Spiritual Successor in Comic Books.
- Frank Miller has acknowledged that 300 is inspired by The 300 Spartans and thus it serves as an unofficial comic adaptation of the movie albeit heavily stylized. It's got to the point where some regions simply rename the movie to have the same title as the original, as though it were a remake.
- The Amazing Spider-Man: Renew Your Vows can be considered this to the MC2 Spider-Girl series in that it involves an older Peter Parker married to Mary Jane and having a spider-powered daughter.
- Astro City: The Dark Age is one to Marvels — its script started out as a direct sequel to Marvels, which was adapted into the Astro City universe, with heroes receiving a dynamic make-up. Captain America's battle against the Secret Empire was turned into Silver Agent's struggle with Pyramid, Ghost Rider was replaced by The Angel, Kingpin by the Platypus, and, more noticeably, Punisher by the Blue Ghost. The pitch book (present in the collected trade, with several blacked-out words) makes it all the more obvious.
- Batman '89, a continuation of the two Tim Burton directed movies is one to Batman '66 which was a continuation of the Adam West Batman show.
- Batman: Creature of the Night is a followup to Superman: Secret Identity, a Kurt Busiek-written series set in the "real world", following the life of someone who shares a name with as a DC hero, only to find the similarities don't end there.
- Beasts of Burden, like the older series Bunnicula, follows the supernatural-themed adventures of pets. Unlike Bunnicula, it's for an older audience (and for those who aren't bothered by cute talking animals enduring horrific physical peril and scarring emotional trauma).
- A lot of comic strip authors for the Belgian comics magazine Spirou had a very similar looking style, inspired by André Franquin. They were even nicknamed "The School of Marcinelle".
- In "Captain Victory and the Galactic Rangers", the Captain's father is clearly Orion, and he fights his villainous disembodied grandfather Blackmass.
- Warren Publishing's 1960s horror comics such as Creepy Magazine, Eerie Magazine, and Vampirella were spiritual successors to the horror comics produced by EC Comics in the late '40s and early '50s like Tales From the Crypt and The Haunt of Fear. The EC comics had vanished in 1954 due to The Comics Code banning all violent imagery and macabre themes from comic books; Warren exploited a loophole by publishing its comics in magazine size (10.5" x 8.5", as opposed to 10.25" x 7" like a regular comic) in order to feature mature content while the Code was still in effect.
- Deathstroke: Christopher Priest's Deathstroke run is a tonal and stylistic successor to his seminal Black Panther run. It could best be described as "Black Panther if it had a Villain Protagonist."
- Deadpool as a character can be considered something of a gun-toting, katana-wielding spiritual licensee for Freakazoid!
- There are many Dungeons & Dragons comics, but the one that captures the spirit of the game the best? Demon Knights.
- The Metabarons is heavily inspired by and can be seen as a Spiritual Successor to Dune. The Shabda-Oud are the Bene Gesserit devoid of any concern for humanity's growth or future, the Technopriests are the Harkonnen with heavy doses of the Tleilaxu, and the Metabarons themselves are the Atreides with even more tragedy.
- Peter David's Fallen Angel is one for his Supergirl run, so much so that the heroine was initially hinted to be Linda Danvers (Supergirl's civilian identity) under an assumed name. This connection was abandoned when the series changed publishers.
- J. D. Salinger and his estate have ensured that there will likely never be an adaptation of The Catcher in the Rye for the foreseeable future. Ghost World, however, makes a great substitute, albeit updated for '90s suburbia with a female Holden Caulfield in the form of Enid Coleslaw.
- Green Lantern is the best adaptation of E.E. Doc Smith's Lensman ever. Both are Science Fantasy series involving Empathic Weapons created by Sufficiently Advanced Aliens to empower champions who fight with their minds (albeit in different ways). A great many Green Lantern characters resemble ones from Lensman and the general tone of both stories is quite similar as well.
- The Justice League of America is quite open about being inspired (both in the comics and in real life) by the Justice Society of America.
- Justice League Dark vol. 2 is as much a followup to the previous continuity's magic team Shadowpact as it is to vol. 1, with Detective Chimp as a main character and the Oblivion Bar as a recurring location.
- Morning Glories is Lost as a Teen Drama with a complicated Myth Arc, many characters with extensive back stories, and plentiful biblical motifs.
- Neozoic was an indie comic from Level 5 which was set in a world where dinosaurs never went extinct. Besides the dinosaurs and Schizo Tech, there's also sharing of some environmental themes as well as some of the fantasy elements so Neozoic could be seen as a spiritual successor to the still unfinished Xenozoic Tales.
- Nero: In terms of drawing style, black comedy and surrealistic stories in a Flemish setting Urbanus is the spiritual successor.
- Jack Kirby's New Gods series was heavily inspired by concepts Kirby had laid out earlier in his run on The Mighty Thor. In fact, as Cracked points out, Kirby purposefully laid down some strong hints
that New Gods was in fact a Stealth Sequel to his Thor run! - Prez (1973) has a similar premise to cult movie Wild in the Streets - a grassroots campaign helps a young man (24 years old in Wild In the Streets, 20 in Prez) become president of the United States - the similarity is very likely intentional, even if the premise is played on a Lighter and Softer angle.
- The Punisher is basically The Executioner in the Marvel Universe.
- Greg Rucka has openly acknowleged that Queen and Country is a comic adaptation of the cult British Stale Beer spy TV series The Sandbaggers.
- Franco-Belgian Comics series Rubine is this for the short-lived TV series Lady Blue. Both feature a female police detective in Chicago. Like Katy Mahoney, Rubine is a redheaded, use a magnum and is quick to pull the trigger. The comics also has its own share of violence and other mature subjects.
- Bryan Lee O'Malley's Seconds is one for his previous book, Scott Pilgrim, with the emphasis on zany humor/characters, heavy amounts of characterization, an aesop based around personal responsibility and a very Animesque art style.
- Secret Six to the Suicide Squad. After DC Reboot, the Suicide Squad reboot replaced the Secret Six, making this go full circle.
- The "Zombot Saga" of Sonic the Hedgehog (IDW) can be seen as an homage to the now finished The Walking Dead comics.
- Stumptown is supposed to be a modern day version of the The Rockford Files.
- Supergirl is a spiritual successor to Mary Marvel. This is not a coincidence as the same man, Otto Binder, was behind both characters. Both are Distaff Counterparts to two similar superheroes (so similar that DC sued Fawcett for plagiarism), Superman and Captain Marvel, and both are Long Lost Relatives to said superhero (a cousin and twin respectively).
- Suske en Wiske: In terms of commercial success, comedy and word play De Kiekeboes is probably the closest.
- Jonathan Hickman's S.H.I.E.L.D. picks up on a lot of the similar thematic elements that were explored in Warren Ellis' Planetary.
- Teen Titans:
- Teen Titans: Earth One is a reimagining of the Teen Titans as a group of only-child runaways who develop superpowers, discover that their parents are evil, and run away to form a found family. AV Club pointed out that it was "heavily reminiscent" of Runaways
- Since the heroes (with the exception of Raven) all have a connecting origin story as science experiments, one could also draw comparisons to All-New Ultimates.
- Teen Titans (Kami Garcia) may be the closest thing fans can get to a revival of Teen Titans (2003), considering it's drawn by a popular fan artist of that show and stars its most famous Fan-Preferred Couple; though its road trip format also may harken back to the aforementioned Earth One.
- Teen Titans: Earth One is a reimagining of the Teen Titans as a group of only-child runaways who develop superpowers, discover that their parents are evil, and run away to form a found family. AV Club pointed out that it was "heavily reminiscent" of Runaways
- The original era of Thunderbolts is one to the classic Avengers story, Under Siege as barring the Beetle/MACH-1, the original members of the Thunderbolts — Baron Zemo himself, Screaming Mimi/Songbird, Moonstone/Meteorite, the Fixer/Techno, and Goliath/Atlas — were members of the same inarnation of the Masters of Evil who attacked Avengers Mansion.
- Tintin: Its style was widely imitated in the European comic strips scene. Especially the work of Edgar P. Jacobs (Blake and Mortimer) and Bob De Moor show this. Not surprisingly, both artists worked as assistants to Hergé.
- There's been plenty of comics based on Star Trek: The Original Series, but only The Transformers: More than Meets the Eye really captures the spirit of the show, complete with some similar character archetypes. Others feel that it's closest thing to the Firefly continuation that we'll never get.
- Two-Gun Kid's backstory and job (lawyer who moved in from the East Coast) are directly lifted from The Western TV show Sugarfoot, which was itself a spiritual successor for the movie The Boy From Oklahoma.
- Ultimate FF is an in-universe example, as the Future Foundation is specifically designed to be one to the old Baxter Building think tank from Ultimate Fantastic Four.
- The Unbelievable Gwenpool is a Trapped in TV Land action-comedy about a young fan who gets sucked into the world of their favorite action-packed media franchise and uses their Genre Savvy to subvert the cliches and fight the villains. Barring the Gender Flip of the protagonist and it being about Marvel superheroes instead of '80s action movies, this is the best comic book adaptation of Last Action Hero ever made.
- Alan Moore's V for Vendetta is a comic book adaptation of George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four with both stories being social satires of specific ideologies (Communism in 1984, Thatcherite conservatism in V For Vendetta) and a totalitarian political party ruling Britain with an iron fist. Unlike 1984, V For Vendetta has the dictatorship being outright overthrown by the main protagonist at the cost of his own life.
- The Walking Dead (and, by extension, its TV series adaptation) is openly acknowledged by its creators to owe a heavy debt to George A. Romero's Living Dead Series and the many films that it inspired. Robert Kirkman, in the introduction to volume one, heaped praise upon Dawn of the Dead (1978) and stated that his intent was to create "the zombie movie that never ends". It even has everybody who dies come back as a zombie as opposed to just those who were bitten by one, a rule that is found throughout Romero's films but is rarely seen in other zombie stories. Ironically, Romero himself wasn't a fan of the TV show, saying that he had been approached to direct some episodes but turned them down because he saw the show as "just a soap opera with a zombie occasionally" and felt that it lacked the social commentary inherent to his films.
- Young Justice can be seen as such to Teen Titans (most specifically its original Sixties incarnation), due to its lighthearted tone and feel, along with two of the founding members being sidekicks of Batman and The Flash and (Robin III and Impulse), with Kon-El's Superboy taking Aqualad's spot, and Wonder Girl II and Arrowette (not actually Green Arrow's sidekick, but fits the Speedy slot) joining soon afterwards.
