Comic Book Movies;
Why All the Fascination?

I guess for me, it was thrilling to watch the characters in those little boxes in my magazines come to life on the big screen. And as movie making technology got better and bigger, the special effects and costume design became more and more believable. At least while I was in the frame of mind to let my imagination soar.

Hollywood, in its infinite wisdom (ha, ha) knew there was a huge market to capitalize. Comic book movies made money, which showed there was a huge number of individuals like you and I who couldn’t get enough of the stuff packed away in our comic book collections.

As I reminisce back to my youth, one of the early joys that I had was getting up early on Saturday mornings, no school, yea, and watching the old serial reruns of Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers. For me, Larry (Buster) Crabbe was the definitive Flash Gordon. I must say though, that he lacked as one of the earlier Tarzans. Flash, Dale Arden and Dr. Zarkoff were the trio of the era. And least we not forget Ming the Merciless.

The costumes of that Hollywood period were great, but the special effects DID leave something to be desired. Rockets on strings and fireworks for engines did have to be taken with a grain of salt. But for my young mind the battle between the heroes and the villain, made up for the lack of believability of the small spaceships. Oh, and remember “Superman” lying on the hidden table as he was flying?

Well as the years past and Hollywood’s budgets got bigger, technical know how increased and appetites got bigger for believability, our superheroes became more and more real. In the 1970s the first big comic book movie blockbuster hit the silver screen. Yes you will believe a man can fly. “Superman, the Movie” was released. This movie generated so much interest that three sequels were produced. It took several years later, but Batman, Spiderman, the Hulk and the X- men emerged with stunning special effects. And it doesn’t look like there will be a shortage of comic book movie heroes to emerge in the future.

Hot dog! I have now had the fine pleasure of getting to know a master of comic book pricing tatics. He has some amazing info on how to track comic books that have corresponding comic book movies in the works and how to profit from them. Why let Hollywood movie moguls be the only intities profiting from Superhero movies? Sean shows you how to buy low and sell high. And what to buy and what not to as you follow a new movie. So if you want to have fun and make a few bucks go check out Sean's "Comics, Movies and Cash" bundle. 'Nough said!

Got the ole TV warmed up from watching your favorite comic book movie superhero? You into video games? Never have had that particular passion myself. They always beat me too badly. Some of the best selection I have seen in my research appears to be at gamefly.com. You would probably know better than I would though. Go see what you think and let me know if I steered you right. I know all of us have our particular favorite superhero or heroes. And if there are comic book movies about our favorite, odds are that there is probably a poster also. Are you in to collecting posters? I have discovered some pretty amazing posters at allposters.com. And click on the comics link. If anything turns your fancy, this is a good place to spend some surfing time.

And if you don't feel like searching around that much, you can run over to my little on line Comic Posters Store and get right to the good stuff!

I guess I really shouldn’t admit this, but one passion I have gotten into the last few years is collecting comic book movies DVDs. I do like the special effects that have developed over the last twenty years or so and I like the ability to just go to the shelf and pull off one of my favorite comic book movies when I’m in the mood. Who knows, maybe one day DVDs will take on the same collector status as comic books have today. Probably not, but I can only hope.

I continue to be amazed at what all is available at Amazon! You will find about the best collection of comic book movie DVDs that you can find. Just click on the image at the left. And sometimes it beats trying to wander all over town looking for what you want. You may want to “go surf” if you are hungering for a superhero right now that has left the movie theaters.

Well, maybe I will see you in the theater when the next big superhero hits the wide screen. Save me some popcorn.

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