past stories based on what happened in the strips down the years (capturing a fell for 60s/70s motor racing), reminiscing from his wheelchair where he ended up a cripple at the end of the strip's run.

Could do a smilar idea with the football strips...

I SPY done with big-budget CGI


Also: Puss-n-Boots done with old-style cel animation [7-minute shorts]


Judge Dredd epics CURSED EARTH/JUDGE CALIGULA/JUDGE CHILD done with the comic-frames used as a guide.

Dredd's Cursed Earth, now that's one I'd like to see

Casper: I think that FLESH books I and II [1977-78, 2000 AD] as you put forth would make great fantasy films, much more interesting than Jurassic Park, which has great FX but little else!

Hopefully, if the new 'Dredd' movie turns out to be a big success they'll be able to increase the SFX budget for 'Dredd 2: The Cursed Earth'! (Though probably without the Jolly Green Giant! )

As for 'Dredd 3' - I'd bet on Judge Death!

- Phil R.

Those sound great to me, Phil!

A decent Modesty Blaise film would be a thing of wonder. It would have to be set in the 60's, though, no 'cut up' scenes of people shouting into mobiles!

With "family" war movies making a sort of comeback in things such as War Horse and Red Tails, stories such as Fight Back to Dunkirk or The Crowded Sky from War Picture Library could be expanded into great epics of derring-do.

This is pretty close. A new western series starting next Thursday on channel 5. As a fan of westerns I will be tuned in. Its about two feuding families just after the American Civil War so I expect to see in the closing credits: "Based on the Hillies and the Billys created by DC Thomson & Co. Ltd.

Speaking of TV shows, there's a Cbeebies show called Grandpa in My Pocket. Definitely a copycat of Peter's Pocket Grandpa from the Dandy, except that the grandpa on TV could change back to normal size just by removing his hat, whereas Peter's Grandpa was stuck at his small size.