The Four Color Media Monitor

The Hollywood Reporter listed several comics from Europe they say are worth adapting to the silver screen:

The ongoing trend of turning comic book properties into cinema gold continues to suffer from diminishing returns in the U.S. In Europe, however, the graphic novel is thriving.

More than 4,000 titles are published every year in France and Belgium, and the bande dessinée industry has fostered an inordinate amount of amazing talent from all over Europe, both on the writing and visual fronts.

Here’s a list of eight Franco-Belgian comic books from the past five years that are ripe for a film or streaming adaptation. Some of these have already been translated into English. The rest are available in the original French editions — but in most cases, the richness and fluidity of the images convey their stories regardless of language.

Just recent ones? I'm sure there's older tales that're worth reading too, but unless Hollywood respects certain aspects of the source material, if they really are good, what's the use of adapting them? Here's a summary of one of their recommendations:

A pulpy series with three published books so far, The Damned of the Brown Gold is set in the 19th century, when the cocoa trade was still linked to slavery and all-around colonial abuse. An intergenerational story, it begins in Brazil, then moves to São Tomé and Paris. Informed by stylish settings, family rivalries and a healthy amount of sex and violence, it could easily become one of those addictive guilty pleasures that Netflix does so well.

When they say Netflix does everything great, you know something will go wrong if they take the job of adapting this to the screen. And that's why I think it better if this bande dessinee remain on the printed page, lest it lose something promising in the process. Besides, when stuff like this is adapted to live action, it can take away the audience's ability to appreciate how things are back in the four color printed pages. That's why those who're thinking of adapting these might want to consider it could be more advantageous to encourage the audience to try the original comics instead.

Labels: comic strips, Europe and Asia, good artists, good writers, history, msm propaganda