Comic Books: Of Movies, Fans, and the Source Material

Comic Books: Of Movies, Fans, and the Source Material

From the first comic we ever picked up as kids, we have envisioned our heroes and their villains on the small and big screens! What happens when they get there, however, can be quite interesting! Here's a look at how to make it go the right way, the best way!

Editorial Opinion
By tasman71 - Apr 11, 2013 09:04 PM EST
Filed Under: Other

Comic books. Comic book movies. Comic book fans. Ingredients for a soup of excitement, discontent, unsatisfied dreams, and, dare I say it, unrealistic expectations.

It's probably a good thing the internet was not around in the days of the 1940s(the serials), 1950s(Superman), 1960s(Batman), 1970s(Spiderman, Wonder Woman, Incredible Hulk and the first big comic book movies), the 1980s(Tim Burton's Batman), and the early 1990s(the beginning of the Golden Age of comic book animation). Aside from the parenthetical mentions, there's the spattering of comic book animation throughout those decades.

The way we, the fans, bash the realization of our comic book folk on the big screen, the early incarnations may never have survived! I can't even begin to fathom the rants about any of those offerings!!! While there were good things about them all, there were also bad things! Thugs shoot bullets and Superman to no effect then throw the gun and he DUCKS! AUNT HARRIETTE! Bell bottoms! I could go on but, you get the point.

Look at Smallville, a very well done reimagining bashed every week of every season because it wasn't what the fans wanted! On the flipside, it had high enough ratings to last TEN seasons! Wonder who all was watching? Oh, yeah, the complainers because otherwise they wouldn't know what to complain about!

The real problem with our community is that too many of us want what WE want. Need proof, just look at the FanFic page on this site and the ranting comments about any of the movies, shows, and animation. If they are not made exactly the way we think it should be made - with the cast, story, effects, characters, and exact comic interpretation we want - we fly off the deep end, criticize it, fan fic how we think it would be better, and bash anyone who thinks it was, at best, a decent movie! At the same time, the majority of those will see it at the theater at least twice and buy it or record it to add to their CBM collection! It's true.

So, then, what should the reaction of we, the community of comic book fans, be to movies based on our beloved comic book worlds?

The crux of the answer is found in that question: "movies based on our beloved comic book worlds".

The reality is that not everything in the comics adapts well to the big OR small screen, or even animation sometimes. So, the powers that be have to go through the entire comic history of the movies' heroes to pin down all the particulars while at the same time determining what will translate best to the media they are making.

Some stories are too mature for animation that will have a lot of younger viewers, are not compelling enough for television, or don't have the intriguing components to headline the box office. Many characters are not broadly known enough to put them in the spotlight alone or with just a few others. Certain effects necessary to make the story believable may not be feasible within a managable budget.

When it comes down to it, we, the comic book fan community, should honestly be grateful to see our beloved stories and characters brought to life in media outside of print! Unless it's an absolutley dreadful, stomach turning, brain numbing, travesty of the source material, we should embrace it all!

Why? Because they are based ON the comics and NOT taken directly from them!

So, we must embrace them all at the level they are worthy of embracing, that we might send the right message back to the producers to let them know what is just okay and what is truly desired.

How? Simple.

If it's a total travesty, which we can only determe by watching at least once and not just taking word of mouth, we leave it at the one viewing and NEVER buy it or record it or haphazardly watch it because there is nothing else on! This sends the message of thanks but, NEVER AGAIN!

If it's a credible attempt that needs work, we watch it once, never buy it, but record it or watch it when nothing else is on, thus saying thanks but, we want better!

If it's a good attempt, a diamond in the rough, we watch it no more than twice, wait for it to hit the bargain bins to buy it, and watch it whenever it's on. We like it on facebook. We buy a few related products. This says we like it, you're going in the right direction, now keep it up and make it better!

If it's a great effort, we watch it more than twice, buy it, and watch whenever it's on. We like it on facebook, follow it on twitter, and tell everyone to go see it. We buy some related products for ourselves and gifting. This tells them we want more of this and nothing less than this!

If it's off the hook amazing, we watch it at least four times, buy it for ourselves and as a gift for someone we want to get hooked on it, watch it whenever it's on, and blitz the internet with much CBM love! We buy the related products to the point it hurts but, we embrace the pain! Doing that will make it loud and clear to the powers that be: THIS IS WHAT WE WANT AND HOW WE WANT IT!!!

You see, Hollywood and Orlando and all other producing points in between look at those key factors:

1-) Box office ticket sales and intake(for movies)
2-) Video sales and rentals
3-) Neilsen ratings
4-) Internet buzz
5-) Related product sales
6-) Repitition(continued strong box office numbers or Neilsen ratings, steady sales and rentals, constant buzz, etc.)

That's how they determine what they make next! They could care less about our complaints or praise. They only pay attention to the bottom line that consists of those key six factors!

So, from now on, let's make our voices heard the way the powers that be listen! Save our ranting and complaining for things that really matter, like the insufficient skin shown by Cosplay hotties! Sure, keep your FanFics coming. Post your reviews. Make your comments.

Let's face it, if Iron Man had not been a financial hit, there would have been no Iron Man 2 to keep the ball rolling. From there, if The Avengers had not topped $1 billion, I doubt Marvel's Phase Two would be as expansive as it's been announced. Granted, they have Disney's bankroll now but, it's still all about the six factors of the bottom line!

In the end, though, make your voice heard the right way!

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Happy11
Happy11 - 4/12/2013, 3:34 AM
We have to move with the times and so must the stories what's the point in keeping it the same eg origin batman.superman all the Batman movies would be the same. Look what Nolan and Voter done with BB they invented a new origin so you were interested in Bruce Wayne instead of just waiting for him to put the suit on and I hope the Man of Steel does the same with Clark so it doesn't matter what he's wearing but the situation he is in.
Happy11
Happy11 - 4/12/2013, 3:36 AM
Meant to be Goyer not voter predictive texting lol
Tainted87
Tainted87 - 4/12/2013, 8:10 AM
I'm actually incorporating this element into my Martian Manhunter story. One of the central themes is the choice taken AWAY from the majority of the characters - imposing one's will on the other. A certain character's "rebirth" is little more than a sloppy fanfic transcribed by our title character, and when he catches on, he's not too pleased.

I see a lot of people around here who haven't actually read the comics, and believe they are "fans" because they watched the animated series' and what have you. As "fans", they believe they have some say in what direction adaptations take, which is kind of silly in and of itself, and altogether empty especially if the animated adaptation features radical departures to begin with. But they count themselves among the group of "investors", under the pretense that these characters would not have lasted anywhere near as long as they have had the readers/consumers not been around to give the publishers their money.

And the truth is, the movie production team has nothing to do with that version of the character. Some actors don't even read their source material - you get the picture - it's a script written by people who work on movies, not comics.

Sometimes these writers will have someone from DC/Marvel contribute, but that's not always a good thing - comic writers may feel their version is definitive, while others may think otherwise.

Fans need to cut loose once in a while. I do feel that there needs to be a balance of course: not EVERY bit of a character's origin needs to be in place, but at the same time, those characters need to retain elements that make them who they are. In name only may be an exaggeration to say, but it fits with characters such as Talia, Lex Luthor, Deadpool, Parallax, Moira, Callisto, Arclight, [Dark] Phoenix, Elektra, Johnny Blaze, Catwoman, Penguin, etc. What urks fans more is when they are actually well-received, they feel betrayed.
minusman
minusman - 4/12/2013, 11:21 AM
For whatever reason, adapting literature, of any kind, to film seldom follows exact story lines. Its not just the comic book adaptations that fail in that regard.
Look at the Lord of the Rings trilogy. To have stayed true and faithful to the source material would mean that the movies would have been near 6 hours each.(or more) Much too long for your average movie goer. Instead, Jackson opted to stay true to the overall IDEAL and spirit of the books.
I think thats what we comic book fans need to try and remember- that we will almost certainly never get a true, 100% faithful adaptation of our beloved characters on screen but we can certainly hope for a faithful adaptation of the characters spirit.

WYLEEJAY
WYLEEJAY - 4/12/2013, 8:56 PM
Good article. You seem to be on the same page as me. Read my articles if you must. Anyway, the studios are finally seeing that taking risks where they wouldn't of ten years ago actually pays off with this genre. As long as they keep pumping out good films and not some horrible crap (take your pick, I'm not getting into the bad), we could start to see them take a shot at those elements that they think wouldn't translate to film. It won't translate if you have a director, writers and a studio that thinks it can't. Where do you think these films will be in five years from now. Pushing the envelope, that's where.
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