Friday Poll: Which summer movie hit the comic book mark?

News.com Poll

Geek-cred test
What was the summer's most faithful comic book adaptation?

Iron Man: but I never heard of him 'til 2008.
The Incredible Hulk: didn't that come out in 2003?
Hellboy 2: even though I've never read a Hellboy comic.
Wanted: wait, that was comic-based?
The Dark Knight: because of Heath.
Hancock: uh, can't fool me!

View results

When Crave editors Leslie Katz and Erica Ogg asked me to mastermind the inaugural Crave Friday Poll™, my first reaction was, "Get the hell outta my office! I'm trying to sleep in here!!" After a visit from HR and a few tears--mostly on my part--I agreed to come up with something.

I suggested the "Best Comic Book Movies of the Summer." Thing is, comic book movies are way too mainstream these days to be considered "geeky." Also, The Dark Knight would predictably clean up, followed by Iron Man and then everything else.

So you wanna get really geeky? We'll get really geeky. How about the "Most Faithful Comic Book Adaptation of the Summer"? So here it is. The scary thing: I could have gone geekier. But this is Crave, not Wizard, for crying out loud. We're much cooler than that (points and laughs at all the geeks at Wizard...).

Anyway, this poll will probably still be a popularity contest. Oh, and remember to check back next Friday--and every Friday thereafter until the end of time--to vote in our Crave weekly poll.

[keredomo]

"What was the summer's most faithful comic book adaptation?"
The above phrase implies that The Dark Knight was originally a comic book, which is false. The story was written by the director, Christopher Nolan, and David S. Goyer, but was never originally a comic book. It is based off of the Batman character, originally by Bob Kane, but is not a "comic book adaptation." It was not adapted from a comic book, but written by the director and David S. Goyer, with a screenplay by Christopher and his brother, Jonathan Nolan.
Come on Crave... Don't make me point out the others.

[MickBurke]

Lame poll, I would have said IRONMAN, but I've heard of him before. In fact I started reading IRONMAN the same time Robert Downy Jr. did, in the early 80's.

[fngenious]

cmon keredomo, are you kidding? obviously TDK was never a book. the above query is asking which of the films best followed the nature of the respective comic book characters upon which they were based. and then again, if you really wanna get technical, you could give TDK a C- because the overall history of batman has many different takes and tones of the characters, and TDK simply only drew from a brief history of the character. TDK was a great story based upon the ideas found in the great graphic novels, the Long Halloween, Year One, The Killing Joke, Arkham Asylum, the Dark Knight Returns, which were all written in the last 20 years, and of course, Joker's first two appearances. the film certainly didnt adapt any of the ideas from the batman comics of the late 40s, 50s, and 60s. no comic hero to screen is going to adapt a character fully the way its been done in the comics obviously. i dont like marvel, but im sure iron man and hulk had a pretty rough time at some point over their histories.

the real question should have been: "Which of these films in your opinion, was the best?" leave out the words adaptation or interpretation, because then ppl like u and me get technical.

and Hancock, is not a comic book.

[keredomo]

thanks for proving my point?
i was just pointing out the wording by taking the dark knight as an example. and yes, i've read long halloween (my first batman comic, in fact first comic ever read by recommendation for a good friend), year one, the killing joke (including most of alan moores work), arkham asylum (because of dave mc kean's work on sandman), and the dark knight returns (because of miller's ideas on previous works, much like moore's adaptation of swamp thing).
so yeah, the better question would be "which of these films was the best?" and the idea of adaptation from a comic book implies taken from a specific work and changed for on-screen production. i would say similar things about other adaptations like i, robot, i am legend, and especially wanted. in my opinion they just need their titles changed to better describe how they fit the adaptation.
ugh, wanted.... how about "Wanted: Sans the whole super-villian idea and breaking of the 4th wall." that'd be better for me.