I bet you didn’t see this one coming. Originally published under Aircel comics which was later bought out by Malibu comics which was later bought out by Marvel comics (noticing a trend here?) The Men in Black was a very different comic to what you’d expect from the movie adaptation.
Somewhere along the line and I’m not sure where the movie decided to take this:
And turn it into this:
While there isn’t necessarily anything wrong with the film it is most definitely not like the comic which is why I would argue that we haven’t yet truly seen The Men in Black adapted. This will be the first time that I say this in regards to an adaptation but despite my complaints with the movie I do think that after a certain while a MIB TV show would have to go its own way in terms of stories. This is because there isn’t a huge amount in the way of comics, however what it does have is a broader range of monsters to explore.
Unlike the movie Men in Black which only deals with aliens, the comic extends that to the many other aspects of the paranormal that have been associated with the men in black via conspiracy theories. There is far more to it than just aliens, there are also werewolves, demons and many more that the comic features.
The real question for me would be what would we do with the main protagonists? While Agents Jay, Kay and Zed are in the comics the popular depictions of them as being joke comedy characters may be hard to shake. Personally I’d like to keep them in some form, but the decision to take Men in Black and adapt it more faithfully from the comics could prove to be controversial as many have only known the films. While I do like the MIB films my attitude in regards to adaptations is this: if you want to tell your own story, tell your own story rather than butchering other people’s work.
It may sound harsh, and it’s not that “Men in Black” is bad, far from it. It is however simply not “The Men in Black”.
Join me next time for my honorable mentions and conclusion!
Previous Entries:
Sam and Twitch
Hellboy
Heavy Metal
Conan the Barbarian
Elric and Michael Moorcock’s Multiverse
X-Men
Werewolf by Night
Sojourn
Neil Gaiman’s Sandman
From Hell
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen
Ignition City
Akira
The Umbrella Academy
Facebook
Twitter
Google+
LinkedIn
RSS