TWENTY EXEMPLARY CDM'S

As noted in an earlier post “CDM” is my acronym for a “comics-derived movie,” a movie based on a comic book or comic strip source, even if nothing more than the name is borrowed for said movie. A “movie” I consider to be anything that has the same basic form of a theatrical film, even if the work under discussion actually first appeared on television or as a direct-to-rental release. Yet I make some exceptions in terms of form for works that did appear first in big-screen theaters. I can regard as a movie a multiple-part serial that tells one story, as long as it did appear in theaters, but I would not include a multi-part serial that was made for video or DVD rental, since such serials are designed to be viewed in the home, more after the fashion of television shows than films. And one of the “movies” I do cite is closer in length to a film short than to a feature film, but the one I'll cite is three times longer than most other shorts in the series, so I deem it a featurette. Also, I rate live-action and animation together.

I got this idea from coming across another blogger’s list of 20 best CDMs. I had no interest in putting another "best films" list out there, but I've noticed that many such lists are disproportionate in their preference for “serious drama.” So I thought it would be interesting to formulate a list in the best pluralist tradition: a list that would represent the best in each of the four mythoi I’ve talked about elsewhere: comedy, drama, irony and adventure. By choosing five examples of exemplary movies in each mythos-- that is, works that reveal something significant about the type of stories told-- I propose to talk about what each accomplished in terms of its storytelling mythos.

The plan for the next few days is to devote one blogpost to each of the four mythoi, with short reviews of the films chosen. Again, the purpose is not just to list what I particularly thought to be "the best," which is a fun but critically meaningless exercise. Of course I doubt I'll convince anyone as to the hidden interrelationships between movies with killer zombies and movies in which disaffected teens simply act like zombies, but that's the way the Golden Age comic book crumbles.