A FINAL WORD ON "THE DARK KNIGHT"

(Except, maybe, for a few more posts regarding the lunacy occuring on the yahoo message boards)



I am what would be considered a “fanboy.” For those who don’t know what that means, it is basically someone who is deeply influenced and into the whole science fiction/comic book genre, although I’m not a huge fantasy fan.

Proud members of an elitist sub-culture, fanboys (and girls) trumpeted their interests to the four winds and kept it sacred for decades before Hollywood caught up and started co-opting the visions of various writers and artist.

I have mixed feelings about the current crop of comic book movies; on one hand, it’s pretty gratifying to see them being made. As a child, I thought the day would never come when someone started making superhero films on a regular basis. Sure there were those four Superman films, only two of which were any good. Yes, Batman came later and created an ad campaign phenomenon that changed the way movies are released forever and, in my opinion, for the worst.

Those are both DC Comics characters, icons of the pulp era dating back to the 1930’s, firmly etched into the public’s sub-conscious and known throughout the world. Marvel Comics character have only been around since the 1960’s and consequently had a tougher time making it onto the big screen in any significant way. There were attempts, of course.

Marvel was purchased by New World pictures, a low-budget film company known for its cost cutting measures. Captain America was their first attempt and although generally derided by fans and Marvel’s employees alike, it was a decent effort that ultimately misfired and never saw wide theatrical release. A Fantastic Four film was also made for a million dollars by producer Roger Corman to avoid losing the copyright. Another film generally despised, but to be honest, it had elements that make the newer ones seem rather juvenile. There was also a Punisher movie starring Dolph Lungren that went nowhere fast. It seemed all hope was lost.

But former writer/publisher Stan Lee is nothing if not tenacious, and he was bound & determined to see his co-created visions translated onto the big screen. I don’t think I need to finish the rest.

The fan community has met the comic book films with interesting reactions. In the beginning, there was predictable resistance to minor changes such as giving Spider-man webs that actually shot out of his wrists rather than web-shooters with re-fillable cartridges. There were some objections to the X-Men wearing black leather instead of their costumes and I remember some people being upset that Hispanic actress Jessica Alba was cast as the very white and very blond Susan Richards in the Fantastic Four.

As time has gone on, however, fanboys seem to have reached a group consensus that some changes are inevitable in order to get non-fans to support the films. On the surface, that seems a very mature and open-minded mentality, but something else has reared its ugly head. There’s a new type of fanboy out there that isn’t necessarily a comic book fan but is a fan of the movies. Similar in many ways to the early fanboys of the 1930’s who saw themselves as a superior breed apart from the rest, many of these people are frighteningly cultish and bordering on psychotic.

If you read my review of the latest Batman film, you might have also read of my experiences with what I have dubbed the “Bat-cult.” This is a group of passionately devoted fans of the Chris Nolan directed newer Batman films who will tolerate no dissenting viewpoint in regards to their sacred film series. I know one of these people in person and he didn’t even want to know what I thought of the film unless I liked it. When I told him anyway, he started calling me names that made me cry like a 6-month old baby girl.

Deciding I hadn’t had enough abuse, I went to good ol’ Yahoo message boards to share my views on what I thought was an OK film with lots of flaws. One would’ve thought I’d just mocked Mohammed considering the response I got! I was insulted, my review was called “inflammatory” and I was even accused of being some other poster because there couldn’t possibly be two people who didn’t think this was the greatest movie of all time. These same people have been attacking film critics via email if they didn’t care for the film and even referred to a Wall Street Journal critic as an “old queen” on some militant website.

Yes, “militant.” These sedentary Mofos have so much free time they actually create websites for the purpose of attacking people who disagree with them about a silly little movie!

What really grinds my gears is the fact that a lot of these mindless drones aren’t even fans of the genre that spawned the films. Or, if they are fans, they are bandwagoners that got on board when the form was finally “legitimized” amongst mainstream audiences. These wackos seem to feel that the slightest criticism endangers their precious holy experience. Much like most Christians I’ve run into, they claim infallibility on the part of what they advocate but fly into a blind rage as soon as someone says, “I beg to differ.”

The other comic book films don’t seem to have garnered this type of bizarre zealotry, but I do remember a severe overrating of the first Spiderman film as well. I am a huge fan of those movies but the first one had its faults. Still, Sam Raimi had enough respect for the original source to avoid turning the films into bastardizations.

In my opinion, Spiderman 2 is still the litmus test for the perfect comic book film. Of course, it has the advantage of having been written by literary author Michael Chabon, whose love for the genre shines through in most of his work.

The Bat-cult finds their particular choice to be superior because of its darker elements. They can feel cool watching it. These punk-ass know-it-alls are ruining the genre with their disturbing activist mentality. Soon what has become an acceptable form of storytelling will again become marginalized as a refuge for angry loners and child tamperers. Like the Catholic Church with illustrations.











(In the days before CGI, Adam West packed some serious Bat-accessories in his Bat-undies!)




I finally understand why Alan Moore despises any attempts at turning his masterful comic book stories into films. Talk about a principled artist, Moore refuses to watch or endorse any film versions of his books, claiming he doesn’t write his stuff for the screen’s compromised visions. When DC Comics allowed the movie studio that made V for Vendetta to claim Moore had watched the film and loved it, he quit on general principle. I am looking forward to the film version of Moore Watchmen next March but I doubt he feels the same way.



If any comic book film has the potential to supplant the Dark Knight and reclaim the genre for the true fans, that’s the one. With any luck, the Bat-cult will go the way of all their predecessors…

Lying dead in some remote compound with the purple stains of poisoned Kool-aid on their lips making them look like the Joker.

A boy can dream, can’t he?