As you may have realized, superhero movies have become ever more popular over the last couple years. It seems that comic book heroes have influenced television as well as the silver screen every decade then died off suddenly as if people finally realized how stupid they were. Take the classic Batman camp TV show, the show had its brief fad and inspired other comic hero television like the Green Hornet, but then faded away into the memories of crappy TV shows past. We even saw a popular rising of the Marvel comic heroes in the 70's with the rising of the Spiderman and Incredible Hulk shows. They as well had a brief stint spawning children's cartoons and faded away till Superman came on to the scene at the end of the decade. Superman was the only hero that managed to hold ground throughout the 80's and it died a miserable death after several sequels. It wasn't till 1989 that a new vision of superhero movies was brought to life by the imaginative eyes of Mr. Tim Burton. Batman was a rejuvenation of the comic book movie. He brought a more realistic passion to the characters that Richard Donnor tried to do years previously with the Superman franchise. Taking some of the renaissance work of Batman comic book writer, Frank Miller, Burton managed to breathe life in the dead lifeless body of a character that had been humiliated for 20 plus years and left to ridiculed by a grown-up generation.

Right now we're in a second coming of comic book movies; movies that have been more story driven and have a more modernized structure. Movies like Spider-man, X-Men and Batman Begins have shown us the nasty dirty side that make us understand the guts of our hero. In essence, comic inspired movies are getting better and better and with the box office draw that they have been taking in, who's to blame the studios for flipping through more comics trying to find the next big marquee character to bring to the screen. We'll continue to see comic book characters and sequels well into the future as long as Hollywood can't seem to produce more original fresh ideas and let go of the remakes and reality based fodder.

So, in honor of comic book based films, I've decided to run down the best and worst comic movies ever shown on film.

	Batman: The Movie ('66) There's not much to say about the cheesy classic television spin-off known as Batman: the Movie except that it was cheesy goodness. The actors hacked it up brilliantly, it through in all the famous villains, and managed to have a plot in the meantime. The movie will always hold a special place in all our hearts as that good gag movie of times past.
	Superman ('78) Dick Donner indeed made a classic with this film. It captured the whole evolution of the son from Krypton. It's a bit dated now but that's ok, Donnor's protégé Bryan Singer is cranking out the long awaited sequel Superman Returns as we speak. I think it’s safe to say that this movie inspired a nation and made the historical icon of Superman even more prestigious. Not to mention also that it may have ultimately delayed the late Christopher Reeve's acting career, but made him a living legend in his own right. Superman is a homerun of a comic book movie and should be remembered always by new filmmakers for inspiration.
	Superman II ('80) In the second installment, we finally get to see Superman take on some villains of his own scale aside from just Lex Luthor, again brilliantly played by Gene Hackman. Bringing on Zod and his cronies was a brilliant idea and tied Superman even more back to the comic book storyline. The fight sequences are still breathtaking today. The movie will still be one my favorite sequels ever.
	Conan the Barbarian ('82) Now here's a cool comic book movie. My uncle used to collect nothing but Conan comic books as a kid and I never even knew it was a comic. I only knew Conan as Arnold Schwarzenegger. Man, this movie is still awesome today. Director John Milius threw a pretty badass movie together and didn't do anything ever again except Red Dawn in '84. What a shame. None the less, of course Arnold's brooding glares, swordplay and obsessive use of the word "Crom" makes this film the masterpiece that it is.
	Swamp Thing ('82) When I first saw this movie as a kid it really crept me out. Wes Craven sure put the creepy monster aspect into Swamp Thing that for the most part is lacking from the comicbook series. I don't know why, but the movie still creeps me out today even for a cheesy 80's monster flick. Maybe it’s just the creepy Dr. Arcane, god that guy is fucking ugly.
	Superman III ('83) I heard originally that Superman III was going to be called Superman vs Superman and they were going to spend more time on the whole split thing he does but instead they wanted more comic relief and opted to upgrade Richard Pryor's roll. Superman III is a pretty basic superhero movie with really cheesy parts. The computer hacking gags are pretty lame even for the 80's and the villains really sucked. The only part that anyone really likes about this movie is the fight between Clark Kent and his evil split persona. I liked seeing Christopher Reeves all pissed off flicking peanuts like bullets at the bar. Hey, that makes me wonder, why the hell was Superman drinking? He can't get drunk. Oh well, the movie is really not that good but has its worthy moments.
	Conan the Destroyer ('84) If you thought Schwarzenegger was tough in the first Conan movie, he blew you away in the second. This movie was a bit less dramatic as the first Conan and had a lot more action. It kind of had a bit of homage to Star Wars in parts but the storyline was great, and the hosh-posh cast of tagalongs did the trick. I am still impressed with this film today and it’s probably one of Arnold's better movies.
	Supergirl ('84) Supergirl was a studio's typical gimmick in cashing in on a good thing and it worked. Helen Slater will forever be embraced as a sex symbol in young men's minds after she bore the bright "S" emblem on that nicely fitted body. The movie was pretty much shit, with Faye Dunaway playing a witch or something and Peter O'Toole playing a drunken uncle or whatever. Not to mention, there was some kind of lame love story dealing with a misguided love spell. Jeez.
	Red Sonja ('85) I find this movie to be that black sheep of Arnold's career. I love this little antidote from his own website about Red Sonja: "Now, when my kids get out of line, they're sent to their room and forced to watch Red Sonja ten times. I never have too much trouble with them." Arnold was basically tricked into playing in this shitbag, he is really the only thing this movie has going for it too. Now, that's good Hollywood folklore.
	Superman IV: the Quest for Peace ('87) Ok, first off, how is this a "quest" for peace? All Superman does in this movie is steal a bunch of nuclear missiles from various countries during a 2 minute montage and then toss them into the sun. That's it, not much of a quest. The real antagonist of the movie is Lex Luthor's robot clone thing called Nuclear Man who manages to give a run for his money in several cool fight sequences. The rest of the movie is a big yawner. Even Ned Beatty chose not to reprise his role as Otis. That's a bad sign right there.
	The Punisher ('89) Man, Marvel's first attempt at a real movie and this is the best they could do? This movie was about on the same par as the Hasselhoff Nick Fury made-for-TV shitfest. Seriously, you nab yourself a decent action star like Dolph Lundren and the best you can do is this shitty Japanese mob story? You couldn't just upgrade it to the real mob? Man, this movie is off so bad. I think its worst offense is not having any ties what-so-ever to the skull shirt. Come on man, that's just not the same character.
	Batman ('89) Batman fucking ruled. It still rules. This movie forever changed the laws of superhero movies. Frank Miller's Dark Knight Returns books supplied the hope and love of this character enough to get his due respect back after 20 plus years. Keaton wouldn't have been my first choice as the cape crusader but pulled it off rather well. Of course, everyone knows the Jack steals the show as the Joker. But I have to always remind people that Prince was doing the soundtrack, which made the movie less than perfect.
	This is one of those movies I'm not sure if it’s supposed to be a joke or just ended up that way. Either way, it shall ever be remembered as the worst movie Heather Locklear has ever done and she starred in The Perfect Man. Seriously, this movie sucks.
	Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles ('90) I used to be a big fan of the Ninja Turtles before they were a cartoon and still an icon of independent comic books. Being young myself, I didn't realize the potential of the advantage of the children's market for this vehicle. TMNT became a huge craze and in turn, ended up making a movie. The movie was way too dark for the characters that they were. I mean the movie was literally dark, I couldn't see a damn thing throughout the film. The movie may have seriously cashed in and is probably still cashing in today with the second generation of turtle fans but the movie just wasn't that good.
	Dick Tracy ('90) Dick Tracy was the beginning of the trend of iconic movie advertising. They were trying to catch the flare from the comic books and put it literally on the screen. Sort of like Batman did, but way over done. I liked all the characters in Dick Tracy and all the cool effects but the movie was just kind of over Beatty'd and a bit boring.
	The Rocketeer ('91) Another example of iconic movie advertising in action; Disney hit a homerun with The Rocketeer. The movie had a great score, a pretty interesting historical story tied to real life people and events and was pretty feasible as far as the story and effects go. The acting was great and it’s kinda sad that Bill Campbell never really resurfaced again.
	Captain America ('91) I actually rented this once it was available on VHS because I never knew it hit theaters. I can see why, the movie was so shitty and boring it forever broke my heart when it came to Marvel movies. I couldn't believe that for a second attempt at making box office movies, Marvel shat out this stinking turd of a film. The guy that plays Steve Rogers was just beyond bad and the Red Skull just really, really sucked. I think they ran out of money towards the end of the film because they had to write a plot where the Red Skull got plastic surgery to cover his hideous face. Man, that's just stupid. Man, this movie pisses me off.
	Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze ('91) Now, hear me out. I gave this movie a better review because I think this is the movie that Ninja Turtles should have been in the first place. They're approaching the children's market with the fun, joking characters rather than the dark, brooding characters. I love this movie even though it is oozing with cheese. The gags and one-liners are really funny and it was kind of cool to see Super Shredder even though he didn't really do anything.
	Batman Returns ('92) I've heard a lot of bad talk about Batman Returns and I can genuinely understand. The movie is a bit too Burtonish with all its creepy sculptures and the over done DeVito Penguin but the movie is really, really good as far as Batman goes. The writers finally decided to put two major villains in a movie together to further intertwine the plot and this is the last time I've seen it work in a superhero movie. Catwoman was hot, Keaton made Batman a bit more humorous, and DeVito should've made the perfect penguin but was way over the top; but that's all ok. The movie stayed close enough to its predecessor that it wasn't too estranged.
	Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III: Turtles in Time ('93) I remember seeing this in theaters and falling asleep the first time I saw it. It had all the players from the first two movies including Elias Koteas as Casey Jones and Paige Turco as April O'Neal but they're not doing a damn thing. The Turtles get transported somehow into ancient Japan and then become entangled in a big medieval feud...blah blah blah. This was a good idea but a bad idea at the same time. The movie just stank big time.
	The Fantastic Four ('94) Tee hee hee, this must have been the final nail in Marvel Comics coffin when it came to hopes to bringing a live-action movie to life. God, this very well could be one of the stupidest comic-inspired movies of all time. I could go on and on about how really awful this movie was in this little space but that would be subtracting better criticism to other movies in this list, so you can read my full rant here.
	The Crow ('94) Ah, The Crow: a great yet tragic movie. I was really into J.O. Barr's graphic novels when they were pumping them out and only could imagine what kind of cool movie they would make. So, you can imagine the shock on my face when I heard Brandon Lee was donning the makeup in the feature film. It was like a dream come true. However, after Brandon Lee was killed during the filming, there was a scare that the movie wouldn't be released. Thanks to some tricky camera work and some well-done CGI, the film was released. The sad thing, I didn't anticipate was how the skanky goth people were going to adopt this as their film. Those bastards. This movie is too cool for you. We gave you the Anne Rice movies, so piss off.
	The Mask ('94) Little known to movie-goers but The Mask wasn't invented by Jim Carrey even though Jim was the one who really brought the character to life. I never would've picked up the Mask comic if it was sitting on a shelf but the movie was a fantastic blend of physical comedy and quality CGI. I love the simple story and the bright humorous animation mingled within the dark gloomy environment.
	The Shadow ('94) Yet another iconic superhero movie. This movie really only had a bunch of really flashy posters to back it up. The ensemble cast didn't hurt the movie but really didn't help it out either. It got the character down even though I never understood the giant nose deal? A pretty neat little story though, despite that the movie was pretty ho-hum compared to those magnificent posters, look at how swell those are. Wow, they sure are neat...moving on...
	Batman Forever ('95) "Joel Schumacher kind of took a different direction, but at least it made good money." Man, those had to be some of the last words muttered out of a Warner Bros exec right before they green lit the Batman & Robin movie. Batman Forever wasn't awful but it wasn't half as good as the two previous movies. Where they went wrong was that they started to cram too much shit into one movie. We don't need two villains, a new sidekick, a new broad, and a psychological disorder all crammed into one movie. It's too much. Second, this movie was flashier than Elton John in Vegas; it looked like a glow stick factory threw up all this film. The final annoyance with this film would have to be Jim Carrey and Tommy Lee Jone's way-over-the-top performances. God they were just appalling. There's a lot more negative stuff surrounding this film than good. It was a precursor warning to the evil that was coming...
	Judge Dredd ('95) "I am the law!" No, the law is you do not make shitty comic books into even shittier movies. God, this movie is bad on some many levels but the saddest thing is that Stallone tends to draw people in anyway. We're attracted to his flapping lips and then all the sudden we're sitting alone in a theater with a bucket of popcorn and a soda wondering why the hell our mind is melting. Yeah, I was suckered into this one, and all the plastic clothing in the world wasn't going to save this movie.
	Tank Girl ('95) I hear people say all the time, "Tank Girl, Tank Girl, oh yeah, I remember that movie. That was pretty good if I recall." No, you can't recall, at least you better hope you can't. Tank Girl is a stupid, pointless movie. It's just brainless. I can't believe I sat through it at all. Like Judge Dredd above, it was based on a British cult-comic that wasn't really good to begin with. Now, throw in some lousy American acting and voila you have crème de la crappe. A really, really dumb movie that dumbs down everyone that watches it. Yes, I too once was much smartter. Moving on...
	The Crow: City of Angels ('96) I liked Crow: City of Angels. I thought it was a surprisingly good sequel. I went into the movie with hesitancy and ended up coming out a fan. The story is a bit wishy-washy in parts and a bit over-theatrical in others but the plot is pretty good and the French dude that plays the new Crow was pretty convincing. I like the symbolism and scenarios that play throughout the film and was very impressed by the flow of the story as well.
	Barb Wire ('96) Ok, if you saw Barb Wire for anything other than to see Pamela Anderson naked…you were duped. Hell, you were duped if you went just to see her naked because she's done better. Everything stinks about this movie and Pamela Anderson. She needs to stick to comedy, well this movie was funny because it was so bad, but you know what I'm talking about. Get rid of that stupid barbed wire tattoo Pam, because all its going to remind you of now is this terrible mistake of a movie.
	Spawn ('97) I was the biggest fan of Todd McFarlane and Spawn since it came out in the early 90's. I grew up on the character and collected all the figures and comics all the way to high school. I was so psyched for the movie. A bunch of friends and I made a trip to the only theater that was showing it opening day in Dallas and we were all disappointed to say the least. The movie was way under budgeted despite the amount of CGI poured into it. The plot was undercooked at best and the acting was beyond bad. There were some cool scenes that made it watchable but that's it. The movie was a huge flop and easily forgotten.
	Batman & Robin ('97) Here's the biggest slap to the face of America...Joel Schumacher is still directing movies. If this were 100 years ago, he would've been tarred and feathered and thrown out of this country forced to play pick-up sticks with his anus. "I'll just put it on my bat credit card"? A bat fucking credit card? You douche bag! How dare you make such a stupid movie! Unbelievable! I swear this is the idiot that ruins it for everyone and says "my bad." I so want to grab everyone involved in putting this shitstorm together and kick them all in the balls. Goddamn!
	Steel ('97) Holy balls, here is just more proof that Warner Bros hired an Exxon captain to head the projects during 1997. God, how retarded does this movie look? I'll be honest; I can smell this from here. I've only caught bits and pieces of this here and there and that was enough. The really pathetic thing is that Shaq did Kazaam before this...god, what a tool.
	Men in Black ('97) Men in Black is actually based on a brief Marvel comic book series. So in essence, Marvel had to go through the back door but they actually scored a good movie finally. Way to go. We still aren't forgiving you for Captain America though. Men in Black was a fantastic movie that probably would've been made regardless if had anything to do with comics or not. Spielberg and Sonnenfeld transformed this story into an awesome film and it finally concreted Will Smith as an action hero.
	Blade ('98) Now that Marvel had some success, it wasn't long before they chose another obscure hero that they thought might be commercial viable. Blade was a pretty sidenote character in the comic book world. There are tons of more well-known characters that deserved some lime light before this guy. But that's the beauty of Blade. He wasn't well known enough to disturb what few fans he may have had and not too stupid that they couldn't crank out at least one movie from the character. Wesley Snipes really ran with the role and created such a superior character.
	Mystery Men ('99) This comedy was an almost success in my book. It just didn't push the comedy far enough and relied more on the quirkiness of the characters. Don't get me wrong, a lot of the characters and gags are pretty damned funny. Yet despite guest appearances by some of the most talented comedians like Dane Cook and Eddie Izzard, in all the movie wasn't that funny, not nearly as funny as the comic book.
	X-Men ('00) And here comes the sleuth of Marvel comic inspired movies. X-Men was the most obvious choice for a movie. It had been commercial successful as a comic for some time now and had characters that were easily integrated into film. Wolverine took the cake as the centralized character of the movie but it was only a hint to things to come.
	From Hell ('01) From Hell was actually based on an Alan Moore graphic novel. I only flipped through it once and wasn't very inspired by the artwork so turned away. The story sounds kind of neat but the movie wasn't good at all. Depp put up a very droll, uninteresting performance and Heather Graham isn't anything to talk about. The story seemed disheveled and for the most part rather lackluster. I suggest this to no one. This movie is from hell.
	Ghost World ('01) If there was one movie I absolutely regretted watching in 2001, it had to be Ghost World. I heard so much from other online reviewers about how this was a clever independent movie based on a comic book of the same name. I think I've seen the comic once or twice but purposely steered clear of it in the past. But I took the plunge and drowned in the shittiness of this movie. I think this movie is just proof that people hear independent movies about witty outsiders and think, "oh it’s got to be good". The story was sick and boring at the same time. It was like watching a boring documentary about statutory rape or something. The movie is not cool in the least bit, get over it.
	Spider-Man ('02) It took me a while to turn around on this movie. The first time I saw it I thought it was super lame and childish. There were of course aspects that I liked but I saw too much of Sam Raimi's Zena: Warrior Princess throughout the movie and that just really bugged me. After it came out on DVD, I watched it again and began to enjoy it just for the story and visual appeal of it and decided to block out the part where Peter Parker does flips in the hallway. The movie is good and has grown on me, so that's a plus. It didn't hurt that its sequel blew my mind either.
	Blade II ('02) I can't say I absolutely hated this movie because once again, Snipes blew me away; but the movie's plot was so irritatingly boring to me and I am just fucking sick of vampire movies by now. Anyway, this movie is one of those movies that you forget about after seeing it. Moving on...
	Men in Black II ('02) Ok, I loved the first Men in Black, so much that I wish they made it just a stand alone. This movie did not need a sequel. Especially when it had basically the same cast, plot and gags. This movie was just so boring. Tommy Lee Jones looked like he was just walking through a rehearsal the whole time. I don't remember what the movie was even about, like a scavenger hunt that he set up before he was brained washed or something? Ah, who cares...
	X2 ('03) I wasn't as impressed with this movie as much as I was with the first movie. This one had plenty of action and an assload of new characters but the story was kind of drawn out and I wasn't too impressed with the way Jean Grey bit in the end. None the less, the movie was pretty damn good and had enough coolness to appease my appetite.
	Bulletproof Monk ('03) I didn't know this one was a comic book? It wasn't too bad; it was just mindless cheesy fight scenes and even worse special effects. The story is by far the most unoriginal part about it though. It's still cool to see Chow Yun-Fat fight baddies and hear Seann William Scott dish out the jokes throughout the film.
	The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen ('03) Yes, I agree this movie suffered because of its long name but it also suffered because the majority of people in the world are stupid. No one really got all the literary links to the characters therefore didn't give a shit about the characters in the movie. If you've read the great books that this Alan Moore story is referencing than you'd appreciate the movie and story more. I personally am counting points off the movie's score because they should've done a bit more of the paint by numbers on this film instead of crossing their fingers and hoping that the public was going to understand it and hopefully just appreciate the movie for its neat explosions and CGI.
	Daredevil ('03) I caught An Evening with Kevin Smith and he had some funny things to say about Affleck and his role of Daredevil. They were brushed under the table type comments but they really hit home. Poor Ben is an idiot. A simple giant if you will. What clear minded person would ever star in this half-assed film is beyond me. Marvel was on such a role but then they took the kiddy route and started making movies just to make movies again. Sigh.
	Hulk ('03) This movie had so much going for it except writing; quality directing, quality actors and lifelike CGI. This was a wake-up call that for the most part, we can care less about the deep touchy feelings characters are having as long as there is a shitload of action scattered throughout the movie to keep our attention spans motivated. Hulk's teary eyed boring semantics just got way ahead of what everyone came to see, a giant green monster breaking a bunch of shit.
	Hellboy ('03) This was a neat movie. I've never read Hellboy because looking at it for face value, I just didn't get it. However, now I really enjoy the fun nature of this dark film. Hellboy is a cool character and this is honestly the perfect role for Ron Perlman who until now had a bunch of scattered shitty roles and a truckload of voice-overs. A great comic adaptation if I've ever seen one.
	Spider-Man 2 ('04) This sequel could very well be one of the greatest superhero movies ever; a dynamite piece of film. It had everything a moviegoer could want: action, comedy, romance, and more action. The story was brilliant and they are obviously taking their time with the plot instead of cramming too much into one flick. Sam Raimi scored big time. I can't wait till the next installment!
	Catwoman ('04) Ha ha ha, I'm so glad this movie didn't even make back its budget, it was close but the producers made one mistake...never make a shitty movie like this. This movie really has no ties to the character in the Batman comics, or at least I'm going to keep telling myself that. Halle Berry should have to perform oral sex on every man for every making this movie. I demand repercussions.
	The Punisher ('04) This was Marvel's attempt to try to revive Punisher's movie career since the comic book was turned around by artist Tim Bradstreet and writer Garth Ennis. The result was the same damn movie as the 1989 shitbomb...well with John Travolta. That's gotta count for something doesn't it? Anyhoo, this movie was a disaster, moving on.
	Blade: Trinity ('04) I heard some harsh reviews on this movie. I didn't think it was too bad. It wasn't too good either. I like the addition of the Nightstalkers even though it would've been cool to throw Morbius in there instead of shining so much light on Jessica Biel's character. The whole Dracula thing was hella lame too but I guess ultimately inevitable. I hoped Blade would've gone out in a blaze of glory but this movie was too rushed and paid the consequences.
	Sin City ('05) I'll be the first person to tell you, I'm not a fan of Frank Miller's Sin City graphic novels. This movie didn't change that nor cause it. Despite this, I really liked Sin City the movie on an aesthetic reason. It was the first movie I can remember that nailed the look and feel of the comic book, almost too much. The characters basically jumped right off the pages and hoped right on the screen. It was amazing. The story wasn't A+ material but who cares, the movie was cool. Well, I didn't really understand a lot of it but it was cool. I'll give it that.
	Constantine ('05) I never read Hellblazer, I've seen the character from time to time but that's about it. Didn't matter, this movie I'm sure does the character a lot of justice. I was worried that this was going to be a cross between Hellboy and The Matrix. Constantine turned out to be pretty top notch heaven and hell type story. I dig that stuff and this movie leaned a bit more towards The Prophecy. I suggest anyone that hasn't seen it to pick it up and give it a watch. It's pretty cool trippy stuff.
	Fantastic Four ('05) Man, they'll never get this movie right. This version was a mess, granted it wasn't as bad as the Corman version, thanks to its large budget. You can't fool me with a bunch of CGI slopped onto a canvas. This story sucked big time. Hell, the Fantastic Four pretty suck as characters. They barely work as superheroes. Just imagine trying to stretch that (no pun intended) through a big budget film. Didn't work. I'm sure there will be sequels and they will suck just as bad.
	Elektra ('05) Man, why god have you let these poor pitiful fools take terrible films and make even worse spin-offs from them? Why lord? Why!!?!?!?
	Batman Begins ('05) Thank you Christopher Nolan. Thank you Christian Bale. Thank you Liam Neeson. You have all single handedly erased a ruined franchise and sat it upon its throne where it belongs. For those that don't know me, I am a Batman nut. I love the character like Seinfeld likes cereal. This movie was incredible. They nailed it on the head. Christian Bale wasn't just playing the Caped Crusader, he was Batman. This could be the set up to a series of movies that stand beside other flawless films like the Spider-Man movies or the Indiana Jones Trilogy. What a masterpiece. I have no doubts the sequels will be mind-blowing.