Do you think the comic based films are better then the comics they're based on?

[lukewarmwater]

What I mean is on average, do you think the majority of recent films are better then the comics they're based on?

I know some films are absolutely worse then the comic sources, daredevil, lxg, hellboy, from hell, and some a lot better, road to perdition, wanted, iron man, blade. But on average?

I mean year one and dark knight returns are really great comics, but I think nolan's the dark knight is way better than any of the comics. It felt like they really improved upon it.

Same thing with x2. X-Men with claremont is really good, but there is also a lot of comic type stuff that you kinda have to ignore ( aliens, some cheesy dialogue, for example ).

Even spiderman 2. I appreciate what lee, ditko and kirby did, but Spiderman 2 just felt like it had a better story and was better executed then any of the comics I've read.

It just seems to me like the very best comic movies compared to the very best comic books, are better.

[boredsilly]

I don't know. The comparison isn't really all that fair, just because the "best" movie I think is always going to have a hand up on the "best" comic because it has the flash.

They're different enough that I can't really make a judgment on this, nor do I think there is one I could ever make. I mean as much as I love Year One and DKR, I would always choose to have more movies the caliber of TDK in the place of more Batman comics that are equally as great. I just don't think I'm willing to say that makes the movies "better" though.

Now, that all changes when you just look at the stories. I think story for story, or plot for plot, comics more than hold their own against the movies. I think DKR is a better story than TDK, while Year One is right on the same level as TDK. I think God Loves, Man Kills stacks up pretty well against X1. Things become a bit harder when you go to Spidey 2 because the comics that movie pulled from are so old they seem antiquated now. If there was some way to adjust that for inflation, I think the Lee and Ditko stuff would stand up well too.

Does that make any sense?

[dx23]

Most of the times no. Usually the comic is the top level and the film just tries to reach it. Is the same way of determining if a film is better than the book is based on.

[Elpresidentepez]

Since there's only a few really great comic book movies I would say the Comics themselves are superior. I loved TDK; but The Long Halloween, Killing Joke, and Year One have their own strengths and depth that get lost in the film translation. Comic book movies have a long way to go before they can even compare. Maybe after a few more years of Hollywood burning through the best, and most iconic stories maybe they can team up with the comic book writers to make some original tales for the big screen.

[Ace Of Spades]

I say the comics are better, only because the characters have much more depth when you read, say, the first 75 issues of any Marvel comic that's been adapted to film, versus the "ultra-readers-digest" version in a 90 to 150 minute film.

[fujishig]

You'd have to compare the movies against the comic books that they were inspired by/based on, I'd guess. Despite the claim in the original post, the only comic book movie that is clearly better than the comic book it's based on is

Blade

Though I haven't watched or read Wanted.

One could argue that Spidey 1 and 2 are just as good as the comics they're based on, but if you stack that up against the best of Spidey stories, I think they fall short. TDK is an awesome movie, but there are many, many great Batman comics.

I think you'd find the same thing with novels and movies based off of novels... most of the time, the only movies that are better than the source material take a completely different approach, and/or just have insanely great acting. Comic book movies, while fun, just don't attract the same caliber of acting talent.

On a separate note, I do think there are elements of the animated Timmverse that rival and sometimes even surpass the stories they're based on...

[Trevor]

The best comic book movies pale in comparison to the best comics.