Excellent sentiments every one
Any movie can be good, whether it’s a comic book movie or not, so there is no point where a movie ceases to be “good” because it doesn’t follow the comics.
It is however easy to disconnect me from the comics by changing things around in appearance and behavior.
Take for instance the Supergirl TV Show. They made Supergirl very comic book acccurate. When I watch it, I see Supergirl.
But a lot of other characters were changed too much from their comic book counter parts to sell them as the original deal. James Olsen is to me, James Olsen. I don’t think Jimmy Olsen at all when I see him. Same with Imra, Maggie Sawyer, Reign and many many others. They are their own separate characters that are good in their own right, but I have zero connect with the comic counterparts.
So my opinion is, you want to sell it as a comic book movie, follow the comics. You want to do something else it can still be a good movie, but you are no longer part of the choire singing the story of those characters. When I am reading Legion comics, my brain don’t see Arrowverse Imra when I see Saturn Girl. It never will.
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No, I don’t think movies or TV should just limit themselves to imitating the comics; their creators should have the same freedom that the comics creators do. And it’s important, at least to me, to remember that not only were most of DC’s biggest characters created in the era of “straight white dude is the default and everyone else follow along,” but they were also created in an era where continuity and characterization weren’t even on the radar of comics editors. I think that’s why it’s hard to do something like the JL movie with the original members, because at their original core there was little, personality-wise, to differentiate Clark from Silver/Bronze Age Bruce from Hal from Arthur from Barry from Carter from Ray and on and on and on. So to me to complain about e.g. Barry not having blond hair is ridiculous, because the first thing the filmmakers had to do was come up with a mix of personalities to make the film interesting.
I can go either way. I enjoy making the connections to the books, and I also enjoy original content that may not relate to the books at all. I try not to take this stuff as seriously as the next fan. To paraphrase something @DCComicsCrisis has said to me, it’s simple really, it’s about having fun. At the end of the day, the comics are there, the movies are, the shows are there…it’s a pretty large pallet of stuff to enjoy.
There’s a range of acceptable alterations. The bigger the change the bigger the problem.
I’m not one to nitpick over every little change, as long as the spirit of the character is there I’m happy. There’s been lots of different versions of my favorite characters. It’s fun when you can recognize a specific nod or homage to the source material. But I don’t enjoy seeing the same thing over and over again, so some change is good to keep the adaptation fresh.
"There’s a range of acceptable alterations. The bigger the change the bigger the problem. "
I disagree.
Two very good examples of instances where massive and far-reaching changes were made during the adaptation process and yet the end product was still recognizable are Voltron Legendary Defender and She-Ra and the Princesses of Power.
Of course I care.
But I don’t let those kinds of things determine my enjoyment.
A lack of comic accuracy will always impact my final impression, but it’s far from the deciding factor.
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Comic Accuaracy in Video Games could be cool though. Tell the story of comics in short 30 minute missions. Something like a Fantastic Four game of Kirby’s run. Play as the fantastic four as they try to stop crime. The story being comics accurate could create fun diversity in the missions. Galactus and Yancy Street Gang. Super Skrull and Black Panther. It would be fun!
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I think it really depends on what the changes are and if it’s supposed to be an adaptation and such.
When it comes to the animated movies, if they’re named after a certain storyline and are supposed to be adaptations of those storylines, then I’d prefer the adaptations to be as accurate as possible. I can give minor changes a pass but prefer that the stories remain mostly the same. If they’re changing everything but the basics, they might as well use a different name. That’s why I gave JL: Doom a pass for only barely resembling Tower of Babel while I ripped Judas Contract to shreds for being barely anything like the comic storyline as major chunks were thrown out (Dick finally becoming Nightwing, Jericho and the significance of him being Slade’s son, Slade’s vendetta being to avenge his son Grant, etc) and the lineup was completely different. I liked the movie for what it was but felt it was a false advertisement as well as a missed opportunity since they could’ve made it a TT 2003 cast reunion.
I think it really depends on what the changes are and if it’s supposed to be an adaptation and such.
When it comes to the animated movies, if they’re named after a certain storyline and are supposed to be adaptations of those storylines, then I’d prefer the adaptations to be as accurate as possible. I can give minor changes a pass but prefer that the stories remain mostly the same. If they’re changing everything but the basics, they might as well use a different name. That’s why I gave JL: Doom a pass for only barely resembling Tower of Babel while I ripped Judas Contract to shreds for being barely anything like the comic storyline as major chunks were thrown out (Dick finally becoming Nightwing, Jericho and the significance of him being Slade’s son, Slade’s vendetta being to avenge his son Grant, etc) and the lineup was completely different. I liked the movie for what it was but felt it was a false advertisement as well as a missed opportunity since they could’ve made it a TT 2003 cast reunion.
Oops, another double post. Phone keeps doing that
As long as the core of who the characters are remain the same it doesn’t matter really
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I tend to not care about “accuracy” either. Especially with such long-running characters. Like accurate to which era of Superman/Batman/etc.? However, I’m not a fan of just doing to opposite to be surprising, edgy, or dark. Should always go back to first principles and adapt, create something new with your own voice that follows from that original spark. Or find another angle, or point of view. Say, in another context, what this character represents could be construed as blah blah blah blah, etc. (and so on, and so forth). They can be broad characters at time, but have proven surprising flexible and capable of changing with the times.
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Some of these characters have such a long history that take little things from comics and since it may not be from their era they freak out. Case in point, Man of Steel. That movie is probably the most comic accurate movie I ever saw. I mean using all the robots from Byrne’s run, having an exploded Wexor, bringing in so many Kryptonians from the comics and not just calling them Ursa. Yet people freaked over Superman killing Zod even though he has killed several through the years actually. Another one that drove me nuts was people complaining Bane wasnt roided up in Rises…yet from 1995 through 2011 Bane didnt use Venom.
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“Comics accuracy” doesn’t even exist in the comics! Silver age, golden age, modern age, EACH totally different! Crisis after crisis re-writes the “cannon”. When people complain about how a movie or tv show is “different” they are actually saying " i want my generational version to stay forever". Well TOO BAD! The upcoming kids get thier OWN version of everything, just like we did!
My dad LOVES Adam West Batman. I am a Kevin Conroy man myself, my son LOVES Deitrich Baker. Its okay that they are all different in tone and mood. We can say one is your FAVORITE Batman, but calling one the “true batman” is a bit appropriative don’t you think?
@taddmcdavitt
While it’s true that different generations have different insert_character_here. And people do nitpick. Hell, I remember people talking about how Christopher Reeves wasn’t Superman because Superman is George Reeves.
However, with that said, when you have a character that acts antithetical to that characters personality which has been roughly the same for 70+ years, than people do stand up and go “I take issue with that incarnation because the psychology of the character, through various ages) doesn’t ring true.
I loathe Burton’s Penguin, but it is not to far afield from various incarnations of the character, the same is true for his Catwoman. I don’t like them, but I can understand the choice relative to the character’s history across eras. However, had he made Catwoman a sociopathic murderess who deliberately enjoys killing, that would be a take on the character I would say is not Catwoman, because that is nowhere near her character psychology over her entire history.
Sometimes creators take an existing character and do an lousy/awful disservice to a character. To do paraphrase Marv Wolfman, you get to take a character and play with it in new ways, just being sure you don’t break it.
Not a often, but occasionally (in all mediums: books, tv, film) creators have broken characters. It happens.
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@Desaad accolyte
That is an awesome Wolfman quote! And he is right.
I care about accuracy to a degree. Majority of people who watch the films think these are based from the comics, so some start to talk about these characters like they know them or are experts. I’ve on several occasions would have to drop knowledge on them.
My biggest fear are Hollywood execs who think they’re talented & creative. They think they can make changes & possibly think they’re “improving” the character. They think they don’t have to adapt the characters like comics, and can do whatever they want, and that can affect quality in my opinion. Hollywoods main objective is to make money. Once quality goes away, fans will stop supporting, less people will watch the films, they make less money & then Hollywood will say, what’s next? Everyone loses, that’s my opinion.
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I care about accuracy as far as the characters themselves go to a point. Tell whatever story you want however you want, so long as you get the characters right.
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