Quote:
Originally Posted by Leo656
Specifically regarding the genre of comic book adaptations, though... the thing that's incredibly hard to explain to people who don't or won't read comics is that the movie versions are never, ever, EVER better than the books. And that's why people like myself care as much as we do. Regardless as to whether Batman '89 or The Dark Knight is someone's "greatest Batman movie ever", it doesn't come close to stories like "A Lonely Place of Dying" or "Batman: R.I.P." Seeing characters and stories that have actual nuance and depth constantly watered down for mass-consumption can be incredibly disheartening when you ARE a fan of the source material. Obviously, a person who doesn't know won't care; they can't be expected to care about things they have no knowledge of.
|
I don't see how you can make this argument. Honestly, I'd hesitate greatly to compare films and comics in the first place, because of them being drastically different mediums.
Sticking with Batman as an example, first of all, we have to acknowledge that there are way more Batman comics than there are movie adaptions.
Once we do that, the meter of quality changes greatly. For every terrible Batman movie, there are hundreds of dreadful Batman comics. Batman comics like "Batman R.I.P. or "A Lonely Place of Dying" don't come around every month or even year.
This whole discussion comes down to subjectivity, but I'd certainly argue that Batman Begins or The Dark Knight are easily superior to
most Batman comics. And this coming from someone who adores the comics as much as anyone else, guaranteed.
Like, James Tynion has been on Batman for well over a year now. I wouldn't place any of his Batman comics over any Batman movies, aside from the obvious stinkers, like Batman & Robin.
One way in which I would agree with you, is when it comes to the direct-to-dvd adaptions, but those things are nothing more then cheaply animated, watered down versions of legendary comics. They aren't really adapting the material the same way a feature film would, it's more like they're just tracing it with crayons. They don't bring anything notably new to the table, other then the occasionally well done soundtrack or voice acting.
To circle back around, I want to note that I agree that the comics contain the pinnacle stories, for most of these characters. Maybe I'm biased because I love the medium so much, and it's the origin place for these characters, but I can't help but agree that comics is where you'll find the best Batman stories.
But again, there's a big difference between that and the idea that movies are never as good as the comics. Which Batman comic from the last decade is better than The Dark Knight, in any semi-objective sense?