EXCLUSIVE: The CBM 100 Featuring Comic Legend Bob Layton!

"How do you feel about the current state of comic book films?" This question is being tackled by 100 individuals, ranging from comic professionals to media personalities and even fellow fans, in the CBM 100. Each person is given 100 words or less to provide their own take on the matter, whether through straight analysis, quick anecdotes or incessant rambling. These perspectives will serve to present comic book films in several lights and stimulate discussion on the matter.

Today's comment comes from comic artist, writer, editor and film professional Bob Layton. Layton has had a hand in flagship comic properties for both Marvel and DC, as well as a celebrated role in the universe of Valiant Comics and his own publishing company, Future Comics. He has co-penned such famous tales as the Iron Man arcs "Armor Wars" and "Demon in a Bottle," and then recently returned to the character in 2008 to provide "The End" and "Legacy of Doom," two series that coincided with the release of the first film featuring Ol' Shellhead. Layton has continued to work in Hollywood, adapting properties between paper and screen, as well as original stories. Layton took the challenge of the CBM 100 to new heights with a word count that triples the required range, and as you'll see below, he had much to say on the matter.

In my opinion, the film industry is keeping the super-hero genre alive and demonstrating that there is definitely an audience for this particular form of entertainment, even as the comic industry is shrinking on a monthly basis. How we take advantage of that audience, as creators and publishers, has yet to evolve.
Many of the new generation of executive producers in Hollywood are former comic fans. That’s one of the main reasons why you see so many comic-to-film projects today. Seeking to recapture the “sense of wonder” they experienced as youngsters, those producers have become a new creative extension for the medium of comics --taking their favorite icons back to the more accessible roots they remember as kids. I’ve been truly amazed at the number of movie executives I’ve met in recent years who actually knew me by name and were very familiar with my credentials in the comic industry.
If you look back at film trends in the 90s, you'll see that the generation of producers of that era culled material from their favorite old television shows. However, the trend of Comics-to-film seems to have evolved into a sub-genre in movie making, like sci-fi and horror used to be in the industry until products like "Star Wars" and "Alien" made the subject material more commercially acceptable. I think they're here to stay for the foreseeable future.
The major negative to all of this is that the comic books themselves are simply becoming a loss leader for mass market re-packaging and motion picture licensing. There are no guarantees that your comic book intellectual property, even if optioned, won’t wind-up in “development Hell.” So, if you’re an Indy publisher, banking on the success of creating the next Spider-Man film franchise, you’re in for a big disappointment. Because, for every "Spider-Man" that Hollywood produces- there is also a "Howard the Duck". There is no guarantee that your film, whether you're a Marvel Studios picture or a small indy, will be a commercial and/or a critical success.