Will Hollywood do justice to comic book adaptations?

Comic book movies - Hollywood gold, right?

With icons like Spider-man and Batman racking up the ticket sales, and unknown commodities like Hellboy and Blade making their mark on the big screen, it may seem like comic books and the silver screen have finally learned to work together. Okay, you may have to ignore duds like Catwoman and Ghost Rider.

In reality, comic books have always made for good movies. It just took the right people to make them.

Films like “Road to Perdition,” “Ghost World,” “A History of Violence” and “From Hell,” all started out in the panel-pages of comic books and graphic novels long before they hit the big screen. They also feature A-list talent like Tom Hanks, Viggo Morten-sen and Johnny Depp.

For those who don’t read comic books, this can come as a shock. Good, multi-layered storytelling can be found in comic books without the traditional costume-clad superheroes and other science fiction themes.

The thing is, comic books are no different from any other form of entertainment. Novels provide in-depth descriptions, and mov-ies present instant satisfaction. Comic books, however, provide a happy combination of panel-by-panel storytelling and visuals.

Comic book movies adaptations even have an advantage over prose adaptations. Filmmakers can see exactly what the story is supposed to look like. One would think this would make for cinematic magic, but more often than they should, movie makers seem to ignore the source material that made the story what it is.

Ghost Rider is the story of a tortued man who must spend eternity paying for a deal-with-the-devil he made in his foolhardy youth. But the movie adaption leaned more to a lighter, more comedic theme featuring slapstick and one-liners.

“The Fantastic Four” should have been a cosmic epic, but what we got was a convoluted mess.

And, then there is “Catwoman” - don’t get me started on “Catwoman.”

So what makes a comic book movie good?

It all comes down to who’s making it, and how much they understand and respect the source material.

Sam Raimi understands that it’s the personal conflict in Peter Parker and colorful, dynamic clashes with villians that make the Spider-Man franchise a success. Bryan Singer understood that it was the outsider status and social conflicts that made the X-Men popular, and not the costumes.

But, when people who don’t understand or appreciate the established mythology of the material they take over, you end up with a neon-covered Mr. Freeze, Wolverine killing Jean Grey and Dr. Doom as a mutant.

Hollywood take note: comic book movies can only be as good as the material you base it on. If you ignore that, who knows what you’ll end up with.

Frank Miller’s “Sin City” and “300” along with the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles film, were probably the most faithful of comic book adaptions. “Sin City” director Robert Rodriguez respect Miller’s creation so much, he brought along the writer as co-director.

I don’t expect that type of respect every time, but I can only be cautiously optomistic that as audiences watch the Silver Surfer soar in from the spaceways that they will see a bit of that cosmic majesty that has kept comic fans entertained for decades.