I've been reading comics for a very long time and I remember the days when the argument was that comics could do and show things that the movies could only do if they spent like a billion dollars. Obviously this has all changed in this new CGI world. I don't think there is anything the movies can't portray anymore. The latest Spiderman movie shows it again. We can actually see real web swinging that is more exciting than reading it in the books.

So knowing all that, how do comics make themselves either relevant or hold up anymore?

For me, it will have to be even more about the characters than the action.

concept as well.

these movies cost millions of dollars. the studios that put them into production , doesn't make those decisions lightly. thus, hardly anything original ever seems to come out in this genre. you're not going to see a studio produce it's own original super hero flick.

creators in comics can take those chances, where studios can't.

remember, comics are also not as passive as a medium as movies are. comics still require some active participation from it's audience . the pacing of a book, while directed by a comic creator, is still ultimately up to the individual reader. the voices that the characters speak in are solely up the each reader as well.....that's why there will always be arguments as to best to cast in the movies.all these characters play a little differently in each of our heads.

same with the whole concept of the Gutter on the comics page. that's that one area on the page that each of us fills in in our own heads.....characters move. behave...their mannerisms....and the way the actions cuts exactly from one scene to another....the finality of all of that ....happens as we interpret it in each of our heads.

comics can offer a personal experience a movie can not touch.

it just takes more of an effort on the individuals part.

I think they should satisfy a craving for more in between stuff for fans of the movies.

Look, good stories can triumph over all. Harry Potter movies didn't slow down Harry Potter book sales, despite that the movies have more visual appeal (obviously).

If the books do what only books can, the movies can never take their place. Comics must do what only comics can and not attempt to be "movies on paper".

Comics will always be around because one creative person can make a comic without interference or outside funding.

Plus, comics are better than movies.

I think we will see a rise of horror comics again (and maybe we already are). It is the one genre in which I believe that comics can do better than prose or film, no matter how good the actor or how great the special effects.

Comics are a tangible medium, that can bed touched and held, and therefore should explore scratch 'n sniff inserts.

In your opinion, what is it that comics can do that movies cant.

They can give me more than one story with my favorite characters every two or three years.

Comics are relatively cheap to produce and buy. They also can be absorbed at the reader's own pace, whereas movies aren't as easily taken in at leisure, especially not in the theater.

I don't think the medium is any danger, per se. The genre may be, but that's nothing to do with movies.

Agreed. N scared me far more than any movie I've ever seen.

Again with this topic? Haven't we already thoroughly dissected the whole "comics vs. movies" thing elsewhere?

If we can have umpteen billion Batman movie threads, surely we can have this one.

You can never have too many Batman movie threads.

For those interested:



http://www.amazon.com/dp/0785134549/?tag=imwan-20

Even if billion dollar movies can do what only comics could do before, comics still cost a lot less than a billion dollars to make, so you should be able to read a lot more cool stuff in comics than you'l get to see in movies.

I had not heard of this. It's that good?

I really liked it. Check out trailer, etc: here: http://www.stephenking.com/n/

Dictate pace.

Cost much less than a million dollars to produce and can be done more frequently.

Can be much more experimental due to the fact they don't cost so much to produce.

Make use of various art and literary techniques. See Scott Mcleod or Will Eisner's work.

Do inner narration that doesn't sound stupid.

Use a variety of different viewpoints seamlessly (comics really aren't storyboards despite Byrne's insistence they are).

Yes, they both can tell Captain America stories, but comics will best carve their niche if they focus more on providing an experience that movies cannot by using the tools available to them. That is what Dark Knight Returns and Watchmen and the Spirit did.