Comic Books and Comic Book Movies: My Skewed View

I have never been the biggest fan of comic books. I can admit it. *prepares for shaming comments* OK, now that I’ve gotten past that I want to bring up comic book movies. Now I’ve heard plenty of people complain that “someone wasn’t portrayed right’ or that a particular sequence wasn’t part of the mythos (or canon). As a (semi) proud member of the unwashed massed of non-comic readers and with this week’s tide of comic book movie news (The home release of The Avengers and the first pictures of Hugh Jackman in The Wolverine), I want to put it out there that comic book movies are pretty good that I’ve seen and not just the big name ones.

I put the beginning of the build-up of quality comic movies to the release of one of the classic comics, X-Men. I remember actually going to see the movie in the theater back in 2000 with my large core group of gamers, friends, and laser tag buddies. Some knew more of the backgrounds or histories of the characters but all of us had a great experience and enjoyed the flick.

Since that film, there has been more movie companies willing to give these films a chance to see the light of day. While there have been a couple of bumps and bruises in the road (no path to awesomeness is completely clear), I think Hollywood has figured out two things. One is that there are a lot more fans of comic books that are also movie fans that would like to see great adaptations of their favorites. Secondly, that the public actually likes these movies, as long as they are brought to them in a way that they don’t feel burdened with knowing everything about the characters. In the dozen years since X-Men, I think that there have been great strides and we’ve already seen some great films come to us but I also will enjoy seeing what else they have out on the horizon.

Now, in my own fashion, and in no particular order, I will present three of my favorite comic book movies of this new era:

1. Daredevil – OK, honestly, I liked this movie. Honestly! I thought the acting on all parts was done well, the background into Daredevil/Matt Murdock was given in a way people could understand, and kept you into the movie the whole time. Plus, on the DVD, there was a special audio track for those that are visually impaired and I say that if you’ve seen the movie, try it with that audio track on once and see the movie from a different perspective.
2. X-Men – Considering this is the crux of my movie argument, of course it made it into my list. I thought that it brought together some of the most enjoyed X-Men (The Brotherhood…not so much) and gave us peaks at future characters we’d see if sequels were made. Iceman is one of my all-time favorites so it was nice to see him show up in all three movies but just the glance in the original was great.
3. Batman Begins – Now, I’ve respected Christian Bale even before this movie. Once I saw him don the cowl, I thought that this was a pretty good role for him. I liked that they went deep into his back story and showed more than just the ‘my parents died and I became a vigilante’ past. Overall a good start to a decent trio of films.

The Great Con Hunt!

So, I’m having an issue with conventions. No, it’s not ConCrud (1 GenCon down, so far so good) but it does seem to be an illness. It could just be me but I just can’t seem to find any good resources to find conventions that are going on. Now I had been to one site and let’s just say that I feel that I had to clean my system out afterwards for malware. I could also visit the LGS’s in my immediate area (and I have visited one) but they just don’t seem to be in it for the experience, just the money. So, what does one do in a situation like this?

My solution is pretty obvious to me and I will take the charge. I will start a comprehensive log of all of the cons upcoming and will keep it available for all to see. What is information if you can’t share it with a few thousand acquaintances? I am going to come up with ones that I have been to or want to go to, like GenCon, Dragon*Con, PAX and PAX East, but I’m going to need the help of others to make this list grow.

In one form of another I will begin the list here on this blog and will have it grow with your help. If it gets to a point where I can create a full website to really devote to the convention listing then I will do it. Until then, let the submissions begin!