Many popular TV shows are adapted from graphic novels and comic books, ranging from fantasy, superhero stories, to dramas, writes Film News Blitz’s Darshan Kaur Gill.
7. ‘The Walking Dead’
The Walking Dead is a post-apocalyptic TV series that follows a group of survivors trying to stay alive after a zombie outbreak.
It begins with sheriff’s deputy Rick Grimes, who wakes from a coma to a world overrun by zombies known as walkers.
The show is based on Robert Kirkman’s The Walking Dead comic series by Image Comics, which was released between 2003 and 2019, but throughout the show, things begin to differ significantly from its comic inspiration.
6. ‘The Boys’
Based on the Dynamite Entertainment comic book series by Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson, The Boys is a satirical, dark superhero series centred on a group of vigilantes seeking to expose and bring down corrupt superheroes managed by the Vought International corporation.
The show is known for its satire of celebrity culture and politics, using the revered supes as a metaphor for the idolisation of celebrities and behind-the-scenes corruption.
While the show follows the same premise as the comics, it differs slightly to create a more character-driven narrative.
5. ‘The Sandman’
Netflix’s The Sandman is a faithful adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s comic series of the same name, which ran from 1989 to 1996.
The show follows Morpheus, the King of Dreams, who was captured in 1916 and imprisoned for over a century, and his escape in 2022.
The show keeps the spirit and major plot points of the source material, whilst modernising the setting and expanding on the characters.
4. ‘iZombie’
iZombie is a CW supernatural crime comedy drama about a medical resident, Liv Moore, who turns into a zombie and works in a morgue so she can keep her humanity while secretly eating human brains.
Each time she consumes a brain, she temporarily absorbs the dead person’s memories, personality traits or habits.
The comic series created by Chris Roberson and Michael Allred differs significantly from the show in tone, characters and plot, though the show keeps the same core concept of the comics.
3. ‘Riverdale’
Riverdale is a teen mystery drama based on the characters from the Archie Comics.
It utilises the same character names and town setting as the comic series, although the show reinterprets them with a darker, more mature tone.
2. ‘Chilling Adventures of Sabrina’
Chilling Adventures of Sabrina is based on the Archie Comics character Sabrina Spellman, and the 2014 horror comic series by the same name created by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa and Robert Hack, which reimagines Spellman as a teenage witch.
The show and the comic differ greatly from the 1990s sitcom Sabrina the Teenage Witch, with the 2014 comic differing from the earlier source material to create a darker tone full of satanic rituals and the town of Greendale.
1. ‘The End of the F***ing World’
The End of the F***ing World is a dark comedy-drama adapted from the graphic novel of the same name by Charles Forsman.
The TV show follows the same core plot of two troubled teenagers, James and Alyssa, running away, diverging in tone and key plot points to make it suitable for television.
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