Netflix’s I Am Not Okay With This, adapted from the Charles Forsman comic with the same name, is a coming-of-age comedy-drama that chronicles the life of Syd, a teen girl who lost her dad to suicide, and whose contending with high school, and her best (and only) friend’s new relationship. If that’s not enough for one person to deal with, she also has powers that spring up uncontrollably when she’s angry.
If you’ve binged the 7 episodes of the first season (too short in our opinion!), check out these other TV shows adapted from comic books or manga to keep your book to tv adaptations cravings satisfied.
Daybreak (2019)
Netflix’s Daybreak is based on the comic of the same name and chronicles the lives of kids and teens who survive the end of the world, one without adults. Or so we think. As the main character, Josh Wheeler tries to find his girlfriend Sam Dean, he meets a few friends along the way who help him survive the cliques of the new world order.
After one season, Netflix decided to cancel the show, despite Daybreak leaving viewers on a cliffhanger, very disappointed. Thankfully, viewers can read the comics by Brian Ralph to see how the story ends.
Locke & Key (2020)
Newly released on Netflix, Locke & Key depicts the lives of three siblings, the Lockes, who move into a new house with their mother after their father’s mysterious death. The house ends up having reality-bending keys, leading the siblings on numerous adventures.
Based on the comics by Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodriguez, this coming-of-age show mirrors I Am Not Okay With This with its teen narratives, and magical realism. While Netflix has not renewed the series yet, it seems as though the creators are ready for a second season, already planning what will happen next.
The Blue Exorcist (2009-Present)
Unlike the other two shows, The Blue Exorcist is based on a manga series illustrated and written by Kazue Katō. Twin brothers, Rin and Yukio Okumura discover that they are actually the children of Satan, who conceived them with a human woman, and that Rin has demonic superpowers.
Like in I Am Not Okay With This, Rin tries to learn how to control his powers, while also dealing with being a teen. So, he starts going to True Cross Academy to become an exorcist and defeat his father.
Watchmen (2019)
In the same universe as the Watchmen comics, Regina King stars in the new Watchmen series, dazzling audiences with her amazing performance. Jumping off 34 years after the events of the comics, the series isn’t a reboot, telling the story of new characters, set in the same universe.
The series starts as racist violence takes place in Tulsa, Oklahoma in 2019, and tells the story of a police force targeted by a white supremacist hate group called the Seventh Kavalry. Angela Abar, played by King, is part of the department. Her friend and superior is murdered, and so she investigates her death, throwing the show into motion.
Unlike the Watchmen movies, the series was actually created by fans of the original comics.
Fullmetal Alchemist (2003-2004)
Fullmetal Alchemist is another anime series adapted from the manga, written and illustrated by Hiromu Arakawa. Just like the first Harry Potter movie, the series has characters that investigate the whereabouts of the Philosopher’s Stone. Brothers Edward and Alphonse Elric search for the stone to resurrect themselves, after having failed to revive their dead mother and lost their bodies in the attempt. The series ended with a film, that tells the story of the events that happen after the end of the manga, in 2005.
In style, the characters resemble those of the Yu-Gi-Oh series.
Deadly Class (2018-2019)
Based on the Deadly Class comics, this new show stars fan favorite Lana Condor, famous for her role in To All The Boys I've loved Before. In a very different role, like I Am Not Okay With It is a coming-of-age story of a teen who ends up being enlisted to join an elite private school. The twist? It’s where the world’s top crime families send their kids to learn how to be assassins as well.
Set to the backdrop of the 1980s, and despite the unusualness of the school’s circumstances, the main character in Deadly Class, Marcus Lopez Arguello, played by Benjamin Wadsworth, still faces the normal struggles of high school, like cliques at school, and the insecurities of being a teen.
Fear The Walking Dead (2016-present)
Fear The Walking Dead is the companion series and prequel to The Walking Dead, based on the comic books of the same name. Starting from the onset of the apocalypse, a group of people in LA, and then Mexico, get together to try and survive life as it gets scarier, as the world as they know it changes dramatically.
While not set in high school like I Am Not Okay With This, the story is told from the perspective of a high school guidance counselor Madison Clark, who's in a relationship with an English teacher, Travis Manawa.
Wynonna Earp (2016-present)
A supernatural Western horror, and based on Beau Smith’s comic book series of the same name, Wynonna Earp recounts the story of a demon protector, who reluctantly takes the job. Having been away from her hometown, Purgatory, she comes back to kill the Revenants, the resurrected souls of the criminals who were taken down at one time by her great-grandfather, Wyatt Earp, who was also a demon protector.
While not a teen drama, the show deals with a female protagonist who feels confused and displeased with her power as she tries to discover herself and the ways to deal with her new life.
The End of the F***ing World (2017-2019)
Like I Am Not Okay With This, The End of the F***ing World’s success is another one of Charles Forsman's comic adaptations. So if you liked the new series and you haven’t seen the other, you’ll want to check it out.
The End of the F***ing World is about a 17-year-old boy named James who thinks he’s a psychopath, killing animals, and wanting to try moving on to humans. When he meets 17-year-old Alyssa, the new girl at school who is temperamental and different, they hit it off quickly and decide to go looking for Alyssa’s real father, taking a road trip through England. Sadly, the creators have decided that Season 2 was the end of the road for this show.
Chilling Adventures of Sabrina (2018-present)
Something fans of the new show, Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, might not know is that the show is based in a neighboring town to Riverdale, and made by the same creators. This is because both the series’ are based on Archie Comics, and take place in adjoining worlds.
Like the original Sabrina the Teenage Witch comics, or the Melissa Joan Hart-led 1996 series of the same name, Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, chronicles the life of Sabrina, a half-witch half-human, who navigates high school life and learns how to be a witch. However, Chilling Adventures of Sabrina’s spooky vibe adds a new twist to the series.