Kevin Smith and 9 other filmmakers who became comic book authors
Filmmakers need to know all aspects of filmmaking, from cinematography to actor and crew coordination, although one of the most important skills shared between writers and directors is storytelling, which is a universal medium that allows filmmakers to diversify into other stories. like the comics.
Chilean filmmaker Alejandro Jodorowsky has teamed up with iconic artist Moebius For The Incal in 1980 to develop the ideas created for their Dune film adaptation which further merged the two mediums. Today we’re going to explore a few more examples of filmmakers turned comic book writers, including one of the best known, Kevin Smith.
ten Kevin Smith made his debut as a freelance director before moving on to comics
Independent success Clerk Kevin Smith first made Kevin Smith a name to watch in 1994 after bringing to reality his unique and relevant take on the unfulfilled lives of pop culture obsessed retail workers on a shoestring with a team. close to friends and supporters.
Smith’s comic book fandom was evident in his follow-up feature Mallrats which starred Stan Lee, and he kicked off a comic book series featuring his movie characters with Oni Press ahead of a fan-favorite run on daredevil launched a recurring career in comics that spread to other characters like Spider-Man, Green Arrow, Batman, and others.
9 Clive Barker is a horror master who started Marvel’s Razorline and wrote the Next Testament
After the start of his career in the horror genre with successes like Hellraiser, Candyman, and Lord of illusions, Clive Barker launched the Razorline imprint for Marvel Comics which included titles like Ectokid, Hokum & Hex, Super nice, and Saint sinner.
Many comic book adaptations have continued to explore Clive Barker’s characters and storylines over the years, although he has launched his own series of Boom! Studios in 2013 with Mark Miller and Haemi Jang called Next will after a few years of reinventing its iconic Hellraiser franchise in comic book form.
8 Joss Whedon launched an unforgettable series of amazing X-Men
Filmmaker Joss Whedon has built his name with films and TV series like Buffy the vampire slayer, Firefly (which also hit the big screen with the years 2005 Serenity), and Doll house which ultimately led to his work on The Avengers, Avengers: Age of Ultron, and the theatrical cut of Justice League.
Whedon launched the current hit Amazing X-Men series that brought the core team of mutant heroes back to superheroes in a famous race that would later inspire a cutscene X Men scenario. Whedon would also develop his other television and film projects in the comics over the years.
7 David S. Goyer wrote superhero movies before co-writing fan favorite JSA
Writer / director David S. Goyer is perhaps best known for working on several of the biggest superhero movies like Christopher Nolan’s. The black Knight trilogy, Steel man, and the Blade trilogy, which saw him step into the director’s chair for the final installment.
Goyer began working with James Robinson and Geoff Johns in 1999 as co-authors of the novel JSA series which led to a number of other comic works by Goyer set in the JSAworld that included Star man and other stories.
6 Rob Zombie is a storyteller in many mediums including comics
While he started his music career as the frontman of White Zombie before going on his own, Rob Zombie opened up a new avenue in Hollywood with horror hits like The devil’s rejections of the Firefly Family trilogy and his own reimagining of the Halloween franchise.
Zombie extended his unique take on the comedic medium with a number of different series that went into horror and the supernatural medium, including The nail, Whatever happened to Baron Von Schock, and Rob Zombie’s haunted world of El Superbeasto, which has been made into an animated film.
5 JJ Abrams added Spider-Man to his geek reputation with his son
Filmmaker JJ Abrams already had a lot of geek credit thanks to his work on popular sci-fi franchises like Star Trek and Star wars and a number of blockbuster science fiction television series like Lost and Fringe, although he also began working in comics alongside his son Henry Abrams.
The father and son writing duo joined Sara Pichelli for the 2019 volume of Spider Man who explored an alternate future where Peter and Mary Jane’s son learned the truth about his father’s superhero career as he gained powers himself and took on the heroic role.
4 The Wachowskis started their own comic book company after The Matrix
While the Wachowski sisters began to write in comics with series like Clive Barker’s Ectokid, Hellraiser, and Race of the night, they refocused on movies and created the 1999 sci-fi hit The matrix and subsequent sequels followed by a series of sci-fi blockbusters.
2003 saw the formation of their comic book company called Burlyman Entertainment with series like Shaolin Cowboy and Doctor Frankenstein, the latter of which was written exclusively by the Wachowskis before they returned to ongoing television and film projects.
3 J. Michael Straczynski developed science fiction before reimagining the origins of Spider-Man
The name of J. Michael Straczynski would be quickly recognized by fans of science fiction television shows as Babylon 5 or Sens8 (which was developed by JMS alongside Lana Wachowski), but the writer / director / producer has also worked with a few iconic characters from the comics.
After working on a number of TV comic book adaptations and his own comic imprint with the Top Cow comics, Straczynski reimagined Spider-Man’s origins with a totemic connection in his The Incredible Spider-Man race that led to the development of the popular Spider-Verse premise. JMS has also worked with DC Comics for the multiversal Superman: Earth One and Before the watchmen mini-series.
2 George A. Romero continued his iconic zombie epic with Empire Of The Dead
years 1968 Night of the Living Dead by George A. Romero kicked off the blockbuster zombie franchise which saw a number of sequels that began with Dawn of the Dead in 1978, which brought the company to light in the midst of its downfall.
Romero wrote some comedy stories for DC’s Toe Tags and Heavy metal magazine before returning to the zombie genre with Marvel in 2014 for Empire of the dead, which also featured vampires in a supernatural horror mashup.
1 Quentin Tarantino brought the official Django Unchained sequel to the comics
The comic adaptation of the 2012s Django Unchained was written by film director Quentin Tarantino in the famous filmmaker’s comic book debut, which then led to the official comedic sequel to the events of the film which teamed up between Tarantino and comic book creator Matt Wagner.
Django was associated with Wagner’s new take on the classic literary hero Zorro in Django / Zorro from Dynamite Entertainment, which was also set to serve as the basis for an upcoming film sequel, though development has stalled since it was first announced in 2019.
About the Author