Jan 25 2009
The comic book screening parade
The day we actually had to read a comic seems now far away. A long long time ago, collectors and kids would run to the comic book store to buy the new Aqua Man and…read it! Things are changing in the comic industry. Are we the spectators of a new era of comic interaction?
We have to be blinded by love, or something else, to pass by a theatre without noticing that our favorite comic stories are being adapted on the big screen. Really, the movement submerged the theatres of the world. Talking only about Marvel, we can clearly feel the emphasis on adaptation. The first movie based on a Marvel comic was Captain America, adapted in 1944 by the Republic Pictures. We had to wait twenty nine years to watch the second comic-based movie. Twenty nine years! How many years did we have to wait until the second Spider-Man? We waited two years and I remember a lot of kids being very disappointed about this enormous amount of time. Indeed, from 2000 to 2006 we could watch up to thirteen movies based on Marvel writings. From Captain America, it took fifty six years to accomplish such a thing. The twenty first century is, half a century faster.
Starting in 2002, the public could watch two Marvel adaptations almost each year, without considering the other comic sources like the emblematic Frank Miller with Sin City and his last work; The Spirit that was released last Christmas. It is clear that the comics have deeply infiltrated the theatres of North America, and those of the world. Several points could explain the explosion of the comic industry in the movie area, the explosion of the movie industry itself to start with.
Comics like Batman and Spider-Man have been adapted for consoles and computers long time before the movies. The video games were using comics long before the movie industry exploded with comic adaptations but it had never been felt like it does now.
It really seems that movie productors have sensed a growing interest of the public for the comic scene. The movie industry is proposing a new and big showcase of comics to the world. It is only for us to sit and enjoy.
With Watchmen, directed by Zack Snyder (300), based on the Graphic Novel illustrated by Dave Gibbons and published by DC comics, we will experience the next comic book adaptation on the big screen, only two months after the release of The Spirit. In an alternate 1985 America, masked superheros are part of the everyday society. After the murder of his former colleagues, masked Vigilante Rorshach sets a plot to kill and discredit all past and present superheros. The movie is awaited for March 6th all around Montréal.
Very awaited movie with outbreaking visual effects, keeping the original version alive on the big screen.The movie industry is offering the world a second era in the comic world, we should consider it.
http://watchmenmovie.warnerbros.com/
Charles Dionne
