I’m a huge fan of comic books.  I learned about my culture a long time ago by reading Amar Chitra Katas… Indian comic books that have illustrated versions of all the major Indian holy texts.   While comic books may not always cover important topics, they do a great job of boiling down the major concerns of the moment.  Between all the battles between heroes and villains, you get a great snapshot of people’s fears, ideals, and struggles. 

This “texture” is often lost when a comic book character goes to the big screen.  While comic books regularly push the medium by tackling difficult subjects, their big screen versions are hit and miss.  There is a simple formula they follow – the origin story, an examination of what makes a hero, and then a third movie that ruins any appeal the characters ever had. 

The Batman franchise was rebooted three years ago with Batman Begins.  This was necessary because someone screwed up the original movie incarnation of Batman.  Christopher Nolan, one of my favorite directors of all time (see Memento!), changed the entire origin story of Batman.  He used lesser known villains and less gadgetry to create a Batman for the modern age… similar to what Frank Miller did for the Batman comics books 20 years ago.  The result was a movie that was spectacular and fun.  Batman was cool again.

This past week, the sequel was released – The Dark Knight.  From all accounts, this movie sounds like it is the best comic book movie of all time.   It may be one of the best movies released this year.   I don’t think I’ve been this excited to watch a film in a long time. 

Given the unusual circumstances behind the movie, I expected it to be heavily hyped.  What i didn’t expect was all the rave reviews.  A comic book movie with “texture”… is it really possible?