In the last few years, thanks in large part to Marvel’s resurrection from the near-dead, we’ve seen our big screen comic dreams come true with X-Men and Spider-Man. We’ve even seen the Sin City and Superman hit the screen, with even more new movies and sequels waiting in the production wings.

There’s a revolution: movie studios now have the power to make anything with the right budget. With the right director, screenplay and a number of other factors they might even be able to make a good movie, but that’s another story. Nevertheless, I hear a lot of people groaning “Another comic book movie? Man, how many are they gonna make?” I think this point of view lacks cultural insight, and I’ll tell you why.

We are living in the decade of comic movies. Over a hundred big time movies based on comics have been made in the last 50 or 60 years- but by 2010, nearly have that number will consist of films released during or after the year 2000.

Comic movie adaptations have been coming out of print and into our radios, televisions and movie theaters for decades. American pop culture has always been in love with comics- You can’t replace the very essence of what makes comics so universal to the average fan. That’s the very heart of what comic books are.

However, the necessary evil of a progressive society forces us to adapt to a changing comic book industry and an aging comic book fan. The bottom line is comics are dollars and cents. These days, the actual comic books have taken a back seat on the entertainment bus. They’re no longer on top of the comic food chain like they were in decades gone by. Nowadays, film is where the money is. For that matter, toys and video games also make a good buck.

With pioneers like George Lucas changing the way we make movies, the playing field has been slightly leveled- there are no constraints any longer. Hulk throwing tanks around? Spidey swinging through New York? You bet yer ass- and then some.

And so this is a 2 sided coin- one could argue they’re going overboard. I would argue that they’ve been trying for decades, and are just finally seeing the success they had been after. In spirit and personal enjoyment, comics will always have the same relevance. Comic books have a lot of entertainment mediums to compete with, but in the end, they’ve evolved into a springboard for other avenues of revenue. Is that a bad thing? Absolutely not! It’s awesome people- and I would rather them try everything and fail along the way, so we can get the good movies that come out of all these attempts.

If you disagree, ask yourself these two questions: How much money did the Spider-Man comic books make last year? What’s the worldwide box-office gross of one single Spider-Man movie? Then ask yourself, could comic books alone make billions of dollars? In an ever-changing and aggressive business market, you can’t simply survive on nostalgia. Today, the reality is that comic books are only a tiny segment of the comic book industry as a whole. Think of it as a foundation for the likes of Marvel and others such as D.C. to build upon- and we need only enjoy the ride. And what a ride it’s been!

What’s Been Done, and What’s Yet to Come

The Big Two, or so they were referred to when I was a young comics fan, have perhaps most of the list everyone knows. DC Comics and Marvel Comics have a huge stable of characters who have made it to the silver screen, and thanks to recent success of comic movies, a great deal more either in production or rumored to enter production soon.

From DC Comics, we have seen Superman and the Mole Men (1951), Spy Smasher Returns (1966), Batman The Movie (1966), Superman (1978), Superman II (1980), Up the Academy (1980) , Swamp Thing (1982), Superman III (1983), Supergirl (1984), Superman IV: The Quest for Peace (1986), The Return of Swamp Thing (1989), Batman (1989), Batman Returns (1992), Batman Forever (1995), Batman and Robin (1997), Steel (1997), League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (2003), Catwoman (2004), Constantine (2005), Batman Begins (2005), V for Vendetta (2006) and Superman Returns (2006).

From Marvel Comics we have seen Howard the Duck (1986), The Incredible Hulk Returns (1988), The Punisher (1989), The Trial of the Incredible Hulk (1989), The Death of the Incredible Hulk (1990), Captain America (1991), Blade (1998), X-Men (2000), Blade II (2002), Spider-Man (2002), Daredevil (2003), X2 (2003), Hulk (2003), The Punisher (2004), Spider-Man 2 (2004), Blade: Trinity (2004), Elektra (2005), Fantastic Four (2005) and X-Men: The Last Stand (2006).

Darkhorse, Images and a couple dozen other independents have found success in the box office business as well. Over the years we’ve seen Prince Valiant (1954), The Lone Ranger (1956), Flash Gordon (1980), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990), Dick Tracy (1990), The Rocketeer (1991), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II (1991), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III (1993), The Crow (1994), The Shadow (1994), The Mask (1994), Tank Girl (1995), Judge Dredd (1995), The Crow City of Angels (1996), Barb Wire (1996), The Phantom (1996), Spawn (1997), Kull the Conqueror (1997), Tarzan and the Lost City (1998), The Mask of Zorro (1998), Mystery Men (1999), The Crow Salvation (2000), Bulletproof Monk (2003), Hellboy (2004), Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow (2004), Son of the Mask (2005), Sin City (2005), The Crow Wicked Prayer (2005), Legend of Zorro (2005), Aeon Flux (2005), Bloodrayne (2006) and Ultraviolet (2006).

I’m leaving out the old serials, direct to TV and video, unreleased films and cartoon releases- and a even a few movies here and there- after all, we are talking big time movies here. If you’re really into this stuff though, by no means should you ignore all the other shows and films; there’s so much entertainment to be had by comics fans.

I wasn’t calling this decade of comic movies for nothing- there’s a lot on the way before 2010.

DC plans to offer up Wonder Woman, Shazam, The Flash, another Batman sequel and the Green Latern. Marvel has even more aggressive project schedule, with Spiderman 3, Fantastic Four and the silver Surfer, Ghost Rider, The Punisher 2, Wolverine, Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, Magneto, Luke Cage, The Black Widow, Iron Fist, Sub-Mariner, The Hands of Shang-Chi, Ant Man, something with Nick Fury, Deathlok, Captain America, Thor, Black Panther, Hawkeye, The Avengers, Cloak and Dagger, The Gargoyle, Werewolf by Night and Dr. Strange. Still there’s more from the independents, such as Hellboy 2, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Priest and Hero by Night.

Hero versus villain - it’s constant, it’s forever. It will never go away. It’s only exaggerated in comics because the whole medium is based on exaggeration and sensationalism, and we eat it up. Don’t be upset when you hear about the next comic movie- just wait. It could be horrible, or it might just take you back to that world of imagination you knew as a kid.

Filed under: Movies