Comic Books & TV

Ah, the comic book. One of society's surefire ways of determining the "nerd" in the room. When someone confesses their love for such a book, it is never really accepted well by their peers. I know. This is all news to you... The people that choose to spend their time reading comic books are viewed as "weird" or "nerdy," but what if there was some redemption? What if there was a way they could show the world that their comics weren't so weird? There is! And they have been doing it for quite some time.


As many already know, there have a great deal of movies adopted from comic books. From the very successful movies like Batman and Spiderman, to the recent unsuccessful ones like Green Lantern and Captain America. Even with these faults, there have been many more successes. What does this have to do with television? In television there are a lot of less successful shows that reach out to the general public like the good movies do. Most of the comic book movies are popular not only for those who read comic books, but with everyone.  The Dark Night movie from the Batman series is a great example because it did absolutely phenomenal in the theaters, regardless of the fact that it was adopted from a comic. So are there any TV shows that match this success? Unfortunately not. In fact, I doubt there has ever been a show in history that came even close to the success of the Batman movies.


Today, there are many cartoons that try to recreate favorite comic books onto the TV screen. But these shows reach out to a very small crowd compared to other shows. There are also some shows that don’t go the cartoon route, but unfortunately most of them still do not do well. Human Target, created two years ago, is an example. I honestly did not really like this show either, so don’t think I’m trying to be an advocate. Instead of using cartoons, the show was shot in a normal setting and adapted ideas from the comic book. The show actually didn't really follow the comic, so the unsuccessful run was probably not disappointing to many people. 

So am I saying there are no good TV shows, out there today, based on a comic book? Yes. Ha, just kidding. What do you think this was post was for? Just a month or so ago I began watching a popular show entitled The Walking Dead about a post-apocalyptic world filled with zombies. Sounds like a nerdy comic book right? In all honesty, the show is really fun to watch and has really interesting content. I'm not one for a lot of violence, but the show is more than just people going around and killing zombies. It deals with the social and psychological tolls this new way of life has on the remaining civilians. The interactions that take place, both with the crazy zombies and the community fighting for survival, has made this show really good an ultimately popular with a large audience.

What does this say about society? That people will watch movies and TV about comic books, but look at those who actually read the book as nerds? Does this make any sense? Probably. I think I have somewhat of an explanation. There is a difference between those who read those books and the average person who watched one of the adaptions. Typically those who actually read those comic books, obsess over it. That's why they are called nerds. When someone obsesses over something to an extent that people might find them a little strange, you might consider them a nerd. This makes me a little uneasy because by that definition I could probably be considered a nerd for television... To some, the sad amount of time I spend learning about TV could be considered nerdy. But I do not talk about it with all my friends at all times. In fact, most of friends rarely take interest in my obsession. I'm not a nerd because I don't let this love I have consume my life.

I seem to be rambling. In summary, television is quickly constantly gradually rarely integrating comic books into shows. There are few successes, but with the popularity of movies to guide them, we just might see more TV shows in the future with a character that has long been read by the fans of the comic book. Does it make reading them a bit cooler? Probably not. But it does show that what they love so much, is not as lame as most people might think.