SINfully Excellent

Amidst the buzz for SIN CITY the movie I have heard critics, reviewers and TV people use the phrases, “derived from a mature themed comic book” and “based upon a graphic novel, or, a comic book for adults”. I have absolutely no problem with the majority of coverage of SIN CITY, as comics are getting attention in a fair, even intelligent manner. Is this the first time? No. Recent comic book derived films have done well. But almost certainly, whether CRUMB, AMERICAN SPLENDOR or SIN CITY are considered to be high quality films regardless of their source material, the public is finally able to see comics for what they have, in part, become.

Almost as if lightning has struck twice, Frank Miller has awakened the world to intelligently written, sequentially dynamic stories derived from the comic book medium. First with Dark Knight Returns in comic form, (formatted however differently than typical comics), and now with his faithful movie adaptation of SIN CITY. Where the BATMAN movies of the late 80s and early 90s were good enough for movies based on comics, and even more successfully the recent spate of Marvel movies, X-MEN and SPIDER-MAN in particular, comics have now graduated, from being a child’s reading material to a medium that is being mined for new or exciting ideas, for use in film.

But now, and it has to be asked, what next? Will future movies based upon comics continue to be fair representations of the work they are derived from? Or will film makers follow the path of least resistance and take the name, some of the more basic ideas of the comic, and mold it into their vision, and lose the whole of the concept? CONSTANTINE the movie derived from the Vertigo comic book HELLBLAZER is proof that comic book derived films are not always going to reflect the source material. Whoa.