A few more comic book movies have passed under the bridge since this column was first written. Foremost among those which would definitely deserve a mention today are Batman Begins and Sin City.

Batman Begins showed just how good a movie can be if the writers and directors are allowed to weave their own story around the characters, rather than being strait-jacketed into decades of incomprehensible continuity.

Meanwhile, Sin City showed just how big a mistake it is to adhere too closely to the source material (for which we can presumably blame Frank Miller's insistence on acting as co-director).

Undoubtedly the most stylish comic book movie to date, Sin City is gloriously slick but, scratch the surface, and it bears a closer resemblance to the Batman TV series of the 1960s than it does to film noir.

The dialogue which, in print, comes across as a dark, gritty homage to the classic noir films of the 1930s sounds camp, forced and ... well, just plain "corny" when it has to be spoken by real human beings.

Women going to "war" in bondage leathers and studded thongs? Men able to leap through (moving) car windscreens or stop a hail of bullets and emerge still able to undertake routine super-heroics? Somehow, it all works on a comic page but in a supposedly grim and gritty, down-to-earth piece of crime drama ...? Please! Adam West had more credibility!