I think it is quite obvious that right now the one place where comic book properties are popping up are in movies. It seems that almost all the action movies that have been coming out in the past six years have been based off of or somehow inspired by comic books.

Now, I am not saying that all these movies have perfectly adapted the material it was based upon but I am saying that comics are definitely the “it” thing to make a movie off of. In fact I would like to point out that movies that most people generally would not associate with comics are in fact adapted from one: “History of Violence”, “Road to Perdition” and maybe “Scott Pilgrim vs the World.”

The list of movies based on comics continue to grow not only in the action movie genre but also in the drama genre as well. With in-the-works projects like a possible adaptation of Brian Michael Bendis’” a.k.a. Goldfish” and Ed Brubaker’s “Criminal.”

Not only have comics scored a touch down in movies but they also may be touching down in live action television as well. With a T.V. series based off of Robert Kirkman’s hit series “Walking Dead” this may finally be a live action series worth watching.

With years of comic book cartoons out there some were quite good while others were really bad. Spider-man, X-men, Batman, Ninja Turtles and the Justice League all good cartoons. Spider-man and his Amazing Friends, Iron Man, Hulk and WildC.A.T.S not so great. Once again we are seeing a resurgence of comic book inspired cartoons with multiple direct-to-dvd released films as well as a new Batman, Iron Man and Marvel Super Hero squad cartoon series with the Green Lantern soon to follow.

But not only are comic books being adapted into films and television but the talent is being hired away to work on other things for Hollywood. We are seeing comic book writers and artists working on television series and movies.

Shows like “Lost” had several comic book writers working on the writing crew like Brian K. Vaughan and Paul Dini. Then there was the wretched “Heroes” show which had Jeph Loeb working for them as well as Chuck Kim. Finally “Smallville” has Geoff Johns but that isn’t really too far a stretch for the guy since it is still in the DCU.

The crossover isn’t just happening with comic writers turning television and movie writers either but we are now seeing these celebrity comic fans deciding to come over and do their take on them.

The crossover may have started with Jeph Loeb if you wish to look back that far ago or even maybe J.Michael Stacyrznski but in more recent years we have seen directors Kevin Smith and John Faverau write comic books along with comedian Patton Oswalt who is coming out with a mini-series based off of Josh Whedon’s “Firefly.”

I’m sure that the celebrity crossover doesn’t stop there but those are the few that come to mind at the moment.

Comic books are experiencing a great boom in popularity but the problem is that people still aren’t really buying them. Graphic novels sell, yes, but the actual issues are not selling at least not like the ’90s when sales where at their all time high.

I would hazard a guess though that comics even though aren’t maybe selling as well as in the ’90s that they are much more financially profitable then they were then. Merchandising seems to be at an all time high.

I am sure that I am not the only person on the net who has friends who wear comic book clothing without actually ever reading a comic book.

Nevertheless, it seems that the true value in comics is not the amount of books they sell each month but rather what sort of potential creative properties they can create to be adapted into a movie, T.V. series or video game.

Hmmm…. So it is a movie about an ultra patriotic WWII vet who was frozen in a block of ice and thawed in the present to fight crime and super villains. Well that doesn’t make since, shouldn’t a movie about America be filmed in America.
I can think of about two reason for this decision and the first one deals with money. I know that sometimes studios like to film outside the U.S., because they don’t want to have to deal with Screen Actors Guild, SAG,which is basically a union for professional actors.

So I would imagine the studios have chosen to film in London so they don’t have to pay for and meet the list of demands from their over paid extras.

My second theory on this would be that the movie is based more on Steve Rogers time as a World War II soldier. If this is the case then the film would have to be filmed in Europe since much of WWII was spent their.

The U.S doesn’t really have a lot of architecture that can match that old European look of the 1930s and ‘40s.

However, if this is the case and the film is set in WWII then it is going to f*** with the Avengers movie. Either they will end the movie with Steve Rogers falling in a frozen ocean at the end of the Captain America movie only to be thawed out in the Avengers one.

The other possibility I can see happening is that Steve Rogers falls into the ocean and is thawed out at the end of the movie in a very rushed and awkward way.

Either way I find it funny that the Captain America movie isn’t being filmed in America.

Mike Allred has quite possibly created one of the most delightful indie-superheroes I have read in ages. Although, Madman is not a new comic it certainly has been a refreshing experience for me to read.

I may be the last to discover this ‘60s and ‘70s comic book inspired hero, but I am sure glad that I had. Madman from my memory was probably at the height of his popularity in the ‘90s, which was a time period in which I was still a fresh faced grade schooler who read only Marvel comics in semi-irregular fashion.

I knew of Madman solely out of my constant reading of a little known comic book periodical called Wizard. Which on a side note Wizard was at its best in the ‘90s and is not nearly as cool as it used to be.

Anyhow, despite having knowledge of Madman I wasn’t apt to waste my money on something that didn’t feature ridiculously over-muscled characters that were most likely designed by Rob Liefeld. I wasn’t really much for substance in comic books back in those days.

Of course comes college, a part-time job and an income to spend on comics and here I am today writing about Madman.

I bought the “Madman: Gargantua,” trade from Image comics and am about 300 pages in and I have to say I have enjoyed it for the most part. I read that the TPB is supposed to contain the entire Madman series minus Allred’s Atomics series that features him.

For my coin I have to say it is worth it; there is lots to read here and the story is entertaining and the artwork is incredibly charming and hyper-stylized. Although I do not believe this contains all of the Madman stories, it seems to me that the book is missing a couple of crossovers–particularly the Superman and Madman crossover.

I don’t know why this isn’t included because in the inside cover of the book they show an image of the issues cover.

So anyways lets talk a little more about Madman. From what I gathered Madman is sort of an amnesiac zombie with Olympic level gymnastic skills and some psychic powers.

I don’t want to read ahead and spoil the ending for myself but it seems that while Madman goes about on his adventures he is trying to figure out who he is. But trying to find out who he is isn’t simply finding his original identity but also exploring the subject from a philosophical stand point.

There is certainly an interesting cast of supporting characters: there’s Gale an invisible scientist or something, Dr. Flem a decapitated scientist, Joe-Madman’s girlfriend, Dr.Boiffard the scientist that brought Madman back to life, Mott a space alien and about a dozen others.

The writing isn’t the best I have read but the character is interesting and the comic is enjoyable, Allred’s strength really is his art. Although for an artist driven book it is much better than most others like early Spawn, Top Cow and Radical comics stuff.

Allred’s art to me is best described as sort of a tribute to Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko and John Romita. The work characteristically is very much a sort of neo-pop art which really works for the comic.

The color work is done by Allred’s wife who is a bit simple in her coloring but works since the old school Marvel tended to be simpler too. So overall the entire thing just comes together and really works.

Second was off course the poorly adapted Frank Miller directed movie “The Spirit,” based on the classic Will Eisner character from the 1940s.

Her most recent was her adaptation as S.H.I.E.L.D agent Natasha Romanova a.k.a. The Black Widow.

I am unsure if there has been a single actress to play so many different roles in comic book movies. I say different because Kirsten Dunce has done three comic films as well but she was playing Mary Jane in Spider-man one thru three.

So has Johansson become the face of comic fanboy idolatry? Well time can only tell.

She certainly seems to be making bank out of these comic book film roles, I have a very confident feeling that there will be an Iron Man 3 and she will more then likely make an appearance.

Also with that being said it is fairly obvious that there is going to be an Avengers movie to pop-up sometime in the next two years, and with Iron Man director John Faverau making her the female face of S.H.I.E.L.D then she is more then likely to make an appearance.

Interestingly enough with Thor coming out next year and Captain America being casted as we speak there could be a very real possibility that she pops up in those two films as well. Someone has to extend the Avengers invitation to the heroes and with her basically appearing as Samuel L. Jackson’s right hand woman in the movie then it can be predicted that she pops up somewhere.
Johansson looks like she is the “it” girl in comic book movies right now, especially since her husband Ryan Reynold’s has been so involved in comic films as well. “Blade:Trinity”, “Wolverine:Origins” and finally the upcoming Green Lantern movie. She is so connected to the comic book world that it seems like it would be impossible to disconnect her from it right now.

Plus who would want to be disconnected from the comic movie world right now, I mean all the biggest Hollywood films in the last four years have pretty much all been based on comics or influenced by them.

So which comic movie is Johansson’s best? I honestly believe “Ghost World” is-please don’t hold it against me though. I chose “Ghost World” because well I feel like her acting is the best in this one.

Not only is her acting good in this one, but just about every other performer is good in this one too. But the movie is very funny, it is a non-hollywood film, it is not a super hero movie and it serves as a very accurate commentary on what it means to be young.

I simply believe that “Ghost World” offers a very deep and emotionally impactful story. For the most part “Iron Man 2” was entertaining and a very likeable film, but “Ghost World” operates on a different plane.

The movie is a movie made for intelligent people, and Iron Man is a movie made to take thinking out of the movie viewing experience.

As for “The Spirit” well there really was nothing good that movie offered. “The Spirit” was very simply a mediocre attempt to capture the look and feel of Robert Rodriguez film “Sin City” which was actually an adaptation of one of Miller’s comic books.
But instead of a very cool Sin Cityesque film we are given a dark, confusing film the barely resembles the Will Eisner’s original.

But for those who don’t know let me tell you.

I grew up loving Marvel, in fact I still am fond for a lot of the characters, started getting into DC late last year now I am more of a DC fan then I am a Marvel one.

But what I like about DC is not so much the characters who all sort of started out one dimensional in their creation, but rather I think they have some of the best writers and their major event books just seem better to me.

I will take Blackest Night, Infinite Crisis, and Crisis on Multiple Earths over Onslaught, Civil War and Secret Invasion any day.

But their is sort of this Catch-22 for me and that is that I like Marvel characters more then DC ones, I know it is a bit weird. Deadpool in the ’90s was my absolute favorite, Spider-man is totally classic, and Doctor Doom is one of the coolest villains ever. With the exception of Batman and James Robinson’s Starman I don’t really think their are to many cool DC characters.

When it comes to adult comics though I am totally on DC’s side and maybe their Vertigo line is better then Marvel’s Max line because it was the first and it is a much older imprint then Marvel’s.

But when you have the creative talent of guys like Neil Gaiman, Alan Moore, Grant Morrison, Peter Milligan and Garth Ennis those first few years you can’t have anything but good books coming out.

Marvel may have had a few winners like Alias and Punisher Max, but anything else I haven’t read, maybe I haven’t been directed to the right titles so maybe this isn’t really a fair opinion.

Anyways each company is starting to produce quality stuff in different parts of the game.

Marvel’s new creator owned imprint Icon is very cool and really is a awesome new direction the company has taken. Particularly because it starts to bring an indie vibe to a mainstream company.

Brian Michael Bendi’s and Michael Avon Oeming moving Power’s from Image to Marvel seems like a smart move because it gives them the opportunity to market their book with a bigger company with more money, not that Image isn’t profitable.

Ed Brubaker’s Incognito was really very interesting and I look forward to reading Criminal sometime in the near future, and although I have never once read anything by David Mack moving Kabuki to Marvel seems like another wise choice.

DC seems to offer creator owned publishing somewhat with its Vertigo and Wildstorm lines but it still not entirely devoted to this concept. I can think of a few titles that I would imagine are owned by the creators and the rest somehow tie into the universe Jim Lee created in the ’90s with W.i.l.dCats.

But anyway that is my two cents so enjoy.

Darwyn Cook’s “DC: New Frontier” was a comic I have wanted to read for a while now, really ever since the “Justice League: New Frontier” direct-to-DVD movie ever came out.

It just seemed like an interesting premise, you know to revisit an older time period and look at the heroes being affected by the political climate of late 1950s’ early 1960s’.

The book doesn’t really operate as one linear tale but rather works as multiple stories occurring focusing more on specific heroes then others in the DC universe. However, eventually the lives of all these individuals seem to be drawn together to  fight for a common cause.

Personally, in my honest opinion the book looks more at the lives of Jon J’onzz “Martian Manhunter” and Hal Jordan “Green Lantern” as they find their places in the world.

J’onzz comes to Earth when people are uneasy and afraid of those that are different; racism in the South, fear of the Soviets and horror movies showing Martians as bad guys. Yet despite all the negativity occurring in the world J’onzz doesn’t play into the fearful attitudes and play of the hatreds of others, instead he looks to be a good person and help the world.

He is inspired by the detectives he see’s in movies and television so he changes his shape to become one, working with the Gotham police department as their best detective which is due to his psychic abilities.

Hal Jordan’s story is about fitting in again, he was looked on as a failure when he was in the air force, never allowing himself to kill an enemy fighter pilot, until he was forced to after parachuting into Communist China after Vietnam was over and being attacked by an enemy soldier.

Jordan has a hard time forgiving himself for this action, and it taints his life marking him by his superiors as a coward.

Of course Jordan meets a Carol Ferris whose company is the base for a secret space project meant to protect the U.S. from aliens. Jordan proves to be  perfect candidate and is chosen as a potential candidate for the mission.

While in a simulator Jordan is transported miles away from Ferris Aircraft only to meet the dying Green Lantern Abin Sur. Sur gives up his ring to Jordan making him the new Green Lantern, but he is advised to not use the ring until contacted by the corps.

A series of events begin to unfold where it is revealed that the center is looking to escape earth killing all its inhabitants in the process in order to conquer the universe. The center reveals itself to be a giant sentient island and all the heroes must join forces to combat it.

So now you have all the heroes of earth fighting against this global threat despite their legal status as heroes.  The center is defeated and the final pages show a newly formed Justice League fighting Starro.