4. A History Of Violence
Suffering just as much as its label-brother Road To Perdition, A History of Violence was also released on the Paradox Press imprint of DC (at the time Vertigo, the defacto home for this content now, was a very adult sci-fi/fantasy exclusive place) in 1997 and despite being written by Judge Dredd creator/legend John Wagner it failed to set the comic world on fire for much of the same reasons as Road To Perdition. The film itself is oh-so-loosely based on the comic, with screenwriter Josh Olson stating he only intended to use the story to explore the themes that interested him, and director David Cronenberg even admitting that he did not know the screenplay was an adapted work! The beginning scenes that set the story in motion are nearly identical, and the basic cast of characters remains largely unchanged but from that point on the plots between comic and film play out very differently. While the comic is flawed, it is worth a read... the film on the other hand is a very bland adaptation and not really worth going out of your way to watch.