I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking, “Wait! Didn’t they just do this?!”And we did. One week ago, we updated our list, originally done about 19 months ago, of the best R-rated comic book movies of all time…but we didn’t do it right.Here’s the thing: When one of these lists is put together it isn’t–believe it or not–one guy sitting in a room going, “How can I screw over Blade fans?”. Typically either everyone on staff chips in some ideas, or the writer solicits them from other writers, editors, comics pros, regular readers, etc.In 2012, when we did the first list, we got a lot of people screaming that certain movies–good movies, too, mind you, not The Spirit or anything–had been left off the list, and they gave us some good reasons. We took that into account when we updated the list, and perhaps a mistake I made as the writer was being transparent about one particular change.”While I still have a soft spot for Ghost World and American Splendor, our readers roundly rejected the idea that they belonged on the list, being that they were such radically different films (small, quiet and with a totally different sensibility) than the bombastic action that fills most of the movies on the list, I wrote. “We’ll have to agree to disagree, but for the purposes of the list, I’ll leave them off. This time.”Fans of those movies, then, just piled on along with fans of other movies left off the list. An hour or so after the last one went live, I admitted that retaining the “top five” style of the original list had been a mistake. As, in my opinion, is numbering the list. I have a clear #1 in my head–Dredd–but not everyone will agree and frankly once you get past the top two or so, anything good enough to belong on a “Ten Best” list oughtn’t be forced to duke it out for position.So! Taking into consideration more input from more readers, and returning my beloved indie films to their positions on the list, I’ve decided to expand the list to ten, which is what we’ll do again when and if we have to update the list in the future.And, no, the order of these means nothing. Just take this as a list of really great movies and don’t worry whether Ghost World is better than Blade (it is), because that’s really comparing apples and oranges.Oh, and this one’s going to stand for a while, so don’t bother complaining……wait, did I just say that on the Internet?!
American SplendorThe Ten Best R-Rated Comic Book Movies (According to Our Readers)
I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking, ‘Wait! Didn’t they just do this?!’And we did. One […]