With Comic-Con International returning to San Diego later this month, the pop culture universe is about to take over the city. But the celebration doesn't have to stay downtown.
If you're staying in or just looking to get in the Comic-Con mood early, there's plenty to stream. Superhero blockbusters might dominate the conversation, but comic books have inspired films across every genre.
Here are five standout movies based on comics that aren't from Marvel or DC.
'Josie and the Pussycats'
Though I was right in the target demographic when this movie came out, it completely passed me by. But its sharp satire of pop music and consumerism might have gone over my head at the time.
Josie and her bandmates get their big break in the music industry, but become suspicious of their meteoric rise when it becomes clear the sleazy executives backing them are less interested in their music and more focused on brainwashing their teen audiences into becoming perfect consumers.
It's a perfect time capsule of the Spice Girls and *NSYNC era of pop music — full of catchy songs and Y2K fashion that will make Gen Zers drool — but, much like its heroines, the film is smarter than it looks.
'Scott Pilgrim vs. The World'
Slacker musician Scott Pilgrim finds the girl of his dreams, but must defeat her seven evil exes in a series of escalating, goofy battles that culminate in a truly epic Battle of the Bands.
While this is fully live-action, Edgar Wright's adaptation of Bryan Lee O'Malley's graphic novels nails the absurdity and zippy energy of a cartoon. It's stylish, impeccably edited and full of fun performances that range from deadpan to hilariously over-the-top (including future Marvel stars Brie Larson and Chris Evans).
'Ghost World'
The Avengers, this ain't. This dramedy, based on a comic by cartoonist Daniel Clowes, centers on a smart but aimless teen named Enid and her best friend Rebecca — two girls so consumed by pessimism and irony that they can barely enjoy anything sincerely.
Enid finds a particularly pitiful personal ad from a loner named Seymour (played by Steve Buscemi, naturally), and at first, she only meets him and spies on him in order to mock him. But the two end up developing an odd friendship, while Enid and Rebecca begin to drift apart. Enid's self-defeating, abrasive attitude gradually alienates everyone around her, and she's left to face the reality of life after high school.
'Edge of Tomorrow'
Based on a manga called "All You Need Is Kill," this film is like "Groundhog Day" — but if Bill Murray were fighting aliens instead of annoying coworkers.
Tom Cruise plays a sleazy PR exec who's mistakenly enlisted in the front lines of an alien war and ends up in a time loop, forced to live and die over and over again. Eventually, he teams up with a badass war hero played by Emily Blunt — who meets him as a stranger every time the loop resets.
While Cruise often leans on bland likability and daredevil gumption in his action roles, here he gets to play smarmy and incompetent for much of the film's runtime — which is much more fun.
'The Adventures of Tintin'
My dad's first language is French, so I grew up with lots of French comic books around the house. My brothers and I especially loved Belgian cartoonist Hergé's series about an intrepid boy reporter named Tintin and his adventures solving mysteries and busting organized crime rings around the world.
Years later, I was thrilled when the legendary Steven Spielberg brought Tintin and his friends to the big screen.
"The Adventures of Tintin" scratches the same itch as "Indiana Jones," with a globe-trotting tale of kidnapping and pirate treasure, plus a cast of kooky characters like the inept twin cops Thompson and Thomson, salty dog Captain Haddock and a very good dog named Snowy.
