What is the "Best" TV adaptation of a comics character?

[PNGwynne]

Have we had a poll/thread on this before? What do you consider the best TV adaptation of a comic?

My criteria:

*production design

*accurate characterization

*realistic/accurate depiction of powers


I like several series, and love a few, so this is a challenge for me.

Based on the above, I'd choose season 1 of Wonder Woman, with Lynda Carter.

She's not my favorite character, but the show seems both faithful & entertaining to me.

[Mego Milk]

I am the Hulk..YEAH!

[madmarva]

Batman is pretty close to postwar through early 60s Batman, although they are playing It for laughs.

Lois and Clark was a decent take on post-crisis Superman.

Arrow is an interesting take on Green Arrow, updating the silver-age origin prior to his shift in social consciousness during the O'Neil and Adams material.

[Earth 2 Chris]

Batman: The Animated Series.

If you want live-action, I agree with Madmarva on 60s Batman.

The Adventures of Superman was pretty faithful to the late-40s, early 50s Superman comics.

Hulk is great, but isn't faithful at all. This is a good thing on 70s TV budgets.

[The Toyroom]

66 Batman...it's all there...the costumes, the foes, the vehicles, the Batcave, Wayne Manor. Zap! Bam! Pow! Although it's "campy" it's a comic book come to life that doesn't take itself or its subject matter too seriously.

[thunderbolt]

Yeah, Batman 66 with Adventures of Superman and season 1 of Wonder Woman in close competition.

[PNGwynne]

I'm thinking live-action. I'd say Batman: TAS is the best cartoon.

I hear you though--I LOVE Batman 66, on several levels. The villains really lifted that show--that's where most other TV adaptations have failed IMO. The Flash at least tried.

But as fond of it as I am--great design, good budget in season 1, etc.--Batman is off character even for a lighter postwar version. I sometimes try to picture it if played straight like Green Hornet, but I know that wouldn't quite have worked.

It's difficult for me to consider it "the best" with the camp/self-parodying aspects. I do like camp, though.


I read somewhere that Adam West said he was really trying to send-up Moore'e stalwart Lone Ranger when he interpreted Batman.
I'm really thankful for the show, though--I think it enabled the character to survive. And certainly as a kid, I saw it as a real-life comic-book.

[PNGwynne]

I am the Hulk..YEAH!

I think I appreciate The Hulk more now than I did as a kid--to pull off a dramatic sci-fi version of The Fugitive with a green monster each week ain't easy.

[jds1911a1]

I agree with PnGwynne the TV wonder woman was the closest representation to the comics, the 66 batman show was like the 50's batman cartoon but it was nothing like the comics of it's era (nevermind the 70's batman comics I was reading when I was introduced to it in re-runs)

[HardyGirl]

Amen, and pass the biscuits!

66 Batman...it's all there...the costumes, the foes, the vehicles, the Batcave, Wayne Manor. Zap! Bam! Pow! Although it's "campy" it's a comic book come to life that doesn't take itself or its subject matter too seriously.

[samurainoir]

I think I appreciate The Hulk more now than I did as a kid--to pull off a dramatic sci-fi version of The Fugitive with a green monster each week ain't easy.

It definitely wasn't a close adaptation to the Hulk comics at the time (Hulk Smash! Leave Hulk Alone!), although it's fascinating to me that the comics tried to do a version of the "Fugitive Hulk" when former Vertigo editor Axel Alonso first came over to Marvel and hired Warren Comics writer Bruce Jones to script. Definitely an interesting, moody and evocative take, but it didn't seem to have long term "legs" and comics generally work better with the Hulk "on-screen" bashing things up rather than in the context of X-files type conspiracy and noir.

I like Mark Waid's current run.

[Falstaff13]

I suppose it falters in terms of how faithful it presented the character (although, honestly, I have never really read the comics regularly, so it might be closer than I perceive), but I always thought the 1990 Flash series had good production and was well made as a series, and I found it pretty entertaining.

[kingdom warrior]

66 Batman...it's all there...the costumes, the foes, the vehicles, the Batcave, Wayne Manor. Zap! Bam! Pow! Although it's "campy" it's a comic book come to life that doesn't take itself or its subject matter too seriously.

Exactly.....

Wonder Woman first season on ABC is closer to the 40's comics the 2 other seasons on CBS are friggin' horrible!

I have nothing Bad to say about Adventures of Superman.....I refuse to......lol

[madmarva]

The first season of the Adventures of Superman is my favorite super hero TV series, but I think it fails on the criteria of the question bc it's not that close to the comics of the time, imo.

Hulk was a good show and probably as solid of a way of adapting the character for TV of its time, but it also fails on the criteria of being close to the comic.


I know there's a ton of hate for Smallville, but I thought it was a solid alternate universe version of Superman, but again it wandered far afield from the comics.

The Flash series got a lot of things right, but it's tone was a good bit darker than the comic up to the point where iris Allen was seemingly murdered. And the brick red foam body builder suit was just terrible for a character described as slim and sinewy in the comics.

But it's really hard even for films with monster budgets to be totally faithful to the comics.

As I wrote earlier, I think Batman really captures a period of the character's life on the printed page, but while I have a certain appreciation for the show, it's not one of my favorites.