I've been a user on this website for about a year now, give or take. During the past few months I've slowed down my posts considerably, most of it because of other obligations, but there's one thing about cbm.com that I've been meaning to get off my chest for a while now.
Whats with all of the attention given to non comic book movies?
As a comic book fan, what attracted me to this site is the fact that it is a purely comic book movie site. As a movie buff and geek, there comes a point where you get tired of hearing about the latest artsy film or newest celebrity gossip and just want to hear the news you love to hear: the latest comic book movie news. Now there are already several websites out there that are dedicated to comic book movie news, but what makes this site unique is that it's run entirely by the users. Users can post editorials, post news, fan fic, etc. It makes it fun and unique, but also can work against it. One thing that I've been noticing these past few months is that users are posting more and more news about movies that really don't have much of a connection to comic books, and it kinda takes away from the integrity of the website.
Just look at the main page and you'll see stories dedicated to Star Trek, John Carter, Prometheus, Wrath of the Titans, Transformers, Game of Thrones, and The Raven; and none of these are based on comic books. Yes, there have been comic book tie-ins and adaptations of some of these properties, but none are based off of comic books.
When I think of a comic book movie, I think of something BASED off of a comic book. When a comic is adapted to the big screen, then that is a true comic book movie, not the other way around. Let's face it, a lot of movies have comic book tie-ins these days because it's a cheap and easy way to market your movie to an audience. Geeks are a big audience that studios want to cater to, and tying in a movie to the comic world is a great way to win geeks over, but it isn't a true comic book movie. Trying to say that these properties are comic book movies just seems cheap and makes it obvious that users are just grasping at straws so that they can make their adsense goals.
If you look at the movies I've listed above, they are all big GEEK properties. Geeks love Game of Thrones, Transformers and John Carter, but none are based on comic books. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't ever think there was a Game of Thrones comic, but it does have a big geek following. I can almost understand covering John Carter, Transformers, and Star Trek because they have had popular comic book tie-ins, but that doesn't make them a true cbm. Hell, Star Trek is still best known as a T.V. show, and one can argue that the long running novels are more popular than the comics. John Carter is still better known for the pulp novels its based off of, though there are several comics based on it running now.
As for Wrath of the Titans, Prometheus, and The Raven, why? Wrath of the Titans and Prometheus feature actors that have starred in CBMs, but that doesn't make it a comic book movie. And The Raven, other than the fact that it's from the director of V for Vendetta, why are we covering this? This isn't even the tip of the iceberg, as I've seen considerable space on this site dedicated to The Bourne Legacy, Immortals,Pacific Rim, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, Dark Shadows and even The Three Stooges. Just because a movie has talent involved that has starred in a CBM, doesn't make it a CBM, and just because there have been comic book tie-ins, doesn't mean it's a CBM.
Just as an example, this time last year we were covering Battle: Los Angeles because it starred Aaron Eckhart, but The Rum Diary also starred Aaron Eckhart, so why didn't we cover that? It doesn't make much sense to me.
I can understand covering the Transformers and G.I.Joe movies because one can argue that the comic books have surpassed the cartoons and toy lines in longevity and popularity, and same with Conan and Red Sonja, but what about the other ones. When you think Dark Shadows, you think of the long running soap, not of a comic book.
I guess what I'm arguing is that when we cover this non-comic book movies, it takes away from the uniqueness of this website. Comic book movies are very popular today, and there is enough news out there about them to fill up the front page of cbm.com without us trying to justify posting the trailer to The Three Stooges. This is a site for comic geeks to be comic geeks, lets not turn this into just another movie website.
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