I used to read comics when I was kid. Well, who am I kidding, I still read them now. Not so much comics I guess, they’re graphic novels, collections of a comic series all there in a thick binding and beautiful, glossy pictures, unraveling a story.
I’m also a bit of a geek for comic book movies. Sure it seems like everyone has seen the Batman’s, Spider-Man’s, and Iron-Man’s, but I’m talking about the bad ones that are more entertaining because they’re bad, I’m looking at you Ghost Rider, Daredevil, and Fantastic Four.
We’re about to enter the second era of the Golden Age of with re-boots of Spider Man and Superman ready for launch next summer, however judging by how this summer’s new heroes have fared there is no guarantee these new incarnations will do as well as their predecessors have done. Thor and Green Lantern, while not bombs in any sense have not been runaway hits. To be fair those characters are second tier to names like Batman or Wolverine, but even a franchise as solid as the X-Men didn’t have the expected results even with an exceptional cast and strong reviews.
Captain America looms on the horizon, a big piece of the puzzle for next year’s first super-hero, team-up film The Avengers and that’s just on the Marvel side. DC Comics have a sure-fire blockbuster with next summer’s the Dark Knight Rises however after that they plan to re-boot Batman to incorporate into their own team-up picture: The Justice League. The risk is that audiences will accept the new versions of Superman and Batman.
After that who knows where things will go. It’s certainly hard to picture Aqua Man: the Movie but as long as people show up it’s likely that Hollywood will continue to farm the pages of comic books for material.
