'Super'stars

In wake of "Spider-Man's" record breaking opening weekend ($114 million and counting), Hollywood is webbing-up the rights to various comic titles in hopes of churning mass box office returns akin to America's beloved webhead.\nNot only is Hollywood banking on these expensive comic book adaptations to rescue languishing theater chains (many of which are going bankrupt), but so are the dominant forces within the realm of comics -- Marvel and DC. Comic sales which were increasingly high in the '80s have been on a downward spiral ever since.\n"They (comic books) are not in all the outlets they used to be. The kid would have to specifically seek out the comic book store in a lot of places to find a comic book. They're not at the drug store and they're not at the grocery store," says Matt Traugher, Assistant Manager at Vintage Phoenix, one of Bloomington's two comic book stores (PC Guru being the other).\nWhen asked whether films such as "Spider-Man" would have a profound effect on comic sales Don Wilds (Manager/ Co-owner of Vintage Phoenix) was skeptical.\n"We're hoping it will help sales a little bit, but I certainly wouldn't count on it being a lot," Wilds says. "I know when "Batman" came out a lot of people said "Oh, that's probably helping "Batman" sales," but actually "Batman" sales had gone up before, and I guess that's one of the reasons they made the movie -- it's more the fault of (Frank Miller's) "Dark Knight" than anything else."\nMore often than not, Traugher feels as though these lucrative comic-themed films bring back returning readers, not the uninitiated.\n"In my experience, the people who come in after seeing it (a film) and get into it are returning readers -- especially with the "X-Men" movie," Traugher says. "They come back and they say 'I used to read them,' very seldomly do we get new readers."\nBoth Traugher and Wilds feel that another recent trend in which filmmakers or prominent television writers transition into the world of comics has a bigger effect on comic sales as opposed to big-budgeted comic book adaptations. Indie filmmaker Kevin Smith has written for "Daredevil" and "Green Arrow" in the past, and has recently inked a deal with Marvel to pen future issues of "Amazing Spider-Man." He also has a "Spider-Man/Black Cat" mini-series dropping June 26. "Babylon 5" creator J. Michael Straczynski has also been writing issues of "Amazing Spider-Man" as of late.\n"That seems often to have as big, or maybe a bigger impact, than one of these of these movie translations. When Kevin Smith writes something it pops up higher than when there's a popular movie based on a book," Traugher says.\nWilds believes good writing affects comic book sales better than the box office. \n"Basically, if a comic company, as Marvel has found out recently, hires good writers and people they know are good writers, they'll test out their stuff," Wilds says. "Amazing Spider-Man" has more than doubled its sales since before Straczynski took over. That has a much bigger impact than a movie."\nThis boom in comic book to silver screen translations may have been spurred by a new and exciting generation of filmmakers. Stephen Norrington, director of "Blade" (a lesser known Marvel title) and the upcoming adaptation of acclaimed graphic novelist Alan Moore's "The League of Extraordinary Gentleman," had this to say about the trend in the May 10 issue of Entertainment Weekly. \n"The vibe feels much the same as when George Lucas and Steven Spielberg took black-and-white adventure serials and turned them into "Star Wars" and "Indiana Jones." Now people take comics and turn them into big, A-class pictures like "X-Men" or "Hulk." All these people in the business are saying, 'Hey, we're in our 30s, and we're not stupid -- and this is great stuff. Why not make some movies?'"\nNorrington couldn't be more on the mark, and it seems as though Traugher seconds his sentiments.\n"The key to the comic book movies doing better and being better received is that the people making them now have a certain affinity for the source material," Traugher says. "Older adaptations were done strictly as a money-maker. They (the studios) put somebody in charge of it who may have no interest in the character, and some of them were still done well because they were professionals. But there was no particular love. \n"I know Sam Raimi (director of "Spider-Man") is a huge "Spider-Man" fan and that the "Hellboy" director ("Blade II" veteran Guillermo Del Toro) is a huge "Hellboy" fan. So, these movies are being made without sneering at the source material."\nVarious Marvel comic-to-film franchises are in the works. "Spider-Man II" has already been greenlit and is currently slated for May 7, 2004. "X2" -- a sequel to 2000's $157 million-grossing "X-Men" is set to release on May 2, 2003 (the same weekend "Spider-Man" just did this year). "Hulk," a $120 million adaptation of everyone's favorite mean, green fighting machine is being shepherded to the screen via "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" mastermind Ang Lee. "Daredevil" starring Ben Affleck as Matt Murdock, blind lawyer become crime fighter, swings into theaters January 17, 2003, and an upcoming "Punisher" flick is currently prepping for production (this despite a crappy 1989 Dolph Lundgren vehicle). And DC is striking back with a "Superman" flick to be directed by McG (director of "Charlie's Angels") and scripted by "Alias" creator J.J. Abrams, as well as an adaptation of Frank Miller's "Batman: Year One," which will be directed by Darren Aronofsky ("Requiem for a Dream") and co-written by Miller and Aronofsky. \nWith all these films currently in or preparing for production it seems as though superheroes won't be departing Megaplexes anytime soon, and could possibly save Hollywood from potential financial ruin.