I think I've always been a bit obsessed with superheroes but it has only been recently that I've actually obtained some actual proper comic books/graphic novels. I've always been a fan of Spider-man from watching the cartoon as a kid and also the Spider-man movie trilogy. I chose to get the first volume of Ultimate Spider-man which is a modern take on the Spider-man story without having all the continuity issues from the original comic to confuse new readers. As a first comic book I definitely recommend it and despite it being strange being able to whizz through it in a far shorter time than a book it is definitely enjoyable and rereadable. I enjoyed it and volume 2 which I received for my birthday so much that I plan to get the other volumes as well.
The other graphic novel/comic book that I got for my birthday is Batman Year One, which is also a "modern" take on the Batman story. This is a very different tone from Ultimate Spider-man, the colours are dark and dreary and the text is in the style of handwriting rather than just typed. In terms of its story it doesn't actually focus on Batman's origin in terms of how Bruce Wayne got to this point and instead shows his first year fighting crime in Gotham and despite the title saying Batman Year One, it actually focuses on James Gordan (the good cop) as much as or even more than Batman/Bruce Wayne. This is a fantastic read in my opinion and well worth a look and it is clear to see why Chris Nolan used it as inspiration for his Batman movies.
In terms of movies my top 3 favourites are:
- Spider-man 2-probably the first superhero movie I watched properly was the first Spider-man and I've watched it many times since, strangely though it is the second which is far better in my (and many other people's) opinion. Spider-man 2 managed to improve on first in so many ways, it was less camp, it had a better villain and better set pieces. It showed why Spider-man is so much more interesting a hero than say Superman as he's not invincible and he's essentially just a teenager who has these great powers and the desire to use them for good but despite now being a great hero he has to perform a balancing act to keep the rest of his life from falling apart. Unfortunately Spider-man 3 whilst not being as bad as some people would make out, undid a lot of the good work of its predecessor. Its problems listed trying to shove too many villains and plot lines into the one movie, not doing Venom justice as a villain and just the whole cringe worthy Peter swagger and singing/dancing scenes.
- The Dark Knight-as much as Batman Begins did a fantastic job of showing us the origin of Batman, The Dark Knight managed to be even bigger and better. It is hard to find anything wrong with this movie, even scenes that were just two people standing around talking had instantly quotable lines and great acting. In fact this is one of the most quoted modern films I think and this is mostly due to Heath Ledger's performance as the Joker. He definitely stole the show and it is a real shame that he died before being properly recognised for his performance.
- The Avengers (or Avengers Assembled which it has been called in some countries for some reason)-I know this is only recently out so I will not spoil anything as I would rather you appreciated it for yourselves but this definitely makes my top 3 list. Marvel had obviously been planning this for a while with 2008's Iron Man having an after credits scene that the first (I think it was the first) teaser of an Avengers movie was shown but it wasn't until this year that it finally happened albeit with Mark Ruffalo replacing Edward Norton as Bruce Banner/the Hulk (I'm sure he is kicking himself now). This is a fantastic superhero movie and its hard to praise it without spoiling anything but I will say that Joss Wheldon managed to do a fantastic job not only is this film full of awesome action scenes and effects but it also has a lot of laugh out loud moments and some great acting especially from Mark Ruffalo.
I don't really go for the whole Marvel vs DC thing, both companies have great unique characters and both companies are probably guilty of "borrowing" ideas from the other though from what I've seen it would tend to be Marvel more so than DC. I think in terms of movies Marvel is definitely winning in any competition especially now with the Avengers movie and the linking of the individual movies. DC only really have Batman (and I guess Green Lantern, though I've heard its pretty bad) and the trilogy is ending with the Dark Knight Rises, Nolan's Batman would be too realistic to fit into the wider DC universe anyway. There is a new Superman movie coming out next year but so far no trailers have been released.
DC are probably a long way from a Justice League movie and the after credits scene in the Avengers will annoy them (won't spoil it but do some research after you see it and you will get what I mean) but when they do eventually do a Justice League movie I hope it will look something like this:
