10 Things That Deserve Great Movie Adaptations
4. Transmetropolitan
Despite the doomsaying of some critics, the superhero bubble is nowhere near bursting yet. Wonder Woman is the DCEU's strongest entry yet, and Spider-Man: Homecoming is being hailed as the best big screen appearance of the web slinger since 2004. There are more and more comic adaptations coming out all the time, but one which has been notably absent is Warren Ellis' cynical, sarcastic, cyberpunk masterpiece, Transmetropolitan.
The anarchic series follows eccentric journalist Spider Jerusalem as he traverses a city full of colourful and crazy characters in search of justice and his next story. It's brilliant stuff, bitingly satirical and incredibly relevant even now, twenty years after its first issue was published. The key villain of the piece, corrupt president Gary "The Smiler" Callahan, would turn heads in particular if a Transmetropolitan movie suddenly arrived in cinemas.
A film adaptation of Transmetropolitan was first discussed in 2003, with Tim Roth as the front-runner to play Spider. Than never materialised, and neither did a proposed animated series, with Spider voiced by Patrick Stewart.
An adaptation would be easy to make great, though, with the vibrant world, sharp story and larger-than-life characters already there on the page, just waiting to be turned into a Kick-Ass or Deadpool-style R-rated orgy of violence and wit.