Comic-film scripts and audiences come pre-packaged

I’ve always felt comic book movies were a bit of a cheat. I love that some of my favorite series are being put on the big screen and that other people love them (the fact that people are getting excited over “Scott Pilgrim vs. the World” feels like I’m in some alternate world where being a geek is cool), but it always feels like the process of making a film off a graphic novel is too easy.

Many of these films that champion their painstaking recreation of the comic book are basically getting to skip the entire pre-production process.

A comic book gives every potential producer storyboards, concept art, a script — hell, it even assists with the casting process by giving examples of what the actors should look like. When Samuel L. Jackson was cast as Nick Fury in the new Marvel movies, it was because creators had already based the character’s likeness off of him years before.

When “Watchmen” came out, we fans wanted the creators to be as faithful as possible to the source material. As I watched a computer graphic Dr. Manhattan say lines of dialogue I had read at least twenty times in the original, I became somewhat jaded. If comic book films are going to be shot-for-shot remakes, do they have any worth of their own? “The Dark Knight” and “Iron Man” have both done so well partly because they found new ways to tell the stories we geeks grew up with.

The transition to film is easy because of the visual nature of not just the art, but of the stories. There have been a few strange adaptations like the 2005 thriller “A History of Violence,” but most of the tales are asking for heavy CG, explosions and everything required for a blockbuster. It should be obvious why most of these films are shown during the summer. And because the genre embraces the absurd nature of its inspiration, these movies can get away with absurd levels of action without coming off like a Michael Bay wet dream.

Let’s not forget the obvious incentive for studios; the rabid fan base already built into every movie. Sure, nerds can be tough to please, but it doesn’t keep us from spending our money on the big franchises. I can’t tell you one of my nerd friends who didn’t think the “X-Men Origins: Wolverine” movie looked horrible. They all saw it anyway. We are a weak-willed breed. A good movie just guarantees we’ll see it multiple times in theaters and buy the Blu-ray.

Comic fans by their nature are better press machines than any marketing firm the studios can hire. We get excited about leaked screenings, post every new teaser trailer on our blogs and social sites and fill dinner conversations with theories on how trashed Mickey Rourke will appear in “Iron Man 2.” If all press is good press, a bitter comic book nerd who spends all day complaining about the inconsistencies of the “Kick-Ass” film is doing God’s work for Universal Pictures.

The comic book bubble is already showing signs of bursting. It will be a while before it completely fades, but the last week’s poor box office returns for “The Losers” show audiences aren’t completely swayed by hearing “based off the breakthrough comic.”