Me and the pros

Batman by Jim Lee

I don't get a chance to blog as often as I'd like even though I probably have about five different post ideas that are currently swimming around in my head. For this one, I'll combine three of them into one, as they all fall under the category of comic book professionals whom I've had the pleasure of meeting within the last few months. I'd have four to write about if I included Stan Lee, but I wrote about that in my summer wrap-up post.

The first one was on September 14th when Jim Lee came to my local comic book shop, Flying Colors Comics and Other Cool Stuff in Concord, California. For those of you who don't know, Mr. Lee is the current co-publisher of DC Comics, but he's probably better known by fans for his artwork. He got started at Marvel in the late eighties and rose to fame in the early nineties while drawing characters like The Punisher and The X-Men. He later broke off with a bunch of other popular creators to form Image Comics and draw his own creation, WildC.A.T.s. More recently, he's worked for DC, even selling his creations to them, and working on iconic characters like Batman, Superman, and the Justice League.

I've been following most Lee's work ever since he drew The Punisher War Journal back when I was in middle school. I remember approaching him for a signature at WonderCon, and I was able to walk right up to him. Just a couple of years later, he would have lines that would circle the entire event hall. I already had several of his comics signed by him, but I didn't have any of his more recent stuff from DC. I figured that it would be worth checking out, and I got a pretty good variety of books signed by him, including an issue of Strangers in Paradise where he drew the cover and the first five pages. It was cool because I also had that one signed by series creator Terry Moore, who drew the alternate "flip" cover. I even got a photo with him, which you can see below. Right below that is an interview he did with Joe Field, owner of Flying Colors.

Me and Jim Lee

Batman by Neal Adams

My next meetup with a pro was on January 17 when Neal Adams came to Flying Colors. Mr. Adams has been in the business for a long time, and he's probably influenced every artist who came after him either directly or indirectly. He's also one of the artists responsible for making Batman more of a dark, scary-looking vigilante again rather than the campy, Adam West version.

I figured that I didn't want to pass up an opportunity to meet a guy who's had such an influence on an art form that I love. I was also excited that I was able to find an old reprint of a Green Lantern/Green Arrow comic book of his that I had received when I was in elementary school. A friend of mine gave it to me, and it's a bit battered but still perfectly readable. I know that some people, particularly those who are older than me, have a hard time considering comic books to be anything other than kiddie fare. I can tell you that as a kid, I certainly didn't think that this stuff was aimed at me. This was serious stuff, with one of the stories dealing with Black Canary getting taken in by a cult. I don't think that I even knew what a cult was back then.

Anyway, the ticket that I bought afforded me two signatures. I was all set to bring in that one and a collection of his various Batman comics.

And then something occurred to me.

I received my first comic books when I was three years old and in the hospital for open-heart surgery. A kid with the same first name as me gave them to me. Sharing a hospital room with another kid named Lance is remarkable enough, because I probably can still count all the Lances that I've known in my forty years on this planet on both of my hands with maybe a pinky and a thumb left over.

Turns out that I still have one of those comics - an oversized Batman published in 1976. It collected various stories by some classic Batman artists, and the final story was drawn by Neal Adams. It's funny how it came to me. I was getting ready for bed, and I was going to read the aforementioned Batman collection when it suddenly hit me that one of those stories might have been drawn by Neal Adams. I then went out into the garage and dug it up.

Me and Neal Adams

I don't have a lot of vivid memories of my hospital experience, and I'm fairly certain that it was more of a trauma on my parents than it ever was on me. But when I confirmed that he drew one of those stories, something came crawling out of my deep subconscious. You can ask my wife - I just sat there at the edge of my bed, crying. I didn't have a total breakdown, but I just couldn't stop the tears from flowing.

What's probably obvious is that I decided that particular comic was one that I needed to get signed by him, as old and beat-up as it is. Since I wanted to get at least one nice-looking book signed by him, I opted for a Green Lantern collection that I owned which collected the entire Green Lantern/Green Arrow run, including the one that I had received when I was a kid. I also got a third signature when I bought one of his art prints, which is now framed and hanging on the wall near my son's room.

What was cool about that event is that he really took the time to talk to all of the fans. It made the line move a little slower (not too much of a problem since my ticket got me priority placement) but it was worth it, as it was enjoyable to listen to him talk and tell stories to the people in front of me. What was also nice was that I got a chance to tell him about how I got that particular comic book. (That's me telling him about it in the picture.)

He's also kind of a salty guy, to say the least. You can check out the video with Joe Field interviewing him. (Field is a former radio guy, so he knows how to conduct an interview. It's definitely worth watching if you're a fan.)

George O'Connor signing what may
or may not have been my copy of Zeus.

The most recent meeting with a professional took me out of my neighborhood and into San Francisco on the 6th of February. By some random chance, I stumbled across the fact that George O'Connor was going to be doing a signing at Isotope Comics. O'Connor has been doing an excellent series of books entitled Olympians where in each one, he focuses on a specific Greek god or goddess. So far, he has released volumes for: Zeus, Athena, Hera, Hades, Poseidon, and Aphrodite. They've all been really great, as it's clear that while his focus is on making the stories fun and accessible, he's also done his homework and knows the material. Each volume has been pretty good, with Hera probably being my favorite one so far (and his too, as I found out when I got to meet him).

While I had to go out of my way to this signing, it was definitely worth the trip. Isotope is a pretty cool comic book store, as it's basically set up as a lounge where customers are encouraged to kick back, read, and hang out a bit. There's even an upstairs area with a bunch of underground ashcan comics and a couch. Another cool thing is the wall of toilet lids with drawings by various artists and writers who have visited the store, including: Jim Lee and Warren Ellis (off the top of my head).

O'Connor's rendition of Aphrodite

There wasn't a very big crowd for this one, so it was nice that I got to take the time to talk with O'Connor about mythology and his creative process. I felt like I was getting a bit of an education while I was there.

One of the more interesting twists to the stories he's retold include the notion that perhaps Persephone wasn't entirely unwilling when she went down to the Underworld to serve as the Queen of Hades. Another was that the rivalry between Athena, Hera, and Aphrodite in the "Judgment of Paris" wasn't just about a beauty contest.

Both of these interpretations are grounded in a careful study of the available sources, and O'Connor also manages to crystallize some aspects of these myths that seem pretty obvious when they're pointed out but may not have occurred to you otherwise. One of these is the fact that Hera is cool because she's the only being who scares Zeus. Another one is that the reason why Heracles' name means "the glory of Hera" is because if it wasn't for her working so hard to completely ruin his life, he wouldn't have had an existence filled with challenges - and this wouldn't have given him a reason to show how great he is. It's one of those "God(dess) works in mysterious ways" sorts of things. (I still feel bad for the guy.)

The really cool thing about meeting O'Connor is not just that he signed all six volumes of the series for me, but he also drew a sketch on each one of them. Even better, for each volume, he'd give you a choice between a few different characters. Needless to say, these books, which were already pretty important to my collection of not only comics but works on mythology, have become even greater prized possessions. Check out the sketches:

Aphrodite for her eponymous volume.

Cronus for the Son of Cronus

Beastiality is bad - The Minotaur for the Poseidon volume.

She's my favorite of all the deities, so I went for Athena.

Persephone and her Pomegranate from Hades

The Glory of Hera - Heracles (Hercules to you rubes out there.)

The only good presupposition

Ever hear of presuppositional apologetics? Look it up for a more thorough definition, but basically it's a way of proving Christianity (although I suppose that it can work just as well for any particular religion) by starting with the assumption that The Bible and Christianity are divinely inspired. In other words, if you start with the conclusion, you can find your way to it.

If that sounds like a pretty disingenuous way to go about finding the truth, then you're right. However, if you're an atheist like me, the presuppositionist can turn it around on you and say that you're starting with the assumption that God does NOT exist and that Christianity is NOT true.  So, basically Christians and atheists are in the same boat when it comes to proving what's what.

There's just one big problem - such an argument is pure and total horse crap.

It can be broken down really simply if I just start with myself. For me, my quest to figure out what's real and what isn't began with the presupposition that there WAS a God. Many other atheists began that way as well. In other words, we began with the presupposition but were unable to make the conclusions fit. There are plenty of examples, some of them were heavily into the church and were even pastors.

But what about people who start out as atheists and become Christian? Does that put the two positions on equal footing yet again? No, it doesn't, because if one can presuppose God and arrive at atheism, it doesn't matter if one can go the other way around. What matters is that the presupposition was irrelevant if it can get you to either conclusion.

Also, a person's unwillingness to use another's presupposition does not equate to them making their own presupposition. Personally, I don't start with the notion that atheism is true, despite the fact that I get accused of doing so. The only presupposition I make is that there should be sufficient evidence for something before we say that it is true. From my understanding, the God question has failed to meet the burden of proof. I'm not assuming it's true that a God doesn't exist, I'm CONCLUDING it, and my conclusion is subject to change as new evidence comes to me.

So, let's stop trying to equate the presupposition of the existence of something is the same as rejecting that presupposition. Let's just examine the evidence and follow it to wherever it takes us, even if it takes us down a path that proves us wrong.

My football thoughts

If there's one thing I know, it's football. My friends all know me as a bit of a football enthusiast, nay a football junkie. I live, breathe, eat, defecate, eat the defecation, vomit the eaten defecation, and eat the vomited defecation of all things football. In other words, I'm an undisputed expert. Well, after tonight's football game, there certainly is room for many things to say, including, but not limited to, the following:

1. The ball was thrown - more than once.
2. The ball was caught - quite a few times.
3. People (known among fans as "players") ran with the ball.
4. People commented on these things.

And we all know that there was that one bad thing where the one player did a thing and others said that it was good, but we experts all know it was bad. Plus, there was a time when the man who decides such things said a bad thing was good, and there was that one time he said a good thing was bad. Oh yeah, you know which things I'm talking about.

I think it's pretty clear which team is the best, and which one deserves to go to the Super Bowl. There is that one team which is bad, because they have bad players who do things that aren't good. Of course, there is that one team where it would have been nice to see them do better, and hopefully things will turn around for them next year. They certainly have what it takes to be a great team, but things stood in their way...this time.

And who can forget the players? There's that one guy who's a total jerk, and there's the other guy who's really great. He throws the ball well when he's supposed to do that, but he's also really great at catching when he needs to be (and duh...he clearly does one of those things more than the other, considering his position). 

Ultimately, there's always going to be a team that scores more points and a team that scores fewer points. Some will win many games, others will not. 

Don't listen to those people who tell you things with which I disagree. They're not the real football fans. They just care about the things that are not football. I'm also fairly certain that they have numerous STD's.

Ranking the Comics Adaptations - Part IX - Smells Wonderful

Parts I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII, and VIII

Here it is! The top three! While I might change my mind about the placement of some of these, I think it's safe to say that I'd always include these ones the top five, at least.

3. Iron Man - I already wrote a full review for this one, so it's hard to come up with anything new for me to say about it. I guess I'm just repeating myself a bit, but the short version is that it's a surprise that this film would rank so high up on such a subjective list when I probably only have a handful of Iron Man comic books. Much of what's great about this has to do with Robert Downey, Jr.'s performance, and just the sheer fact that it captures everything I like about superheroes while giving the character an interesting arc which leaves him in a different place than which he began.

2. Batman Begins - Not surprisingly, I also have a more complete review of this film. While I think that a lot of people would rank The Dark Knight higher than this one, I think that much of that has to do with Heath Ledger's performance as The Joker than anything else. Obviously, I loved that movie as well, considering it ranked at number five on this list. Still, I feel as though this one delivers a tighter story, and as I've said before, it did a remarkable thing by getting me to genuinely feel some emotions when I saw Bruce Wayne lose his parents for the billionth time (if you count all of the other versions in movies, comics, and cartoons that I've seen).

1. The Avengers - Yes, I've written about this one as well. I was alternating back and forth between this being the number one and Batman Begins, but I ultimately went with this. I think that the reason why is because it manages to incorporate so much of what superhero comic books do that you don't see anywhere else, and yet it works just fine in a movie. In theory, it shouldn't make sense to combine so many disparate genres together, but what are superheroes if they're not a mish-mash of various genres? I guess what's cool for me is that it proves that so many of the things that supposedly shouldn't work in an adaptation seem to work just fine. The one thing that also makes this film stand out to me is that unlike pretty much every other action film, it picks up speed as it goes along. So many of these have a great first half with only a decent second half. This has a decent first and an awesome, engaging battle at the end. After all, isn't it better to end on a high note?

Note: If you noticed something funky about the numbering as this list went along, it wasn't just you. I goofed it all up and had to renumber, as I thought I had 54 movies, but I only had 53.

Also, I apparently didn't put the sequels to The Crow on my "Movies I haven't seen" list. I bet you were really concerned about that.

Ranking the Comics Adaptations - Part VIII - Smells Good

Parts I, II, III, IV, V, VI, and VII

My biases are probably showing more in this list than any other, as I realize that the ones that score highest are ones that speak to me on a personal level, many of them even provoking an emotional reaction - but I suppose that's okay with a list like this.

13. Sin City -  With the possible exception of Scott Pilgrim Versus the World, this might be the closest you can get to reading the comic by watching the movie. Panels jump out on to the screen, and lines of dialogue are pretty much word-for-word. The smartest move was making it three stories rather than one lengthy tale; that enabled fidelity to the source material along with keeping the audience's attention. And for as much as I like this one, I'm somehow not optimistic about the sequel. This sort of a thing stands out for its uniqueness, and a follow-up might be tarnished by that.

12. Hellboy 2: The Golden Army - As a fan of mythology, I absolutely loved the storyline in this one. I don't believe in taking myths as actual history, but I still believe that they're important, as they tell us a lot about ourselves. The villain in this one has a great motivation, and it very well WOULD be sad if all the fairy tale creatures wound up forgotten. Also, this one gives Hellboy a great inner conflict as he's been wanting to be part of the regular world for so long, but the problem is that he'll always be a monster - and maybe that's not so bad. Once again, here's that link to my thoughts on both movies.

11. Scott Pilgrim Versus the World - Confession time: I've never read the comics. When I flipped through the graphic novel at the comic book store recently, I set it down because it was pretty much exactly like watching the movie. I'll probably still get it one of these days, but this is a great movie that didn't get its proper audience. The humor is quirky, the performances are fun, and Michael Cera is most fitting playing his usual role of Michael Cera. There are all sorts of sudden jumps, cuts, and it really requires a suspension of disbelief as it's a romantic comedy that exists in a comic book/video game world. And the most important lesson? Chicken's not vegan.

10. The Amazing Spider-Man - I had a hard time placing this one. If it had been the original Spider-Man movie, then it might have been higher. The fact that a reboot was unnecessary makes it tempting to put it much lower. I'm not sure which way I'm over-compensating. Anyway, this got a lot more right than the original, and the thing that really bumped it past the original is that the dialogue is much more natural - as natural as it gets for this kind of a film. I was a bit disappointed in the costume change, but it looks like it's going to be even more true to the original design in the sequel than it was in the previous series of movies. Here's my full review.

9. Captain America: The First Avenger - This one probably gets bumped up higher than it might have normally for a couple of reasons. The first is that Cap is one of my all-time favorites, and they got his personality right. The second is that I think the first third of this movie is pretty much perfect. The second half is pretty good, and the third half is just okay. Yeah, they were trying to shoehorn it into being a prequel to The Avengers, but that doesn't bother me as much as it does some folks. I was disappointed that Chris Evans got the role when I first heard about it, but he quickly won me over. Steve Rogers is a tough character to play, because you can't do him with even an ounce of cynicism. Evans had me on board when he said, totally convincingly: "I don't want to kill anybody. I don't like bullies." I believed him.

8. The Dark Knight Rises - It says a lot that the lowest-ranked Christopher Nolan Batman movie is 23 spots higher for me than the highest-ranked Burton/Shumacher film. It has its flaws, but they got one thing absolutely right when Bane broke the Bat. It was intense, and I was emotionally invested in the story. It's amazing how little Batman was in this one, but it still felt like he was the main character. I'm a fan of stories that feature a broken character who finds his purpose again (see the next entry) and this one did a good job of it. Bane was kind of wasted at the end, but this all came to a satisfying conclusion. Ben Affleck is no doubt going to be a very different Batman, and that's good, because all that can be said about this one has been with this trilogy. Here's my full review.

7. The Wolverine - This one might get knocked down several rungs as time goes by, but right now I love this movie. Sure, the final battle feels like your typical superhero movie, but the movie as a whole is really about something. It begins with Logan having completely lost the will to live, and as the movie goes on, he not only finds purpose again, but he WANTS to live. I don't think this approaches the same level of high-art of Hamlet, but it's a similar arc in that sense, only the Danish Prince meets death once he embraces life. I feel as though I've been on that path as well, and that's why this one speaks so much to me. Perhaps if there didn't need to be more Wolverine movies, that would have been a more appropriate ending for this one. Also, enough good things can't be said about Rila Fukushima, the actress who plays Yukio. Pay attention to the quick look on her face when the drunks make their move on her at the Canadian bar scene. Priceless.

6. Superman - Yeah, it's dated. Yeah, it gets silly at the end. But could the origin story that takes up the first half of the film be any more perfect? Even the silliness at the end doesn't overwhelm the picture, and even though having Kal El turn back time makes him more of a god than a man, it's still the one picture that showed you could make a serious movie about a superhero. Too bad it took Hollywood a long time to figure that out again, but every one of the better movies on this list wouldn't be as good as they were without this film. No doubt my memories as a kid push this one up quite a bit, but I still enjoy watching it now.

5. The Dark Knight - Speaking of setting new standards in superhero movies, this movie completely changed the whole idea of how they should be done. I don't feel as though I have anything original to say about it, but I guess if you're wondering why it scores lower than Batman Begins, that's because the resolution of the Harvey Dent story, while necessary, feels a bit anticlimactic after Batman finally takes down The Joker. Anyway, just like any other good genre film, the story relates to real life issues like surveillance technology, terrorism, etc. My original review is in two parts.

4. Spider-Man 2 - Yet another story on today's list that features a hero who has lost his way, Sam Raimi and Tobey Maguire really nailed the essence of the character with this sequel. Here's a movie where if somebody was unwilling to read the comic books but wanted to know what Spidey was all about, I could sit down and watch this with him or her. It took everything that was good about the first one and gave you more (particularly J. Jonah Jameson) while also giving less of the bad stuff. Being a superhero is tough, especially if you don't have the resources of a Bruce Wayne, and this movie really gets to the heart of it, while still touching on the important motivation for why he'd continue with it all if it was so damned tough. Here's my full review.

Ranking the Comics Adaptations - Part VII - No Stink

Parts I, II, III, IV, V, and VI

More comic book movies in a reverse numerical sequence!

23. Man of Steel - This one is a tough one for me to place. As I said in my original review, I'm not sure if this is the best of the worst or the worst of the best. It doesn't quite get the whole thing right, but the great moments are really great. I found myself liking it much more on a second viewing - even enjoying the fight scenes a whole lot more. As a friend pointed out to me, this was the first time we really got to see Kryptonians fight the way you'd expect them to fight. Anyway, I'll probably change my mind about the placement of this one several times.

22. Thor - I'm conflicted about this one as well. The special effects aren't all that great, and the story is only okay. When I think about it, it's not that great of a movie, but every time I see it, I'm thoroughly entertained. I think that the God of Thunder is a tough character to pull off, and I think that they went about it the right way by adding just enough humor to move things along without devolving into campiness. Maybe the fact that this is an essential piece in the overall Avengers movie universe pushes this one higher up than it normally would have gone otherwise.

21. Watchmen - I probably would have placed this much higher after my first viewing, but it's gotten weaker with repeat viewings. Alan Moore said that it was impossible to make into a film. Did Zack Snyder prove him wrong? I'd like to think so. It was amazingly close to the original story, and the biggest change was a smart one to make. I know a lot of people, especially those who haven't read the comic, who didn't like it. I think that much of that has to do with the fact that it's such a cynical story, and usually one doesn't want to deal with that when it comes to superheroes. I admire the ambition of this one, and for the most part, I think they got it right.

20. V for Vendetta - Honestly, my ratings aren't based on how true to the comics a movie is, at least, I try not to have one influence the other. I guess it only bothers me when a movie seems to completely ignore the source material to the point where I'm wondering why they even called it an adaptation in the first place. When it comes to this film, and I know I'm not alone on this, I actually like the film better. Yeah, Natalie Portman's accent is pretty awful, as she seems to come from the school of "British people speak with soft voices" school of accents, but overall this movie tells a tight little story, utilizing elements of tragedy, satire, and some fun action scenes. It's like 1984 with a superhero that Shakespeare would create.

19. Hellboy - Speaking of not being much like the comics, Guillermo del Toro changes a whole lot from Mike Mignola's mythology, but I have little problem with that. It's obviously inspired by the comic, and the basic premise is exactly the same. The character is familiar enough to be recognizable as well. Anyway, this movie is a lot of dumb fun with Nazis, a resurrected Rasputin, monsters, and all sorts of craziness. There really isn't anything else like it, and while the plot suffers in the third act, it's clearly a labor of love. I wrote more about both Hellboy movies here.

18. Dredd - Better known as Dredd 3D when it was in the theater, I found myself liking this one more and more on repeat viewings. It's the sort of thing that might go dramatically down the list as time goes by, but right now it entertains the hell out of me. It's not as ambitious in its storyline as I might have liked it to be, but this movie doesn't compromise its vision in the slightest, which makes sense considering the lead character is a man who compromises for nothing and nobody. Here's what I thought after my first viewing.

17. X-Men: First Class - This is a movie that was better than it had any right to be. I was expecting absolutely nothing from it, but when the reviews started coming in, I had to at least check it out. I was surprised by the witty dialogue and pleased to see the characters wear outfits that were closer approximations to what they wore in the comic books than the outfits from the previous movies. The cast was good, and I cared more about Wolverine in his quick cameo than I did during the entirety of his first solo movie.

16. X2 - Also known as X-Men 2, this one doesn't hold up for me as well as I would have thought it would, but it's still pretty good. It takes everything that the first one got right and does it one better. All of the themes of bigotry are there - even with the great "Can't you just stop being a mutant?" line coming from Iceman's mother. The only really bad part though? Wolverine putting the cigar out in his hand. No, it's not that he did that, but that he grimaced as he did it. Wolverine is a badass. He wouldn't even blink.

15. Iron Man 2 - I remember being disappointed with this one when I first saw it, but in repeat viewings, it gets better and better. I think that it had a long way to fall, as the first one will rank up pretty high on this list. I don't think that the father/son storyline worked as well as it could have, and perhaps it juggled too many characters. Still, the performances are fun, the dialogue is snappy, and the action scenes might even be a bit better than in the original. Plus, I love when Sam Rockwell does his little dance at the Stark Expo.

14. Thor: The Dark World - I've only seen this one once so far, but I feel safe putting it up higher than its predecessor. Again, nothing dramatic or Earth-shaking about this one, but it does everything that worked well in the first one and kicks it up a notch. The relationship with Loki is great, including one particular scene where Thor calls him out on his bullcrap. More could have been done with the villain, and I know that some people didn't like the humor, but overall I felt like it was a satisfying ride. Oh, and the special effects were a big improvement, as I found myself more caught up in the world than being aware of the green screen. Now if only they'd stop treating these gods like they were aliens (although I know that has precedence in the comic book.) Here's my full review. 

Ranking the Comics Adaptations - Part VI - Little Stink

Parts I, II, III, IV, and V

I continue onward, knowing that I will likely want to change everything after thinking about it.

33. Blade II - This is probably my favorite movie that I don't actually think is good. There's some clunky dialogue (but to be fair - some really fun dialogue, mostly spoken by Chris Christopherson) and some bad special effects (but some good ones too!) The premise is ridiculous, and there are several silly moments. However, it just clicks with me. The two things that I think work really well is the villain, who's almost like something out of Shakespeare in his motivations. Also, Wesley Snipes manages to convey the one thing that is actually interesting about the character - he hates himself. Too bad that angle wasn't explored further, because we might have had something beyond dumb, fun entertainment. Check out Roger Ebert's review - he loved it.

32. Batman - A lot of the movies that are higher up on this list owe a debt to this one, and its influence is still pretty clear. It was the first time since the original Christopher Reeve Superman that Hollywood took a superhero seriously, even though that all started to fall apart as soon as the first sequel. The movie has a great look, and much of it still holds up. Still, the plot just doesn't have much momentum, and much of the dialogue sounds like a series of cool lines that sound good on their own but don't flow very well together. Read my full review here.

31. Batman Returns - I'll probably catch some hell for this one, putting it in front of the original, but I'll stand by it. The bad parts are worse than anything in the first one, but the good parts are better than anything in it. I guess I have a real preference for well-written dialogue, as there are a lot of really great moments in this, particularly every moment with Christopher Walken. It all unravels, and I probably like this more as a Tim Burton movie than a Batman movie, but I still have a soft spot for it. Here's my full review.

30. From Hell - This one gets a lot of mixed reviews, and it really isn't very true to the comic book - so much that I was tempted to not even include it. Still, it follows the basic premise of the original, and it was a fascinating look into the world of late 19th Century Whitechapel and Jack the Ripper, a subject with which I've been very interested in ever since I took the Jack the Ripper Walking Tour in London. I've read some reviews that complained that it wasn't very scary, but I'm not entirely sure that it was supposed to be - it creates a creepy, disturbing mood filled with conspiracies in a world of filth and corruption rather than try to jump out and scare you.

29. Spider-Man - The sheer fact that Spider-Man is my favorite superhero almost made me elevate this one a bit more. Don't get me wrong - there's a lot to like. However, once again, clunky dialogue spoils it a bit for me in repeat viewings. Still, as a fan of the comics, I felt like this was a good representation of a character whom I loved for as long as I can remember. Unfortunately, the Green Goblin design looks lame whenever he gets off the glider, and I would have liked to see a Mary Jane whose personality was a bit more like that in the comics.

28. The Rocketeer - I bought this one recently when I saw it cheap on Blu-Ray, and I'm wanting to watch it again after doing this list. I got to see it in the movie theater, and one of my prized-possessions is a personalized, autographed collection of Rocketeer comics by the late, great Dave Stevens. The movie definitely captured the look and feel of the comics, and insert comment about how voluptuous Jennifer Connelly was when she was young (not that she's somehow unattractive now, but she definitely fit the part of a character who was essentially a visual homage to Bettie Page. There's nothing spectacular about this movie, but there isn't anything to really complain about, either.

27. The Incredible Hulk - This movie aims a lot lower than the previous Hulk movie, but unlike the other, it actually hits its target. Is there anything special about this? No, and later we were to see The Hulk done the way he REALLY should be done in The Avengers. However, everybody does a serviceable job in it. The Hulk looks good, and the action scenes are well done - even though he basically just beats up the Abomination at the end. (How the hell do they contain him once he wakes up?) I liked Edward Norton and was disappointed that he wasn't coming back until I saw what Mark Ruffalo could do.

26. Batman: Mask of the Phantasm - Oh yeah, this counts, 'cause I saw it in the theaters. Yeah, the production values are only a degree or two higher than an episode of the TV show, but I said it back when it was out, and I'll say it again - at the time, it had a smarter story and better characterization than any of the live-action Batman films. (Keep in mind, this is before the "Dark Knight" trilogy.) It also had a really entertaining Joker - one that was more reminiscent of the comic book character than any we had seen before. Here's my full review, and check out Siskel and Ebert's review:

25. X-Men - A lot of the better superhero movies owe a debt to this one as well, and even though there are a few lame bits here and there, I still admire this one for its earnestness and how it remained true to the central theme of the comics. Bryan Singer admitted to not having read the comics growing up, and even though they didn't want to create too much of the look of the comics, it certainly was recognizable, story-wise, to long time fans of Marvel's mutants.

24. Iron Man 3 - After seeing this for the first time, I said that it was better than the second Iron Man movie. However, even though I was disappointed with that one, it got better for me when I watched it on Blu-Ray. With this one, the opposite happened. I still like it, and it has all the hallmarks of what was good about the other two movies, but it just has less of them. And the whole subplot with the kid, while not as bad as that sort of a thing could be, didn't quite work for me. Personally, I didn't have a problem with the way they handled The Mandarin because it was such an amusing concept.