Aquaman (2006 television pilot)

Comic-Con International in San Diego has recently wrapped up its 2014 programming. This year, there was a huge focus on comic-based television. The fall TV schedule brings us The Flash, Gotham, Agent Carter and Constantine (plus iZombie as a mid-season replacement). Combine that with returning shows Arrow, The Walking Dead and Agents of SHIELD and it seems that the box office dominance of comics is making it's way to the small screen. They've always had a presence in television (dating all the way back to George Reeves as Superman) but it's only become recently that it's been so mainstream. I realize shows like Batman: The Animated Series and JLU were popular and critically acclaimed, but they failed to capture the general public in the same manner that we're currently seeing. In fact, almost every live-action comic-based show in the last 15 years failed spectacularly.

THE UNADAPTED: Kid Eternity

**This is a new column where I (or other writers) take a look at comic book characters who either haven't been adapted to other media or haven't been adapted respectfully.**

The Kid and Mr. Keeper

I'll start things off with an oft forgotten character who, to date, has been referenced a whopping ZERO times in any form of expanded media: Kid Eternity. The Kid was created by Quality Comics in 1942 for a series called Hit Comics and made frequent appearances before getting his own ongoing series. Originally, the character was not given a proper name. He was only ever referred to as Kid, most likely as a way of creating a cypher that young readers could identify with and more easily imagine themselves in his sneakers.

Watchmen (2009 motion comic)

2009 was supposed to be the year of Watchmen. In the summer of 2008 (right before Comic-Con) the trailer for the long-awaited film adaptation was released to insane levels of excitement from the fan community. Almost immediately, sales of the graphic novel skyrocketed putting it back into the New York Times best sellers list. Not bad for a 22 year old comic book. DC and Warner Bros. geared up the merchandising machine and cranked out new reissues of the book, a toyline, memorabilia, a videogame, a photography book and a motion comic.

Dylan Dog: Dead of Night (2011 film)

Writer, philosopher and all-around genius Umberto Ecco once said that there are three things that he can read for days without being bored. Those three things are The Bible, the works of Homer and Dylan Dog. And yet, I'm guessing that a vast majority of people reading this have never heard of the titular Nightmare Investigator. For some reason, the surreal adventures of Dylan and his sidekick Groucho (a character that was modeled directly on Groucho Marx, copyrights be damned) never really caught on in the United States. However, in most of the rest of the world, Dylan Dog is one of the most read comic books.

The Rocketeer (1991 film)

Ah, The Rocketeer, one of the noblist of noble failures. I remember seeing this in the theatre when I was in first grade and being absolutely blown away by it. I ran around the front yard with a backpack hanging off of me and a bucket on my head re-enacted my favorite scenes. Sadly, my enthusiasm for the film faded quickly, not unlike the general public's opinion at the time.