Among the big-money, high-excitement movies due in the next year or so, Spider-Man claims special status among comic-book fans.

        The web-slinging superhero first appeared in June 1962 in an edition of Marvel Comics seminal Strange Tales series. A neurotic photojournalist who acquired superhuman powers after being bitten by an irradiated spider, Peter Parker captured the imagination of a generation eager to accept flawed heroes.

Spider-Man will finally come to the big screen. | ZOOM |

        While the comic book inspired TV series, cartoons and video movies, efforts to bring a full-fledged, special-effects-driven version to the big screen foundered repeatedly.

        The movie — directed by Sam Raimi (Dark Man, The Evil Dead) and starring Tobey Maguire (Wonder Boys, Cider House Rules) — finally became a reality in part because of the success of other comic-book inspired movies, particularly the Batman series.

Technological advances

        Spider-Man also reflects two key trends in moviemaking: sophisticated computer-generated special effects that can mimic almost anything the mind can imagine, and the maturity of filmmakers who grew up looking at comic books not as trivia but as legitimate art forms full of compelling stories.

        As comic books evolved into illustrated literature, the movies they inspired grew more ambitious as well; last year's delightful Ghost World and flawed but fascinating From Hell were both based on what are known as “graphic novels.”

        For as long as there have been movies, heroes from the comics have made their way onto the screen.

WEB SITES

For more information on the comics-movies nexus, check out these Web sites:     • Coming Attractions, www.corona.bc.ca     • Comic Book Resources, www.comicbookresources.com     • Comics To Film, www.comics2film.com     • The Comic Store, www.thecomicstore.com     • Film Force, filmforce.ign.com

        The Katzenjammer Kids first appeared on screen in 1898. Mutt and Jeff starred in more than 200 short films beginning in 1912. DC Comics' Superman series has yielded no fewer than 13 movies, including Supergirl.

        As box-office magnets, pen-and-ink creations have a mixed record.

        Comic-book winners include the 1989 Batman, No. 17 among North American money makers with $251 million. Right behind is the comic-book-inspired Men in Black (1997), No. 18 with $250 million. X-Men (2000) ranks 79th with $157 million. That's not to ignore the bombs, including Popeye, Judge Dredd and The Rocketeer. Howard The Duck has become a kind of shorthand for “monstrous, expensive failure.”

        Still, those earlier big hits keep hopes alive that the next comic superhero will lead to another pot of gold.

Super preview

        Some of the most prominent comic-book-inspired movies on the slate for this year and next include:

        • The Road To Perdition, directed by Sam Mendes (American Beauty) and starring Hollywood's favorite Oscar-winner, Tom Hanks. No sci-fi super-beings here; it is based on a dark comic work of Max Allan Collins about real-life gangsters in the 1920s.

        • Constantine — Another Oscar winner, Nicolas Cage, stars as a magician obsessed with the dark side of life in this movie based on the Hellblazer comic series. Tarsem Singh (The Cell) directs.

        • Blade II, due out March 29, brings back Wesley Snipes as the Marvel Comics superhero, a half-human, half-vampire struggling to save the world from being overrun by bad bloodsuckers.

        • Men in Black 2, set for July 3, re-teams Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones as secret agents who must keep the world safe from rogue aliens, based on Lowell Cunningham's comic-book creations.

        • Daredevil stars Ben Affleck as a blind man who develops other senses of supernatural sharpness, plus martial-arts mastery, a character invented by Stan Lee for Marvel Comics. The screenplay is by Brian Helgeland, author of L.A. Confidential.

        • Iron Fist, another Marvel superhero, stars Ray Park, who catapulted to cult status as Darth Maul in Star Wars Episode I and as Toad in X-Men.

        Next year will bring more high-profile projects from the comic-book world:

        • The Hulk is a long-awaited feature directed by Ang Lee (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) and starring the hot Australian newcomer Eric Bana (Black Hawk Down).

        • X-Men 2 will reunite most, if not all, the key players from the first film, including Patrick Stewart, Hugh Jackman, Ian McKellen and Halle Berry. Ditto for director Bryan Singer, who earned his stripes with the stylish, award-winning The Usual Suspects.

        • Batman: Year One, originally expected in 2002, now more likely to arrive in 2003, is notable for being directed by Darren Aronofsky, who made his reputation with the cerebral independent thriller Pi.
       
       Contact Margaret A. McGurk by phone: 768-8517; fax: 768-8330; e-mail mmcgurk@enquirer.com.
       
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