Column: Pulp
Comic books can be enjoyed on paper too
Andrew Welsh
Issue date: 2/21/07 Section: Arts & Entertainment
When is the last time you went into a comic book shop? Was is yesterday, or maybe last Wednesday? Or was it a month ago to pick up the back-issues that the friendly middle-aged clerk with the Swamp Thing shirt has been saving in your file for you? Or it could have been a year ago when you bought that random issue of Ultimate Spiderman for your little brother because it seemed pretty juvenile, but oddly, in the back of your mind, a little hip too.
But let's be realistic. You've probably never been in a comic book shop, whether out of disinterest or fear of suddenly finding yourself caught in the middle of a raging game of Dungeons and Dragons. Or at the very least because your friends would find out and call you a "nerd." Or maybe just a "dork," which I have heard is a slightly less offensive term.
On the other hand, when is the last time you went to a movie theater? In general, though, I bet most people have been to the movies at least a couple times over the last year. I know a lot of people went out to see X-Men: The Last Stand and Superman Returns during the summer. And then in 2005 there was the Fantastic Four movie as well as Batman Begins. There are others I'm forgetting, but these are the ones that stuck in my mind; some in a good way, some not so much.
According to rottentomatoes.com and my calculator, the box office openings of just these four comic book movies added together earned over $275 million (X-3 contributing to about half of that by itself).
So why do comic book movies draw in the masses but comic books themselves are largely neglected? People accept the action and characters in the movies as suitable and entertaining for adults, but this same action and these same characters in print form are relegated to the realm of children's amusement.
And beyond that, comic books are just about as close to the movies as a printed page can come. They are mostly visual, with minimal reading or intellectual engagement involved. The gap between a comic book page and a scene in film is really only a bit of animation. Sin City, for example, doesn't have screenwriting credits at the end because it was taken almost page-for-page from the comic book version.
But let's be realistic. You've probably never been in a comic book shop, whether out of disinterest or fear of suddenly finding yourself caught in the middle of a raging game of Dungeons and Dragons. Or at the very least because your friends would find out and call you a "nerd." Or maybe just a "dork," which I have heard is a slightly less offensive term.
On the other hand, when is the last time you went to a movie theater? In general, though, I bet most people have been to the movies at least a couple times over the last year. I know a lot of people went out to see X-Men: The Last Stand and Superman Returns during the summer. And then in 2005 there was the Fantastic Four movie as well as Batman Begins. There are others I'm forgetting, but these are the ones that stuck in my mind; some in a good way, some not so much.
According to rottentomatoes.com and my calculator, the box office openings of just these four comic book movies added together earned over $275 million (X-3 contributing to about half of that by itself).
So why do comic book movies draw in the masses but comic books themselves are largely neglected? People accept the action and characters in the movies as suitable and entertaining for adults, but this same action and these same characters in print form are relegated to the realm of children's amusement.
And beyond that, comic books are just about as close to the movies as a printed page can come. They are mostly visual, with minimal reading or intellectual engagement involved. The gap between a comic book page and a scene in film is really only a bit of animation. Sin City, for example, doesn't have screenwriting credits at the end because it was taken almost page-for-page from the comic book version.
Viewing Comments 1 - 1 of 1
Josh
posted 2/21/07 @ 2:06 PM EST
It's weird that I read this today because yesterday I made the decision to go to a comic book shop on my day off this coming Thursday to pick up Marvel Zombies & All-star Superman. (Continued…)
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