7 Franchises You’ve Probably Never Heard of That Belong On Screen

Jenna Busch
TV Movies
TV Movies Comics

Superhero, sci-fi and fantasy stories are all over our screens these days. Calling something a “genre” film is basically saying it’s mainstream. This is wonderful, but most of what we’re getting comes from some well-known properties. Not that we don’t love Marvel, DC and Game of Thrones, it’s just that there’s some really cool source material out there in the form of books and comics that you may not be aware of but would make an amazing movie franchise or TV series. From Anne McCaffrey’s Dragonriders of Pern to the French noir animal comic-book series Blacksad, here are the top seven franchises you probably haven’t heard of that deserve a place on the big and/or small screen.

Dragonriders of Pern

This science-fiction series from author Anne McCaffrey spans over 20 novels. It’s been taken over by her son, Todd, and now also her daughter, Gigi. Stories are based on the planet Pern, which is threatened by “Thread”, a toxic substance that falls from the sky. To fight it, humans genetically manipulated small “fire lizards” to create dragons. With their flaming breath and human riders, they combat the threat. The society, for much of the series, feels very Medieval — though it wasn’t always. Characters are awesome, and the saga begins right at a point where women (Dragonriders in particular) are changing their place in society. There has been talk of a film franchise, though we’ve yet to see one. Maybe a TV series? It could be pretty epic.

Valdamar

This series from writer Mercedes Lackey is set in a fictional world where people with magical abilities can bond with animals. Including Companions — white telepathic horses with mysterious origins. These exceptional creatures bond with Heralds, the people tasked with protecting Valdamar. Tons of books obviously means there’s far more to the world than simply that, but this gives you an idea as to why this franchise would make a great series. The Arrows of the Queen trilogy features a strong woman protagonist to introduce us to the world, while the Last Herald-Mage series has an LGBTQ hero named Vanyel who is complex, powerful and would make a perfect protagonist to kick off a series.

Saga

saga

Okay, maybe you’ve heard of this one, since it’s all over your local comic-book shop. It’s a comic-book series written by Brian K. Vaughn and illustrated by Fiona Staples and comes to us from Image Comics. It’s the story of husband-and-wife duo Alana and Marko who come from warring alien races, and are fleeing to protect their young daughter, Hazel (the baby you see breastfeeding in the picture above). It’s beautiful, and fans have compared it to everything from Star Wars and Romeo and Juliet to Game of Thrones. There is also a great character named Lying Cat, who can tell when people tell fibs.

The Sandman

People have been trying to get this Neil Gaiman-written comic book series on the big and small screen for ages. You may have heard that David S. Goyer was producing a film adaptation of the series with Joseph Gordon-Levitt, though he dropped out a while back. Fingers crossed it eventually gets made, because the story is wonderful. The Sandman tells the tale of Dream, one of the seven Endless. Destiny, Death, Desire, Despair, Delirium and Destruction are the others. Dream is the personification of dreams, and has been in prison for years. He’s gone from a hard, cruel man — to something very different, which we won’t spoil here.

Paper Girls

This Image Comics series was written by Brian K. Vaughn and illustrated by Cliff Chiang. It’s the story of Erin, MacKenzie, KJ and Tiffany, three 12-year-old girls from a fictional suburb of Cleveland. It’s set in 1988, so it’s definitely going to grab the Stranger Things crowd. On Halloween night, the girls are attacked by a group of teenagers, and in the midst of the chase to recover their stolen walkie-talkie, they discover a time machine in the basement of an unfinished house. Paper Girls won two Eisner Awards in 2016 for Best New Series and Best Penciller/Inker.

Blacksad

This comic book series from Spanish author Juan Diaz Canales and artist Juanjo Guarnido comes from French publisher Dargaud. The characters are all anthropomorphic animals, including dog politicians. The main character is a black cat called Blacksad who is a private investigator, and whose sidekick is a brown weasel named Weekly. The story is set in 1950s America and is very film noir in style. It’s gritty, it’s dark — and there are a few real people recreated in animal form.

We3

This three-issue comic book mini-series from writer Grant Morrison and artist Frank Quietly comes to us from the Vertigo imprint of DC Comics in 2004. It’s both heartbreaking and lovely. Though it would be great as an animated film, and far easier to do, it would be mind-blowing if it got a chance to take on the “live-action” treatment that we saw for The Jungle Book. We3 is the story of three “animal weapons.” Bandit (the dog), Tinker (the cat) and Pirate (the rabbit) are part of a government project. They’re outfitted in robotic armor and skull implants, so they have a limited ability to speak. They’re set loose and try to look for a home. It’s really dark, but it’s also beautiful, and has a lot to say about where we’re going with technology.

Jenna Busch