From the 1987 film Robocop, directed by Paul Verhoeven

I love those old Marvel Movie Specials. I want to bring back that format, but with a little more care in the adaptation. That’s the double-edged sword of industry, the deadline. One of my all-time favorites is Walt Simonson’s adapation of ‘Alien’ serialized in Heavy Metal. Widely considered one of the best film-to-comic adaptations. the Jim Steranko’s adaptation of ‘Outland’, another outstanding example of the format.

Like novelizations, they often include scenes that were later dropped from the film. Just off the top, comic adaptations of ‘Star Wars‘, ‘Star Trek: The Motion Picture’ and ‘Robocop‘ all featured illustrated versions of deleted scenes. I am of the opinion that deleted scenes are often best left on the cutting room floor. In the home video realm, its a bit of added value that in the end serves best to inform and enlighten about the process of the medium, without further illuminating the material itself.

I was delighted when I came across the adaptation of Robocop. Not allowed to watch R-rated films, especially one’s with the reputation for intense violence like this one, my loophole was the novelization or in this case, a comic book adaptation. When I finally saw the film, (oddly, my parents in an unprecedented gesture, allowed me to watch Robocop and Predator during a sleepover) I was surprised and relieved by its sense of humor.

I bought and read ‘The Dark Knight Returns‘ which had been out for a year or two by the time I saw Robocop. It’s plain to see why Frank Miller was tapped to write Robocop 2. They both share a sinister, mischievous sense of humor which helped to cope with the weight of the violence portrayed in both stories. Unfortunately, Robocop’s dark humor did not come across in the comic adaptation.

Beyond the obvious technical achievement of the effects in the film, it’s sense of humor is not the only outstanding thing that can be attributed to the on-going success of Robocop. According to Peter Weller, there is so much more at play here, much more than a crowd-pleasing, ultra-violent 80s sci-fi movie about a cybernetic sheriff riding into town on his mechanical bull to dispense some vengence. Like all great science fiction, beyond the barrier of quirky novelty and obvious artifice are ideas. And this is the thing science fiction is really after, the ideas. Why are ideas important?