Filmmakers need to be knowledgeable in all aspects of movie-making, from cinematography to coordinating actors and crew, though one of the most important abilities shared among writers and directors is storytelling, which is a universal medium that allows filmmakers to branch out into other stories like comic books.
Chilean filmmaker Alejandro Jodorowsky teamed with the iconic artist Moebius For The Incal in 1980 to expand upon ideas created for their canceled Dune movie adaptation that further merged the two mediums. Today we'll explore a few other examples of filmmakers turned comic book writers, including one of the most well-known, Kevin Smith.
10 Kevin Smith Got His Start As An Indie Director Before Moving to Comics
Indie hit Clerks first made Kevin Smith a name to watch in 1994 after he brought his unique and relatable look at the unfulfilled life of pop culture-obsessed retail employees to reality on a shoestring budget with a close crew of friends and supporters.
Smith's comic book fandom was evident in his follow-up feature Mallrats which featured Stan Lee, and he launched a series of comics starring his movie characters with Oni Press before a fan-favorite run on Daredevil kicked off a periodic career in comics that stretched to other characters like Spider-Man, Green Arrow, Batman, and others.
9 Clive Barker Is A Master Of Horror Who Launched Marvel's Razorline And Wrote Next Testament
Following the beginning of his career in the horror genre with hits like Hellraiser, Candyman, and Lord of Illusions, Clive Barker launched the Razorline imprint for Marvel Comics that included titles like Ectokid, Hokum & Hex, Hyperkind, and Saint Sinner.
Numerous comic adaptations have continued to explore Clive Barker's characters and storylines over the years, though he launched his own series from Boom! Studios in 2013 with Mark Miller and Haemi Jang called Next Testament after a few years reimagining his iconic Hellraiser franchise in comic form.
8 Joss Whedon Launched An Unforgettable Run Of Astonishing X-Men
Filmmaker Joss Whedon built his name with movies and TV series like Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Firefly (which also hit the big screen with 2005's Serenity), and Dollhouse that ultimately led to his work on The Avengers, Avengers: Age of Ultron, and the theatrical cut of Justice League.
Whedon launched the hit ongoing Astonishing X-Men series that brought the core team of mutant heroes back to superheroics in a celebrated run that would later inspire a cinematic X-Men storyline. Whedon would also further develop his other TV and movie projects in the comics over the years.
7 David S. Goyer Wrote Superhero Movies Before Co-Writing The Fan-Favorite JSA
Screenwriter/director David S. Goyer might be best known for working on a number of the biggest superhero movies like Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight trilogy, Man of Steel, and the Blade trilogy, which saw him step into the directing chair for the final installment.
Goyer began working with James Robinson and Geoff Johns in 1999 as co-writers of the modern JSA series that led to a number of other comic works from Goyer set in the JSA's world that included Starman and other stories.
6 Rob Zombie Is A Storyteller In Many Mediums Including Comics
While he began his career in music as the frontman of White Zombie before striking out on his own, Rob Zombie created a new path in Hollywood with horror hits like The Devil's Rejects from the Firefly Family trilogy and his own reimagining of the Halloween franchise.
Zombie extended his unique vision to the comic medium with a number of different series that ranged across the horror and supernatural medium, including The Nail, Whatever Happened To Baron Von Schock, and Rob Zombie's The Haunted World of El Superbeasto, which was turned into an animated movie.
5 J.J. Abrams Added Spider-Man To His Geek Cred Along With His Son
Filmmaker J.J. Abrams already had a lot of geek cred thanks to his work on popular sci-fi franchises like Star Trek and Star Wars and a number of hit sci-fi TV series like Lost and Fringe, though he also began working in comics alongside his son Henry Abrams.
The father and son writing duo joined Sara Pichelli for the 2019 volume of Spider-Man that explored an alternate future where the son of Peter and Mary Jane learned the truth about his father's superhero career as he gained powers himself and took on the heroic role.
4 The Wachowskis Started Their Own Comic Company After The Matrix
While The Wachowski sisters first began writing in comics with series like Clive Barker's Ectokid, Hellraiser, and Nightbreed, they refocused on movies and created the 1999 sci-fi hit The Matrix and later sequels followed by a string of sci-fi blockbusters.
2003 saw the formation of their comic company called Burlyman Entertainment with series like Shaolin Cowboy and Doc Frankenstein, the latter of which was written exclusively by the Wachowskis before they returned to ongoing TV and movie projects.
3 J. Michael Straczynski Developed Sci-Fi Before Reimagining Spider-Man's Origins
The name of J. Michael Straczynski would be quickly recognized by sci-fi TV fans of shows like Babylon 5 or Sense8 (which was developed by JMS alongside Lana Wachowski), but the writer/director/producer has also worked with a few iconic comic characters.
After working on a number of TV comic adaptations and his own comic imprint with Top Cow comics, Straczynski reimagined Spider-Man's origins with a totemic connection in his Amazing Spider-Man run that led to the development of the popular Spider-Verse premise. JMS also worked with DC Comics for the multiversal Superman: Earth One and Before Watchmen mini-series.
2 George A. Romero Continued His Iconic Zombie Epic With Empire Of The Dead
1968's Night of the Living Dead from George A. Romero launched the hugely successful zombie franchise that saw a number of sequels that kicked off with Dawn of the Dead in 1978, which shined a light on society amidst its downfall.
Romero wrote a few comic stories for DC's Toe Tags and Heavy Metal magazine before returning to the zombie genre with Marvel in 2014 for Empire of the Dead, which also featured vampires in a horror mashup of the supernatural.
1 Quentin Tarantino Brought Django Unchained's Offical Sequel To Comics
The comic adaptation of 2012's Django Unchained was written by the movie's director Quentin Tarantino in the celebrated filmmaker's debut in comics, which then led to the official comic sequel to the events of the movie that teamed Tarantino with comic creator Matt Wagner.
Django was teamed with Wagner's new take on the classic literary hero Zorro in Django/Zorro from Dynamite Entertainment, which was planned to serve as a basis for an upcoming movie sequel as well, though development has stalled since it was first announced in 2019.