Non-Superhero Movies Based on Comics and Graphic Novels

Comics were never only about capes, and neither are the films made from them. This list gathers feature films adapted from graphic novels, comic albums, manga and newspaper strips about gangsters, teenagers, families, wars, spies and stranded trains, with no superhero or costumed crime-fighter anywhere in the frame. The test for a place: the film has to carry something real from the page, whether a drawing style, a narrator's voice or a story structure, and work as a film in its own right. Each entry says what came across and what changed. V for Vendetta, Dredd, Hellboy and Watchmen are left out because their stories turn on masked or costumed heroes. The order runs from crime to memoir, everyday life, war and history, then genre films and animation, so start with whichever shelf of the comic shop you already know.