Many filmmakers making big superhero films these days often pay lip service to comic books and their fans, when in reality many of them only familiarize themselves with the source material once they are hired for a project, often with condensed info packets and comics selections put together by studios. So which filmmakers are the real deal comics nerds with a genuine longtime love of the medium? We set out to answer that very question with our list of 11 Movie Directors Who Are Hardcore Comic Book Fans, which you can check out in the gallery below!
This article was sparked during a recent trip to Pixar for this weekend’s Incredibles 2, in which director Brad Bird was asked a question about Silver Age superheroes and professed an ignorance of what Silver Age even meant. Although Bird has stated he is not a comics fan (with the exception of Will Eisner’s The Spirit), he still made one of the greatest superhero movies of all time with 2004’s The Incredibles. Other filmmakers who have made great comic book movies like Tim Burton (Batman, Batman Returns) and Peter Jackson (Tintin) have been honest that they don’t generally read comics, and there are other filmmakers who claim to love comics but have made terrible films of them. We won’t mention them here, but we wanted to make clear that we don’t think loving comics is a prerequisite to making a good comic book film, but it IS fun to celebrate our nerdiest filmmakers for their devotion to the medium!
Which of the eleven movie directors in our list do you think GETS comic books the most? Did we leave any serious filmmaker comic book fans out? Let us know in the comments below!
(Photo Credit: Getty Images)
11 Movie Directors Who Are Hardcore Comic Book Fans
-
The Wachowskis (Lana & Lilly)
Lana and Lilly's blockbuster Matrix Trilogy took a lot of cues from comic books and manga, even going so far as hiring comic book artists Steve Skroce and Geof Darrow to help storyboard and design those films and others they have made. Early on in their career they wrote a script based on the DC Comics character Plastic Man, and later adapted the Alan Moore graphic novel V For Vendetta to the screen. They've also worked alongside noted comic book writer J. Michael Straczynski on several projects, including Sense8 and Ninja Assassin.
-
The Wachowskis (Lana & Lilly)
The siblings actually started their career as comic book writers, penning Clive Barker-inspired books for Marvel Comics like Ectokid and Hellraiser. After the success of The Matrix they started their own (now defunct) comic book company called Burlyman Entertainment that, in addition to Matrix comics, put out Shaolin Cowboy by Hard Boiled artist Geof Darrow, which is still being published today by Dark Horse. In terms of the duo's press shy nature, Lilly has previously stated she appreciates her anonymity because, "I like walking into a comics shop and nobody knowing who I am."
-
Guillermo del Toro
The recent Best Picture and Best Director Oscar-winning director for The Shape of Water has been a lifelong comic book fan, and as a young man would read Spider-Man and French Impressionism without differentiating the importance of either. He later went on to make three major comic book adaptations: Blade II, Hellboy and Hellboy II: The Golden Army. He's also flirted with other comic book movies like Thor and Justice League Dark that he ultimately decided not to go through with.
-
Guillermo del Toro
However, all of his films have a comic book influence, with inspiration ranging from the "chicken fat" extraneous details of Will Elder's Mad comic books to the gothic stylings of EC Comics and the Creepy/Eerie magazines of the '70s. For anyone that has read books about or seen videos or exhibitions of del Toro's wide-ranging pop culture collection stored in his second home Bleak House knows he also has an expansive collection of original comic art, from Will Eisner to Bernie Wrightson's famed Frankenstein illustrations.
-
David Goyer
It could be said that no living screenwriter has adapted more comic books to the screen than David S. Goyer, a list that includes The Crow: City of Angels, Blade, Blade II, Blade Trinity (which he also directed), Batman Begins, The Dark Knight, The Dark Knight Rises, Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance, Man of Steel, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and the upcoming Green Lantern Corps. He also worked with Joseph Gordon-Levitt on an aborted film adaptation of Neil Gaiman's comic book The Sandman, and his small screen resume includes Nick Fury: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D., Blade: The Series, Constantine and the recent Krypton.
-
David Goyer
But Goyer didn't stop there. He worked closely with the DCEU's Geoff Johns for years penning the Justice Society of America book JSA for DC Comics for over 50 issues, and has worked on other comic book titles over the years as well. It would seem his comic book credentials are fairly bonafide!
-
Kevin Smith
The mastermind behind Jay & Silent Bob has amassed something of a mini-empire in the last two decades. After his success with Clerks, Smith has been mining his love of both comic books and comic book culture in his movies, from the Stan Lee cameo in Mallrats to the comic book artist protagonist of Chasing Amy to that famous unproduced script he wrote for Superman Lives. He employed fan favorite artist Michael Allred to do the in-world comics in several of his movies, and even named his daughter Harley Quinn before it was cool.
-
Kevin Smith
Smith went one further, though, when he opened his very own comic book store called Jay & Silent Bob's Secret Stash in his hometown of Red Bank, New Jersey. The shop later became the epicenter of an AMC reality show titled Comic Book Men that is still on the air after seven seasons. Smith has also had a hand in writing comics, both set within his View Askew universe as well as mainstream work for DC and Marvel on books like Daredevil, Green Arrow and Spider-Man. He also hosts a long-running podcast devoted to all things fanboy titled Fatman on Batman with Marc Bernardin.
-
Joss Whedon
The King of the Nerds has been a fan favorite since he created the pop culture phenomenon Buffy the Vampire Slayer (partly inspired by X-Men member Kitty Pryde), first as a 1992 movie and then later a massively popular TV show with spin-offs. After his Buffy years Whedon made several attempts to dip his tow in the superhero world, at one point working on a Wonder Woman movie and being offered X-Men: The Last Stand, which he turned down despite it taking its story from an X-Men comic he wrote. He later went on to direct the first two blockbuster Avengers movies and also develop the TV series Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., as well as having an overall consulting job for Marvel Studios' entire Phase 2. He went on to co-write (and ghost direct parts of) Justice League for Warner Bros, later dropping out of a Batgirl movie.
-
Joss Whedon
But Whedon has also had a whole second career in comics, first creating the title Astonishing X-Men for Marvel and writing the book for 24 consecutive issues, as well as a shorter arc on Runaways. He also extended both his Buffy and Serenity series in comic book form for Dark Horse, including a futuristic iteration titled Fray. He's still at it, writing this year's Dark Horse release Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 12: The Reckoning. He's also been developing a comic called Twist since 2015, described as a "Victorian female Batman."
-
James Gunn
The writer/director behind Marvel Studios' hugely successful Guardians of the Galaxy movies has been a longtime devotee of both indie and superhero comics. Before his Marvel days Gunn also made the 2010 dark tragicomic film Super, which is something of a deconstruction of superheroes and comic book culture about a mentally-unbalanced cook and an equally insane comic shop employee who become costumed crime fighters. He also delved into superhero territory with the screenplay for the 2000 spoof The Specials.
-
James Gunn
If you don't believe Gunn is a real deal fanboy, just last year he published a list on his Facebook of his favorite comic book/comic book runs in honor of National Comic Book Day. The list included titles as disparate as indie books like Eightball and Hate as well as mainstream books like The Dark Knight Returns, The Ultimates and Astro City. Oh, and of course Warlock and Howard the Duck!
-
Peyton Reed
Gunn's Marvel compatriot Peyton Reed may have taken over Ant-Man from Edgar Wright, but it wasn't his first foray into the Marvel Universe. Before Tim Story made his two Fantastic Four movies, Reed was working with producer Kevin Feige on an FF movie set in the 1960's similar to the era it was created in. The idea never made it past the conceptual stage, but Fox would later use a similar retro idea for X-Men: First Class.
-
Peyton Reed
Reed is actually a longtime comics fan, as proven by a flyer from the 80's for his college punk band Johnny Quest, which is a take-off on the Jack Kirby Avengers #1 cover with Reed himself depicted as... Ant-Man! When we talked to producer Kevin Feige recently, he mentioned Reed as being one of the true comic book fans among the Marvel stable of directors. "Peyton Reed is a legit comic fan who had drawings of Ant-Man that he made when he was a kid," said Feige.
-
Tim Miller
The head of Blur Studios, the animation company behind many incredible commercials and video game cut scenes, Tim Miller has had a long and storied history with comic book movies. Besides his work directing certain sequences in films like Thor: The Dark World and Scott Pilgrim vs The World, Miller has developed several comic movies including a scrapped anthology movie based on Heavy Metal, Warren Ellis' Gravel and a long-gestating animated version of Eric Powell's The Goon, which went to Kickstarter to produce a full-length animatic of the planned feature. He finally hit paydirt as director of the 2016 smash Deadpool, based on the Marvel antihero.
-
Tim Miller
In a video for Collider where he visits a comic book store Miller revealed that at the start of his career he tried to get a job at both Marvel and DC as an illustrator to no avail. He went on to found Blur, which has produced stellar cut scenes for superhero games like DC Universe Online that are often better received by fans than the real movies. He also claimed he's been to 23 consecutive San Diego Comic-Cons, got stuff from his pull list and in the past has admitted to a $400 dollar a month comic book habit. Now THAT is a comic book fan!
-
Quentin Tarantino
Oscar-winner Tarantino is longtime comics aficionado, often waxing about comics through the characters in his films. Bill's famous "Superman speech" in Kill Bill Vol. 2 is a prime example, as are the scenes in the comic book shop in True Romance. However, perhaps the nerdiest thing he ever wrote (uncredited) was the "Moebius' Silver Surfer vs Jack Kirby's Silver Surfer" scene in Tony Scott's Crimson Tide.
-
Quentin Tarantino
Tarantino was a big time comic dork before he made it big in Hollywood, bragging about how he met legends like Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko. He also flirted with an adaptation of Luke Cage before he mellowed on the idea, and also toyed with making a Sgt. Rock movie for producer Joel Silver before deciding to do his own "men on a mission" movie with Inglourious Basterds. He claims Marvel Comics like Werewolf By Night, Tomb of Dracula, Morbius The Living Vampire, Sgt. Fury and His Howling Commandos and Shang-Chi: Master of Kung Fu were all major early influences on his work, although he would probably never do a straight superhero adaptation for film.
-
George Lucas
Star Wars has always had a comic book flavor to it, and creator George Lucas only did it because he couldn't get the rights to adapt the Flash Gordon comic. Lucas later used comic book legend Jim Steranko to do the early concept art that helped define Indiana Jones for Raiders of the Lost Ark, and has also admitted the influence of Carl Barks' Duck comics adventures on the series' famous rolling ball opening scene.
-
George Lucas
Star Wars has had a long history being adapted for comics even before the first film came out. Lucas also made the first major Marvel Comics movie (for better or worse) with 1986's Howard the Duck. However, his investment in the medium goes all the way back to the mid-seventees when Lucas became co-owner with Edward Summer (producer of Conan the Barbarian) of The Supersnipe Comic Book Euphorium in New York City, a combination comic art gallery and, at the time, the world's largest selection of comic books. Nowadays Lucas is expanding that love in a big way with LA's Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, which will have a big comics component in the first museum of its kind. Lucas' son Jett is also currently an employee of the Heavy Metal comics magazine, so that love runs in the family.
-
Alexandro Jodorowsky
A love of comics isn't just relegated to mainstream Hollywood filmmakers. Chilean-French cult moviemaker Alexandro Jodorowsky of El Topo fame has had a longtime love of the medium to express some of the more epic ideas he could never get financed for cinemas. He created his first comic work Anibal 5 all the way back in 1966, and has been active since then.
-
Alexandro Jodorowsky
Jodorowsky's most famous collaborator is French artist Jean Giraud (Moebius), who he hired for an aborted attempt to film Dune and with whom he created the futuristic metaphysical sci-fi graphic novel The Incal from 1980 to 1989. The critically acclaimed visionary work has been hailed as one of the great masterpieces of comics, and has influenced filmmakers like Luc Besson. He also created further titles such as Metabarons and The Technopriests.
