You could call it a superhero renaissance.
Nearly a year ago, "Spider-Man" smashed box-office records with its much-anticipated comic-to-film adaptation, opening the floodgates for more. That flood hits Friday, when "Daredevil" premieres, and is bound to carry through the summer with "X2" - the "X-Men" sequel, "The Hulk" and "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen."
And that has local comic book gurus excited.
"If they keep making movies to the quality of 'Spider-Man,' then it's worth it," said Eric Treinor, owner of The Fortress Comics and Games Inc., 425 Albert Ave.
"'Spider-Man' was entertaining. Even my wife liked it."
But with the flood of movies being released, there's a lot of pressure for the movie studios to get their comic book heroes right.
"If one's a dud, it might end it all," Treinor said. "It's critical for them to be well-written with good stories."
And doubt is already rising.
In the first of the new wave, Ben Affleck is cast as young Matt Murdock, a New York attorney who becomes blind after an accident. But his other senses are heightened, and he becomes legendary Marvel comics hero Daredevil, the "man without fear."
"It kind of cheeses it out to have a big name like Ben Affleck," said merchandise management senior Brian Rosekrans, a Fortress regular. "Tobey Maguire was a little dork in 'Spider-Man' and it was great."
Rosekrans said having a lesser-known actor play the title character made the blockbuster "Spider-Man" - directed by MSU alumnus Sam Raimi - believable.
"He was just some chump and we got to see his high school years and everything," Rosekrans said.
Stephen Jahner, part owner and manager of Capital City Comics & Books, 2004 E. Michigan Ave. in Lansing, also expressed concerns.
"Because of Affleck I'm not as excited about 'Daredevil' as I was about 'Spider-Man' and 'X-Men,'" Jahner said. "But hey, I wasn't that excited about Michael Keaton playing Batman. I'll have to see it before I judge."
And though the casting is important, the storyline of comic-based movies can be just as essential to hard-core fans. Though studios count on the comic's name to sell tickets, they sometimes take too many liberties with the story, Treinor said.
"The only comic-related thing in 'Blade' was the name," he said, referring to the 1998 Wesley Snipes adaptation of the Marvel comic hero. "If 'The Hulk' does martial arts, I'm going to be really mad."
Although studios have sometimes butchered comic fans' heroes, the media blitz surrounding the release of a big-budget, comic-themed movie usually increases demand for related merchandise and the comics themselves. This usually results in an increase in customers to comic book stores, and store owners sometimes have difficulty keeping items in stock.
"Within the first two weeks after the first 'Batman' movie was released, we didn't have a single Batman comic in the store," Jahner said.
And "Spider-Man" brought new life back into the comic industry.
"The key thing with 'Spider-Man' was that parents were bringing in their young children," Jahner said, a change from years past.
"For a while there were a lot of people saying comics weren't good for kids when they are actually the best way to get kids to read. Parents are starting see comics as a better influence than the most recent video game."
Randy Scott, a bibliographer at MSU library's Special Collections, has noticed the impact of the movies, too. The Main Library houses more than 150,000 comic items.
The collection is recognized by scholars as the world's primary resource for U.S. comic-art research, and the first "X-Men" movie brought in someone to study the comic version.
"We had a researcher come in and study 'X-Men' for images of concentration camps in popular culture and she read them all," Scott said.
But despite the popularity of comics - and not just among folks like "The Simpsons" comic shop owner - it wasn't until recently that some of the most popular characters were brought to the big screen.
Part of the delay in some comics' big-screen debuts was because of a lack of technology available. Now, with computer-generated effects a standard in the film industry, it's possible to make Spider-Man swing through Manhattan or Wolverine fight atop the Statue of Liberty.
"Superheroes do larger-than-life things. The advent of (computer-generated images) has finally made it all possible," Jahner said.
"Hollywood has basically discovered that movie layouts and comics are the same," he said. "Now we have a good shot at getting a whole new generation into comics."
Comic fan and Lansing resident Les Luebke sees another factor helping comic books and comic-based movies.
"I think that after 9-11 and all, people are looking for something inspiring," he said. "People want heroes now."
