My father was born in a very small and rural town back in 1944, in the State of Nayarit, Mexico; just when the world was immersed in WWII. Perhaps that´s why he likes movies about that period so much.
He used to tell me that the only way to see movies when he was a kid, was through people who travelled from town to town with portable projectors and film cans. They gathered in a big enough room and the images were projected "on a white sheet". I suppose many of those ones were silent films... I´ll ask him next time I visit him.
When he was a teen, it was very usual for many families to have sons living and studying as interns in only young boys or only young girls-schools. He was attending in one of those schools in the state´s capital city, and sometimes he managed to sneak to a nearby movie theater to see Hollywood classics and specially the genre that influenced him the most: Westerns.
He also managed to get those small Westerns comic books. So, it is no surprise to me that someone like John Wayne made such an impression on him at the time. Eventually he came to study Civil Engineering in Mexico City, and by the late 60´s and early 70´s, his Movie hero changed to the figure of Clint Eastwood, bringing by those years a fading end to the Golden age of Hollywood Westerns.
As for me, I was born in 1978 in Mexico City, being the youngest of four. The first recollection I have of going to a movie theater was for no other than Return of the Jedi in 1983, which I went to see with my dad; I only remember being sit on his legs watching a scene in Jabba´s Palace (because the place was full and the seats didn´t have the stadium-type design they have today).
Then in 1989 I saw Tim Burton´s Batman (played by Michael Keaton) with my brother, and, though he was 14 and I was 11, it didn´t impact that much on him as it did on me (not as much as Star Wars anyway). Burton´s vision caught me big time. As a fan, it actually got me into learning to read comic books in their original U.S. editions.
Despite the 1990´s had disappointing Comic Book movies (there are still a few of those anyway), the real Golden age for the genre began with the first Bryan Singer´s X-Men movie in 2000, which I had the opportunity to see in a movie theater in Chicago, Ill; where my sister lives.
I think the rest is history, as Comic Books – related pictures became a strong trend in the decade of 2000´s and there is no visible end to them at least in these 2010´s. Especially since the quality bar was raised by Christopher Nolan´s Batman Begins in 2005, or by the Marvel Cinematic age that started with John Favreau´s Iron Man in 2008.
Appearing as Iron Man´s alter ego Tony Stark in a CBM after another, Robert Downey Jr. may become the Clint Eastwood of my generation. People that were born in the late 70´s or early 80´s now look back at the Golden age of Westerns perhaps in the same way that my father did at films like Casablanca or Gone with the Wind.
I don´t know if (or when) this Comic Book Golden age will come to a fading end. I say “fading” because Westerns are still being made, and sometimes they are good, very good; even if some of them are remakes. So I suppose (hope) the CBM genre will never disappear at all, as well.
All we can pretty much do is enjoy this era. Praise the good ones, and criticize the bad handled titles of course, but never stop watching them in the theater at least once.
For now, I´ll try to go one of these days to my parents place to watch with my dad the DVD that I gave him a while back of The Good, The Bad and The Ugly…
Who knows? God willing, in 30 years from now my present-day 3 year old daughter and I will sit down on a couch, to watch together Marvel´s The Avengers in whatever format there is at that time.