Johnny D's Blog: The Greatest Comic Book Films of All Time!!!

Here is a copy of an article that was first published on Entertainment In Review.
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The greatest comic book films of all time (so far)

Written by John Michael Decker
May 22, 2007 at 12:31 PM

In its opening weekend, Spider-Man 3 earned $151.1 million on more than 10,000 screens at 4,252 locations, shattering box office records. Because of that, I think we are only going to see more films based on heroic four-color adventures, not less. It's safe to say that comic book movies are here to stay. The bottom line in Hollywood has always been about cash, and lately, films based on comic books or about superheroes have been raking in a ton of it. Even on television, the most successful new series of the past season has been NBC's excellent serialized drama about a group of ordinary people spontaneously developing super powers, "Heroes." In the 21st century, superheroes are bigger than ever. But the question is, are all comic book films good? To be honest, I would have to say no. Most of them are either mediocre (Fantastic Four [2005], Superman Returns [2006]) or downright terrible (Batman and Robin [1997], Catwoman [2004]). It seems like for every X-Men that comes out, there are at least five Judge Dredds that follow. However, when they are done well, there is nothing I enjoy more than a good comic book movie.

Comics as literature

My infatuation with this type of film began with the comics themselves, which itself started when I was in the first grade. I am dyslexic. Not severely so, but enough so that learning to read was a difficult frustration for me. My mother, who ironically enough was a reading teacher, did her best to foster a love of literature in my brothers and me. To this end she would read to us every night. Early on, the books she read that I enjoyed the most dealt with Greek mythology. Something about Greek heroes fighting monsters resonated with me on a deep level. One day I was accompanying my mother while she was running errands at Stone's Pharmacy, the local drug store in Lake Luzerne, NY. For the most part, I saw the pharmacy as a place to get ice cream or to goad one of my parents into buying me a match box car. That particular day, though, I noticed a rack of colorful magazines. Even though I couldn't read at the time, I was fascinated by the combination of pictures and words and I convinced my mother to buy one for me. My first comic book was an issue of Superman. I don't remember the number.

That night, instead of a book, I had my mother read me that issue of Superman. I loved it; Mom hated it. For weeks, I would nag my mother to buy me comic books (they only cost a quarter in those days) and read them to me. She was a good sport at first, but there came a point where she stopped. "John," she said to me, "these comic books are garbage. You know that I will read you any book you want me to, but if you want to read comics, you are going to have to learn how to read them yourself." At that point I was already hooked on comics. I couldn't give them up, so I sat down and I taught myself to read. It didn't happen overnight, and it was hard work, but I credit comic books with giving me the medium I needed to learn how to read. And as I've grown older and more sophisticated, comic books have also grown more sophisticated. I would place Frank Miller's "Batman: The Dark Knight Returns," Neil Gaiman's "Sandman" comic books, and Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons' "Watchmen" alongside any so-called "serious" literature.

Comic books are a unique art form invented in America and combining the written word with graphic artwork. I have come to realize that comic books are, in a very real way, the American version of mythological heroes and gods. Where as the Greeks had Ulysses and Perseus we Americans have the Green Lantern and Captain America. The stories may not be as old as some of the Greek myths but they are no less valid.

Comics as film

Adapting comic book tales to the big screen is not always easy. With obscure comic book characters like Blade the Vampire Hunter, filmmakers can take some liberties with the character and often improve upon the printed material. But with more well-known, iconic characters like Spider-Man or Superman it becomes more difficult to make changes to the characters that comic book fans will accept. The secret is to find filmmakers who love and understand the comic book characters they're bringing to life, and hope that they are able to distill the on-the-page essence of what makes a particular character tick, and translate that to film.

Here is a brief list of some great films that are either based on actual comic books, or on the idea of the "superhero" that was popularized in comic books. I think they are all worth seeking out and viewing:

Conan the Barbarian (1982): I know that Conan got his start in the Robert E. Howard pulp novels and magazines, but I was first introduced to the Cimmerian Barbarian in the Marvel Comics of the 1970s, so in the back of my mind I always think of him as a comic book character. This film captures everything that is great about Conan, perhaps the best sword and sorcery pulp character ever created.
V for Vendetta (2006): Alan Moore's comic book work is notoriously hard to translate onto the big screen, but this film does about the best job I've ever seen of interpreting Moore's powerful, moody vision of a totalitarian future.
Robocop (1987): This film was not based on any comic books, but there were comics based on the film later on. Paul Verhoeven's awesome, over-the-top, dark comedy/action flick about a bleak future and the cyborg supercop trying to make things right is an excellent example of the super hero origin story.
The Rocketeer (1991): Highly enjoyable adaptation of the Dave Stevens graphic novel. Bill Campbell makes an excellent protagonist and Jennifer Connelly has never looked better.
The Crow (1994): This dark and moody film is an excellent adaptation of the James O'Barr comic book. Only marred by the fact that it is Brandon Lee's last performance.
Darkman (1990): Sam Raimi's first foray into superhero films is fun, dark and high-energy. It is a perfect stepping stone between his earlier films, like The Evil Dead, and his later pictures, like the Spider-Man movies.
Blade/Blade II (1998, 2002): These are examples of movies that improve on the comic book source material, with great scripts by David S. Goyer and a strong lead performance by Wesley Snipes.
300 (2007) Brilliant adaptation of Frank Miller's wonderful hack and slash graphic novel. A testosterone dripping tour de force.
The Iron Giant (1999): A great animated movie where, like in Hellboy, the hero fights what he was created to be to become something greater.
Evil Dead 2: Dead by Dawn (1987): Some may argue that this is a horror movie, or even a horror comedy, but to my mind it's a superhero origin film. Watch it and then tell me I'm wrong. The protagonist, Ash, played by Bruce Campbell, is certainly a hard-luck superhero by the end of the film.
X-Men (2000): While Bryan Singer's first go at an X-Men film isn't perfect, it is none the less a very enjoyable picture with some excellent acting and direction amid hit or miss special effects.

And now here is a list of my personal favorite comic book films of all time. I will list them in descending order from 10 to 1.

10. Batman (1989): I do have to give props to Tim Burton for his first Bat-flick. The production design is awe-inspiring and actor Michael Keaton gives a much stronger performance as the Dark Knight than anyone gave him credit for -- especially considering that Keaton was physically totally wrong for the role. But it is Jack Nicholson's bizarre, over-the-top take on the Joker that steals the show. Let's face it, the movie should have been called Joker. Even though the plot falls apart in the last 15 minutes, this film still holds up.

9. Unbreakable (2000): In this remarkable movie, director, M. Night Shyamalan takes the basic rules of comic books and plants them in the real world, showing us how superheroes and villains might behave if they escaped from their four-color universes. Bruce Willis as David Dunn and Samuel L. Jackson as Elijah "Mr. Glass" Price make a marvelous yin and yang in this picture.

8. X2: X-Men United (2003): Bryan Singer does a splendid job of balancing several interesting characters and plot lines in this action-packed adaptation of the Marvel Comics world of mutants. Often in a comic book film with too many characters the story can get muddled. That is not true in this case with X2. As with all the X-Men films, Patrick Stewart's Professor Charles Xavier and Ian McKellen's Eric "Magneto" Lensherr steal the show as the Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X of mutant rights. Hugh Jackman makes a marvelous leading man as the mysterious Wolverine. This is also the only X-Men film to feature my favorite mutant character from the comics -- Nightcrawler, played with great charm by Alan Cumming.

7. Frank Miller's Sin City (2005): To adapt this crime comic to the big screen, Robert Rodriguez literally used Frank Miller's comic art as story boards and replicated his scripts word for word, creating the most faithful adaptation of a comic work thus far. I wish that more comic book films were this true to the source material.

6. Batman: Mask of the Phantasm (1993): This animated Batman film comes the closest to the spirit of the D.C. Comics source material. I'd also highly recommend "Batman: The Animated Series," which this movie was spawned from. The world of comic books can be so fantastical that I think sometimes animation is the best way to go when adapting the material.

5. The Incredibles (2004): Speaking of a great animated superhero movie, you can't go wrong with The Incredibles. This is the film that the lackluster Fantastic Four should have been. A movie about a family of superheroes with heart. This is my favorite Pixar film so far, which says a lot in itself.

4. Superman/Superman 2 (1978, 1980): These still stand up as some of the greatest comic book films of all time, thanks in no small part to Christopher Reeve, who inhabited the character of Kal-El/Clark Kent/Superman like no other actor could. I did believe a man could fly. Superman is the rosetta stone of comic book films. It is the template that all the others followed.

3. Hellboy (2004): The "Hellboy" comic book (written and drawn by Mike Mignola) contains elements of many of the things I love. Old-school comic book action, pulp fiction, folklore, Lovecraftian mythology, and big monster fights. But at its core it is about a really screwed up guy who decided to ignore destiny and choose his own path. I didn't think anyone could gather these disparate elements together and turn them into a decent movie until director Guillermo del Toro surpassed my wildest expectations by doing just that.

2. Batman Begins (2005): This is the first live-action Batman film to be worthy of the complex comic book character. Director Christopher Nolan, writer David S. Goyer, and lead actor Christian Bale did a magnificent job creating the dark world of Bruce Wayne and his even darker alter ego. This is a Batman movie with real emotional depth that focuses more on the psychology of Bruce Wayne than on the Batman's freakish rogues gallery (as delightful as the bat-rogues are). This is a Gotham City one could truly believe is real. This is a film that understands its comic book source material.

And now, my favorite comic book film of all time is... A tie! This should come as no surprise to anyone who knows me.

1. Spider-Man/Spider-Man 2 (2002, 2004): The first comic book I ever read by myself was an issue of Spidey Super Stories. It was a comic affiliated with the television show "The Electric Company," and it was specifically designed to teach kids to read. Perhaps because of this, Spider-Man has always been my favorite comic book character. He's the everyman of superheroes. A nerdy teen who lucks into super powers. Sam Raimi certainly captures the essence of the old Stan Lee and Steve Ditko comics in these wonderful films. Toby Maguire really adds depth and pathos to his portrayal of Peter Parker and The Amazing Spider-Man. Others may argue that there are superior comic book films out there, but to me there was nothing greater than seeing the lives of Peter Parker, Mary Jane Watson, Harry Osborn, J. Jonah Jameson and the great villains like Doc Ock and the Green Goblin come to life on the big screen.

So there you have it -- the best comic book films made as of this writing. If you are a fan of these kinds of films, but haven't read the material they're based on, then I urge you to go to your local comic shop and peruse some comic magazines. There's something for everyone.

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John Michael Decker is a struggling actor and freelance writer. In 2005 he was in a car accident and had to get a stainless steel plate and several screws installed in his right shoulder to repair a broken arm. To John's chagrin, this did not give him super powers of any kind. What a gyp!