The Evolution of the Superhero Movie Into Cinema

I promise you, up front, that this won't be yet another fan-boi gushfest over the Batman: the Dark Knight movie. But it does play a large factor in the point I'm about to make.

Rehashing what I've said before, comic books in the 80s suddenly transformed - evolved, I think, is a better word. They were no longer targetted at the 12 and under crowd, but in fact suddenly they became the sole domain of the adult male. Certain lines dispensed with the old "comics code" seal of approval, decided that the world no longer needed its comic books censored. There are those who scoff at the term "graphic novel", and argue that you can dress a comic book up all you want, it's still ridiculous characters in spandex doing impossible things for your children't entertainment.

These are people who, I'd argue, haven't sat down and actually READ a true graphic novel.

Besides Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns, there was another book - coincidently also put out by DC comics - that reshaped and redefined the world of superheroes as we've known it. Whereas the Dark Knight gave us a brutal, determined, darker version of Batman than we'd ever even imagined...Alan Moore's "The Watchmen" gave us a larger view of what life could have been like for superheroic beings, given more of a human personality. While in many ways they were no less superheroic...in far more ways, they were much more human that what we were used to.

Like the gods of Greek mythology, Moore's heroes were flawed beings; unstable, egotistical, lacking self confidence...damaged, in so many ways. They were cynical, dysfunctional people who, while well intentioned, were - like the rest of us - subject to their own humanity. Or, in the case of a few, a lack of humanity.

I mention this because I can't help but notice the parallels happening in the movie industry. I'm not putting down other superhero movies at all; I enjoyed Spiderman 2, the Hulk, and raved over Iron Man. They were comic books come to life, and I was pleased to see them brought onto the screen - and done well.

But. The Dark Knight, like it's namesake graphic novel, changed what it means to be a superhero movie. It's hard to argue that the very nature of the movie, its production, transcends the typical comic-book based film. It isn't cartoonish, it's grounded in a gritty, humanistic reality that forces you to accept it as a film, as cinema. It's art, and halfway through it you've accepted it as a very good, if not great, addition to the action film genre.

And now, along comes The Watchmen - and the comic book movie comes of age.

I'm personally thrilled that they have not chosen to water down this film for the sake of the uninformed public. The Dark Knight was PG-13; Watchmen is set for an "R" rating. It promises to keep certain scenes from the story which I anticipate will shock the first-time viewer, much as they shocked the reader of the graphic novel when it was first introduced. Watchmen is not a children's story; your son will not want to grow up to be the Comedian, or Rorscharch - and in fact, you will pray they don't. Dr. Manhattan will fascinate you with his lack of humanity, while simultaneously repulsing you with the same. And you will hope that your daughter's life does not emulate the Silk Spectre's.

You will lose sight of where the line is drawn between hero and villain...and that is exactly the point, that there are no absolutes when dealing with the human condition. Heroes are still human, and subject to the same flaws that both mark us, and define us.

I don't know if Watchmen will be a great movie; it certainly has the potential to be. The graphic novel - or, if you insist, the comic book - to this day remains the only one within its genre to find a home on Time Magazine's 100 Best English Speaking Novels (2005), and won the Hugo Award for Best Science Fiction/Fantasy novel.

A comic book.