8 Alternative Comics That Would Make Killer Movies/TV Shows

3. Johnny The Homicidal Maniac

Jhonen Vasquez is best known for the animated Nickelodeon series Invader Zim, but before his work was on the backpacks of fourth graders, he was the Jean-Paul Sartre of emo teen America. Originally released in the late nineties, Johnny the Homicidal Maniac has since become a favorite of oddball millennials. Its fusion of humor and dark matter, a schizophrenic canvas of jagged lines and melodramatic horror, allowed its readers a safe distance from the title character's antisocial actions. Johnny's readers are an angry set, and so is Johnny, and bless his black heart for that. He's like the Crow for a generation that takes nothing seriously. Johnny is one of the few comics on this list that would work as well in live action as in animation. Vasquez's black and white, blood-spattered mini-epic could translate to cinema the way Ralph Steadman's drawings did for Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas. Would it be too much to ask for a full-on, black and white horror flick? There's an obvious Tim Burton influence at work in Johnny, and in Vasquez's work in general. Done right, a Tim Burton Johnny film would be seen as a return to form for a director whose recent genre work has been less than stellar. Johnny Depp may still be young €“ or at least young-looking €“ enough to play the part.