meteor shower. it hurts me to say it but the days of good comic book movies are over. arguably, there weren't that many good comic book movies to begin with. the first few supermans and batmans were supposedly good. x-men was pretty good. but everything from spiderman to daredevil to hulk to the new batman to the upcoming superman and the fantastic four sucks -- or will suck. the only way comic books will get any respect anymore will be through graphic novels like sin city, which resemble superhero comic books only in form.

the golden age of comic book movies lasted what, four years? and i am sad. do you realize that at the apex of this movement -- after the release of x-men 2 -- i had females asking/admiring me for my x-men knowledge? do you realize this? i had something valuable to the opposite sex. x-men made me cool, if only momentarily.

so, i expected a bigger and better mainstream push. i expected tv series chronicling the adventures of the x-men, plus all of their spinoffs like x-factor, the new mutants, excaliber, etc. i hoped against hope for names like banshee, havok, psylocke and cable to become part of this decade's vernacular. but no, i doubt we'll ever see it happen.

why will this catastrophe occur? because x-men 3 is gonna suck. big time. read this if you don't believe me. any time you've got frasier crane cast as a super agile and super strong "beast" in your superhero movie, you're done for. there's almost no chance that this third movie will defy the rule of craptastic third movies. part of the reason is a poor development team, part of the reason is that x-men has succeeded beyond its means, most of the reason this movie will suck is because bryan singer has left.

if you've never given a second thought to the impact a director can have on a movie, compare the first two x-mens to this upcoming third one. the first two came from the director of the usual suspects, the third one will come to you from the director of the rush hours, brett ratner, aka chris tucker's bitch.

see where i'm going with this? x-men 3 will suck. and with its suckage, superhero movies will die. maybe not immediately, but it'll die. again. maybe it'll die forever this time, never to rise phoenix-like from the ashes in true comic book fashion. after you've raped and pillaged the most beautiful and marketable comic book franchises, what else will be there to do the next time around? the green lantern? the avengers?

my only hope for successful movie franchises lie with derivative fantasy series like dragonlance and forgotten realms. will drizzt do'urden ever make it onto the big screen? i hope not if the results are going to be like the mind numbingly bad lord of the rings trilogy. is it time to give up hope on my youthful loves being displayed accurately for the masses? probably.

memorial day 2006, the planned release date of x-men 3, is the nail in the coffin. trust me.