Top 5 comics- and graphic-novel-inspired movies

Though Stephen King’s screenplay for this George A. Romero horror anthology is original, it’s a faithfully constructed homage to EC Comics’ grisly, cautionary titles like Tales from the Crypt.

Tim Burton’s third feature doesn’t boast the gritty realism of Christopher Nolan’s revamp, true. But how could you not be smitten by the film’s imposing Art Deco–meets-industrial cityscapes and gleefully delivered Jack Nicholson one-liners like “This town needs an enema”?

“I can’t relate to 99 percent of humanity,” says Steve Buscemi’s grouchy record collector, tidily summing up his and teenage misanthrope Thora Birch’s problem with this thing called life. Director Terry Zwigoff’s take on Daniel Clowes’s book balances all the mundanity with quirky character run-ins and an awesome, all-over-the-map soundtrack.

David Cronenberg tones down his trademark weirdness a bit for this take on John Wagner and Vince Locke’s graphic novel, in which small-town family man Tom Stall (Viggo Mortensen) attempts to shirk his criminal past.

Frank Miller and Robert Rodriguez codirected this stab at Miller’s own series. It’s a marvel of green-screen technology, making viewers feel as if they’ve been dropped into the pulpy pages of a comic packed with ominous back alleys, gravel-voiced tough guys and scantily clad ladies.