Did comic movies ruin comics? Part 2 The birth of new universes

On part 1 I reflected that the X-men movies only brought on a costume change. Now this was true but as time went on the costumes did go back to a superhero feel and not so much the biker leather look the movies gave the films. This was of course a minor change at first and was one, I feel, we as comic readers could handle. The X-men did go through another big change because of films later but I'm not going to get to that just yet.
It will makes sense later I promise.
Let's very quickly reflect on Sam Raimi's vision of Spider-man. As a Spider-man film goes it was quite good. Never before have we seen the wall crawler swinging around Manhatten with such ease. It was beautiful for it's time. Well I believe the first two were. The third unfortunatley was plagued by fan demands, an exhausted Raimi, and an impatient studio, so I don't blame him for an emo Peter Parker dancing down the street.
That particular movie did have some effect on the comic but not in our regular Spider-man books. Instead it helped to create a new universe. It's what came to be known as the Ultimate universe. It should be noted here too that the X-men movies also helped this new universe get established because at the time it and Spider-man were the only marvel movies out there that were doing really well, also they were first two books in the ultimate universe, Ultimate Spider-man and Ultimate X-men.
Now for those of you unfamiliar with the Ultimate universe I'll give you a quick summary. The Marvel comics we all know from our youth started in the 1960s, roughly. Some heroes like Captain America and Namor actually started in the forties, but Marvel really established itself in the sixties with Spider-man, X-men, Hulk, Fantastic Four, etc. Essentially teenage Peter Parker got bit by a radioactive spider in 1961.
In the Ultimate universe however Peter Parker gets bit by a radioactive spider in the year 2000. The Ultimate universe is essentially the Marvel universe if it started in modern times. It was a good idea. New and old creators could build new worlds and tell new stories they might not have been able to tell in the old universe because the old universe had such a long continuity, but with the Ultimate universe anything was fair game. It was also great for new readers. They could come into stories about their favorite characters from the ground up and not feel burdened with years of back issues that they feel they have to read to be caught up on the current story.
Whew! Thats the shortest I could sum it up so lets continue about movies.
I told you that story about a new universe to tell you this one. 2008 comes around and Iron Man makes it to the big screen and it is a huge success. I won't go into what made it a big success but if you follow the superhero movies you know why. This was the movie that essentially started it all. It's what brought us to Captain America Civil War today. Iron Man waa a movie about a B level hero, C in some cases, that bumped him to A level status and jump started a whole new film universe. Eight years of Marvel films and tv shows that all share the same universe. When I was kid reading comics I would dream of this happening, and it didn't start happening till I was almost 24.
Better late than never.
Now being an avid reader as I've proudly expressed you can't help but notice what they do with certain characters and story plots. If you've ever read a book and seen the movie you'll understand. Unlike a book though comics are perpetually in a state of act 2, with no act 3 coming. (Not going to lie I got that from Kevin Smith. I like the guy, he knows what he's talking about.) In saying that superhero movies based off of an ongoing property can virtually end up anywhere and with anyone in them. If a comic has been going on long enough it's probably covered any eventualality you can imagine, and some have gotten strange. Anyway the big thing we all noticed I think was the reveal of a character we never expected. He was tucked away at the end of the credits. Come on you remember...
That's right, Nick fuckin Fury.
Except he was, as shown in the comics, the Ultimate universe Nick Fury. Who is black and was by played by the great Samuel L. Jackson. Hell even in the comics he's drawn to look like Sam Jackson. Where as in the regular Marvel universe that started in the 60's Nick Fury was white.
Personally I've been swayed over time that the Sam Jackson Fury is a good choice.
Now just hold on minute because it's going to get interesting. I can tell I'm losing some of you in the back. 
The thing is the Iron Man they introduced in the movie was the regular Marvel U. Iron Man. With the exception of him being in Iraq instead of Vietnam. To avid comic readers who follow both universes it looks as if the films are combining the two universes. It was strange and I know some didn't like it but it worked well together.
It also sold a lot of comics.
Comics that started to change. Not at first but subtle and slowly. The Ultimate Marvel universe started releasing more books. Newer titles of our favorite characters being brought up in the modern world. Sometimes these books and characters looked as if they were pulled straight from the movies and others looked like they were ready made to be movies. Costumes didn't look too fantastic that they couldn't exist in the real world and yet surreal enough that the characters could still be identified as superheroes.
Now because the Ultimate universe was new there wasn't really changes per say but additions to a new universe. The regular Marvel universe changed the most. Old characters got updated looks and personalities. Origins were slightly updated. As new Marvel movies came out villians that may have been low level were brought into the spotlight because they were featured in the new movies. It was an exciting time, tons of new stories were being written. Characters we've heard from maybe once a year, those characters that had cult followings began to take the spotlight. Marvel went through a series of large events that kept changing the status quo every year and with each new year came new movies and with that year the comics would still try and reflect what was happening in the movies or copying their look.
Granted the events Marvel went through weren't entirely movie driven. There was some great writing being done and some awesome art as well. The stories being told were huge and all encompassing in their scope of the entire Marvel brand. It was a good time but a dark time. The villians were winning for quite a while, and the heroes had few victories. What victories they had were epic and kept the readers hungry for more, new and old alike. Everything was changing as were the movies. The comics reflected the movies and the movies reflected the comics. It was a fans dream in a lot of ways.
Then something happened. I'm not sure what it was or who made the decision but two universes started become one and two long running series were not on the forefront of the comics anymore, while others were pushed to the front and all because of movie studios and legal jargen and quite possibly some greed. 
Next time I'll dig into that and wrap up this series of "are movies ruining comics?" I will have an answer at least about what I think anyway. Thanks for reading everyone and stay tuned for part 3.

Did comic movies ruin comics? Part 1 X-men in leather.

I have had a hard time trying to figure out exactly what this blog should be. It started as a way to promote writing, and in many ways it still is. I still plan to talk about upcoming books and the current books I've written. Lately though you've seen my various rants and opinions about comics and then monsters.
This blog you're reading will be the latter by the way.
I'm only stating this because I'm sort of hoping it will give whoever is reading this a look into the mind of a writer. Now I'm no Stephen King, H.P. Lovecraft, or Mark Twain, but maybe you'll get some insight into why I like to write books about a red headed cowgirl battling monsters in a post civil war united states. Maybe though I can make you smile at musings and possibly look at things in a way you haven't thought of.
Or I can help you burn 5 minutes by reading this. Either way I'm glad I could help.
The topic I wanted to talk about or talk at you about is comics and their adapted movies and whether or not they may be ruining the comics. First off I want to tell you that I love comics, like a lot.  They were what first helped me to like reading and they taught me quite a lot. Not only just providing lots of entertainment but through the X-men I learned about segration and the possibilty of what the next step of evolution could be. Spider-man let me know it was okay to be a nerd and that I could still get the girl despite not having awesome powers, but by being a good guy... The powers would have been nice though.
It's been about 20 years since I've been delving into the graphic art form and more than half of that time I spent working for a comic book store. It was by far the best job I ever had. This I feel like gives me some knowledge to both sides of comics. The seller and the reader, and by the way I am a reader, I do collect but I enjoy reading my comics over and over again far more than I do reading once and sealing them away forever. Now that being said I believe I have some valid opinions on the matter.
Like any comic fan any movie adaptation that ever comes out is a big deal. Even today when we can't get through a year without seeing at least 4 superhero movies and possibly 2 or 3 others that aren't superheros but are based off of comics, but growing up it was an even bigger deal. Movie studios just didn't do that. The best we really got was Christopher Reeves Superman and Michael Keaton Batman, which I believe still hold up today. As for Marvel the best we got were some campy Captain Americas, a never released Fantastic Four, and Dolph Lungren as the Punisher. Not really a lot to work with, but as comic fans we ate that shit up and as those movies came out they didn't affect the books we were reading month to month. Sure Batman's costume was completely black for awhile like in the movie but not a big change. Our books continued on unhampered by Hollywood success and leaving us dreaming of possible what if scenarios for the comic book movies of our dreams.
Now fast forward to Robert Downy Jr in the first Iron Man. Holy shit! What a good movie. A million comic fans the world over exploded with joy at this movie. It had most of what we ever dreamed a comic movie should have. Don't get me wrong the first X-men was great and gave us quite a lot as did Spider-man, but Iron man hinted at the start of a new universe. It didn't end there it delivered, so now we're several movies in have two Avengers movies out and Captain America and Iron Man are punching each others faces in on screen, and they're the same actors that starred in everyone of the films. Could it not get any better?
(Just a side not this post is very Marvel centric. Yes DC is doing big movies too but really Marvel is and has been doing it right for awhile. Just sayin.)
If we're talking movies I have to think that absolutely it's going to keep getting better. When it comes to our comics though I'm not so sure. Ever since X-men was first released on the big screen and we saw our favorite mutants in black leather the comics began to reflect that. Don't get me wrong Grant Morrison's run of the leather clad X-men was awesome. I still re-read it to this day but I have to wonder. Did that have to happen?
Now I understand that in order to market your movie that's based off of a property it makes sense to have that property be similar enough that people will want to buy both. Thus the movie makes money and the property makes money. It makes sense I get it. People see the movie want more so they go to comic store and buy the comic. The comic now, because of the movie, looks like the film. New readers come into get more of what they experienced in the movie and because the characters are dressed in the same biker look, the consumer feels good about their purchase and doesn't feel too lost in the storyline that took hundreds of back issues to develop, and old readers get a fresh new story and look at some of their favorite characters.
Some would consider this a win win. This after all was a costume change. The X-men did't go through any event that changed their history or how charcters interacted with each other or themselves. At least not at first...

I have discovered that this particular line of thought is going to need much more than one blog post. I don't want to give you a novel to read on the internet, so this ends part one of "Did comicbook movies ruin comics?" Stay tuned for part two it's going to get deep.
Also if you enjoy this blog give it a follow or follow me on twitter @thebeardedjon. Check my two novels too. If you're in the mood for a supernatural western check out The Wendigo and the Werewolf, or if you want some epic fantasy with DnD undertones check out Child of the Moons. Both can be found on amazon in paperback and kindle. Thanks every one part two coming soon.