I suppose it was only a matter of time really. Following the Marvel Mondays on this blog, it only seemed fair that I take a look at the other side of comic books turned films as well - hence starting this weekend, there'll be a second weekly film review on the blog called DC Saturdays. And yes, I appreciate that it doesn't roll off the tongue quite as easily as Marvel Mondays does but you tell me a weekday that starts with D. The only other one that could really have worked was DC Thursday and that's already been taken up with Throwback Thursday (if I ever get that one started up again anyway...watch this space).
DC are a bit of a weird one when it comes to films. While, in this writer's opinion, their TV shows are generally every bit as good as Marvel, their attempts to create a DC film universe to rival Marvel's in recent years haven't really had the same effect with only "Wonder Woman" really standing out as being a decent effort (and even that was arguably half an hour too long for its own good). However, it's not to say that the potential isn't there - DC superheroes have actually made for some damn fine films in the past such as the first two Superman films, Tim Burton's two early '90s Batman films and the Dark Knight trilogy.
The thing is, unlike Marvel where you've pretty much got a full sliding scale in terms of quality, there doesn't seem to be any inbetween with DC - when they're good, they're amazing (see the above) but when they're bad they're really bad - see "Batman & Robin", "Catwoman", "Steel", "Superman 4", "Supergirl"...and yes, don't worry, in the interest of giving you the whole picture, I'll be watching those as well. Wish me luck.
One big difference I have noticed though while researching this is that while when people put their league tables of Marvel films online, you can pretty much predict how a lot of it's going to go ie Avengers, X-Men 2, Iron Man, the first two early noughties Spiderman films and the MCU Captain America films will all be at or near the top while Howard The Duck, Daredevil, Ghost Rider, the recent Fantastic Four atrocity and any Captain America film not starring Chris Evans will all be at or near the bottom. With DC though, it seems that opinions are a bit more varied. While most lists, for example, would have the Dark Knight at or near the top, I've seen one list where it was ranked at a relatively lowly number 13. Similarly, there's some films that are very divisive - while I've seen some rankings that have put the likes of Batman Forever and the 1966 Batman film starring Adam West firmly near the bottom of the pile claiming them to be awful, I've also seen some lists that claim these films are under-rated gems and have put them in the Top 10 (no less than the Top 3 for the Adam West one!) Perspective, it seems, is everything when it comes to DC.
Another thing to note with DC is that while their input stretches back a fair bit further than Marvel's (the first film on our list, Superman and the Mole Men, dates from right back in 1951!), they've also been a lot less prolific down the years - while Marvel's current output stands at 76 films and counting (and could potentially be as high as 82 by the time we catch up to the present day!), DC's currently stands at a fairly modest 40. So by starting this week, it looks as though we should be up to speed by the end of the year (although with "Aquaman" due for release in the summer/autumn, it might be the first week of 2019).
Either way, it looks like it's gonna be an interesting journey taking in the good, the bad and the plain bizarre. So join me on Saturday for the first instalment as we go all the way back to the '50s for Superman and the Mole Men...
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