When people talk about comic book movies, it is almost always about superheroes, but there are some great comic book adaptations with normal people and no supernatural situations at all. These include movies about regular people involved in regular situations, and a few with normal people in very extraordinary predicaments, but still just average citizens.
There is nothing wrong with superhero movies, but many people seem surprised when they learn a film is based on a comic book without the men in tights. While many people expect comic book movies to feature people with superpowers, even if they are not superheroes, there are great comic films about regular people, and some are better than superhero stories.
10
Art School Confidential (2006)
Art School Confidential is a 2006 movie directed by Terry Zwigoff that is the director’s second film based on a comic book. Daniel Clowes created the comic about a young man who enrolls in art school, and it is based on Clowes’ experience at the Pratt Institute. He meant it to be a satire of American art schools.
The movie itself was loosely based on the comics, with Max Minghella starring as Jerome, a young man who enrolls at the Strathmore School of Art. The entire story is a wild trip, with a serial killer around the college campus and Jerome trying to find success with his art, both of which end up intertwining.
The movie received mainly poor reviews from critics, and even the audience reacted negatively with a 48% rating. However, in the end, it was a movie that subverted expectations and didn’t deliver what anyone expected, and for that, it deserves a second look.
9
The Diary Of A Teenage Girl (2015)
The Diary Of A Teenage Girl is another comedy-drama that most people would have a hard time believing was based on a comic book. Like Art School Confidential, this was another movie about a youngster who had aspirations to become an artist. In this case, it was a teenager named Minnie who wanted to be a cartoonist.
Based on the graphic novel by Phoebe Gloeckner, Bea Powley stars as the aspiring teenage artist who becomes sexually active with her mother’s boyfriend, making this a risqué addition to the genre. Kristen Wiig stars as her Bohemian mother, while Alexander Skarsgård stars as the boyfriend.
This is a coming-of-age story about a young woman discovering herself. The film received high critical praise, with a 95% Rotten Tomatoes rating and critics calling it “boldly unconventional and refreshingly honest.“
8
Persepolis (2007)
Persepolis might be one of the most important comic books based on real people that was made into a movie. The graphic novels are autobiographical of creator Marjane Satrapi that depict her childhood and young adult years in Iran and Austria during the Islamic Revolution. The books often rank high on banned book lists in American schools.
In 2007, the books were turned into an adult animated movie, and it was a huge success. It co-won the Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival and was nominated for an Oscar for Best Animated Feature, the first film ever nominated in that category by a female director (Satrapi herself co-directed the movie with Vincent Paronnaud).
Critics loved the movie, with a high 96% Rotten Tomatoes score, calling it powerful and praising the simple black and white animation. Roger Ebert praised the story as one that showed a real woman coming of age in the best way possible.
7
Blue Is The Warmest Color (2013)
Blue Is The Warmest Color is a 2010 French graphic novel by Jul Maroh that was initially called Blue Angel. The book tells the story of two young women in France in the 1990s and 2000s who fall in love. In 2013, director Abdellatif Kechiche directed the adaptation of the graphic novel with the newer title.
Adèle Exarchopoulos stars as Adèle, a teenage high school student who meets an older woman with blue hair, whom she later learns is named Emma (played by Léa Seydoux). The two become friends, which causes other students to ostracize Adèle because they now believe she is a lesbian. However, soon Adèle discovers her true self.
This is one of the most unique comic book movies about normal people because it is a LGBTQ+ love story, and a beautiful one. The film received positive reviews, with an 89% Rotten Tomatoes score, and it won the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival.
6
V For Vendetta (2005)
V for Vendetta is one of the numerous movies adapted from work by Alan Moore, although the writer refuses to allow his name to be listed in the film’s credits. The book was created by Moore and David Lloyd and told the story of a dystopian future where a fascist totalitarian regime leads Britain, and an uprising is on the way.
While this is a sci-fi movie, it has no supernatural aspects, and every character in the film is a normal individual doing what they feel they need to do in order to bring about a free society once again. Hugo Weaving is the mysterious V, the face of the revolution, while Natalie Portman is a young woman named Evey who is pulled into a terrorist attack.
While Moore disowned the movie, it was actually one of the better comic book adaptations of his work, directed by James McTeigue and based on a script by the Wachowskis. Critics gave the movie a 73% Rotten Tomatoes score, and it was nominated for several Saturn and Satellite Awards.
5
American Splendor (2003)
American Splendor is an interesting comic book adaptation because it is based on the graphic novel, Our Cancer Year, by Harvey Pekar and Joyce Brabner, which was part of Pekar’s comic book series, titled American Splendor. All of Pekar’s comics are loosely based on his real life, and the movie is a biopic of the cartoonist.
Paul Giamatti stars as Harvey Pekar, while Hope Davis takes on the role of Joyce Brabner. Throughout the movie, there are scenes with the real Pekar and Brabner discussing themselves, their lives, their comic books, and what they think about seeing the actors playing them in the film. It is an extremely meta comic book film.
The movie has a fresh 94% Rotten Tomatoes rating, with critics praising its style and the story of an everyman doing what he loves. Robert Pulcini and Springer Berman earned an Oscar nomination for their script, and Hope Davis picked up a Golden Globe nomination for Best Supporting Actress.
4
Road To Perdition (2002)
Road to Perdition is a crime drama with two of the best actors in the history of cinema, and it is yet another film that many fans did not know was based on a comic book. There are no superheroes or supernatural occurrences in this movie, as it is a neo-noir by director Sam Mendes about a mafia boss who orders a hit on the orphan he raised.
These are not “normal people,” but they are regular guys, and no different than a person in a Martin Scorsese crime drama, making this a unique comic book adaptation. Based on the graphic novel by Max Allan Collins and Richard Piers Rayner, it follows a mob enforcer who goes into hiding with his son.
The cast is spectacular, with Tom Hanks starring as the hitman who goes into hiding, the legendary Paul Newman as the mob boss who puts a hit on him, Jude Law as the assassin on his tail, and even Daniel Craig and Stanley Tucci in supporting roles. Newman earned his final Oscar nomination for his performance.
3
Oldboy (2003)
Oldboy is a South Korean action thriller that is one of the best-known films from that country. Directed by Park Chan-wook, it is a brutal look at violence and retribution, and it remains one of the most horrifying and unflinching thrillers released in the 2000s. It is also based on a comic by Garon Tsuchiya and Nobuaki Minegishi.
The manga is called Old Boy, with two words, but it tells the same story as the movie, with a man abducted and locked in a room for 10 years. When he is finally released, he sets out to find out who did this to him to exact revenge, and what he learns is shocking. The movie follows the story, with the man brutally killing anyone in his way.
Spike Lee remade this movie, but it was nowhere near as great as Park Chan-wook’s film. This remains one of the hardest-hitting action movies and might be the best revenge flick ever made.
2
A History Of Violence (2005)
A History of Violence is a throwback neo-noir movie with a storyline that is almost the same as a classic film noir from the 1940s. In Out of the Past (1947), a former private investigator goes on the run and settles in as a gas station attendant in a small town. His life is turned upside down when someone recognizes him there.
In A History of Violence, Viggo Mortensen stars as a former mafia hitman who goes on the run and settles in as a diner owner, getting married and starting a family in a small town. However, when someone recognizes him, they pull him out of his hiding, and it almost destroys the entire life he built for himself.
However, A History of Violence is not a remake of a film noir movie. It is an adaptation of a graphic novel by John Wagner and Vince Locke, initially published by DC Comics. With David Cronenberg directing the film, it takes on a life of its own and remains a modern-day classic.
1
Ghost World (2001)
Ghost World is another comic book adaptation by Terry Zwigoff. Unlike Art School Confidential, this one was highly praised and has become a cult classic. It was also beloved at the time of its release, and it earned Zwigoff and Daniel Clowes an Oscar nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay.
The movie stars Scarlett Johansson and Thora Birch as two high school students and best friends who graduate from high school and have no idea what they are going to do next. They are social outcasts, and are struggling to figure out their place in the world, which is tougher when they befriend a man named Seymour (Steve Buscemi).
There are a lot of illusions to death and the afterlife in the movie, as there were in the comic book by Daniel Clowes (who also wrote Art School Confidential). Ghost World has a 93% fresh Rotten Tomatoes score, and it remains a beloved and respected movie today, one of the best comic book movies based on normal people.
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