Comic books hold a special place in the heart of many people, and there is always excitement when one of the favorites is made into a live-action movie. There have been a number over the last few decades, with more on the way. The best of these movies were based on the DC and Marvel Comics from 1960-1990.

Popularity at the box office is important, but for the true fan, the real test of the brilliance of a movie is based on two things:

• Is the movie as entertaining as the original comic book?
• Is the movie faithful to the characters and story line of the original?

Top Movies made from Comic Books

• Spider-Man 3 – An underrated movie, very fast paced with a lot of action, but intelligent and added some nuances to the Peter Parker character. Fine performances by all the cast.
• Incredible Hulk – Entertaining and humorous, the second attempt at the origin of the Hulk suffers from huge differences between the plot of the movie and original. Colonel Ross in the comic book was primarily misguided and over protective of his daughter. In the movie he is nearly evil.
• Superman – A classic. Very faithful to the story, almost ploddingly so in the first half, but picks up when Superman makes his appearance. Lex Luthor is too comic for most true fans, and the theft of nuclear missiles is laughable, and not in a good way. Christopher Reeve is Superman, and incredibly, Marlon Brando is Jor-El.
• Iron Man – Exciting, dazzling, great special effects. Huge differences in plot, especially for an origin story, and the changing the sidekick from a good guy to the villain of the movie will make purists howl. Movie is saved by great performance by Robert Downey, Jr.
• Spider-Man 2 – Having already introduced Spiderman, the movie shows the progression of his romance with Mary Jane and introduces one of the most popular of his villains from the books, Doctor Octopus. Great fight scenes and believable characters, the movie disappoints in the final scenes when Doc Ock moves out of character.
• X-men – A faithful movie about Professor Xavier’s school of mutants. The movie focuses on Wolverine and Rogue, but the real star of the movie is Ian McKellen as Magneto. Entertaining and thoughtful, it was followed by two other movies with nearly the same plot.
• Batman – There have been a host of Batman movies, but the original is the choice here. Michael Keaton is a weak Batman, but Jack Nicholson as The Joker is outstanding. The story is involving under Tim Burton’s direction. The revived series takes great liberties with story lines, but Bale is good and the villains of the two recent movies, Liam Neeson and Heath Ledger are great. The stories are far fetched and the climaxes disappoint, but are still entertaining.
• Superman 2 – The only sequel that is superior to the original, the second film is funny, filled with action and re-introduces the great Krypton villains shown briefly in the first film. No basis for the conflict from the books, but it is so well done that fans love it anyway.
• Spider-Man – The best comic book movie. The filmmakers nailed the essence of Peter Parker and all the characters surrounding him. Both Peter’s and Spidey’s problems are given equal weight, and the story line is plucked almost frame by frame from the brilliant comic book. True fans of the original are rewarded as the climax occurs exactly as it did in book. Well acted and perfectly paced.

Comic Book Film Failures

The key to transferring a great comic book to the motion picture is respecting the subject. Even if the characters are not real, they exhibit the same dreams and issues that real people do.

Movies that trivialize the characters, such as The Fantastic Four movies, fail because, despite the fact that these are fantasies, moviegoers need to care for them as real people. The best comic book movies realize this, and deliver.

• Erotic Manga Comics Illustrations

• Free Mom And Son Hentai Comics

• Cgccomics

• Bleedman Snafu Comics

• Nagaraya Comics