8 Underrated Comic Books That Deserve Their Own TV Show
7. Animal Man
DC Comics
A character that, by all means, we probably wouldn't be talking about if it hadn't been for the efforts of Grant Morrison and the British Invasion of the late eighties, Animal Man (Buddy Barker), was a character that always struggled to break into the upper echelons of the Justice League's most prolific members. Despite his perceived unpopularity, Morrison ended up taking the character to then unseen critical heights, with his Animal Man run later going on to endear an audience to the extent that it's now consistently ranked among the greatest comic book runs of DC's history. Wowza.
Despite the goofy aesthetic and indeed, even goofier premise, Animal Man found success in its efforts to depict a distinctly human character in a world dominated by superheroes. The environmental-focus of the series in turn offered something fundamentally different to most other DC heroes, a theme that, if handled correctly, could offer the perfect lens to examine current environmental topics and concerns for a 21st century audience.
Regardless, this is one DC character that deserves another chance in the spotlight, whether that be on the screen, or off.
WhatCulture's very own resident movie guy, Ewan has been working in the content creation biz for over 10 years now, having started as a freelance contributor to WhatCulture Gaming all the way back in 2015. After graduating with a First-Class Honours in History from Northumbria University in 2017 (where he won a prize for a totally killer dissertation on the Watergate years), Ewan took on the role of Comics Editor at WhatCulture and quickly developed WhatCulture Comics into one of the biggest superhero-focused channels on YouTube. He followed this with a brief hiatus at Screen Rant in 2021, where he worked across the Gaming and Film sections as a writer and editor, before returning to WhatCulture as a Senior Content Producer / Presenter in 2023. He started his own podcast, We Love Dad Movies, in 2022, and has contributed several written pieces to the Eisner-nominated comics website Shelfdust as well.
In his current role, Ewan incorporates his love of cinema, comic books, and history into written pieces and video essays for WhatCulture's Film & TV channel, as well as WhatCulture Gaming and WhatCulture Horror, with a particular focus on nineties-era Dad Movies, old school Westerns, and Golden Age Hollywood Noir. John Carpenter is his fave, and he thinks Batman Beyond should never have been cancelled. If that's your vibe, you'll probably like his stuff.
