5 Best TV Shows You Probably Didn’t Know Were Based On Comics

Superheroes have always had a place on television. Batman, Spider-Man, Wonder Woman, and the Green Hornet are just a few comic book characters who found success in genre-defining superhero shows during the 20th century. After the modern age of superhero movies began in 2000 with “X-Men,” however, every TV network and movie studio tried to scoop up their own projects based on comic books — even if they had no superheroes in them. 

Now, with shows like “The Walking Dead,” “Daybreak,” and “Heartstopper” going from strength to strength, it’s not just Marvel and DC’s finest finding their way to the small screen. Like those series, many TV projects over the years have been based on comic books released by smaller, more independent publishers. And in some cases, those comics were niche enough that most viewers would never have known about their true origins.

American Born Chinese

While working on powerhouse projects for Marvel Studios — such as “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings,” “Wonder Man,” and “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” — Destin Daniel Cretton also worked alongside Kelvin and Charles Yu to develop “American Born Chinese” for Disney+. This fantasy-action comedy, starring Ben Wang, Daniel Wu, Michelle Yeoh, and Ke Huy Quan, earned critical acclaim before being unceremoniously cancelled after one season. But it originally made waves as a graphic novel by Gene Luen Yang.

The writer created the 2006 graphic novel not only by drawing from his own childhood as an Asian-American kid in the United States, but also incorporating a modern coming-of-age story with the mythological gods of the classic Chinese novel “Journey to the West.” He masterfully explored the struggles associated with the stereotypes and racial identity that many people of color experience as they’re growing up in the United States. In part because Yang made the story so relatable without pulling punches, many schools today include his book in their curriculums. And now they have a TV show to watch to complement that learning experience.

Men in Black: The Animated Series

Back when new cartoons mainly aired on Saturday mornings, many hit movies received their own animated series for kids: “The Karate Kid,” “Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure,” and “Beetlejuice” were just a few fan favorites. And in the late 1990s, Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones’ “Men In Black” got the animation treatment when “Men In Black: The Animated Series” debuted on The WB. But both this series and the original films were inspired by one of Malibu Comics’ most notable titles.

Created and written by Lowell Cunningham and illustrated by Sandy Carruthers, the original “Men In Black” comics featured a lot of the same elements as the films — such as Jay, Kay, Zed, the neuralyzer, and more. One key difference, though, was that the organization handled not only aliens, but also supernatural threats to Earth like demons, mutants, zombies, and other paranormal beings. After releasing three issues in 1990 under Malibu’s Aircel Comics imprint, then three more under the proper Malibu brand, the comic book company behind “Men in Black” was acquired by Marvel. The House of Ideas would then go on to release a series of one-shots in 1997 that included an adaptation of the hit movie, a sequel to that film, and a reprint of the very first issue.

Hazbin Hotel

After the show’s original pilot gained millions of views on YouTube in 2019 as an independently produced project, “Hazbin Hotel” became a massive phenomenon in 2020, when A24 made it into an adult animated musical for Prime Video. That said, series creator Vivienne Medrano had been developing the idea since 2012, when she attended New York City’s School of Visual Arts.

As a student at SVA, Medrano began publishing “ZooPhobia,” a webcomic about a neurotic young woman with a fear of animals who winds up on a magical island sanctuary that’s home to several different species of animals — and a few demons, too. One of those inhabitants is Damian, the son of Lucifer, who is attending Zoo Phoenix Academy without his father’s knowledge. This character (who was also the star of a short film called “The Son of 666” that Medrano used as her thesis) and some unused “ZooPhobia” story arcs would go on to serve as the foundation for Charlie Morningstar and the rest of “Hazbin Hotel.”

Ducktales

The 2017 revival of “Ducktales” was a hidden gem on Disney XD and the Disney Channel. Not only did it take audiences on new adventures with Scrooge McDuck and his mischievous grandnephews, but it also brought everyone’s favorite Disney Television Animation cartoons from the 1980s and ’90s — like “Darkwing Duck,” “Chip ‘n Dale: Rescue Rangers,” and “TaleSpin” — together into one shared universe. Obviously, the show was based on the original series, which aired from 1987 to 1990, but they both actually have roots in comic books.

While Scrooge McDuck has been a fixture in Disney animation since 1967, the “richest duck in the world” was originally created by cartoonist Carl Barks as an antagonist for Donald Duck in his popular comic book series. After Uncle Scrooge turned out to be a hit, he was given his own spinoff comic, which incorporated other members of his and Donald’s family like Huey, Dewey, and Louie, as well as a stable of villains including Magic De Spell, Flintheart Glomgold, and the Beagle Boys. Several of the early stories by Barks were later repurposed as “Ducktales” episodes.

Sabrina the Teenage Witch

Due to its association with “Riverdale” on The CW, most people now know that Netflix’s “Chilling Adventures of Sabrina” has a connection to the world of comic books. Back in 1996, however, when “Sabrina the Teenage Witch” was running on ABC and The WB, the show’s connection to the expanded Archie universe wasn’t quite as clear.

The fantasy sitcom starred Melissa Joan Hart as the titular Sabrina Spellman, who learns that she has magical powers on her 16th birthday. Under the guidance of her aunts, played by Caroline Rhea and Beth Broderick, Sabrina tries to balance her regular teenage life with the responsibilities of a witch.

Before finding her home on the small screen, Sabrina had starred in an Archie Comics spinoff created by writer George Gladir and artist Dan DeCarlo. Before that, they had intended the character to be a one-off in the anthology series “Archie’s Madhouse.”