snap judgments no, really, there are some comics you really should read

The Spider (Part One)

I have not seen Spider-Man 3.

On the whole, I am very favorable towards Marvel movies.  There's a lot of slack cut that I don't give to your average comic.  As long as we stick with the core of the character, the reason why he or she has hit with the pop culture consciousness, then we're cool.  Someone came into the store and complained about Ghost Rider, but couldn't actually say why they didn't like the movie that didn't reflect back on personal preference.

I mean, I'm not all that into Rob Liefeld's artwork, so I simply don't read the books he's on.  Do I say the Teen Titans suck because he drew a couple issues?  That'd be silly.  So saying 'Oh, I don't like Nick Cage, I think he's dumb' doesn't mean the Ghost Rider movie was bad, it just means you're not into the actor.  Want an Oscar winning performance, go see Leaving Las Vegas;  but if you're looking for someone's head to catch on fire and a bunch of awesome motorcycle stunts, Ghost Rider's your flick.

Not every movie has to be perfect and spectacular and genre-changing (HEAR ME MARVEL?? That goes for comics, too!).  Then again, we don't have to watch Batman & Robin either.  Just hitting the core should be good enough to sate the comic fan palate and catch new audience members with what made the hero on the screen a viable movie idea in the first place.  There's no B'wanna Beast movie, and there's a reason for that.

There's a reason I "keep it real", so to speak, when it comes to these kinds of things.  I haven't liked every Marvel movie to hit the screen and was kicked squarely in the solar plexus by the Hulk movie.  Good Lord, I was excited to see that movie.  I went to the first showing on opening day, sat right up in front and sat through the most confusing and over acted plot I had ever seen on film.  I was in shock for several days after, swearing that it was good and if you just read the movie adaptation by Peter David, it all make so much more sense.  Only recently, when a good friend and I both admittd to fast forwarding through anything that didn't have the Hulk in it (and that's a lot of the movie, sad to say) that maybe, just maybe, it stunk on toast.  I mean, you saw the big giant jellyfish in the end in slackjawed awe of what just happened, right?  Even the novelization kind of glosses over the big ending and goes off to find some real characters.

I wanted so much from that Hulk movie and, in parts, it did deliver, but weighed against so much else... it's time to face facts.

As long as you hit the center of the target in representing our favorite heroes on screen, it doesn't matter how you dress them up, organic web shooters or no.   We'll be there with popcorn.