On The Heels Of Bodies: These 5 DC Comics Would Rock The Small Screen

Netflix's Bodies, which premiered on October 19, 2023, has become the surprising streaming discovery of the season for many viewers.

The story based on the 2015 eight-issue DC Vertigo graphic novel by Si Spencer tells of four weirdly connected crimes that happen in the same place but different time periods.

​The success of Bodies among the Netflix users showed that there is a demand for original stories not connected to the huge superhero universes, which are often found in graphic novels. Add to that the great cinematic potential of comics, which are already a visual art form, and we might have some blockbuster projects right here on our bookshelf.

Here are five DC comics that could follow in the footsteps of Bodies and become standalone limited series.

Effigy (2015)

Creators: Tim Seeley and Marley Zarcone

Like Bodies and other titles on this list, Effigy was published by DC Comics under the Vertigo imprint, and like Bodies, it is a twisted murder mystery with a dark undercurrent.

The novel tells the story of a Hollywood child star turned Z-lister who returns to her hometown when a gruesome murder occurs. The crime scene is similar to the one in the protagonist's old show where she played a kid detective. So she decides to be the hero she played and take the investigation into her own hands. But the investigation leads the protagonist to the discovery of a cult-related conspiracy that makes her question her own background.

Clean Room (2015-2017)

Creators: Gail Simone and Jon Davis-Hunt

Speaking about cults, the horror comic Clean Room feels designed to become a dark limited series with numerous twists and a gloomy atmosphere.

The novel follows a journalist investigating a self-help guru and leader of a cult-like organization who drove her fiancé to suicide. The further she investigates, the larger the cult and its crimes are revealed.

FBP: Federal Bureau of Physics (2013)

Creators: Simon Oliver and Robbi Rodriguez

The idea of screen adaptation of this novel has already been explored by Warner Bros. For some reason, the project didn’t come into the production stage, and that leaves space to create a TV show instead.

Like Bodies, FBP is a procedural following members of an unusual organization, a special unit that deals with quantum disturbances like wormholes, gravity losses, and entropy reversals while struggling with the internal departmental battles.

Hex Wives (2018-2019)

Creators: Ben Blacker and Mirka Andolfo

The success of WandaVision showed that audiences are drawn to Stepford Wives-like slightly dystopian tales with conspiracy subtones. We love to discover a second layer to a plot.

All this makes the story of a powerful coven of witches living in the men-created 1950s suburbia as subservient housewives a perfect material for a genre-bending unique series with a potential to become a hit.

The Books of Magic (1990–1991)

Creators: Neil Gaiman and John Bolton

The premise of the Gaiman coming-of-age series partly explains why studios never tried to make an adaptation. The novels introduce Timothy Hunter, a 13-year-old boy who is training to become the most powerful magician of his time and has to face supernatural adversaries now and then. Oh, and he is British, dark-haired and wears glasses.

Even though The Books of Magic was created before Harry Potter, the links are hard to miss. But the stories of two wizards are different, and probably the success of J.K. Rowling’s universe can draw the viewers to The Books of Magic adaptation instead of scaring them off.