I did this awhile ago with Bob Dylan characters, but a mention of Warren Zevon by reader Marc Laferriere made me think Zevon would be a great choice for this, too!

So enjoy the top five Warren Zevon characters who would make for good comic books (check here to see an archive of all the top five lists featured so far)!

NOTE: More so than Bob Dylan, heck, more so than most songwriters period, Warren Zevon had a lot of songs that were stories that followed characters around, including some of his most famous songs/characters. The problem with this is that while a lot of these songs are awesome, they don't exactly lend themselves to a long form narrative, which you need to have for a good comic book. So while you could certainly disagree and think Song X would work well as a comic, just rest assured that if I don't mention a song, it's not because I didn't think of it, but it is because I didn't think said character was a good pick.

SECOND NOTE: A few Zevon songs are about actual people, like Frank and Jesse James. I'm not going to count those as "Zevon characters," because he didn't create them.

On to the list!

HONORABLE MENTIONS

The Excitable Boy from "Excitable Boy"

One of Zevon's most notable characters, I don't think the Excitable Boy character really works on his own, but damned if he wouldn't make a great character in a Garth Ennis comic book!

He took little Suzie to the Junior Prom

Excitable boy, they all said

And he raped her and killed her, then he took her home

Excitable boy, they all said

Well, he's just an excitable boy

After ten long years they let him out of the home

Excitable boy, they all said

And he dug up her grave and built a cage with her bones

Excitable boy, they all said

Well, he's just an excitable boy

The Mercenaries of "Jungle Work"

The mercenaries Zevon writes about in "Jungle Work" are fairly non-descript mercenary characters, so they'd work well for any basic mercenary comic book (which are plentiful), but they're basically blank slates as far as characterization goes:

Where the pay is good

And the risk is high

It's understood

We'll do or die

Sten gun in hand

Where the gun is law

From Ovamboland

To Nicaragua

The Narrator of "Renegade"

The story of "Renegade" sounds a lot like Brian Azzarello's neat Vertigo series Loveless, so I think it would work nicely in that vein.

Some prayers never reach the sky

Some wars never end

Some dreams refuse to die

Next time I would rather break than bend

I am a renegade

I've been a rebel all my days

I am a renegade

I've been a rebel all my days

But while the character is intriguing, Zevon does not spend THAT much time developing the character, beyond the basics.

The Narrator of "Piano Fighter"

I could easily see an interesting Vertigo series following around the exploits of a gifted freelance piano player drifting through America (or even the whole world, if you liked) playing in all sorts of different places with different new characters introduced each arc.

Someone called Piano Fighter

I'm a holy roller, I'm a real lowrider

Hold me tight, honey, hold me tight

Then let me go, Piano Fighter

Let me go, Piano Fighter

Maybe I'll go to Reno

Nobody knows my name

I'll play Claie de Lune in a quiet saloon

Steady work for a change

Ain't going down that long, lonsome road

Ain't going down that long, lonsome road

I'd follow that character.

The Werewolves of "Werewolves of London"

Clearly Zevon's most famous song, but I dunno, is there really much here to do a series about that wouldn't require just inventing personalities for the werewolves out of whole cloth?

Still, the song is cool enough to make it perhaps worth it!

He's the hairy, hairy gent, who ran amok in Kent.

Lately he's been overheard in Mayfair.

You better stay away from him, he'll rip your lungs out Jim.

Huh, I'd like to meet his tailor.

Aaahoo, werewolves of London

Aaahoo, werewolves of London

The Narrator of "Carmelita"

He's certainly intriguing on his own, but his story does not really seem to have a massive amount of room to go, does it?

Well, I pawned my Smith Corona

And I went to meet my man

He hangs out down on Alvarado Street

By the Pioneer chicken stand

Carmelita hold me tighter

I think I'm sinking down

And I'm all strung out on heroin

On the outskirts of town

I guess you could do a study of the town as a whole?

The cast of "Things to do in Denver When You're Dead"

It's a GREAT hook, but really, as great as the hook of the song is, Zevon does not really go into much detail, and while you could certainly do a good comic with the PREMISE, I dunno if the characters stand out enough on their own.

I called up my friend LeRoy on the phone

I said, Buddy, I'm afraid to be alone

'Cause I got some weird ideas in my head

About things to do in Denver when you're dead

I was working on a steak the other day

And I saw Waddy in the Rattlesnake Cafe

Dressed in black, tossing back a shot of rye

Finding things to do in Denver when you die

You won't need a cab to find a priest

Maybe you should find a place to stay

Some place where they never change the sheets

And you just roll around Denver all day

Here's the toughest omission!!

The Narrator from "Jeannie Needs a Shooter"

This song, co-written with Bruce Springsteen, works as a limited series/graphic novel really well. The only thing keeping it off the top five is the fact that the story is a BIT familiar. I mean, heck, it's basically Body Heat, right?

She came down from Knightstown with her hands hard from the line

From the first time I laid eyes on her

I knew that she'd be mine

Her father was a lawman, he swore he'd shoot me dead

'Cause he knew I wanted Jeannie and I'd have her like I said

Jeannie needs a shooter

Shooter like me

Jeannie needs a shooter

Shooter on her side

Jeannie needs a shooter

Still, great song.

5. THREE WAY TIE!

The narrators of "Desperados Under the Eaves," "Poor, Poor Pitiful Me" and "The French Inhaler"

All three songs are basically about the same thing, just with "Poor, Poor Pitiful Me" having a more sardonic and less serious approach to life on the West Coast than the other two (you could probably add "Even a Dog Can Shake Hands" to these three, too).

Some samples...

From "Desperadoes"...

I was sitting in the Hollywood Hawaiian Hotel

I was staring in my empty coffee cup

I was thinking that the gypsy wasn't lyin'

All the salty margaritas in Los Angeles

I'm gonna drink 'em up

And if California slides into the ocean

Like the mystics and statistics say it will

I predict this motel will be standing until I pay my bill

From "Pitiful Me"....

Well, I met a girl in West Hollywood

I ain't naming names

She really worked me over good

She was just like Jesse James

She really worked me over good

She was a credit to her gender

She put me through some changes, Lord

Sort of like a Waring blender

Poor, poor pitiful me

Poor, poor pitiful me

These young girls won't let me be

Lord have mercy on me

Woe is me

From "Inhaler"...

You said you were an actress

Yes, I believe you are

I thought you'd be a star

So I drank up all the money,

Yes, I drank up all the money,

With these phonies in this Hollywood bar,

These friends of mine in this Hollywood bar

Loneliness and frustration

We both came down with an acute case

And when the lights came up at two

I caught a glimpse of you

And your face looked like something

Death brought with him in his suitcase

Your pretty face

It looked so wasted

Another pretty face

Devastated

From "Even a Dog" (which is more specifically about the unsavory side of the entertainment industry)...

All the worms and the gnomes are having lunch at Le Dome

They're all living off the fat of the land

Everbody's trying to be a friend of mine

Even a dog can shake hands

4. The Gorilla from "Gorilla, You're a Desperado"

If you can't get an interesting story surrounding a gorilla who escapes from the zoo and just takes up the life of a human, then you aren't trying hard enough!

Big gorilla at the L.A. Zoo

Snatched the glasses right off my face

Took the keys to my BMW

Left me here to take his place

I wish the ape a lot of success

I'm sorry my apartment's a mess

Most of all I'm sorry if I made you blue

I'm betting the gorilla will, too

They say Jesus will find you wherever you go

But when He'll come looking for you, they don't know

In the mean time, keep your profile low

Gorilla, you're a desperado

3. Mr. Bad Example from "Mr. Bad Example"

Any of the top three choices would be fine at #1, I think. Here, this sounds a lot like Jack of Fables, an incorrigible lout who is also charming and a lot of fun to hate.

I'm very well aquainted with the seven deadly sins

I keep a busy schedule trying to fit them in

I'm proud to be a glutton, and I don't have time for sloth

I'm greedy, and I'm angry, and I don't care who I cross

I'm Mr. Bad Example, intruder in the dirt

I like to have a good time, and I don't care who gets hurt

I'm Mr. Bad Example, take a look at me

I'll live to be a hundred, and go down in infamy

2. Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner from "Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner"

The only way this doesn't reach #1 is that you really most likely have to come up with a separate lead to make the story worth, as Roland is, you know, headless. So you probably would have to come up with an Ichibod Crane type character to work with him.

Roland the headless Thompson gunner

Norway's bravest son

Time, time, time

For another peaceful war

But time stands still for Roland

'Til he evens up the score

They can still see his headless body stalking through the night

In the muzzle flash of Roland's Thompson gun

In the muzzle flash of Roland's Thompson gun

Roland searched the continent for the man who'd done him in

He found him in Mombassa in a barroom drinking gin

Roland aimed his Thompson gun - he didn't say a word

But he blew Van Owen's body from there to Johannesburg

Roland the headless Thompson gunner...

The eternal Thompson gunner

still wandering through the night

Now it's ten years later but he still keeps up the fight

In Ireland, in Lebanon, in Palestine and Berkeley

Patty Hearst heard the burst of Roland's Thompson gun and bought it

What a cool visual.

1. The Narrator from "Lawyers, Guns and Money"

Likely Zevon's second-most famous song, the narrator of "Lawyers, Guns and Money" is similar to Hunter S. Thompson in he just seems like a crazy fun guy to follow around on various misadventures.

I went home with the waitress

The way I always do

How was I to know

She was with the

Russians, too?

I was gambling in Havana

I took a little risk

Send lawyers, guns and money

Dad, get me out of this

Okay, that's the list!

Agree? Disagree? Let me know!