Leaping off the pages on to the big screen

Now that man’s special effects ability has caught up to his imagination, more and more comic book characters are finding their way to the big screen.

This week we get Green Lantern, which features some beautiful extra-terrestrial sequences which convince you that Hal Jordan has gone off planet. Yet, the film lacks the comic book’s epic feel.

Green Lantern is one of DC Comics’ stalwarts, but with the exception of the old-school film Superman and the rebooted film Batman, DC Comics haven’t really made the transition to the big screen.

Marvel Comics have far outstripped them for the simple reason that their film production studio, Marvel Movies, has created its own epic on-screen universe, in the same way that the comic books have created their own reality.

The added bonus is that non- comic book fans can easily dip into the films without an encyclopedia, or their uncle’s secret stash of comics under the bed.

Marvel recently released a free eight-part digital comic series that serves as an introduction to Captain America: First Avenger (August 5). The comic fleshes out the film, introduces the character and serves as a great ad to boot.

Captain America was actually the first Marvel character to reach the big screen in 1944, followed by Howard the Duck in 1986 and The Punisher in 1989. But it was X-Men in 2000 and Spiderman two years later that really opened up the film executives’ eyes to not only merchandising possibilities, but the endless sequels and spin-offs.

Chris Evans confuses the issue slightly by tackling the role of Steve Rodgers, aka Captain America, since he also played Johnny Storm (Human Torch) in Fantastic Four, so we hope they’re not going to team up any time soon.

The first team-up across comic books will be in The Avengers when Nick Fury (Samuel L Jackson), Iron Man (Robert Downy jnr), Captain America (Evans), Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo), Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner), Black Widow (Scarlet Johansson) and Thor (Chris Hemsworth) assemble against a common threat. Directed by Joss Whedon (Firefly, Angel), it will be released in April next year.

Spiderman reboots on July 6, 2012 with Andrew Garfield (The Social Network) taking Peter Parker back to high school.

Garfield Comic Viewer Free Android App

Take your favorite fat cat with you on your phone with this Garfield Comic Viewer. There will be plenty of gorging on lasagna, aversions to Mondays, and the standard cynical and sarcastic attitude featured in this comic reader. Take a look back to June 19, 1978 and view the very first Garfield comic all the way to the most recent one. Share the comics with your friends, send images by email, save comic strips as GIFs, and bookmark your favorite strips with this app. Stay up to date on the lives of the cartoon characters Jon Arbuckle, Odie, and Garfield as you enjoy the famous comic strip created by Jim Davis.

Garfield made his debut in 1978 and as of 2007, the comic held the Guinness World Record for being the world’s most widely syndicated comic strip, showcased in thousands of newspapers and journals around the world. Note: some regions may have later updates due to a difference in time zone.

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