Firstly, let me clarify this is not an attack on comics.

I have nothing but respect for the art and creativeness of the comic book.

This is a statement of dissatisfaction with the current spate of comic book movies.

What is wrong with comic book movies?

Well if they are made as “movies” then there should be nothing wrong.

The trouble is they are made as film comic books.

What do I mean by this?

I have often heard people say of them “you have to be into the comic to really appreciate the film”.

This to me is the point.

As a movie fan, I should be able to go to a movie and appreciate it as a self-contained piece, e.g. not have to take a number of wider preconceptions from my knowledge of comic books.

This is a wider issue that does not just relate to comics.

It encompasses such things as film adaptations of games and of course novels into film.

The latter is perhaps the widest used source for movies.

The interesting point here is that a “great novel” very, very rarely translates into a “great movie”, whereas a “bad novel” will often translate into a “great movie”.

When you watch a movie of a book you have read you will notice great swathes of that book are missing.

Why?

Because they are different mediums. The more faithful you are to the book the harder it becomes to make a decent movie.

What you can do is adapt it to the screen and create a new entity.

Such as Orson Welles version of “The Trial”, he has taken a great book and turned it into a great film.

Not by being faithful to the book but by changing, updating and making it into a movie.

So it would be great to see some comics, adapted into truly original movies.